Photos I have Taken of People Taking Photos of Dumb Shit

When you live in a city with a lot of tourists, art students, models and photographers, it's not unusual to see someone taking a picture. You get used to it, you even get a little jaded about it. And sometimes you think, really? You're gonna take a picture of that?

And thus, a photo series was born. 

This last one turned out to be actual French pop star Yelle, 

who just played at First Ave in Minneapolis and at Coachella.

If you look at the photos on her Facebook site, 

you will see her wearing this exact leopard-print catsuit in concert.

Who knows, maybe the rest of this photo series will also turn out to contain famous people, amazing works of art (I mean, besides the Victory of Samothrace), or the work of celebrated photographers!

La Commune de Paris

While you mostly see pictures of Jeff and I in various states of leisure, there are certain practical reasons the University sent me to Paris. One of my goals while here was to learn more about the city and its history during the 19th century, a time when France in general and Paris in particular was a pretty crazy place to live. An event that's always been fascinating to both Jeff and me is the brief, four month period when Paris had its own revolution and formed its own socialist government. 

This was right after the rather humiliating loss of the Franco-Prussian war and a very long, painful siege that left Parisians in bad shape. When the French army came in the middle of the night to get some canons that the Parisians had bought for the National Guard, on March 18, 1871, people in the working class areas of Montmartre weren't having it. Along with their local National Guardsmen, they chased the national army out of the city entirely.

We recently went to an exhibit of photos and other documents from the Commune at the Paris Hôtel de Ville. You can see some photos of the city under the Commune here. 

This poster is calling for the construction of barricades to defend the city streets. 

When Parisians have a revolution, they like to tear up the cobblestones and build giant walls out of them. That is the correct and traditional way to do it.

These posters publicized the new laws established by the Commune. Among them are the separation of church and state; free, universal and secular education; and the abolishment of night work for bakers. Some of these things later became French law under the Third Republic.

Unfortunately, things didn't go so well for the Commune. Internally, things were tough - the city was once again under siege, now by the national French forces. There was little money to pay soldiers or employees, and though they probably could have raided the Banque de France, they did not. Besides, not everyone was excited about the new government, and I imagine the formation of a Comité du Salut Public (Public Safety Committee) didn't reassure them - that's the same committee Robespierre lead during the Terror.

Long story short (here is a more detailed version, from a pro-Communard standpoint, for those interested), during the week of May 21-28, things turned ugly. The national army invaded the city with the help of some Prussian troops who were still hanging around. There were battles in the streets. Knowing they were about to be defeated, angry Communards decided if they couldn't have Paris, nobody could, and set fire to a number of major buildings, like the Hôtel de Ville, the Palais de Justice, the Palais des Tuileries, and the Palais Royal, among others. 

A lot of the fires were blamed on working-class women called "Les Pétroleuses," 

later vilified in the press.

In order to put a definitive end to the Commune, the French government decided that all support for it was a serious crime, punishable by death or exile. Accordingly, they summarily executed many people believed to have fought for the Commune - sometimes this belief was based on light evidence, such as  looking at a man's hands and deciding he might have shot a gun recently. People disagree about how many people were killed during la Semaine sanglante (the Bloody Week), but estimates range between 10 and 30,000. 

A good number of them were shot against one of the walls of Père Lachaise cemetery. There is now a sculpture and a monument on either side of this wall, commemorating the people who fought and died in Paris's 1871 Revolution.

So while many people may think Paris is about luxury goods, or "who can doubt that Paris is a woman?", or la vie de bohème or whatever, and it is all those things (except a woman), but it's good to remember it's also a battleground.

Village de Charonne

Village de Charonne, like a lot of Paris, used to be its own town. Over the years Paris has expanded and eaten up many little villages. Charonne, much like Butte Aux Cailles, still has a little bit of that 12th century small town feel. Recently we explored it using another paris.fr walking tour as our guide. We began at the Porte de Bagnolet Metro station, heading up a street that is actually just a huge flight of stairs into an area packed with cute houses and tiny streets. If you've been following along, you know that small, isolated enclaves filled with cute houses is a running theme for us. It's especially nice when they have colorful doors and majestic beasts.

Descending from Porte de Bagnolet, we stopped by Paris' version of the Mary Tyler Moore statue. Here is Edith Piaf, singing or fighting off birds or something. It's pretty underwhelming. 

Near Place Edith Piaf, we found a graffiti reworking of the classic sign prohibiting the posting of notices. 

"Défense d'Afficher: Loi du 29 Juillet 1881" has been changed to "Défense d'Elephant: Loi du 29 Juillet 1881" It appears to be working.

I'm a fan of bare vine-covered trellises. Here's one in Square Antoine Blondin.

The first blossoms have appeared throughout Paris. 

How are things in Minnesota?

At the old center of Village de Charonne is, of course, an old church. Construction of St-Germain de Charonne began in the 12th Century. That's old. 

St-Germain de Charonne is one of two churches in Paris that still has a small adjacent cemetery. 

I'm not sure what's with the rooster on top of the cross. Or is it a squirrel?

Either way, it reconfigures the trinity in an interesting way.

Lia at the lower end of Rue Stendhal, which follows the edge of the cemetery as it goes up the hill.

 

Around the corner from the church there was a fashion photo shoot going on. A lady in leopard print on a bridge over train tracks. Edgy.

