Manifestations Place du Palais Royal

We saw our share of demonstrations, street art, and public theater in Paris. But only once did I see politically-motivated Aquascript (TM).

On the occasion of la Journée Mondiale de l'Eau (World Water Day), April 12, 2010, basic-needs NGO Solidarité International sponsored an art installation that used carefully timed droplets of water to depict bombs and form words saying things like, "I am the leading cause of death, more than . . ." and the same thing in French. I didn't get shots of all the words, but I did get a few of the bombs and a skull-and-crossbones. Sorry it's all backwards - I caught this while still mounted on a Vélib' on my way to the library.

Pretty nifty, eh? You can see a video if the set-up and full execution of the installation at Aquascript's website (see above).

The Place du Palais Royal's placement across from an entrance to the Louvre makes it one of the most central, most visible public spaces in the city. As such, there are new demonstrations, art installations, and events almost every week. It's a spot that's worth passing by often, and once you're there, plan on making like this Aquascript installation - just go with the flow.

Musée National Eugène Delacroix

After the disappointment of having to pay for a museum on what should have been a typical First Free Sunday (see also: Château de Vincennes), we sought vindication in the form of another museum visit, this time to the Musée National Eugène Delacroix.

Occupying the former apartment and atelier of the über-Romantic painter, the (smallish) museum showcases many of the famous artist's lesser-known works, as well as a number of sketches and personal items collected during Delacroix's voyage to North Africa. The only major works on hand was an early draft of The Death of Sardanapalus, and completely missing were any references to a work we'd learned about through the "Jeunes ont la parole" program - The Women of Algiers (in their Apartment) - or my personal favorite work in the entire Louvre - Liberty Leading the People.

We were in and out in under an hour, but that shouldn't diminish the importance of the museum's collection. If you love any of the works above, the Musée National Eugène Delacroix offers many equally delightful gems. And even if you find the museum itself disappointing, at the very least the garden separating apartment from atelier provides a fantastic refuge for the weary First Free Sunday aficionado.

Flying the Colors

There's no reason why we can't be both patriotic and Francophilic (that's not a disease, just in case you were wondering). So here's our attempt at an abstract American flag photo collage.







I never was very good at collage. It would have been so much easier to just save this post for today. Oh well - Happy 4th of July!

Next Time Around

With our departure only four days away, it's high time we embarked on some retrospection. There's no disputing that we had an amazing year, that we learned a lot, and that we're satisfied with our experience. Still, if we ever have the opportunity to do it all over again, there are a few things we'd do differently.

1. Subscribe to a French newspaper or news journal.
2. Watch more French TV.
3. Go to the movies more often.
4. Plan more trips during the winter, fewer during the spring.
5. Take more day trips around France.
6. Write down the schedules of local food boutiques (for a long time we always thought to go to the fromagerie on days when it was closed), try to buy food from them whenever possible, and budget the added cost (because it can get quite expensive if you shop there regularly).
7. Get year-long passes to the Louvre (which cost only 30 euros if you're under 30 and which let you bring one guest for free per pass) and the Centre Pompidou (only 27 euros, which is more than paid for by three visits - and exhibitions change every few months).
8. See what it's like to live outside of Paris, maybe even outside the metropolitan area. 
9. Dedicate time to creating a children's book called "Panda à Paris" in which Panda has a series of adventures around the city. The plot line is still in the development stage, but we have a lot of faith in the premise.

Faux Pas Friday

Only two more days to submit your three favorite Panda-à-Paris posts! Send your list to panda.a.paris[at]gmail.com!

We discovered a new anglophone-in-Paris blog recently called "paris (im)perfect" and I hope its author (Sion Dayson) won't mind if I blatantly rip off one of her regular segments: Faux Pas Friday.

Yesterday, I had a rehearsal with Dominique, the pianist with whom I gave a concert last week. (Maggie and her mom came along to listen.) We got to talking about the recording I made and he complained about the "flatness" of the sound quality. I wanted to reply that any flatness must have been due to the poor quality of his (and most other) computer speakers. Here's where things went wrong.

Quick vocab lesson. Enceinte is a noun with three meanings:

1. The various walls encircling the city of Paris over its history were known as enceintes.

2. Enceinte is one way of saying "pregnant." (This is an ad the French government published recently in an attempt to promote their vision of France's future, which only succeeded in infuriating women and the political left - there's a good analysis of the scandal here.)

3. A Google search for "enceintes" (plural) shows the meaning I was going for - speakers. Even with the S, it's pronounced the same as the other two. But just to be clear, as I said the word I gestured as if I were picking up two little computer speakers.

Except I didn't actually say "enceintes," not even after a moment's hesitation when I weighed it against the other option, which is spelled slightly different, but which is pronounced the same as the middle syllable as enceintes. Instead of enceintes, as I reached for the two "computer speakers" in front of me, I said "seins." Which means breasts.

Me, the idiot: "Si l'enregistrement semble plat, c'est à cause de tes ... seins;" "If the recording sounds flat, it's due to your ... breasts."

Happily, in the context of this sentence, it must have sounded more like I dropped the "en" of "enceintes" in a lower register, making it inaudible, but still "heard." (The French do this all the time, especially in their frequent use of the word enfin, which resembles the ubiquitous "like" of American English.) Dominique certainly didn't notice. Maggie, on the other hand, noticed, and after I made eye contact with her (which was immediately) she could barely keep herself from cracking up.

Oops. Hopefully next time this situation comes up, I'll think of the three meanings of enceinte (as compared to the one meaning of sein) and choose correctly.

Mercredi Mashup

We take lots of photos. Beaucoup, as they say. At last count, our Flickr photostream contained over 6,000 items. Many of these photos appear on this blog. Some go the way of the dinosaur. Still others get set aside, hoping for recognition, holding their breath every time we browse for a blog-worthy photo. This post is dedicated to all the misfit photos out there . . . get ready for a whirlwind tour of photos that have nothing to do with one another, other than the fact that they are random, and we took them.

This Scooby Doo character and van was parked outside the Hôtel de Ville (City Hall). Many, many otherwise sane looking adults were waiting to have their picture taken with Scooby. I really don't get this. What's the attraction? Maybe it's a generational thing...

We had a coffee and used the toilet in this bar/restaurant with Katie and Darryl. A rugby game (England? Italy? who? what?) was playing on the telly. The Gaudì-inspired decor was super cool and super trashed. Too bad.

This dog was hanging out around the Jardin de Luxembourg. Thank goodness for that convenient opening.

Street art in Belleville. Awesome.

The latest performance art installation at the Louvre.

Maggie and Louis attempt to create art. Fail.

 

We saw this dog on the street, at night, and had to do a double-take. Doesn't he/she look just like Panda??