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!

Last Weekend

We had a pretty spectacular weekend. 

On Saturday, while pursuing nice, reasonably priced shoes on Rue du Faubourg St-Antoine, we stopped by Le Lieu du Design, which is hosting a food-related design show. There were a lot of fun, quirky and sometimes even useful entries.

Chocolat Chaud-on-a-Stick and Pot-au-Feu Animals

 edible finger puppets and extra-virginal white chocolate Marys

the exhibition space, with Lia and wall of Alessi

tattooed and spiked crabs and clams

 a different view to highlight the Wu Tang detail

savory aperitif cakes to be cooked and served in shells

compound butter gems

chocolate record

As you can tell by the photos below, Saturday night we partied. A couple of Lia's coworkers hosted a cocktail party, fueled by gracious donations of Canadian rye, Italian meatballs, guacamole and champagne, among other things. 

Sunday we attended a performance by Paris native Eliane Radigue at Centquatre (104), a remarkable arts space housed in what was once the municipal funerary services complex. Eliane Radigue is an electronic music artist whose very austere, minimal works use long, slowly transforming, overlapping, modulating waves of sound, sometimes embellished with samples of voice or instruments. It's an exercise in intense listening or intense boredom, depending on your taste. In this interview she explains her creative process and technique: http://vimeo.com/8983993

 Most of her career was spent in front of one of these:

That's not a switchboard operator, it's an avant garde musician.

Unfortunately, she no longer performs on the giant ARP, just a large mixing board.

Here she is after the performance.

art faces

Centquatre is currently home to La Manège Carré Sénart, an amazing carousel made up of mechanical bugs and animals. Some parts can be operated by levers and hand-cranks. It's really cool.

in action:

 We found this gem of a room divider just down the block from Centquatre.

We walked home along Canal St-Martin, which on Sundays is closed to car traffic, making it a lovely spot for a waterside stroll.

Duluth/Paris

Duluth native Charlie Parr visited Paris Friday night. I've been hearing about and consistently missing Mr. Parr's live performances in the Twin Cities for years. I guess it takes both of us traveling far from home to finally get us in the same room together. The show was on a boat docked along the shore of the Seine on the left bank. It was cramped, hot and kinda stinky, but the beer was cheap and the show was great. He played for almost two hours, working through a wide catalog of folk and country blues.

the quay

the gangplank

a video I poached from youtube

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