First sunny day in weeks!


At last a nice and sunny day. Not really warm, but what do you expect in February. We haven’t even had real cold yet, but lots of grey, humid, foggy, boring days. A dull winter it is.
I went to Parc Montsouris, one of the parks in southern Paris. Still pretty wintery.

Parc Montsouris

A nice park I had never really been to, with ducks and / or geese. I never quite know which is which!

Parc Montsouris

Paths going up and down, a pool and statues.

Parc Montsouris

And under a big tree, the first crocuses I’ve seen this year

Parc Montsouris

All my photos of Parc Montsouris.

City Lights

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On Monday, I went to Opera Garnier where they were performing Mozart’s Idomeneo, a performance which would have been even more enjoyable if we had been properly seated. But this is probably too much to ask in these wonderful-looking theatres. They ARE wonderful to look at, but thoroughly uncomfortable and probably meant for children (size-wise).

Before the performance

Of course, I had taken both my cameras with me and took gazillions of photos with my older camera, as it is better at night. I even started from home pretty early, as I wanted to shoot the lights at Galeries Lafayette and Place Vendôme. So I did, and also took quite a few photos inside the Opera House.
On my way home on the métro, I reviewed my photos and wanting to delete one blurry photo, I managed to erase all the photos I had taken on that day. I still don’t know how I ever did that, but I did. They have all disappeared forever. :(

I don’t like to give up though, and yesterday, as it wasn’t raining, I went back to the Galeries Lafayette area in the evening and shot photos inside and outside,

Christmas Tree Outside Printemps

Then I walked along rue de la Paix to Place Vendôme. The whole area was just silvery and worth going back to.

Public Portraits, Private Portraits 1770-1830

Paris Wanderings
“Blogging in Paris”
Blogging in Paris

 

Exhibition

At Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, a great exhibition, Public Portraits, Private Portraits 1770-1830, that will also be shown in London from February 2007 to April 2007. No queue, or crowds yesterday, which made it very pleasant. Unfortunately, they won’t allow you to take photographs at Grand Palais, — not that I would take photos of paintings, but I would like to capture the atmosphere of the place and it’s just forbidden, which I find rather frustrating. And believe me, they’re watching you closely… :(

I was surprised by this very well-known portrait of Napoleon by Ingres, full of pomp and circumstances (I had only seen reproductions of); I found Napoleon looking a bit overwhelmed by all this decorum.

My favourite painting, was that of a black woman Portrait de femme noire by Madame Benoist. The black woman seems to have been a freed slave. It was painted a few years after the abolition of slavery.
Quite magnificent.
Madame Benoist learnt her art with Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun

I had forgotten all about this charming child portrait of Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zuniga by Goya which is full of interesting details, like the cats, the magpie, the birdcage, which attract your eyes, but you’re always attracted back to the lovely face of the boy and the stunning red of his outfit.

When I got out, it was night and I walked up the Champs-Elysées to Place de l’Etoile, with Arc de Triomphe. When you look towards Place de la Concorde, at Christmas time they have this wheel. I like the way it looks at night, but a lot of Parisians hate it.

Visiting Musee du Quai Branly

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Also called Musée des Arts Premiers, a brand new museum, which opened in June 2006. All the artefacts are beautifully displayed, but I would have enjoyed a little more pedagogy, as I am a total ignoramus when it comes to ethnography, which explains why I would be at a loss to comment what I saw. I enjoyed it as a show or as an art exhibition, though.

Alternately, you can download the file here Your browser must have Adobe flashplayer

  1. The music is the intro to Eagles’ Hotel California, which can be downloaded here
  2. I wrote about the museum here in French
  3. The last two slides, were taken when I got out of the Museum
  4. Set of Musée du Quai Branly photos here

The other side…

Journal
“This and That”
Blogging in Paris

 

I took a photo of this unusual sign this morning on a street next to a hospital and wondered if anyone would guess what’s on the other side of this keyhole. Of course, you can see blue skies and clouds just as I can, but what’s the sign for?

Well, it’s the logo of a funeral home. It gave me a good laugh. Even more so, when I saw that their shopwindow showed “the other bank“.
It set me wondering if France was the only country that had funeral companies next to hospitals, or if this was international.
I have always lived in the vicinity of a hospital and where I’m living now, there’s a hospice and of course, on the other side of the avenue there is a funeral home. Mourning families don’t have far to go, I guess.
Is it the same where you live?

Click to listen to this post in French


Nothing to do of course, with Shirl’s blog, The Other Side