Kristoffer in Wonderland

Tags

Alice de L'Autre Coté du Miroir, art, bar rôti, Bassin de la Villette, Bouillon Chartier, Canal de l'Ourcq, France, Frenchie, Frenchie Restaurant, Kashink, Kristoffer, Le Grand Train, Le Pavillon des Canaux, Le Pavillon des Merveilles, meals, mouarff, neighborhoods, Paris, Rosa Parks fait le mur, rue Ordener, rue Rique, street art, Through the Looking Glass, weather, Yunpeng

In 2014 Kristoffer (Chinese name Yunpeng) and I took a chance on each other. We had been chatting for many months on line but had never met in person. I invited him to visit me in Paris for a long weekend and we had a lovely time. We did the same thing in 2015, and again this year. No longer a gamble now, since we know each other rather well.

Kristoffer grew up in China, but has been working on his Ph.D. in Norway for several years. This year he got a permanent job at Norway’s public health agency, with the Norwegian equivalent of a green card. He has toyed with variants of his western name but has settled on Kristoffer, the Norwegian spelling of Christopher.

He arrived late Thursday evening. We didn’t have a meal since he had eaten at the airport. On Friday, however, we set out to have our first real Parisian adventure.

We started out with lunch at an old favorite of mine, Bouillon Chartier, which we both enjoyed.

Kristoffer at at Bouillon Chartier

Bob at Bouillon Chartier with his bar rôti

We then headed up to La Villette to catch an Imax movie about the South Pacific at the spherical Géode theater at the Cité des science et et de l’industrie.

(In another life I negotiated the contract with Imax on behalf of the Boston Museum of Science for the similar theater there. At that time the spherical theaters, which project an image that extends directly above the audience, were called “Omnimax,” but that term has evidently been retired.)

The movie wasn’t Gone with the Wind but its immersive images were gorgeous, especially the aerial and underwater shots.

Inside the Géode showing the structure behind the spherical screen

After the movie we wandered down along the Canal de l’Ourcq and the Bassin de la Villette, with interruptions to shelter from intermittent rain. The street art along the canal was appealing.

Street art along the Canal de l’Ourcq

Street art along the Canal de l’Ourcq

We wanted coffee but passed up several options as not being quite to our taste, until what did we encounter but Le Pavillon des Merveilles (the Pavilion of Marvels)! This charming café — normally known as Le Pavillon des Canaux — had been transformed by the Disney folks into a clever promotion for their new movie, Alice de L’Autre Coté du Miroir (Through the Looking Glass). We had been lucky enough to stumble upon it on its last day.

Le Pavillon des Merveilles

Inside Le Pavillon des Merveilles

Clocks at Le Pavillon des Merveilles

Kristoffer at Le Pavillon des Merveilles

After enjoying coffee and pastries we headed across town to a place I had read about, Le Grand Train (the Big Train). This was about a mile away, along rue Riquet and rue Ordener. (Not an area I would wander around alone at night, but it seemed normal, albeit populaire, in daylight.) We saw some amazing street art along this route.

Vincent considers doing something drastic, rue Riquet

Tiny sample of Kashink’s contribution to the longest street art wall in Paris, Rosa Parks Fait le Mur, rue Riquet

Le Grand Train is both a substantial train museum and an agglomeration of a dozen bars and restaurants of many different types in an enormous disused train maintenance facility. It will end forever in October and years of construction will begin on an entirely new neighborhood, including lots of public housing and supporting facilities.

Pano of street art at the entrance to Le Grand Train

A big train at Le Grand Train

The view out the back of Le Grand Train

After a couple of beers at Le Grand Train we headed home to take a short nap and get ready for Kristoffer’s birthday dinner, at Frenchie. I had made the reservation — not easy to get! — a month before, on the first day reservations opened for June 17. The meal was delicious, but the light was too dim for good non-flash photos so I have to refer you to my meal last month with Jared W and my meal last year with Matt and Chris.

Kristoffer’s birthday diner at Frenchie

After dinner we were ready for bed. It had been a very full day!

