Paris sur la Pluie

The bells at Notre Dame ringing out late into the night to herald the Feast of the Assumption should have alerted me to today’s jour ferier, but no. I was blissfully unaware of the importance of the midnight seranade until I tried to buy breakfast, only to find that all the boulangeries were closed. Quelle horreur!

The unexpected public holiday and the relentless rain all day long made for a quiet day, not venturing very far from the Cité.

Stopping to window-shop in the glorious stationery boutiques in nearby Rue du Pont Louis Phillipe, lead to us discovering a fantastic little creperie - L'Ebouillanté - round the corner in Rue des Barres. Talk about the perfect comfort food for a cold and wintery day - the homemade Tarte Tatin (with crème fraiche, of course) was worth coming to Paris for, all by itself.

Looking for under-cover entertainment options and with most of the smaller museums closed for the holiday, we caught a movie at Bastille (version originale, of course) – “The Tree” (L’Arbre), which turns out to be an Australian-French co-production, featuring Charlotte Gainsburg not coping very well with life in a sunny and beautiful North Queensland. (But honestly, who can blame her really, given that no she’s doubt spent far too much time in cosmopolitan Paris?)

Emerged from cinema back into the rain. But luckily, there are worse cities to find yourself in than Paris, when you are looking for a cosy café in which to while away the evening, with some dear friends, a glass of red wine and some yummy cheese...

Herbaceous Borders

Spent a very sociable day today, mostly in cafes, enjoying catching up with visiting friends over morning coffee, lunch and dinner.

After dodging a couple of heavy downpours, it was a very pleasant afternoon to be wandering around the Jardins des Tuileries, admiring the gorgeous plantings of summer flowers and wondering if anybody ever tries to take home the ubiquitous green metal chairs so thoughtfully scattered around the grounds, which - let's face it - would look fab in any garden...

Ciné Eté

Thursday night was a fun evening at the Ciné Claire de Lune – an open-air cinema – in Place des Vosges, Paris’ original park.

The main feature - the wonderfully melodramatic 1939’s black and white version of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” - was projected onto a huge screen, right in front of Victor Hugo’s impressive mansion overlooking the park.

I was surprised how well it’s aged (the film, not the house - though you can see that even in the distance, it still looks splendid, too). The crowd seemed completely transfixed by what must be a very familiar story in this part of town.

This lovely group exhibition - “Gravity and Grace” (La Pesanteur et la Grâce) - was a very pleasant discovery today, at the Colleges des Bernardins at Pont Marie, very close to the Cité.

The foyer of the former monastery has a stunning vaulted ceiling and is a beautiful setting for the work (the piece pictured is by Marthe Wéry, but there's work by the other international artists involved, on the website http://www.collegedesbernardins.fr/index.php/art/expositions.html).

It’s refreshing to see so many small, independent shops, cinemas and theatres still in existence here in Paris – independent movie theatres, in particular, seem to be very few and far between in London and Sydney.

This tiny and unexpected place (the Théâtre de la Huchette,, above) is right in the heart of the tourist district of St Germain. I spent some of my afternoon tracking down another indie outfit in the area – The San Francisco Bookstore for a couple of second-hand English-language books. I know, I know…no wonder my French isn’t getting any better!

Tour de force

Thought this picture said it all today!

Pont de Bir Hakeim - near the Australian Consulat, where I went to do my civic duty by voting in our riveting General Election - offers a great, uninterrupted view of the tower...

Okay, so this one says it too... (couldn't resist!)

Boulevard St Germain

Although strictly speaking a Velo du Jour moment, just have to mention that I had my first ride on a Velibes today – how exciting!

I confined it to an early morning tour, mostly along the banks of the Seine, to minimise any harm to innocent bystanders, as I find the whole driving on the right hand side thing, just too difficult for mots.

Anyone watching me as I attempt to cross the various rues and boulevards, would see a slightly disoriented tourist (though I’m surely not the only one), looking every which way - including occasionally upwards - to check for traffic before she crosses the street. And still I can’t quite get right… don’t suppose it can have anything to do with Parisians’ driving, could it? Mais non!

Much sightseeing to be done today, along the picturesque side-streets off the Boulevard St Germain.

Since many of the galleries were closed, we set our sights instead on the wall-art in some completely unexpected places. I guess you’d call them transfers as the images are printed on paper and stuck on the wall, but at what heights!?

I am deeply admiring of their climbing skills – especially given that I spend quiet a lot of time up ladders these days, installing my own work - though something tells me they probably work a little more quickly than I do (and maybe in the dark)?

My friends who were I town today tell me that Banksy’s Kissing Policemen – famously stencilled straight onto the wall rather than paper (though I don’t think Banksy is afraid of heights either) – has been framed under perspex by Brighton Council (close to where they live). True to form, though, apparently someone has graffiti-ed over the top of it!

A Day in the Studio

Spent the day in and around the studio today. The great thing about the Cite is the huge range of artists, living and working in the studios here. During the day the courtyard is full of the sounds of opera singers practising, musicians playing piano, guitar and sitar,

dancers walking between the studios and sculptors working in and chatting outside their ground floor studios – all echoing round the buildings.

Somewhat ironically, the visual artists are much less visible (!), only occasionally identifiable by the vague smell of turps as you pass by their studio doors.

Along 5 kilometres of the Seine, the Paris Beach – complete with sand, deck-chairs and outsized potted plants - is in full swing. I only explored the quay as far as the Tour St Jacques at Chatelet, but still managed to find a couple of curiosities to photograph, on the back streets on my way back to the Rue de l’Hotel de Ville.

Burning off the Pastries

My most notable achievement today was not artistic, but linguistic - participating in my first ever gym class in French!

I can't say I'm very proud of what I'm doing to this noble and lovely language, but I seem to be getting by surprisingly smoothly so far. The Parisians I've encountered have been incredibly patient and competent at deciphering my garbled outpourings.

Here are some of the things I encountered on my way to and from this momentous occasion today:

This bizarre and quite freakish Papillion a la Marie Antoinette (or maybe I mean Marie Antoinette au Papillion?) in a textile shop window on Rue Ledru-Rollin.

Reflections in the windows of the grand but derelict Art Nouveau Samaritaine Department Store near the Pont Neuf, as it awaits - refurbishment, demolition, who knows?

A gorgeous blue and white Deux Chevaux, with an elegantly hand-written envelope addressed to the owner (?) on its windscreen drew lots of attention from other passers-by too.

A colourful bistrot on Rue de Faubourg-St Antoine - "Ferme pour le mois d'Aout" - like so many shops and restaurants (the ladies at the gym told me it was unusually quiet there too - at least I think that's what they said).