Friends

Sunday morning was spent doing mostly domestic things in preparation for meeting Sherrel and Boris, friends from Melbourne. We met at hier-aujourd'hui-demain shop on the corner of rue de Bretagne and our street, and proceeded to the weekend oyster stall outside the supermarket whose excellent wares we had previously sampled. Having chosen the oysters we wanted, we went away to purchase the other bits and pieces to make an oyster lunch perfect and returned to pick up the opened delicacies. On returning to our apartment we opened a bottle of wine and sat sown to our meal. It was a jolly afternoon spent with good company and good food. Just a note to mention also that the bread we ate was bought from Poilâne and it was the best!
After Sherrel and Boris left we collapsed for a quiet evening.

Le Monde take on Républque Bouillon

Nappes ou cascades de brume, son installation se déploie telle une aurore voilée sur la place de la République. Si la sculpture de brume est par essence éphémère, cette rencontre singulière et magique avec la ville peut résonner durablement dans la mémoire de ceux qui l'auront traversée.

Nuit Blanche

One of the reasons we came to Paris at this time of year is because we stumbled on Nuit Blanche two years ago when we were here. And tonight we were not disappointed.
Artists are invited to create installations and place them in various parts of the city and people then spend the night wandering from one installation to another. We managed to get to about 9 before we flagged at about 10.30pm and went home to a glass of champagne.
We saw an installation including petticoats and singlets for people of various ages with commentary applauding the right of people to have freedom of thought, conscience and religion and to express those openly. Most of the others we saw were not so serious. One was called a bouillon giving the effect of walking through a very thick fog. Possibly the most enjoyable was in a very fine church building where a choir called Lamoureux was singing songs from Mendelssohn, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Poulenc and one other whom we can't remember. We also saw phone sized videos ranging on size from large to postage stamp size and close by in a park there were hands projected on to trees and hugging them. We also saw parts of two movies, one about dance and another about playing soccer blind. On a street corner there was old war footage being projected for what reason we didn't hang around to find out.
As we wandered around the rue de Vielle Temple and rue des Rosiers we heard but managed otherwise to miss completely, marching music with people marching and being controlled by whistle. The one thing we were really interested in seeing was something about people disappearing but the queue was down the street and around two corners. When we came back later in the evening it was even longer. So we missed out. All in all though, it was a very satisfying evening.
Here is web link: http://quefaire.paris.fr/nuitblanche

A Saturday morning stroll near Republique

We were headed north, towards République, when we noticed that in Rue Perée there were several electric cars plugged in and charging, awaiting hire. Rental could easily be effected by entering your details electronically on a nearby pole.
When we reached Rue du Temple, there were police motor cycles leading a Falun Gong protest. Those guys could certainly teach Australians a thing or two about demonstrations - brass band in blue and white, ladies in traditional costume twirling lotus flowers.
After enjoying this spectacle we explored the Marché Couvert Saint Michel, and passed through a triumphal arch in honour of "Louis the Great" (Louis XIV b.1638, reigned 72 years, called roi soleil) before returning home via République.

Left Bank

Today we ventured over to the left bank for the first time this trip. As we walked around some of the streets, we noted that items we had seen elsewhere were considerably more expensive here. There are some interesting shops so window shopping is worthwhile.
When we first crossed the river we encountered a large building called the National Language Institute. It is the Académie Française where it is decided which words may be admitted to the French language. If this body doesn't allow it, then it is not a French word! It is a suitably imposing building across the river from the Louvre.
We passed the statue of Voltaire and continued until we sat down at a restaurant that has been continuously functioning for 110 years and looks the same as it did then. Unfortunately, we were ignored so we didn't hang around for coffee but eventually found ourselves at a restaurant with a singing waiter - much more satisfactory!
The main aim of our walk today was to go to the Luxemberg Gardens. The palace attached (now the Senate) and the gardens were built by Marie de Medici to remind her of Italy. The gardens, now public, are full of beautiful garden beds, tree lined avenues and a very Italianate pool. Apart from wandering around there are many other activities catered for. There are chess sets, tennis courts, children's activities and many seats simply for enjoying the view.
We came back via a restaurant called Nanashi which is just around the corner from our apartment and had a very late lunch there. We both agreed, that in terms of vegetable content and production it was much better than the vaunted place we went last night. Our Fooding 2013 App says "what a health food heaven! Amongst crates of organic vegetables, rice sacks, soy source and natural cereals, Kaori Endo prepares a daily fish, meat, or vegie bento."

Macéo restaurant

Having spent a large part of the day looking at Braque paintings, on Thursday evening we went to Macéo, a restaurant that looked quite interesting to us. What caught our attention was that it emphasised the use of vegetables, something that seems quite unusual in France. We arrived for our 8pm booking and were greeted in friendly style. The room is panelled with bevelled mirrors and has a Palm Court art deco ambience, quiet and with capacity to sustain conversation.
The waiter who produced the menus spoke perfect English and I have to admit, somewhat sheepishly that it was a relief. It really made the evening. We had already decided on a 3 course a menu formule, as are going for another meal next week which promises to be very interesting.
Having said all that we found the meal well presented, interesting but not too out of the ordinary in Australian terms but in French terms probably quite unusual.
We also felt that the courses came a bit too quickly. We were out of the restaurant in an hour and a half following a three course meal and a bottle of wine - La Soula 2007 made from Carignan, Grenache, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. It comes from the Côtes de Catalan region of France near the Pyrenées and is grown in granite soil possibly similar to that of the Heathcote area of Victoria. Like a growing number of European wines it is organic.
It has been a warm day but this evening is humid, warm and generally unpleasant. It rained while we were in the restaurant and as I write this it is raining again so we got home just in time.
Our stroll back to the station led us down rue Molière and past a statue of same.

Georges Braque at the Grand Palais

Last night I looked out the window and decided I liked the view across the road with its eerie lighting so I took a photo just for fun. Note the ceiling beams visible through one window.
Today we went to the Braque exhibition, which started in Paris Grand Palais in September, a retrospective to commemorate 50 years since his death.

We didn't realise what an epic journey it would be. We arrived at the Grand Palais around 11am or a bit before expecting a queue which would move reasonably fast as they do in Melbourne. That's not what happened. There were two queues, one for those who had bought tickets on line and one for the other unfortunates yet to purchase same - that was us. So we stood in the queue, and stood, and stood watching batches of the ticketed being allowed in until we thought that this may be a practical joke at the expense of us or that the ticket office only opens après midi. Then a few people from our queue were let in and it seemed there was some chance of seeing the exhibition today. So we stood some more. It took us about an hour and a half to get to the ticket office. Those without tickets are definitely second class citizens! Having bought tickets we went upstairs (two levels). And finally found the entrance to the exhibition.

And what an exhibition....there are more than 250 works, probably most of the works he ever did. We noted that paintings had been brought from all over Europe, the US and UK but none, that we noted at least, from Australia.
There were also photos of him and videos of him as well as his sketches and cartoons, and special editions of books - among the last an amazing series of illustrations he did for an edition of an Ancient Greek epic about creation (see a pic below) - and of some of his works prepared for or executed in the Louvre, particularly the birds that are painted in the ceiling in one of the rooms in The Louvre. In the mid 20th century he was the only living artist with works in the Louvre. It would be interesting to know whether this peculiar honour has now been bestowed on others.

It is a terrific exhibition and well worth the queuing. We particularly enjoyed the cubist period which he and Picasso developed together. They were very good friends and lived in close proximity in Monmartre for several years.

We arrived back to our district at around 3pm and had a beer and chips for lunch in preparation for a restaurant event tonight.