Mot du Jour: « mouarff », “ha-ha”.

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More Soggy Days

Tags

apartments, Conservatoire de Paris, dinde, France, l'Oasis d'Aboukir, Musée des égouts, music, Paris, Sewer Museum, street art

More wet and cold days! Great for indoor stuff, but so nasty that one is discouraged from going out at all. The only silver lining is that I have a lot of reading to do for my book clubs and this is perfect weather to curl up with a book.

Statue of the Seine in the chilly rain. Must be even worse for her in the winter though.

After Jared R left on Monday morning I decided to finally go see the Paris Sewer Museum. It’s always been on my list but had never quite gotten there, in part because of a vague distaste for the idea of the odor (which in fact was moderate). This year, however, I saw a photo of the enormous spheres that are used to clean out a connector tunnel under the Seine so was finally motivated to go.

This is one of the spheres they use to clean the connector tunnel between the left and right banks.

Staged, but atmospheric.

This boat is used to clean the main tunnels.

The tour is worth doing if you don’t have anything better to do but I think it was rightly not at the top of my list. The museum offers tons of information about the engineering and history of the sewers, some of it interesting, all presented with storm sewage surging beneath your feet. Until 1974 the sewer tour was conducted on boats. If only I had taken the tour on one of my first trips to Paris I could have floated through the sewers instead of just walking above them!

On Monday evening I had a coffee date with a guy in a neighboring building who had seen me through a window, then contacted me on Grindr. He is from North Africa so I can’t post his photo, but it was interesting learning about his life.

On Tuesday I went back to the Conservatory of Music to see two Masters performances in saxophone. I had assumed they would be jazz, but they turned out to be classical and contemporary pieces, some rearranged to substitute saxophone for another instrument. Like last week the students were excellent, but this week there was also for several pieces a small orchestra as well as the graduating student. For people with time off during the day these free performances are a terrific option.

People sometimes ask why I don’t buy an apartment in Paris instead of renting each year. Indeed, for only about fifteen times what I pay each year I could own this charming little place!

Pied a terre in Paris for only $70K!

It has about 45 square feet you can stand up in (one tenth of my current rental), but twice that including floor space under the eaves. There’s a shower in the apartment, and an elevator to the floor below. Oh, did I mention that the shared bathroom is out in the hallway?

Returning year after year lets me appreciate how Paris changes as well as where it is in a particular year. The most dramatic example is L’Oasis d’Aboukir, the vegetal wall a few blocks from this year’s apartment, that I’ve photographed every year. But I’ve noticed subtler changes as well.

Street Art at the moment of its creation in 2015.

The cruel fate of a 2015 masterpiece, just a year later.

Mot du jour: « dinde », “turkey”. Very different words with similarly twisted etymologies:

• The French word « dinde » comes from « poulet d’Inde », “chicken of India”. That term was initially used for the « pintade », “guinea fowl”, which came from Ethiopia, which at that time was referred to as « Moyen Inde », “Middle India.” When the American turkey was introduced in the 16th century it was also called « dinde », perhaps because it was considered a type of guinea fowl or perhaps because it was thought of as coming from the West Indies. Wiktionnaire link
• The English word “turkey” was also first used for the guinea fowl. The American bird was given the same name in the 16th century, either because of its resemblance to the guinea fowl or because it reached England from Spain via North Africa (then part of the Ottoman Turkish empire). Etymology link

Friends and Food

Tags

art, Belleville, Belleville Open Studios, Belleville Portes Ouvertes, Bob Seeman, Catherine Arnaud, Chris, drag queens, Elliot, Garden of the Hôtel de Ville, Hôtel de Ville, Jardin du Hôtel de Ville, La Criée, Le Colimaçon, Marais, Matt, Matt and Chris, meals, Montorgueil, Paris, Robert Seeman, rue des Jeûneurs, Sculpture, street art, Tintilou

Friday lunch was with my Harvard friend Elliot Marks, at a wonderful little restaurant in his quartier, Tintilou. The meal was delicious and the service and ambiance were delightful. A new favorite!

