I have been a little worried that my almost total ignorance of history and art (except in relation to the more contemporary artisans in the Sinclair household) was hampering my experiences in the myriad of musees in Paris. However I read a quote by Claude Monet (yes, I've heard of him!) and now I know it doesn't matter ...
"Everyone discusses my art and pretends to understand, as if it were necessary to understand, when it is simply necessary to love."
Explored the Bastille area ... fast, energetic and grimy in a young, hip kind of way. Lots of teenagers, lots of nationalities, punk and goth shops, comic and manga and indie designers. The July column stands in the centre of an endless roundabout of traffic. Eerie to know that the bones of those killed in the July revolution of 1830 lay buried beneath.
Picked up some cds at FNAC, the French equivalent to JB HiFi. It's great having the cd player in the apartment, but I'm a bit over Ibiza '98 and TLC! Brent has taught me how to trawl the shelves for the pick of the bunch and I found a fabulous 2 cd set of Serge Gainsbourg, new album by Vanessa Paradis (I'm sure she needs the support to keep Johnny in style) and a cd of Serge Gainsbourg covers by faves such as Jarvis Cocker and Marianne Faithfull.
Cds in hand, headed off to Musee Carnavalet, known as the Paris History Museum. Housed in fabulous 16th and 17th century buildings with a courtyard and patterned box hedge gardens that would make you sigh. Loved the art of the Revolution and the rebuilding of Paris.
1 comment:
Dear Sal,
The Paris History Museum has given us ideas for the layout of our Thornbury vegetable garden...the brussel sprouts will look great in a swirl, and the lettuce can climb the walls like the ivy. The architecture is inspirational...I hope you packed a sharpener, pencil AND ERASER ... you'd have to draw that image!
Love Fi
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