Le Japon Rive Gauche

There is a new exhibition at Le Bon Marché celebrating the Japanese aesthetique, artists and créateurs, and focussing on the work of architect Tadao Ando, who is also in Paris for his involvement in an upcoming exhibition at the Centre Pompidou called Modernités plurielles de 1905 à 1970, which unfortunately we will miss.

The exhibition at Le Bon Marché is beautifully presented and, although it has, of course, a retail focus, there is something for everyone:  toys, exquisite paper products, cosmetics, clothing, crockery and bento boxes.  There is a small auditorium - semi-circular, monotone grey and almost a work of art in itself - playing short films, and the store itself is a co-ordinated sea of black with red spots, the colours of the exhibition.  We thought we would spend a short time at the exhibition (this is a department store, after all!) but were surprised at how engaged we were with the whole experience.

We stopped for lunch at Mamie Gateaux, a salon de thé a few steps from our apartment, followed by a wander around the neighbourhood.  Our days are passing quickly now and we treasure those times when we don't have a day-plan and can take our time to enjoy what the day brings.

Pour ma famille...there is no such thing as a scruffy beagle in Paris...they are sleek and well(?) behaved...not like the fox terrier we saw this morning who had a squeaky toy in his mouth...and we listened to him squeak it until he disappeared from earshot blocks away!  There was a white French bulldog sitting quietly in the café inside Le Bon Marché when we stopped for coffee, and we saw yet another Border Terrier today, alighting from the passenger seat of a zippy Peugeot.  I will try my utmost to capture a pic of one of those Parisien Beagles!