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Paris Design Week is Too Short!
While taking a shortcut through Place des Vosges, my eyes saw photographs. They really saw pictures of garbage. Place des Vosges is on annual exhibition circuit for Paris Design Week. Paris Design Week is too short! Over 350 exhibitors and I only saw three in two days! "Pictures of Garbage", new types of flooring in a bench display, and artsy designs in the Orangerie. You can't just pass on by, you have to stay and study and enjoy!
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Wrapping the Arc de Triomphe
Some dreams become reality. Fabric is covering the Arc de Triomphe sixty years after Christo and Jeanne-Claude envisioned the project L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped. “L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped” is entirely funded by the Estate of Christo V. Javacheff through the sale of Christo’s works of art. It receives no public funds”. In mid-August steel protective framing covered the arch. On Sunday, September 12, 25,000 square meters of fabric began its descent. By September 18, 3,000 meters of red cord will complete the package. This gift to Paris will stay wrapped until October 3. The noisy roundabout will fall silent for the three weekends between September 18 and October 3. Only those…
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Montmartre Morning Relatively Full of Sights and Sounds
A Thursday edition of the newspaper, Le Parisien, carried a story with recommended restaurants on Montmartre's back streets. The morning quest turned into more. On this quest, I experienced the sights and sounds of Montmartre on a quiet September 2021 Thursday morning along not very crowded streets. The article spoke of various chefs, including a three-star chef on Rue Lepic. The whole idea was to locate the restaurants, see if they are open on Saturdays for lunch and head back home. I found the restaurants but the real pièce de résistance (the best part of the meal) were Montmartre’s back streets.
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Appreciating and Admiring Oceanic and Arctic Circle Art Virtually
Appreciating and Admiring Oceanic and Arctic Circle Art Virtually - Jacques Chirac. On a Thursday I visited my friend’s niece. Gisèle, at an art gallery. The gallery is a stone’s throw away from the National School of Fine Arts (École des Beaux Arts) in the Saint-Germain des Près quarter. It was the first Thursday of the month, and coincidentally a virtual live-streaming tour was about to begin. I was one of two live guests at a full exhibition tour of Oceanic and Eskimo (Arctic Circle) Art. During non-pandemic times, you can stop in at Galerie Meyer and ask questions about the exhibits . During pandemic times, virtual live-streaming and catching…
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Paris Churches and Art Galleries–New Museums?
Starving for art and culture in Paris? Churches and art galleries are filling the culture gap left by temporary museum closings in Paris....Eglise Saint-Merry as a Gallery...Walking near the Centre Georges Pompidou, I felt an urge to walk into the Eglise (church) Saint-Merry. As I entered, the interior of Saint-Merry mixes scaffolding with temporary art.
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Notre-Dame de Paris: Oaks and Stone – the Latest News
The day after the fire, President Emmanuel Macron said that Notre-Dame de Paris would be repaired by 2024. That was the easy part. Where do you find trees at least 100-years old to replace Eugène Viollet-le-Duc's spire? Where do you find the stones to replace those from 760 year ago that were damaged by water and fire? Finding trees and stone is the easy part. The race against time is the hard part. The President and the committee in charge of the reconstruction have decided to restore the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral to its 1865 renovation. The oak trees for the spire (flêche) are located west of Paris in the…
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Life-Size Marionettes at Paris’s Opéra Comique
Watching Opéra Baroque was the most entertaining virtual event that I have seen lately. Basil Twist has modernized a 1753 opera-ballet using life-size puppets. In the New York Times article: “Basil Twist in Paris: When Puppets Meet Baroque Opera” you read about two Americans who worked on this production in New York for the presentation in Paris at the Opéra Comique. The opera-ballet is full of special effects, including about 60 sheep, Mr. Twist, the stage director said in an interview. What you will see-The life-size marionettes/puppets and live artists perform Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville's "Titon et l'Aurore".
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A Day in Paris When It Snowed
One day last week the blackbirds (merles in French) were chirping away in a choral cacophony of song at at 5:30 am. I wondered if springtime was around the corner -- in mid-January! That springtime moment was short-lived. Thirty-two departments, including Paris and Ile-de-France, were placed under snow warnings. Saturday was going to be a snow day in Paris. Météo-France and our Echo-dot, Alexa, confirmed that the snow would begin by 11 am Saturday.
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Springtime Silence in Paris for 55 Days
It is time to turn the page on Chapter 2020. Who would have guessed that one would feel a bit nostalgic for the Paris Springtime in 2020!? All of the ups and downs and changes during the Springtime in Paris lockdown from total confinement to mostly open for summer and back to partially open; having to differentiate between what is essential (food) and non-essential (books) and back to semi-partial of partial and curfews. Aiiieee!! A Nostalgic Period? One Parisian confinement period stands out among all the rest of 2020. Between March 15 and May 11, 2020 Paris went silent.
