Sunblock!

I showed you the outside of L'Institut du Monde Arabe, a Paris building (mostly a museum) dedicated to the Arab world, several times, but I never showed you the inside, and especially the clever windows that open or shut automatically like a camera lense (or a human eye!) according to the outside light. Here you go then... A shot that I took on the last floor (Parisians will know that I did not take it yesterday as it rained almost all day!).

Gare d'Orsay

Yesterday, I passed by the Gare d'Orsay round 2 pm and realized that I had never taken a photo of it from this side! So here you go...  For those of you who don't know it, this building used to be a train station (that is why it's called La Gare d'Orsay) and became a - must see - museum in 1986. The building, is stunning whether you're inside or outside. As you can see the sun is back is Paris and people are out! 

Mythical Orient Express

If you come to Paris before the end of August and want to see what the original Orient Express train looks like, you only need to go to the IMA (Institut du monde arabe) and visit the exhibit they're having at the moment. The Orient Express is still a mythical train for us Europeans. It used to go from Paris to Istanbul (Constantinople before 1930)  in "as little as"  80 hours or so! No wonder it stopped in 1977... The SNCF (French railway company) wants to reopen the line eventually and turn it into a high-end "cruise".   

More sunny reflexions

When I show you the Paris Modern Art museum, I generally tale the photo from the other side. But this time, I was fascinated by the way way the sun would make its way through this magnificent building. This "Palace" that is what it's called, was built around 1937 for the International Art and Technical Exhibition. It then was turned into a museum in 1961 and is a definite must see if you come to Paris!

The Galliera palace has just reopened...

A long long time ago, I posted this photo of the Galliera Palace (after Duchess of Galliera), a stunning building that was built between 1878 and 1894 and that now shelters the fashion museum of Paris. In 2009 it closed for renovation and it just reopened about a month ago. It's an absolute must see if you come to Paris, not only for what you can see inside (at the moment there is an exhibition dedicated to designer Azzedine Alaïa), but also because you can enjoy a nice walk and rest in the garden around it.

A must visit place on the left bank

Here is a stunning building that I don't think I ever showed you. It's located in the 13th arrondissement and it's called La manufacture des Gobelins (after the name of a family of dyers named Gobelin). It's a tapestry factory that was created by Louis the XIVth in... 1601 and it is apparently still in operation. I suppose you can have a tapestry made there if you want, but you're most likely to visit the place and admire the beautiful piece of work that they have over there (I plan to!). Like all national museums, the entrance is free on every last Sundays of the month. The entrance is free either on every last Sundays of the month - as indicated on their website - or on every first Sundays of the month - like all French National museums.

Doll museum

I've been willing to go to the musée de la poupée (doll museum) for a long time - not that I'm particularly into dolls, but because I was curious to see what's in it. I took advantage of the free entrance special (every second Friday of the month between 10 and 12 am) to check it out. Of course it's more appropriate for kids, but adults may also find food for thoughts there. At this very moment especially, they have a "dolls of the world" special exhibit and it's very interesting to see how these toys actually teach the kids what they should look like when they grow up! For once I've posted two photos : one main one and a few of the other ones I've taken.

No pink elephants!

Here is a cool sculpture that I found in front of the Institut du monde arabe (the Arab World Institute) . It's called "Trio Elephants" and it was made by Nadim Karam, a Lebanese artist who was born in Senegal. He has this "thing" for elephants and likes to sculpt them in bronze, wood, metal... Anyway, on top of the sculpture, I really love this place which is like heaven for photographers ;-)   

Museum break

Whenever I want to take a little break from the city buzz without actually going away from Paris, I go to the Petit Palais, a fine arts museum located off the Champs Elysées. There you can enjoy a quick break and/or have a little snack in the in house café that I already recommended (especially in summer!) In the main entrance hall, they have a few pieces of art on display, including this one that I love: it's called La femme au singe (singe means monkey) for she has a monkey on a leash) and it was made by Camille Alaphilippe. An absolute beauty.

The man who found oil!

The next time you fill your car tank think of this guy... His name is Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian and he is one of the pioneers of the oil industry! He's had a fascinating life: born in Istanbul in 1869, in an Armenian aristocrat family he studied in Turkey, France, England and "discovered" oil in Irak; he even participated in the creation of Shell! Anyway the reason why I photographed his bust, is that I discovered by sheer coincidence that he has a foundation in Paris where you can see - and read - a lot of stuff related to Portugal where he ended his life. More about him - and his fascinating life - on Wikipedia of course!