Elliot Marks at Tintilou, with the utterly delectable appetizer.

My main course at Tintilou: St. Pierre, which Elliot explained is called “John Dory” in English.

After lunch I strolled over to take in some of the 100+ artist studios that were open during the annual Belleville Portes Ouvertes. I started at the headquarters (GALERIE DES AAB, 1 rue Picabia, 75020 Paris. M° Couronnes), which lets you peruse samples for each artist so you can decide which studios to visit. One of the samples pleased me so much that I bought it on the spot (as a gift for my Boston friend Bruce). I then set off. As usual most of the art left me unmoved, but also as usual I came across one artist I really loved:

Sculptures by Catherine Arnaud at Belleville Portes Ouvertes 2015. The piece in the upper left corner was her reaction to the Charlie Hebdo murders.

I also saw part of a very strange art show. The artist dripped and mixed water and ink on a glass plate, which projected on a big screen. It was unusual, but I had to stifle the question, is it art?

Art performance as part of Belleville Open Studios. By Stefano Giorgi?

For dinner I caught up with another Harvard friend, Bob Seeman. The plan was initially for a tête-à-tête but he called earlier in the day to ask whether several of his visiting friends could join us. Of course I said it was fine, and we had a very pleasant meal. It was my first time at Le Colimaçon, though I had tried unsuccessfully to get a table there with Brian and Sheila the previous week. We all enjoyed our meals and the service, by several petite young women, was sympa. It’s a small space, with an impressive spiral staircase up to the étage (which Bob explained is called a colimaçon). Overall I consider it quite a reasonable option, although not a must.

Matt had received an ominous call from American Airlines saying that their flight had been overbooked and asking whether they would they agree to be bumped to a different flight. It turned out, however, to be Christmas in May! The flight they had booked required a connection, and got them in very late on Saturday night, but the new flight was direct and got them here at a reasonable hour in the morning. Moreover they were offered a king’s ransom in cash to make the change! It was very much win-win (except for American) so they made the change and arrived early. I took them on a walk through my neighborhood and over to the Marais, then via Notre Dame to the Latin Quarter. It was their first time in Paris so everything was a thrill, and as usual it was my pleasure to see the city anew through their eyes.

Chris and Matt getting a warm Parisian welcome! (Fabu street art just outside my front door.)

Bob and his new bff, rue des Jeûneurs.

Matt getting an angle on roses in the newly-opened garden of the Hôtel de Ville.

Chris with Notre Dame peeking shyly through the trees.

We strolled around my neighborhood, then over to the 10e. The first restaurant we went into looked ok from the outside but was completely dead inside, and after we were seated we saw that the menus were tattered. We debated how to handle this and finally we just walked out and I explained to the proprietor that we wanted a more animated place. After a bit more persistence we ended up at a zippy and tasty fish restaurant, La Criée.

La Criée on Boulevard de Bonne Nouvelle.

Chris doesn’t like fish, so we confirmed before going in that they had a couple of beef dishes on the menu. Unfortunately, after Matt and I had exulted over the delightful seafood choices, and ordered, the waiter told us that there was no beef. (He wasn’t even apologetic; he said with a shrug (in French), “This is a seafood restaurant!”) Chris graciously ordered a cheese salad instead of a real main dish. It was a fine meal — for me and Matt — in a busy and bright space.

Summer in Paris

Tags

graffiti, l'Ile Saint-Louis, Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, Petite Ceinture, Pont Saint-Louis, Rosa Bonheur, rue Ordener, street art, street musicians, sunbathers

The first two days of summer have been gorgeous!

On Sunday, after blogging, I headed over to my old favorite, the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont. I got a picnic lunch at the boulangerie on the corner. Naturally I ordered in French but I was bemused to see that the sign describing their sandwiches was in English. I asked the clerk about it and she said that they get a lot of tourists. At one of least-central parks in Paris? Hélas!

