Spring Fashion Week in Paris

Last week was Spring Fashion Week in Paris, an event I'm not the least bit interested in but one that was difficult to avoid as the daily news reported on the happenings. Of course, the big news that over shadowed the entire week was the firing of Dior's famous designer Galliano. As for me and as luck would have it, I changed my views about fashion week on Friday when I accidentally stumbled upon one of the week's events and saw some of the most incredible sites I've seen in quite a while. It was late in the afternoon when after having seen an exhibit of some of Courbet's works of nature and having had coffee at a nearby café I decided to walk up to the Trocadero where I was to meet a group for a couple of avant-garde plays at 7pm (that's another whole story). Along Avenue Président Wilson there are several museums and since I had time to kill I chose to check out the Palais du Tokyo, a place where artists create contemporary installations and one that I had never been too. I noticed that there were a few black limos and people out front with high powered cameras but since the Palais is connected to the Musée d'Art Moderne I didn't really think much about it, plus you see these types of scenes regularly around Paris. Inside the building I didn't see much activity but when I went to pay for my admission I was told that I could only see the installations on the first floor because a fashion event was taking place in the ground floor gallery and that that would be over at 6pm if I wanted to wait. Ah, the reason for all the people out front, I thought. So, I went and saw the very unexciting and strange art installations then decided to wait to see if the ground floor held anything more interesting. I waited in the foyer above where I could look over the balcony and watch those leaving the event. It wasn't long before the doors opened and people started flowing out which was completely an OH MY GOSH moment for me. The people were the artwork here!! I had a top view of most but several celeb types were guided up the stairs right in front of where I was standing so I got a better look at them. The shoes women had on were the most outrageous pieces, and in some cases, the most unimaginable for walking that one could imagine. Really higher than it seems could be possible to wear but one young woman practically sprinted up the steps wearing wooden red platforms that must have had about 4 inches under the sole of the foot and about 10 in the heel. Another had on a pair that were likely 5 inch heels and thinner than a pencil! I have to admit too that they were walking upright rather than slightly bent forward like many I've seen in the streets. There were also lots of women wearing comfortable shoes. One had on a pair of black standard looking men's shoes that were covered with studs, and I saw some men with studs on their shoes as well. There were plenty of flat boots some opened with the tongues hanging out or partially unzipped. I actually wondered if it had been a show of punk clothes but the booklet I picked up said it was from Maison Martin Margiela. There were a number of young Japanese fashion goers so they might have been from Yohji Yamamoto's entourage since that show was scheduled at the same place for later that night. I noticed that it looks like fur is back in fashion with young people as I saw several short tight fitting fur jackets and one of those long fur vests--appalling waste of several animals especially since there aren't even sleeves on those things, after all what's the point if it's not even going to keep you warm? There were about 10 people, mostly women, in white lab coats standing outside on their side the gallery doors greeting people. One man seemed to be the center of attention, kissing and being kissed by numerous people, so I assumed he was the designer and I found out later while watching the news that those people are the ones who do the sewing, alterations, hairdos, makeup, etc. so it was nice to see them getting some of the attention they deserve. It was most interesting watching those who were looking at the cameras to see who was paying attention to them. One man dressed in a jacket made of tiger print fabric reached the top of the stairs, looked back and waited to make sure he had his following with him before continuing. After the crowd thinned out, I went downstairs to wait outside the door that was closed and guarded by this time. Soon people carrying suitcases began their exodus, the backstage crews I suppose. A young man carry a large, heavy suitcase won my prize for best hairdo...he could have come directly from the court of Marie Antoinette! His very long black hair swooped up from the back and was teased up to about a foot above his forehead in a cone-head style. Wow, after waiting 30 minutes, I never got into that gallery but I was sure entertained by what came out of it!

