Sunday Afternoon Observing the Locks of Love and Other Oddities
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Portrait of JR by Dear Parler Paris Reader,
Expat Expo ran their first event in Paris this past weekend at the Parc Floral. Others have tried something like it -- Expatica.com ran a fair very similar during the fall of 2005, 2006 and 2007 that failed as an profitable venture, so they stopped holding them. We participated in it all three events and while it was lots of fun to talk to the visitors, it wasn't really very successful as a sales tool, so when Expat Expo asked us to participate, we politely declined.
Friday I trekked out to the Parc Floral to see what was happening at the Expo and meet with one of our 'partners' --Moneycorp Global Money Services. They are the folks we have worked with for years to in whom we trust to provide the best currency transfers quickly, easily and at the best rates of exchange (you save about 1% from the rate your commercial bank will give you). They were one of the 75 exhibitors, including such services as Expatica.com (yes, they were there!), The American Hospital, the FUSAC, the Fehrenbach Driving School, WICE and the British Embassy, to name a few.
The trek to the Parc Floral was daunting enough to discourage a would-be visitor. Taking the #1 Métro to the end of the line (Château de Vincennes) is easy enough, but there is a 10-minute walk to the entrance to the park and another 10-minute walk through the park to the exhibition space. As I was making my way there, I thought about who would be willing to go so far for such an event. And as expected, it was not overwhelmed with attendees.
In an adjacent room was another event in progress -- the "Salon Mer & Vigne" where there were dozens of stands offering up wine, cheeses, cold cured meats and a host of other regional products. It was here that there was a respectable showing of people, thanks to the bus-loads of mostly elderly British to whom this appeals. While the Moneycorp staff manned their booth, our liaison, Tanya Uniacke, and I, lunched on oysters and "charcuterie" at the make-shift restaurant.
My daughter arrived from New York that same day for a brief week in Paris as she was hired to photograph a newly-opened restaurant at 25 avenue des Champs-Elysées -- the "Louis 25." A visiting friend and I tested it out Saturday night and not only enjoyed the kitsch atmosphere, but loved the guitarists who were performing there, "Gipsy by Miguel."
Visiting friends are what every full-time Paris resident needs every once in a while to just do touristy kinds of things and take the time to observe the city from a different perspective. Sunday we took in two exhibitions -- "L'Or des Incas" at thePinacothèque de Paris and then the André Kertész exhibit at the Musée Jeu de Paume. Both were excellent and swarming with visitors (Sunday afternoon is undoubtedly the WORST time to go to a museum in Paris, because for a lot of us, it's the ONLY time we can spare!).
On route to and from the exhibitions, observing the people and the city was by far more interesting than either exhibition. At the Jardin des Tuileries, a man was remotely powering a miniature speed boat on the pond so fast that it flipped over rendering it powerless till it drifted back to shore. On the lawn near the Carrousel du Louvre, a young woman was playing with her pet bunny which she carried there in its own little pink case and held it on a leash. At the Centre Pompidou, a man came along with a marketing cart filled with breadcrumbs for the pigeons that roost there, sending them all into a huge frenzy circling him and following his every move. Sitting on a mailbox on a neighborhood corner was a perfectly good pair of men's shoes which I'm sure didn't last there longer than 10 minutes. On the Pont des Arts, we observed the "Lover's Locks" that are filling the railing along the bridge (to learn more about it, be sure to read Geraldine Kaylor's blog, The Travel Oyster, "LOCKS OF LOVE IN PARIS."
Before settling down to dinner at my favorite Italian restaurant, "Caruso" (3, rue de Turenne, 4th), we took in young French artist JR's film, "Women are Heroes" at the MK2 Hautefeuille. My daughter photographed him for Whitewall Magazine and recently wrote an article about him and his project in Resource Magazine. Do you remember the "Women are Heroes" exhibition along the Seine in Paris this past year? If you don't remember the haunting women's eyes peering out at you from the river's edge, here's a reminder:http://blogs.paris.fr
The visitor is gone and we full-time worker bees are back at every day life in the City of Light...and loving it just the same.
A la prochaine...
Adrian Leeds
Editor, Parler Paris
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P.S.Tomorrow is our monthly coffee gathering, "Parler Paris Après Midi, from 3 to 5 p.m. Join us for a networking opportunity to meet other Parler Paris readers. It's free and it's easy. Beginning in March, we will add an interesting speaker to the event -- so that not only will have a chance to make friends, but learn something new, too! Stay tuned for more information and visit parlerparis/apresmidi.html for details. See you there!