UPDATE: We later saw this woman pictured on a magazine cover and realized: It's Yelle! She's actually a pretty big French pop star. Here is the video for her recent single in which she wears the same outfit.

"Mean Dog" sign on the gate of a rundown Parisian trash house.

Between Rue de Bagnolet and Père Lachaise Cemetery there is a Jardin Naturel- sort of a recreating of the orginal ecosystem of the area. It reminded me of the parks and swamps around where I grew up.

 

Just outside the park, a door leading into Père Lachaise.

Walking in Paris

When the sound of children playing in the hallway goes from cute to rage-inducing; when you've heard, all too clearly, your neighbor urinate for the eighth time that afternoon; when the same wall-sharing neighbor is just playing "Empire State of Mind" over and over and over at top volume- you might need to take a walk.

It's a common refrain that Paris is a great walking city. From the general feelings evoked by passing through neighborhoods to the infinite details contained in each one, Paris is a great place to perambulate aimlessly. However, it's also enjoyable to stroll with intent. There are many walking guides available to lead you around Paris. Many offer such amazing sights as Notre Dame! the Louvre! the Eiffel Tower! Kind of dull and predictable. These are great things to see, but do you really need help finding them? If the disembodied voice of a Rick Steves audio guide in your ear is your idea of a good way to experience Paris, you might be beyond hope. 

There are a couple problems with most Paris guides, walking or general. First is the number of famous sights. The checklist is long enough to eat up any vacation time. It's stressful business seeing everything you are supposed to see, let alone taking a chance on something lesser known. Second, many guides refer to outdated, clichéd notions of Paris: "Bohemian Montmartre" "Artist's Enclave Montparnasse" "Elegant Champs Élysées" Look around when you reach Place du Tertre in Montmatre- these are not bohemians, they're from Ohio. And while the H&M on Champs Élysées is my favorite outpost of the chain, it lacks the moneyed grace of the Avenue referenced in many guidebooks.

What Lia and I have been searching for are guides written for people who are going to be in Paris more than one week. Something more than a list of who died/lived/fought here. We recently found one in an obvious but kind of unexpected place- the City of Paris website. Paris.fr has a large collection of walking tours for every investigative inclination- parks, history, neighborhoods, monuments, etc. We have done two walks thus far, and both have been great. The first was the Butte-Aux-Cailles neighborhood walk. The second, which we did yesterday, was an exploration of "parks secret and romantic" in the 7th Arrondissement. The website offers some information in English, but the bulk of it is in French. I have found the Google Translation Toolbar an effective alternative to actually learning the language.

First stop: Square Récamier, a beautiful shade garden tucked away in the low middle area of the block. It was the first time we have ever been the only people in a park in Paris. 

We will be back when things bloom.

Lia near the entrance

moss!

 Lia at an entrance to Le Bon Marché, the first department store in Paris, founded in 1852, near Square Récamier. The tilework, from 1876, advertises ribbons(rubans) and lace(dentelles).

Heading west on rue de Babylone, we visited le Jardin de Catherine Labouré.

La Pagode cinema, founded 1896.

Lost stuffed animal and moss on the wall of the Rodin sculpture garden. 

We recommend the Rodin museum, but did not visit on this walk.

the golden dome of l'Hotel des Invalides- the military history museum

signs on power generators parked on Boulevard des Invalides

partial translations:

left: Don't urinate here, thanks.

right: Watch the cables when pissing!!! There's juice(electricity)!!!

There's a great place for pissing 10 meters to the left!!

The 7th is home to many embassies and government offices. 

Why did we send a Floridian?

lightpost and entrance of Ministry of Defense

Basilica Sainte-Clotilde

I'm guessing that's Ste-Clotilde impaled on the middle peak.

a typically beautiful church

visible hair on a female religious figure struck us as uncommon

sculpture in the park in front of Ste-Clotilde

 we argued about textual analysis

At 4:30 on Sunday afternoons, Notre Dame offers free concerts of sacred music featuring a different organist every week. Yesterday we heard Marcel Dupré's "Symphonie Passion" performed by Alain Bouvet. It was a relaxing end to a pleasant afternoon. 

the organ at Notre Dame Cathedral

Rouen

Yesterday we went to Rouen with Pa Swope and Colleen, where we went to the very justly famous cathedral. Notre-Dame de Rouen is interesting for many reasons: it is about nine hundred years old; it was briefly the tallest structure in the world; it has inspired artwork in such people as Monet, Flaubert, Huysmans, and probably piles of other people; and it has been through fires, tornadoes, and World War II but is somehow still standing, mostly intact.

There's also a row of statues in the back part of the nave. I'm unable to find anything that explains what they were doing there or where they normally reside, but they seemed like strange, serious apparitions who had gotten misplaced somehow.

We also visited the birthplace of Gustave Flaubert. Or, as I should say, Gustave Flaubert!!!!!!

Possibly I was more excited about this than the others, but fortunately the Maison Flaubert is also a museum of medical history, so there were many grisly artifacts to entertain them. The most amazing relic for me: the original Loulou, who stood in all his stuffed glory over Flaubert as he wrote "Un Coeur Simple" ("A Simple Heart"). Here is a photo I stole from another site:

credit: http://ecoles.ac-rouen.fr/