Paris SketchCrawl

Do you know what a Sketch crawl is? I did not... Until last Saturday, when I witnessed one at the La cité de l'architecture et du Patrimoine, I was telling you about yesterday. Principle: anybody who enjoys sketching - and is aware of the meetup - gets to meet in a place and spend some time drawing what they see. The result is then published on the Internet! Cool idea, isn't? Check it out, there might be one of these events near you soon... I took many photos of sketchers, here is a little patchwork.

Hide and seek with the Eiffel Tower!

I went to the Cité de l'architecture & du patrimoine, a superb musuem dedicated to architecture, to attend a temporary exhibit about Henri Labrouste, a leading architect who got famous in the 1800's. The exhibit was great (I love architecture) and I learned a lot of things, thanks to the guide who gave us a tour. This museum is located at place du Trocadero and on the way out, I could not help but taking a "stolen" photo of the Eiffel Tower, from inside the museum. I kinda like it ;-)

National ceramics museum

It's 3 am, I haven't posted my photo earlier because of the place I'm just back from: the National ceramic Museum, located in Sèvres, just outside Paris. I knew it would be worth a photo... And it was. Of course at this time of the day I did not get to see the stunning ceramics collections they have (50 000+ pieces), but all the back office, and their ovens in particular. Why? Because they rent out this space for special events, like company parties and... weddings. I was there for the latter, which was really fun. If you come to Paris and are looking for something off the tourist circuit, the Musée national de la céramique is definitely worth the trip.

Peep show!

This is not the first time I have posted a photo of the statues that can be found outside the beautiful Palais de Tokyo, a palace that was built in 1937 to shelter a modern art museum (actually two, one local and one national, but let's not complicate things!). This time, I tried to find a new angle; I took this photo through the legs of one of the statues, located in the foreground. A sort of modern art peep show in other words!

Berenice Abbott exhibit opening

Last evening I went to a photo exhibit opening at the Jeu de Paume museum (located in the Tuileries gardens at Place de la Concorde). The exhibit was about Berenice Abbott, a photographer my American visitors may know of, for she was American and famous for her black and white photos of New York. The reason why I went to this opening last night is that it was staged by my friend Nino Comba who I already featured on this blog a few years ago on the occasion of a Nuit Blanche event. Some may also have recognized the mystery visitor in the photo ;-)

Paris fashion museum

If there is one last "industry" where the French still have a pretty good position, it's la mode (fashion). No wonder then, that we hold on to it as much as we can... I already mentioned the Institut Français de la Mode, a school that is more a business school dedicated to fashion than an actual designer school), and here is the fashion museum. It's called the Galliera (after the name of the Italian Duchess who once owned the place - a stunning palace surrounded by a 17600 sq meter garden in the heart of the 16th arrondissement!) and it owns no less than 90 000 fashion pieces (from dresses to gloves, fans, umbrellas...). I've never visited it - and I won't before another year and a half for it's currently closed, but the outside is already something!

Paris Mint!

It's the last day of January and it's about time to take down the Christmas decorations! I took this photo at La Monnaie de Paris (Paris mint or coins and medals), a public body that was founded in 864 and is in charge of issuing coins and medals on behalf of the French Government (they still are nowadays, even though we don't use proper French coins anymore but Euros). The place is also a museum, located is a 18th century building, where you can buy medals; at the moment, they are promoting four gold and silver coins, produced under a licence with The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts!

Culture menu!

Paris bridges and buildings offer a wide variety of photo opportunities I agree, but sometimes the most casual scenes you come across also make interesting photos. Hence this one, that I took last night at the Pompidou Center, where I attended Le Carrefour des Possibles, a very interesting event - in which they used polltogo, which, of course, made it even more interesting ;). On the way out, I saw this perfectly lit big panel which lists the Pompidou Center events of the month and pulled out my camera as quickly as I could!

Press conference

Today I attended a press conference at the Pavillon de l'Arsenal - a must visit museum dedicated to the Paris architecture. The purpose of the conference was to announce the launch of a very innovative digital map (a team work of Google and Paris), in which you can see "the future Paris" in 3D. How is that possible? Simply because some of the main architectural projects have been digitally embedded into the giant interactive map that can be seen in the Pavillon. It was really fascinating, but, call me weird, I was even more fascinated by the glow in the dark green shows of Ms Dominique Alba, General Manager of the Pavillon who introduced the project to us ;-) Make sure you also see the making of.

The PDP calendars are out!

Here is another photo I took at the Petit Palais while I was visiting in the inside garden. unfortunately I forgot to make a note of the sculptor's name, so there is not much I can tell you about them. Instead I'll seize the opportunity to let you know that the 2012 PDP calendars are just off press (well, off Zazzle!) and that  there is even a 30% off offer until midnight Pacific time. Like last year, there is a  B&W version and a color one. I hope you'll like them.