I got a little sun myself but I’m afraid that I mostly soaked up ambiance.

Sunbathers on the field below Rosa Bonheur in the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont on a sunny Sunday.

Sunbathers on the field below Rosa Bonheur in the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont on a sunny summer Sunday.

When I was sated with the field I had a drink at Rosa Bonheur,. It was a lively scene, as usual, but I didn’t know anyone, and unfortunately I left before Sylvain arrived. Sunday evening I took a walk down to the Seine and came across a mellow trio on the Pont Saint-Louis, which was just what the doctor ordered.

Street musicians on Pont Saint-Louis, between L’île Saint-Louis and L’île de la Cité.

This morning I set off once again for Senlis, and once again was discouraged at the railroad station by the continued disruption of schedules due to various transport strikes. I finally decided to instead do the next walk from ParisInconnu.com. This started at Batignolles, where I had left off the last walk, so I took the métro to Brochante. This gave me another opportunity to explore that neighborhood. While I still think it will get a big boost from better métro service I also noticed a lot of run-down real estate, and run-down folks. So I’m not in a particular hurry to live there after all.

Today’s walk followed the northern arc of the Petite Ceinture (little belt), a circular railway line around central Paris that was built in 1852 but was abandoned in 1932. Two sections of it have been turned into linear parks, but most of it is just an abandoned strip of extremely valuable land.

The Petite Ceinture, an abandoned railroad line that circles Paris.

It will be very interesting to see what Paris decides to do with the Petite Ceinture in the next few decades. I predict that much of it will be developed but that the neighborhoods will have a significant influence on what happens to their segment of the old line.

In the meantime, the Petite Ceinture is a wonderful place for street art. Here’s a photo of one abandoned station, and I’ve posted a video clip of the same spot.

Street art at an abandoned railway station (gare de l’Avenue de Saint-Ouen) on the Petite Ceinture in Paris.

Another abandoned station also appealed to me. It would make someone a great pied-à-terre, though it’s something of a fixer-upper.

The abandoned Pont-de-Flandre railway station on the Petite Ceinture in Paris.

The walk also took me along rue Ordener, where I had been for dinner with Darko last year. In daylight I got a better appreciation of the marvelous street art on the wall alongside the adjacent railroad yard.

Street art on a wall along rue Ordener in Paris.

I made a video clip of rue Ordener street art by walking along the wall, although I should caution you that it’s still pretty busy even after YouTube did its best to stabilize it. Both videos are HD so make sure to select that option.

I’ve been pretty happy overall with the ParisInconnu.com walks, but this particular one (Parcours 9 – Evangile) became very inaccurate towards the end. Obviously the person who wrote it up made sketchy notes, then didn’t cross-check with an accurate map before publishing it. I’ve been messaging them on Facebook with my corrections but I haven’t yet gotten a reply. I do wonder, however, whether nobody else has tried to follow the walks, or whether others have encountered the same issues but not reported them, or whether others have reported the same issues and the organizers are incompetent. All options are a bit sad in one way or another.

Less than a week to go in my petit séjour. It’s normal, towards the end of a long trip, that one’s thoughts begin to bend towards home. But there’s also always sadness in the endings of good things.

Mot du jour: Vous parlez très bien le français. A comforting thing one says to a foreigner who is struggling to find the right word or phrase; the equivalent of saying “there there” to a crying baby.

All Around the Town

Tags

Black Spoon, contemporary art, Elliot, Final Destination, flower shop, Geoff, jardin du Luxembourg, Marais, Michael C. McMillen, Montmartre, Open Café, Palais de Tokyo, Port-Royal, rue de Chaillot, street art, Sylvain, The Entropic Taxi, The Eternal Flame, Vineyard

At this point there aren’t too many areas of Paris that I haven’t explored, at least to some extent. I always see more, however, when I revisit even a familiar area. These are some sights that caught my eye over the past few days, as I ranged across the city.

Gorgeous flower shop on rue de Chaillot in the 8e.

Food truck parked outside Parc Monceau.

