jeu de paume

another one of the hundred's of galleries paris has to offer, jeu de paume sits in a somewhat overlooked corner of the jardin des tuileries. the building (although completely renovated on the inside) is the former home of the indoor tennis courts of the royal palace - hence the name 'jeu de paume'.

we went along to check out what is now a contemporary art museum with a focus on photographic expositions. however, typical us - we didn't bother to check up opening times before we got there. on discovering that we still had an hour before we could enter, we had to think of something to kill the time. what a dilemma: being stuck in the centre of paris with nothing to do for an hour. hard life, i know.

we wandered off to rue de rivoli, on the north side of the jardin des tuileries. one of my favourite streets (for good reason! 59 rivoli, one of my fav places in paris, as well as endless shopping opportunities...) and also conveniently home to the unofficial best hot chocolate of paris....angelina's! imagine a little pot of mouthwatering hot chocolate, made by actually melting hunks of delicious dark chocolate. all this in a room that resembles something out of a dining room on the titanic...suffice to say that only at angelina's would i pay 8€ for a hot chocolate. worth every cent and apparently a perfect way to while away the time...

midday rolled over all too quickly, so we made our short way back to jeu de paume to check out two expositions: claude cahun's series of autobiographical photographs that questioned gender & identity; and santu mofokeng's photographic journey through africa, continental europe & the middle east. the first was strange, with alot of experimental photography; the second very eye-opening and the photos tempted to me to go to africa..

a day of hot chocolates & gallery visits is becoming all to familiar to me, here in paris. i still need to pinch myself now & then - after five months of living here, i still can't quite believe all of this is really happening!

à la prochaine,

S.