20 April 2006
Sometimes I get frustrated at Paris. It's a city with a lot of hype and it's hard getting by here. It's hard to meet people. It's hard to get gigs. The language is supremely frustrating. I feel constantly outside and like everything it promised was just a bunch of hype.
Then I see views like this. Every time I get all annoyed, I look up and see the Eiffel Tower looming picturesquely or the gold dome of Invalides over a spring garden and I fall for the hype all over again.
20 April 2006
Rodin did this nice sculpture of a female nude reading a scroll and sort of writhing. You can't see her flowing hair, but look at her narrow chin. Look at her breasts hanging boyantly. Look at her belly button, the bones of her hips. Look at her penis and testicles. Look at the fine lines of her narrow legs, and her small feet. Wonder what this statue is all about. Keep wondering because you're too cheap for the audio guide.
20 April 2006
Jasmine flowers remind me of my parent's old house.
20 April 2006
Pink blossoms in the garden of the Rodin Museum in Paris, France.
20 April 2006
The Garden of the Rodin Museum in Paris, France
20 April 2006
The tomb of Napolean is in that church.
21 April 2006
«Semaine de la ligne 11»
"Week of the 11 Line"
My favorite metro line has a week just to celebrate it's stops. It only takes a week, because it doesn't have many stops, but one of them is near my flat and it travels very rapidly bewteen it's stops and comes often. Also, the station of Arts et Metiers is really cool looking.
Anyway, it's not too late to celebrate the 11 line. There's an on going exposition at the Marie at Noisy-Le-Sec and in the commercial center at Rosny-Sous-Bois
On saturday the 29th, there's a spectacle at 15h with the schools of circus arts. Eneter at the park Decesari
Also a concert and cocktails (if I understand this, and there's a good chance I don't) at the place de l'Hôtel de Ville de Paris.
If you actually are interested, it would be best to check the RATP website or ask a station agent.
22 April 2006
I caught this exhibition on the last day. It was called "The Hands of Buddha" and featured strange, giant rock-like things.
22 April 2006
A chain of Laughing Buddhas dangle a fish-hook crucifix into the mouth of an aligator with a giant wolf head and a fish tail.
The animal evoked images of werewolves and other fantastic creatures. The largeness of it's head made it as much an impossibility as it's cross-class body.
The fish is an ancient symbol for Jesus. "I will make you a fisher of men" with himself as bait on the hook. But what kind of men is he catching, that have Jesus' symbol in their tail end, but in the front, all predatory?
22 April 2006
At the other end of the chain of Chinese Laughing Buddhas in the Indian Buddha, holding a fish pole.
Is Buddha then, like Peter, a fisher of men? Do the Laughing Buddhas imply a sort of popularization of his image, a trend that's even more exemplified by the image of Jesus? What does Buddha catch with these increasingly vulgar icons?
Note how the shadows fall from the Buddha and look as if the image of an Angel is projected on the wall, perhaps further tying the Christian and Buddhist images together.
22 April 2006
This is the former (and perhaps current) home of Nicolas Flamel.
If this name is sort of ringing a bell and you don't know why, it's because he's the inventor of the Philosopher's Stone both in the Harry Potter books and (maybe) in Real Life.
It's one of the oldest houses in Paris, but it's basement laboratory was destroyed when the metro line 1 was fist installed.
22 April 2006
The sign says: «Maison de Nicolas Flamel et de Pernelle sa femme - Pour conserver le souvenir de leur fondation charitable la Ville de Paris a [restaure] en [1909] l'inscription primitive datée de 1407»
"House of Nicolas Flamel and his wife Pernelle - To preserve the memory of their charitable foundation, in [1909] the City of Paris has restored the ancient inscriptions, dating to 1407"
I think that says 1909...
The upper part of the Flamel house is being worked on, but the bottom floor is a very expensive restaurant.
22 April 2006
The outside of the bottom floor of the Flamel house is covered in carvings that date to 1407. I've heard that it's one of the oldest buildings in Paris.
22 April 2006
Words and pictures are carved all over the outside fo the Flamel house. The carvings date to 1407. Do they hold a key to the myseries of alchemy?
22 April 2006
Many of the carvings on the Flamel house are of angels, several of which are playing musical instruments. This is an angelic lute player.
22 April 2006
The top angel is playing a small, portative organ (that is, an organ that you can carry with you) and the bottom angel looks like it's playing some sort of harp
22 April 2006
This art installation at Les Halles reminds me of one that I saw at the Venice Biannual which included a lot of pictures of the Mona Lisa
22 April 2006
The note at the top of the movie explains that it;s «le 3eme plus grand film de tous le temps» or "The third greatest film of all time."
25 April 2006
An ancient library across the street from Cité International des Arts at sunset. Look at the flowers in the garden!
25 April 2006
An ancient library across the street from Cité International des Arts at sunset. It has an amazing-looking garden.
25 April 2006
Blossoming trees in Paris at sunset. The whole square was filled with these trees and when the breeze pickep up, blossoms swirled around nicole and I, like fluffy pink snow.
25 April 2006
Blossoming trees in Paris at sunset. The whole square was filled with these trees and when the breeze pickep up, blossoms swirled around nicole and I, like fluffy pink snow.
Spring time in Paris...
25 April 2006
Pink blossoms at sunset in Paris 4e
25 April 2006
Pink blossoms at sunset in Paris 4e
25 April 2006
«4e Arr. QUAI des CELESTINS»
"4th Arrondissement/ Quai des Celestins"
(A quai is a road right along side a river or canal or aquatic thing.)
I point at a street sign.
25 April 2006
I saw Christoph OGIERMAN and Jürgen PALMTAG (both of Germany) play a concert at Cité Internationale des Arts. It was possibly the best concert I've yet heard in Paris. There was something in their asthetic that I've been missing in France. A certain grittiness.
27 April 2006
I bought more leaf-wrapped cheese. This one had a real leaf and not just paper printed to look like leaves. It was a chevre (aka goat cheese) and was kind of greenish moldy with an odd brain texture on top. But the taste! Ah, like cream but with goat! This is one of the best cheeses I've yet had. Also, unlike the previous leafy cheese, no dead animal smell.
27 April 2006
Nicole took this still life with baguette, tea packets, chvre, emmental, knife and more baugette.
27 April 2006
I was coming home from class and there were bouquets every where in the Marie des Lilas metro station. Mariano told me that earlier in the day, people there were distributing pain au chocolat (Americans would call them "choclate croissants") to everyone who came through.
I asked the station agent why there were flowers and he said it was because the construction on the station had been completed and thus the station was re-opened.
It never closed, but I'm happy the construction is done. I like to see these things celebrated.
28 April 2006
I went for a walk along the covered portion of the Canal St Martin and everything is leafing or blooming.