Troyes

Last Wednesday we took the train from Paris Gare de l'Est to Troyes, a town about 1.5 hours east of here that is also the capital of the Champagne region. The entire trip we played an Italian card game called Buracco, too difficult to describe but a game that can be played with 2, 3 or 4 people and one that is played pretty cut-throat in southern Italy. When we arrived a woman who had been traveling across the aisle from us nicely escorted us outside the train station and pointed us in the direction of the hotel we had booked. It was late afternoon, cloudy and cold but we were full of anticipation as this was the first time either of us had visited this town. We immediately found the tourist info office where we picked up a local map then walked about 5 minutes to Hotel l'Arlequin in the historic center.
The hotel was simple but nicely renovated, bright, clean and quiet so we were happy. After dropping our bags, we ventured out to make use of the last couple of hours of daylight. We first started by following one of the walking tours designated on the tourist map but soon gave that up as we stopped in the first church along the way. The town center still has many of the original half timber structures from the 16th century, some leaning quite strikingly to one side or the other so that one can see the only thing holding them up is the tight fit between two other buildings. The town has done a great job of ensuring their upkeep and many are in use as businesses such as hotels, restaurants, groceries, wine shops, etc. It was fun just to see all the varieties of uses these buildings still have. That evening we found the local movie theater and went to see the newly released French film Les Femmes de le 6em Etage, the women of the 6th floor. The next day we spent exploring Troyes....
Troyes has been a town center since Roman times (although there are no visible signs left) but a local museum says that there is evidence of human habitation since 400,000 BC, pretty amazing! There seemed to be a grand church at ever turn and the ones we could get into were colder inside then outside. We froze, welcoming the warmer but rainy weather outside, but it was worth seeing some of the remnants and artworks from the 13th-18th centuries. In addition to the majority Catholic population, the town has always had a thriving Jewish community. The historic Synagogue has been preserved and there is now across the street a contemporary Jewish studies center, L'institut Universitaire Rachi. The town also has several museums, two of which we visited. The Musée d'Art Moderne was our favorite with works by French artists from 1850 through 1950 shown in a magnificently renovated building dating from the 12th century. The art collection was small but wonderful with some works by Millet, Courbet, Degas, Gauguin, Matisse, Rodin, Maillol, Cézanne and many others not so well known. It was a joy to view the pieces leisurely, close-up and without having to stand on tiptoes to get a glimpse that is often the case in Paris.
We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Troyes and recommend it to anyone who wants to explore towns outside of Paris and actually close enough by train that one could go for a day trip.

Conversation group in Paris

I know it's been far too long since I have written here, and if it weren't for a couple of kiwi friends who are always bugging me to write more, I'd have likely already given it up. So, to keep them happy, and anyone else who is interested in my comings and goings, I will try to do better in 2011. Plus, after finishing another semester of French classes, I suddenly have more time to dedicate to it.

For anyone looking to brush up or improve her/his French conversation, there are tons of options but most will cost you dearly. However, there is one exception that I found through word-of-mouth in one of my previous French classes. It costs 10E per year (yep, you are reading that correctly, that's ten euros per year) and one can go as often as s/he likes. Each afternoon from 2-7p.m. in a windowless basement room at the Institute Catholic de Paris, four native French speakers, all retired professionals, volunteer their time to sit at individual tables directing conversations with people from around the world who want to improve their speaking abilities. Each Tuesday evening there is also a special presentation or activity that lasts from 7-9 pm and one Saturday per month they offer guided tours in different parts of Paris. The place is located on the side street behind the St. Germain des Prés Catholic Church at the metro stop (lines 4 & 10) with the same name on the Left Bank.

Yesterday, I attended the group for 1.5 hours after having a coffee at a nearby café with a friend from El Salvador. That was interesting as we only spoke French, he with his strong Central American accent and me with my strong Anglo accent. I would like to mention that I've been told by a couple of teachers and other native French speakers that my accent is identifiably Anglo but it is not strong nor is it particularly identifiable as American. My aim of course is to speak like a native French....well that might take some time but I do try.

And so, I descended into the cave of French conversation where I sat at the table with an Irish man and women from China, Venezuela, Columbia, and Iran. It's always quite an interesting mix of people and the French discussion leaders are often interesting as well. I did learn yesterday--well I likely learned it before but can't remember all the quirky rules in French--that when you use "si" instead of the usual "oui" for "yes" it is to give a positive response to a negatively posed question. Okay, so that's your French lesson for the day and if you know someone who is visiting or lives here and wants to brush up their speaking for little cost, have them check out the website for Cercle International de l'ARC at
http://arc-cercle-international.over-blog.com/

