Oct 19

Oct 19 Expat in Paris (III)

Architecture, Cityscapes, Demonstrations, Gardens, Street Musician, Travel

Normally, when in Paris, I head to the museums. My focus is typically on exhibits featuring photography, but my preferences run the artistic gamut, so I’ve been to dozens of Paris’ many museums. I avoid the larger, well-known ones because the lines are long and the galleries are crowded. While the Louvre has many worthy paintings besides the Mona, so do many of the other smaller museums offering more contemplative atmospheres.

October is not a good month for special exhibits, which dictate whether I visit a museum. Reviewing museum websites before leaving for Paris, I noticed that most museums had already removed their summer special exhibits, as they prepared the galleries for the new shows opening in November and December.

Fortunately, the Musée Maillol had an exhibit featuring Robert Doisneau’s street photography, and the Foundation Henri Cartier-Bresson highlighted one of Richard Avedon’s last photographic projects: the American West. Both were excellent, but hardly groundbreaking exhibitions.

Much to my dismay, the Center for European Photography proved my point. It was closed because it was installing new exhibits.

Over the years, I have stopped in front of pop star Serge Gainsbourg’s home many times. Like the Abbey Road studios in London, the walls outside Gainsbourg’s residence are always covered in colorful and ever-changing graffiti. On this trip, I decided to tour the Gainsbourg’s house. Reservations are required because this museum only allows seven or eight people in at a time.

Gainsbourg may not be a household name in the United States, but in 1968, he and his then lover, Jane Birkin (of Birkin bag fame), recorded an erotic love song entitled, Je t’aime… moi non plus, which was heard on American radio—although I assume many radio stations refused to air it because Birkin sounded as if she was having an orgasm.

In France, Gainsbourg was a major cultural figure, issuing countless albums, and penning songs for many pop star, including Bridget Bardot and Petula Clark. He also was an actor, director, and author.

Gainsbourg’s residence is great fun for anyone who wants to relive the Sixties through a pop star’s eyes. The rooms were dark, the sheets in the master bedroom were black, and the furnishing were vintage. For some reason, Gainsbourg was fascinated with the police, often inviting officers he encountered on the streets late at night into his home. In exchange for his hospitality, the officers gave Gainsbourg their official badges, which continue to be displayed in the house. I also saw the bedroom that his daughter, Charlotte Gainsbourg, occupied as a child. Charlotte is a an actress and singer, who followed in the footsteps of her father and her mother, Jane Birkin. She is also the owner of the residence.

After the self-guided tour, I walked across the street to a more traditional museum that told Gainsbourg’s life story through a series of videos, each one covering a five-to-ten-year period in his life. Nearby each video screen were the memorabilia featured in the video.

Watching the videos, I was amazed that Gainsbourg even made it to 62. Every clip and photograph showed Gainsbourg chain smoking cigarettes, with a cloud of smoke swirling around his head and anyone who was nearby.

I’ve long been a fan of Sixties French pop music, which can be found in a series of anthology recordings titled Pop à Paris. What surprises me is that Gainsbourg and his compatriots never found success in the U.S.

**Intently Examining a Richard Avedon Photograph**

**Behind the Wall Lies a Private Garden**

**Serge Offers Everyone a Drink of Their Choice**

**Merch on Offer at the Serge Gainsbourg House**

**Serge Gainsbourg, as Painted by an Admirer on the Wall Outside Gainbourg's Residence**

One Acquisition. I generally don’t shop when I travel. Even if I find a photography monograph in a museum, I first check if the book is available through Amazon. In Paris, however, I always buy socks at Mes Chaussette Rouges, a store that sells nothing but socks, underwear, and very expensive umbrellas. It is located a few blocks west of the Eiffel Tower. The socks are both pricey and colorful.

Let’s face it, I need a little color in my life given that I am otherwise dressed in black. A friend thought I was nuts to be spending €30s for a pair of socks until I brought back two or three pairs for him. It’s a splurge, but lots of fun. I would also argue that they are worth the price, because they last much longer than other socks.

**The Interior of Mes Chaussettes Rouges**

Walking. Aside from the occasional museum or other landmark, this trip was about walking. It was not unusual for me to rack up 10 to 12 miles each day. For some reasons, I always got a late start.

After my visit to the socks store, I did check the box on one longstanding landmark that I have wanted to experience—a replica of the Statue of Liberty on the Pont de Grenelle, an island located in the Seine about a mile west of the Eiffel Tower. This statue is a quarter-scale version of the original. It was a gift from Americans living in France, intended to commemorate the centennial of the French Revolution (1789). it was not built from scratch, but was one of the working models used for the statue that now sits in the harbor just off the tip of Manhattan.

I also spent a morning at the Jardin des Plantes, a botanic garden and small zoo, with several museums on the grounds. I was there on a Monday, so the greenhouse and museums were closed. As a botanic garden and zoo, the Jardin des Plantes was less than impressive. No hippos, elephants, or giraffes. After 90-minutes, I headed elsewhere.

Following my nine days in Paris, I headed south to Orleans for a few days. When I returned to Paris for the flight home, I headed to the Cinematheque the afternoon before my flight, where I was able to enjoy the My Name is Orson Welles exhibit. A terrific way to end a trip to Paris.

**The Three Bears Had an Argument Over Where to Sit**

**One of the Many Record Stores Still Selling Vinyl in Paris**

**Practicing Tai Chi on the Banks of the Seine**

**The Inspiration for the *Sun Also Rises* Most Likely Sprang from Events that Took Place in this Building**

**The Eiffel Tower as Viewed from the West**

**The French Apparently Took Back the Statue of Liberty**

**School Kids Listening at the Base of the Statue of Liberty**

**"Let's Change the Rules of the Game"**

**Saluting the French Elvis (Pop à Paris)**

**From the Perspective of the Bouquinistes de Paris**

**A Recurring Motif on the Walls of Paris**

**More Popular in Paris Than the United States**

**One is Engrossed; the Other is Bored**

Demonstration III. I headed to Passy the day that Hamas released the remaining hostages. While wandering in Passy Cemetery, I heard cheers and chants coming from just beyond the cemetery’s walls. Could it be another demonstration?

Dashing to the other side of the walls, I could see people assembled in the nearby Place du Trocadéro. It wasn’t a demonstration, but rather a celebration. Paris’ pro-Israel forces were celebrating the release of the hostages earlier in the day. Unlike the other demonstrations that I had stumbled upon, this one was more raucous.

While there were some Israeli flags in the crowd, the celebration was not all that colorful. The organizers had handed out placards, but people were not waving them in the air. Visually, what I was seeing was 200 or so participants standing in a densely packed circle.

To photograph the speakers, I crawled through the crowd toward the front, which earned me plenty of strange looks. Not surprisingly, I didn’t understand a single word the speakers uttered, but I knew everyone was happy, particularly when the crowd sometimes jumped up and down in unison.

I did get one memorable souvenir from the event: a plastic encased placard, which I have added to my collection of signage.