Monday, September 5, 2011

seine booksellers

lining the riverbank from pont neuf to pont des arts are the green, wooden boxes of the seine river booksellers. at night the little boxes lie dormant, but during the day they open up into a snaking line of miniature stalls overflowing with old books, new books, big books, miniature books, foreign-language  books, etc... 
although that part of the booksellers is self-explanatory, the little shops/stalls also sell prints of famous artworks, copies of famous magazine covers & iconic images dating back to the 20s, both new & pre-loved postcards (i bought an old print of the arc de triomphe with a barely legible love letter from the 70s written on the back. cute), old keychains made up of random recycled advertisements from previous decades, amongst a sea of other oddities.

the booksellers run right up to pont des arts - the "love-lock" bridge, so the stalls leading up to the pedestrian bridge sell locks of all shapes, colours & sizes that passers by can then attach to the bridge's railings. i somehow always seem to lose track of time while strolling along the banks of the seine...i get caught up rummaging through old prints of paris (of which there are literally thousands), flicking through the  impressionist prints dangling from the roofs of the little boxes & snapping the same photos time and time again - everywhere i look just seems to capture a new moment of the quaint little existence of the seine river booksellers...

à bientôt,


S.
looking across the seine to the musée du louvre
a street busker playing a piano-ish type of instrument i've never seen before

Monday, August 22, 2011

falafels in the marais

arguably the best falafels in paris, it's a muuuust to get them when here. rue des rosiers, located in the jewish quarter of paris, is famous for its falafels. there are about 4 or 5 different places, but the best is by far are found at l'as du falafel. no, it doesn't mean "falafel ass" or "donkey falafel"...but rather "the king of falafels" - and rightly so.
stuffed inside a warm pita is sun-dried tomato, grilled aubergine, courgette, mayo, super spicy spices & those delicious falafel balls. omnomnom. we sat down on the cobble-stone, pedestrianised street and gobbled up our wraps...and it's safe to say that we enjoyed it down to the very last falafel-filled bite...

with comfortably full bellies, we wandered through the lanes & alleyways of le marais, the quarter of paris renowned for its shopping. stopping every 2 minutes at friperies (second-hand/vintage clothes shops) and entering hidey-hole shops jam-packed with clothes in every colour, shape, pattern & style possible. i managed to nab a pair of leather boots, a couple of leather belts & a silver "owl" brooch. mmm i love paris shopping. there's really nothing quite like it.
xo,



S.

cal got a bit bored of shopping by the end...

musée d'orsay

a museum/gallery housed in the old gare d'orsay, the old beaux-arts railway station. the station was put into disuse in the 70s before being transformed into the musée d'orsay a few years later. the original glass ceilings & walled arches are still the original, however its train-tracks & platforms have been removed & replaced by little galleries - to house some of france's most celebrated impressionist & post-impressionist artworks.
the musée d'orsay has a crazy number of monet, cézanne & renoir pieces - it was such a surreal feeling (as it always is) to see the real originals before my eyes. ahh! normally there are van gogh works on display, but the gallery was being renovated at the time, so i didn't get to see them. having visisted the van gogh gallery in amsterdam however, i wasn't too devo.

annoyingly, the museum has that irritating 'no photos' rule all throughout the gallery. i managed to snap a few sneaky shots, to capture the beauty of the architecture...but in front of the artworks, if the museum workers even see a camera they chivvy you on your way.

i'd been meaning to get here for months, and (unfortunately) eventually came during peak summer: hundred's of people lining up to get in. i went to the nearest tabac (our equivalent of a milk shop) and managed to buy a ticket there instead, and got to enter through the side door of the museum straight away. saved myself a good two hours of lines - life is sweet!

a quote written down in miniscule writing next to one of monet's pieces has stayed with me: "everyone discusses my art and pretends to understand it, as if it were necessary to understand - when it is simply necessary to love".


à toute,




S.
the exterior of the museum - the original railway station
the original, ornate clock from the railway station is still there in the museum