Here and There

Paris has a long tradition of street art; as protest or as social comment in a similar vein to that of Banksy in London (http://www.banksy.co.uk/newoutdoors/index.html) (although we have not seen much of it this trip) but like everywhere else the street scene is being marred by tagging - not much on the main thoroughfares and certainly not on the Metro trains like New York but in the back streets it is endemic (we have even seen it sprayed on statuary and  marble and, believe it or not on cars and trucks!). It is obviously worse in the poorer outer suburbs than in the inner city areas where we are.
However we have also seen some pretty amazing graffiti in both London and Paris. In London at Southbank under the Queen Elizabeth Hall there is a whole area set aside for skateboarders which is covered with graffiti/tagging and two days ago at Montmatre we came across some pretty amazing stuff. 
I suppose it seems a bit pointless talking about tagging when the protests have now turned into riots in London (is tagging a sign of discontent perhaps? should it be seen as an early warning sign? Perhaps someone will do a PhD on the subject and turn it all into an academic excercise!).
It is astounding to realise that we have just over two weeks left here (and four days of that in Nancy). Even though we have been busy, the time just seems to have disappeared and we are left wondering how we are going to finish what we set out to do. The weather has begun to turn autumnal and we can see by the thinning of the trees outside our window as the leaves start to turn and fall that change is on the way. It is a bit strange that we came expecting really hot weather but it has generally been rather mild with only an occasional hot day in the high 20's but it has made it most enjoyable (even the rainy days have not been bad as they have forced us to do more work. It has probably been a bit problematic for those wanting to make the most of the Plage along the banks of the Seine but it seems to be quite busy whenever we visit or pass by (it is open until midnight and even the rainy days tend to clear in the late afternoon).
One day we walked around the Butte Montmatre (according to Wiki, a butte is a conspicuous isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top) and came into the back of the Place Tertre (that's the square where all the artists used to hang out to paint and which is now just a major tourist trap where you are pestered every few steps to have your picture drawn or silhouette cut out). There are some pretty steep roads/steps around the butte but one is rewarded by discovering interesting artist's studios and things such as the last of the windmills which were painted by artists such as Van Gogh. After pushing our way through Place Tertre we avoided the milling crowds around Sacre Coeur and rewarded ourselves with a trip down in the furnicular (covered by our rail pass). At the bottom we turned left toward the old Halle Saint Pierre which looks as though it used to be an artists venue of some sort but now appears to be abandoned (a pity).

Anyway, the street that runs back from there toward the main road with the buses and Metro etc is filled with haberdashery shops (I love that word) and we chanced to wander in to the first one we came to (drawn in by the 1Euro sign). It turned out that it was a very old store of five floors with every imaginable type and style of fabric. We went to the top floor in a creaky old lift with it's own driver (like the big department stores in the 50's in Sydney) to check out the wallpaper but unfortunately it was a very old sign and they no longer stocked it, so we spent the next hour or so making our way floor by floor to the ground and checking out the huge range of fabrics and patterns (we managed to buy some lace curtains for the verandah and some remnants which will probably be turned into shawls). The upshot of this long story is that it has renewed my simmering interest in Toile de Jouy and the possibilities it presents for telling stories in print so I have been developing a couple of themes for new work based on this concept (as well as continuing my research).

On another day we set off with Milan to the bibliotheque of the Musee des Arts Decoratifs to do some research only to discover that it is closed in August (like many places in France, including our favourite Pattisserie, where people take their family holidays at this time) damn. I sugested that we should introduce him to the Passages so that he could get an idea of how life was (for the rich) almost 200 years ago. The oldest of the remaining Passages dates to 1823 and, in a time when the streets were filthy and muddy, it was a way of life for those visiting the city; a place where Madame (or Monsieur) could be dropped at the entrance and spend the day (or days - there are hotels, restaurants and theatres in some of them) shopping (a bit like todays mall really). Apparently, at night time, some passages were frequented by prostitutes and hotel rooms could be rented by the hour for those in need. Some are now in a sad state of repair while others are well looked after (the oldest, near the Palais Royale - which is considered part of the Passage system - is apparently undergoing renovations to become  a very upmarket boutique shopping arcade (thankfully they have retained the original architecture and beautifully painted ceilings).

Anyway we found the Passage Vivienne (one of the best maintained) and decided to have a coffee in a fabulous old bar - which was much better than pouring over dusty old tomes in the bibliotheque. Just across the road from the Viviene and leading to the Palais Royale, is a very short Passage where Colette (the writer of Gigi, possible lover of Josephine Baker and performer at the Moulin Rouge - she also wrote an opera which was scored by Ravel) is reputed to have lived during the second world war when she wrote her book, "From my Window", an account of the German occupation of Paris and source of one of my favourite quotes, "The true traveler is he who goes on foot, and even then, he sits down a lot of the time" (for more information on Colette http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colette).

Just across the road is a beautiful building called the Hotel de Sens (Hotel being the old title for a grande house). Built between 1475 and 1519, the medieval residence originally housed the archbishops of Sens, the order of bishops that Paris belonged to during the middle ages. While it is a magnificent example of the architecture of the time it is also of interest because it houses one of the ten specialty bibliotheques (libraries) of the City of Paris. The bibliotheque Forney specialises in studio arts, graphic arts and decorative arts and covers everything from ancient books and manuscripts up to contemporary books, magazines and journals. This is an amazing repository for anyone studying these subjects so I made sure I got a library card this time and have spent some time trawling through both the archival and contemporary material in the library (there are still another 66 libraries that the card gives me access to that I haven't visited yet!)

Off to Nancy tomorrow to do some sleuthing - will report back in a week.