So, autumn once more. And once again I find myself haunting the streets of Paris. Autumn in Paris is getting to become something of a habit! The big draw on this occasion was supposed to be a couple of blockbuster exhibitions that the museums and galleries of the French capital do so brilliantly at this time of year, but once more the navigating of Parisian avenues on foot, proved just as attractive a pursuit, and perhaps more than a match for any of the art. Losing myself in the back streets and Haussmann's boulevards was a wonderful distraction.
This sojourn began (as it always does) at Gare du Nord, where I couldn't resist capturing this 'melting house' sculpture. It is Maison Fond by Argentinian sculptor Leandro Erlich and is a pun on the similar sounding French terms - "maison fond" (house melts), and "mes enfant" (my children), and serves to remind us of climate change and the impermanence of the climate legacies that we leave our children.
With Paris being smaller in size than London, I preferred to traverse the city on foot, savouring the sights, so didn't take to the Paris Métro very often. The surviving Art Nouveau-era station entrances designed between 1910-1913 by Hector Guimard though, are gorgeous works of art. When I did venture underground however there was art of another kind, with torn, artistic interventions created by commuters on the Métro station platforms - #accidentally Mimmo Rotella/Jacques Villeglé.
Illuminated fish by Frank Gehry afloat and aloft at the Fondation Louis Vuitton.
A tempting seafood display at Bastille market, with mini Tour D'Eiffels and croissants.
Speaking of croissants - streets don't get any more French than this!
Shhh! This vast mural of Dalí is a fantastic landmark, but the thought of Tintin and Captain Haddock getting it on captured in another mural was both funny and disturbing.
More graffiti art on the streets versus art masterpieces in the Musée d'Orsay.
All roads led to the Centre Georges Pompidou...
...a perplexing proliferation of pipework, and Banksy's latest.
I wondered what the significance of the three bells was on this commercial property. I thought that they had religious connotations, or were perhaps a symbol of death, or then again maybe they are a reference to Les Trois Cloches - the song made popular by French chanteuse Édith Piaf (here).
A gilded Art Deco dazzler at the Folies Bergère
I love the bistros, bars and cafes, and how each has their own distinctive pattern designed into the cane chairs lining the pavements. This could only be Paris.
A legend among restaurants in the capital is Chartier, which opened in 1896 and is still going strong. I used to take my students there for their first taste of French cuisine and experience of French dining. The original interiors are lovely, and it remains a popular eatery with both locals and tourists alike in the 9th arrondissement.
The Palais Garnier Opéra, and other architectural gems.
William Blake experienced visions of angels on Peckham Rye, and I had a similar vision whilst wandering the 3rd arrondissement when I encountered this beautiful dream of an angel on the side of a building on a Haussmannian boulevard (above). Can you see her? Most people walk by totally oblivious. She is absolutely huge at nine metres tall, and was apparently designed in 1860 by art student Emile-August Delange.
Ornate gilding and verdigris on the fountains at the Place de la Concorde.
More gilding and classical figures representing the Nymphs of the Seine on the Pont Alexandre III bridge, the most ornate of the bridges spanning the river Seine.
Having crossed the mighty Seine I happened across this lovely mermaid beached, and used as one of a pair of doorhandles on a building adjacent to, and appropriately referencing the river.
Wandering a little further I came across another lovely allegory of the river in the female form of a water nymph, again washed up, and deposited onto the facade of another building situated on the banks of the Seine. Yet another thing of beauty to be discovered and appreciated in the City of Light. I look forward to an inevitable return for another walking tour in the near future. Vive La France!