Le Théâtre du Soleil

This past June Gabriella purchased tickets to see a 4-hour French play by the famous Le Théâtre du Soleil. So, for the past month I've been whining about how this was such a waste of money for me since I would never be able to sit through, much less understand, a nearly 4 hour play in French. Last Friday was play-day so I had to request that I leave my French class 15 minutes early in order to make it to the outskirts of Paris where the theater is located. And, to top it off, I had had a very rough night with very little sleep so I already knew that I would be sleeping through most of the performance, which is my usual pose during long sedentary performances in the evening....I just can't sleep in a bed! So, at 5:15 I zipped out of class, caught the metro, met Gabriella at the Bastille then re-entered the metro that took us to the end of the line Chateau Vincennes. Here we had to wait for a Navette, shuttle bus, that took us about 10 minutes away to La Chartoucherie, an old munitions factory complex that has been converted into a theater, s0me shops, and night clubs, a very interesting and great reuse of space. Le Théâtre du Soleil actually refers to the avant-guard stage ensemble founded in the late 60s by Ariana Mnouchkine and Phillip Léotard and other students. She was actually taking tickets at the door. It's quite a production to get seats as it's open seating so everyone rushes to get through the door as soon as possible. The building itself looks like a large warehouse where we entered into a large restaurant area, proceeded quickly through the center part that looked like a storage area for sets, and then into the theater space. The seats were bleachers with cushioned seats and back and each had a paper number attached to a leather holder. The seats that had already been claimed were missing their numbers. So, we quickly found seats, took the number off the back of the seat, and attached it to our ticket. We then backtracked to the restaurant where we ate home cooked food, mine was simple salad with boiled potatoes, and Gabriella had the meat stew. These were the only choices with dessert which I had with coffee in order to stay awake. Everyone sat at long tables or benches or other types of unusual furniture around the room. All the people serving food, directing people, etc. were also the cast members.

The play began at 7:30 and ended 3 hours 45 minutes later with a short 15 minutes break. The stage was open with one exit down a set of stairs stage-left. At the break, we saw that the steps lead to the dressing/makeup room, located directly under the bleachers. The open end was draped with see-through lace material so the public could see the actors preparing for their roles. The play itself was mesmerizing and I never even thought about falling asleep! It was about the filming a silent movie concerning the worldwide events and political movements/ideologies leading up to WW I. Actually, it was hilarious watching how they re-enacted the filming process. In one scene the ship was in a huge storm at sea and they drug in a square metal box about one foot high, 4 feet long and 3 feet wide full of water with a toy ship in it. The camera person was holding a wooden box-style camera turning its crank while people directed fans at the ship, someone else used a wooden paddle to create huge waves, and a couple of musicians created the sounds on cello, piano, and symbols. There were several scenes with snow so cast members would stand on the sides throwing handfuls of fake snow in front of the fan while others pulled on ropes that were attached to long planks above that were piled with the fake stuff. As the ropes rocked the planks, the snow would fall...it was all fascinating to watch. The most helpful aspect was that since it was about the filming of this silent movie the speak was written above just like in the old silent films. Between scenes the actors would carry on in verbal language so I was able to understand quite a bit of the material. I am really thankful I got to see such a creative, fascinating, interesting, and fun play! Voila!

After a Long Absence--THE MOVE

I disappeared from here without warning in early May but my life became so busy that I couldn't get the time to write so I apologize to anyone who may be a dedicated reader. My busy-ness started with buying the new apartment. At the time, it had not yet been completely vacated by the previous owners but we had to get someone in there to repaint and do some minor repairs. The closing date was 27 May and the move date was 12 June so was there wasn't a lot of time to get everything done. On top of everything else, I was in the last 3 weeks of my French class and had to take the final exams on the 18 & 20 June.

The move itself was much more than I had anticipated...we were living in a 4th floor walk-up so hired a company to move all our stuff. The company dropped off a slew of boxes at the beginning of the week and we had to pack all of our lives into them by Sat. Needless to say, every moment of my days, outside of class time, was spent packing, packing and packing! Come Saturday morning three slightly older than middle-aged men showed up to move us. Seeing the age of these guys and considering the number of steps, I was worried that we might have to call the French equivalent of 911 sometime during the day. We had everything ready to move except the fragile items since our agreement stated that they would pack those but as it turned out the movers were overwhelmed with the amount of stairs and our stuff so we ended up stuffing paper around the glassware and packing them as well. By 3pm they had everything jammed into the back of their truck with our plants and a few odds and ends placed under their feet on the floorboard in the front seat. Once they started the engine and pulled out, Gabriella and I headed for the subway to meet them at the new residence.

