Street Fairs, Exhibits and the Neighborhood

On my way out this morning, I happened upon this street fair which took up about 3 blocks between my street and rue Bretagne. Called a "brocante" in French (literally bric-a-brac), it's much like a flea market with mostly second-hand goods, a few possible antiques, and much food and fanfare of course. Since I didn't feel there was anything I needed, I wound my way through the vendors and headed off to Mariage Frères tea salon again to buy some tea for home.



After a quick phone call to Berkeley Books, I hopped another metro over there to pick up the Hemmingway book I was looking for -- A Moveable Feast. They didn't have it last night because the gentleman who owns the store took home the old copy they had in the store to trade it for a newer copy he had at home. As promised, they saved it for me and I was happy to have a good read for the trip home. The book store is over on the left bank, not far from the Pont des Arts, a pedestrian bridge which crosses the River Seine. Along the sidewalks flanking this bridge are many stalls like the one seen above. While many are actually bookstalls, there are also the usual curios and trinkets assumedly well-loved by tourists everywhere.

Heard about the David LaChapelle exhibit in Paris before I left home. It began in March this year and will end on May 31st at the Palais de la Monnaie [the Money Museum], and since this was supposed to be the most complete exhibit of his works to date in France, I felt it was worth a look. LaChapelle is a photographer and video/film director who has won many awards for his work in the fields of fashion, advertising and photograpy, and is noted for his surreal, unique and often humorous style. There are over 200 of his works on exhibit at the Palais de Monnaie. Featured among them are celebrity portraits of Madonna, Elton John, Paris Hilton and Angelina Jolie to name a few, as well as some of his more famous works like Holy War. If you know anything of LaChapelle's work, you'll know that the picture above is probably the least provocative of any.

I began to run a video on his piece called Holy War but was told that no photos were allowed -- with or without flash.

After leaving the LaChapelle exhibit, I crossed over le Pont Neuf to find a nearby metro station. On the way I snapped this portrait of Henry IV who "resides" in the center of the bridge.

Since it was such a beautiful warm day, stopping at Place des Vosges for tea sounded like a splendid idea, except today I had glacé (ice cream), instead of pastry, in keeping with the spirit of the season. Then I began the mile walk home along some previously undiscovered streets and came across this charming little neighborhood park.

Later in the evening -- the French dine very late begining at about 9 pm -- I went out to dinner at La Potée Des Halles. The literal translation of this name is “melting pot of the marketplace". It's a typical small very homey bistro located at 3 rue Etienne Marcel in the 3rd arrondissement of Paris. The meal began with an entrée of tomato crumble (warm tomatoes and bread crumbs with Parmesan cheese) and a salad, along with a basket of wonderfully fresh natural grain bread. Followed by a "plat" of chicken prepared with honey and cinnamon along with saffron rice and fresh green beans. All topped off with some white wine which made for a very impressive meal. Note that the "entrée" on a French menu is the appetizer, while what we call the entree is called the "plat" in France.

At sometime during the day, some metro stop somewhere, I came across this group singing -- they were quite loud and could be heard throughout the metro station. Thought you might like a real taste of Paris.

Bonsoir