Paris Week 2: 9 -15 September 2013

Monday 9 September 2013, Pont de Levallois

This was a rather dull day - it dawned grey and threatening, and the weather got worse from there.  We ventured further afield – this time to north west Paris, where we emerged from the metro only to become completely soaked in a downpour.  We sought shelter in a restaurant, enjoyed a pleasant lunch and returned home, still wet, to dry off. 

Levallrois in the rain 9 September 2013

As the rain continued, we decided to call it a rest day and stayed home, venturing out only to do some grocery shopping at our local Monoprix supermarket.  

Tuesday 10 September 14, 2013 Parcours des Tribal Arts, St Germain des Pres

The rain persisted into the following day.  Terry and I set off to find St Germain des Pres, where a parcours of tribal arts was opening.  A parcours is a collection of galleries over several streets, all exhibiting according to a theme.  St Germain de Pre is the specialist area for antiques and art, and we were hoping to see some good examples of Melanesian artefacts, similar to our own collection.  We eventually found our way to the area where the parcours was taking place – marked by banners at the entrance to each participating gallery portraying an image taken from a Papuan agiba skull track, an image quintessentially Papua New Guinean and very familiar to us.

Terry at Parcours des Mondes, St Germain des Pres, Paris 10 September 2013

We saw some magnificent pieces of tribal art, mainly African, but also Melanesian and some Aboriginal pieces as well, all fetching extraordinary prices.  Fascinating to me were the galleries and their clientele – viewers mainly middle aged and obviously well-heeled, immaculately groomed, in obviously expensive clothes.  Most galleries followed the same formula - patrons were  greeted by an attractive young French woman at the gallery door and invited in to look around.  We did not attract a lot of attention in our jeans and raincoats, but we did meet a couple of dealers, one Australian who had spent a great deal of time in PNG. However, he was clearly most interested in selling rather than chatting, so we left him to schmooze and we returned to our apartment, footsore but happy to have renewed our acquaintance with such unique art forms, and to have seen some truly beautiful examples.

 

Very old, very powerful piece at Parcours in Paris 10 September 2013

Wednesday 11 September Musee de Quai Branly

Next day we continued the tribal arts theme and visited the Musee du Quai Branly, a stunning collection of tribal art from around the world.  The museum is located in a large jungle-like garden in the middle of Paris.  On the way we were walking from the Metro towards a man who suddenly stopped and picked up a gold ring, which he held out to me, insisting I take it.  He kissed my hand, which I found rather inappropriate and confusing, so  I refused to keep the ring, placing it on a nearby seat and walked away.  He suddenly became angry and abusive.  We walked away – a scam of some kind.  A few minutes later, a s we came around the corner towards the door of the museum, we were approached by a swarthy gypsyish woman, who suddenly stopped and picked up a gold ring from the ground and held it out – we walked on.  Another lesson of life in the big city that is Paris.

The Quai Branly museum is fairly new (opened 2006), set out by geographical area.  We saw an amazing collection of brilliant pieces, some very old, and some in styles we had never seen before. I n particular there were some examples of art work from the Solomon Islands that were collected very early – beautiful , very fine shell work and elegant wood carving, probably not produced since the early 20th century, sadly.

Huge PNG figure at Quai Branly 11 September 2013

From the Branly we walked over to the Eiffel Tower a short distance away. 

Eiffel Tower from Quai Branly 11 September 2013

The queue to take the lift to the top was too long, so we decided to view it from below only.

Eiffel Tower from below 11 September 2013

Thursday 12 September Pompidou Centre, Parcours

The Pompidou Centre turned out to be disappointing on several fronts.  The main exhibits were closed, the inside-out building does not work well in my opinion, because you have to go to the outside of the building to access the next level, exposing one to the wind and rain in some places, and perhaps it is just confusing when one is used to accessing buildings from the inside. 

Pompidou Centre 12 September 2013

 

Nonetheless, we saw some interesting examples of contemporary art – here are two favourite sculptures:

 

 

We enjoyed an expensive lunch at the top of the building, overlooking the rooftops of central Paris.  The view alone made the trip worthwhile.

 Paris rooftops viewed from Pompidou Centre 12 September 2013

We went next door to see the reconstruction of Brancusi's studio before returning to the Parcours to see some more galleries before the end of the show.

Brancusi's studio, Paris 12 September 2013

 

Friday 13 September      Canal St Martin from Bastille to Bassin La Villette

The rain continued.  Well, not so much rain as intermittent drizzle.  We took a canal ride from the Port de l’Arsenal under the Bastille and along the Canal St Martin , through a number of locks along the way to the former village of La Villette,  and the Bassin de la Villette, near the park opposite our apartment.   The canal shows glimpses of old Paris, with footbridges and a turning bridge to allow barges to pass through. 

Lock on St Martin Canal  from  our tour boat 13 September 2013

 

Footbridges over St Martin Canal, Paris 13 September 2013

 

We enjoyed the trip immensely, despite the drizzle.  Best of all, we could walk home in a few minutes, avoiding the crowded Metro.

Saturday 14 September 2013      Train to Amsterdam

Up early, we caught the Thalys high speed train to Amsterdam.  We arrived in just over three hours, to be met by grey skies and pouring rain!  Our friends Sam and Steph met us at our extraordinarily expensive hotel – rooms basic and small just the same. 

Terry near our hotel in Amsterdam 14 September 2013

We wandered around in the rain, saw the flower market on the way and met our friends later for an excellent Indonesian meal near the hotel.  Then, as the rain had finally stopped, we walked and walked around Amsterdam for a couple of hours as the town started to warm up for what seemed like one long street party – might have something to do with the liberal marijuana laws. 

Starter kit at the Amsterdam Flower Market 14 September 2013

 It was a cool and pleasant night – in our wandering about we briefly visited the red light district, which we found tawdry and sad, and returned to our hotel by taxi, glad to be away from there. 

Sunday 15 September 2013         Amsterdam and back to Paris

Sunday dawned sunny and bright.  We refused to spend over $22 (each) for breakfast at the hotel, and searched fruitlessly for a cheaper breakfast.  Nothing was open, the streets were deserted at 9:00 am, and the only people around were those cleaning up after the night before.  Cigarette butts and rubbish everywhere – the detritus of the party the night before. We had the dilemma of choosing between McDonalds or Starbucks for breakfast, and chose the one offering slightly better quality, to our chagrin.

A sunny morning – Amsterdam 15 September 2013

We made a quick trip to the Rijksmuseum, opposite our hotel (at least it was well located).  The museum is in a beautiful setting in an old palace, with a truly stunning collection of Dutch master painters, and worth the trip.  Then it was lunch with Sam and Steph at the station before they set off for the airport and their flight to Istanbul, and we to our train back to Paris and another week of looking around.

Rijksmuseum Amsterdam 15 September 2013