Here, we encountered the first of several problems left by the painters--first, they had painted shut the locks on the double doors leading into our apartment from the hallway! The new apartment is rez-de-chaussée, ground floor, so we knew, at least, that the movers would be happy they had only 5 steps to climb but the real life-saver was that they could enter directly from the hall rather than by going out a side door through the courtyard and into a smaller single door that we use as our normal entrance. So, upon arrival, my task was to get that darn door unstuck before the movers appeared. Anyone who has tried to get a door or window opened after it's been painted shut knows what a chore this really is, now add to it the grand locking systems they use here in France and one can understand my pure frustration and fury the first moments in the new place. Each of the double doors has a large double square lock box midway down where the key is inserted and through which a metal slide bar moves, extending from the top of the door to the bottom. When locked the bar rests in a slot that's in the floor so before I could get the key tumblers, there are 2, to turn I had to pry loose the entire slide bars from top to bottom--the doors are about 9 feet tall. Since my tools were in the boxes yet to be delivered, I had to scrounge around for implements the painters had left behind to pry them loose. After about 30 minutes and just when the first boxes arrived, I succeeded in opening the doors!

The rest of the day into evening went as well as could be expected and we spent our first night with the bed set up and made....finally, home sweet home. Two weeks later I left for the States for a month then to Italy for 3 weeks....thus, a long pause on the blog.

Claude Monet's house

Last week while a friend from Portland, OR was visiting we took a day-trip to Giverny where Claude Monet had lived and painted. It was about an hour train trip outside of Paris to Vernon then a short hop on a local bus. The bus dropped everyone in a parking area and then we walked about 10 minutes to get to his house. The town itself is very tiny so we packed a lunch and ate under some trees before going to the house. The gardens were in full bloom so it was spectacular to see but unfortunately, it was the day of a national holiday so the place was jammed with tourist. Our favorite part was the pond where he had painted his famous water lilies. In this photo you can see some of that but there were gorgeous reflections all around it with huge weeping willows and numerous flowering trees, bushes, and flowers. They even had a simple wooden boat sitting under the weeping willows showing the exact scene that he had painted. Although the house doesn't have any of his original works, there was a large collection of reproductions in one of the rooms with a listing of where the originals could be seen. I highly recommend the place on a day mid-week day during the off season so you could actually sit and idle away some time enjoying the beauty of the landscape.

Busy week of performances

On Tuesday night we joined two South African friends to go to a dance performance by Gregory Maqom at Theatre de la Ville near Montmartre. I really had no idea what to expect so was thrilled when he turned out to be one of the most movingly beautiful contemporary dancers I've ever seen. He was accompanied by 4 musicians who were each equally excellent. Together they produced a magical performance that explored several topics including the effects of apartheid.

Wednesday night we attended a classical music concert at the Theatre des Champs-Élysées to hear the Rotterdam Philharmonic. I was truly amazed, as was the entire audience, when conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducted the first half, Mozart, without any written music before him. In the second half, flutist Emmanuel Pahud joined the musician, performing exquisitely. The Theatre itself is well known, located on Avenue Montaigne one of Paris' chic-ist streets. This street is located between the Seine and the Arc de Triomphe and is lined with name brand stores like In my French class we are currently watching the French comedy, Fauteuils d'Orchestre, which takes place on this street.

A friend on mine from the States arrived on Thursday so last night we all went to a jazz concert at the famous Duc des Lombards club. We were treated to the great sounds of Jacques Schwarz-Bart (sax) and his group. The club has two sessions per night and since the weather is great at the moment and it doesn't get dark until after 10pm, we went for the 10pm concert which didn't let out until close to midnight. The streets outside were so lively that one would have thought it was 9pm. We went home by metro, which was as rowdy as the streets. By the time we got home it was around 1am, kind of late for these old gals, but we thoroughly enjoyed the evening. Ah, Paris!