Vineyard on the north slope of Montmartre.

Street art in the Marais.

Yesterday I had a look at the contemporary art on display at the enormous and strange Palais de Tokyo. I’ve had interesting experiences there before, and I’m now reaching the conclusion that it can be relied on to surprise, even if it doesn’t always please. The single most remarkable installation — among many — was “The Entropic Taxi, Final Destination” by Michael C. McMillen. In a dim gallery I noticed a strange old door, under a sign reading, “Elsewhere.”

Mysterious doorway in the “All That Falls” group show at the Palais de Tokyo.

I looked through the dusty window but wasn’t sure one was allowed to actually open the door. Finally I nerved myself to “touch the art” by testing the handle, and went inside. If there’s any chance you’ll be able to see this in person by the first week of September I recommend that you do so. If not, I posted a photo set: Elsewhere.

Even more unusual was a gigantic area called “The Eternal Flame” devoted to participatory artistic creation — the brainstorm of contemporary artist Thomas Hirschhorn. It was divided into rooms and aisles by stacks of discarded tires. Visitors were invited to add their own creations, including styrofoam sculptures and printouts from banks of public computers. There was also a bar and lots of hangout areas, and a corner where someone was reading out loud. And, of course, an eternal flame (two actually), watched over by a team of firefighters. Access is free and the space is open from noon to midnight every day, until it closes on June 23. No one photograph can afford any idea of how peculiar this space is so I made a video of a walk-through: The Eternal Flame.

At the end of the afternoon I headed home to host Sylvain, a friend of Chuck Latovich, for an apéro. He proved to be charming and handsome, and we plan to have dinner with Jaime later in the month. (We enjoyed a chilled bottle of rosé but Sylvain observed that when there are three people one should have two bottles on hand. Noted!)

Sylvain and Bob selfie with a refreshing rosé.

Today I took a walk in the Port-Royal area from a web site that I have been following on Facebook, ParisInconnu.com (Unknown Paris). Although they got one street name slightly wrong I was impressed with the site’s choice of tiny roads — even a passage that at first seemed barred — to afford an interesting perspective. These  photos, however, were both taken in the main square.

RER (suburban rail) station at Port-Royal.

View toward the Jardin du Luxembourg from Port-Royal.

This afternoon I caught up again with Elliot Marks, to show him my apartment and to see the studio, a few blocks away, that he makes available from time to time to friends. (He and his partner used to live there but they moved several years ago to a new place.) Another year I might stay there instead of doing a commercial rental, although I would miss the clothes washers I have had in all my rental places here.

After visiting Elliot’s place I had a little beer at the Open Café and was pleasantly surprised when Lisa’s friend Geoff said hello. (He had noticed me from a café across the street.) We had an interesting albeit too-short conversation concerning language competence before he had to head off. After finishing my beer I returned home to satisfy your curiosity, gentle reader.

Flânerie and Friends

Tags

16th Century Houses, Ali, Aya, Le square René-Le Gall, Lisa, Medieval Houses, rue François-Miron, street art, Zhizhong

A lazy start on Monday morning: After a couple of hours satisfying your insatiable curiosity, gentle reader, I did a few errands, then set off on a flâne. But instead of reading on let me suggest that you instead take in this lovely piece from the New York Times: Solo in Paris. Couldn’t have said it better!

There are only a few 16th-century buildings left in Paris, but two happen to be in the next block, at 11-13 rue François-Miron. In further hommage to Monet here are two views:

The highlights of my afternoon walk were several excellent pieces of street art. Here are two of my favorites, each of which I hope will make you look twice to confirm what’s “real” and what’s “art”:

I also spent a tranquil half hour reading this month’s book for my reading club, at Le square René-Le Gall ou jardin des Gobelins.

Le square René-Le Gall ou jardin des Gobelins.

My destination this evening was Lisa’s place in the 13ème, for a lovely casual meal with Lisa, Ali and Zhizhong. How could I resist another baby pic?

Lisa and Aya, chez eux.

Insh’allah not the last during this visit!