Sunday, November 6 - Paris

Today is sadly the last day of the trip.  Our cultural destination of the day is the Cartier Foundation to see an exhibition called Mathematics:  A Beautiful Elsewhere.    Perhaps the highlight of the show was a film downstairs featuring a dozen or so mathematicians, each speaking about why he or she chose mathematics as their lifelong pursuit.  Chose is probably the wrong word because each spoke as if there was no choice; each was driven toward mathematics because of the elegance and simplicity of the "language" that mathematicians speak and the constant discoveries they make.   Their excitement was palpable and I envied them their ability to think and reason in a way I will never experience.  To quote from the website:

Mathematics: A Beautiful Elsewhere is a unique exhibition created by the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain with the aim of offering visitors, to use the mathematician Alexandre Grothendieck’s expression, “a sudden change of scenery.” The Fondation Cartier has opened its doors to the community of mathematicians and invited a number of artists to accompany them. They are the artisans and thinkers, the explorers and builders of this exhibition.

A large number of mathematicians and scientists contributed to the creation of this exhibition, and eight of them acted as its overseers: SIR MICHAEL ATIYAH, JEAN-PIERRE BOURGUIGNON, ALAIN CONNES, NICOLE EL KAROUI, MISHA GROMOV, GIANCARLO LUCCHINI, CÉDRIC VILLANI and DON ZAGIER. Representing a wide range of geographical backgrounds and mathematical disciplines, they work in areas such as number theory, algebraic geometry, differential geometry, topology, partial differential equations, probability, mathematics applied to biology…

They were accompanied by nine artists chosen for their exceptional ability to listen, as well as for their great sense of curiosity and wonder. All of these artists have exhibited at the Fondation Cartier in the past: JEAN-MICHEL ALBEROLA, RAYMOND DEPARDON AND CLAUDINE NOUGARET, TAKESHI KITANO, DAVID LYNCH, BEATRIZ MILHAZES, PATTI SMITH, HIROSHI SUGIMOTO and TADANORI YOKOO, as well as Pierre Buffin and his crew (BUF). They worked together to transform the abstract thinking of mathematics into a stimulating experience for the mind and the senses, an experience accessible to everyone.

We took the metro back to the Marais and had lunch outside under the heat lamps at Les Philosophes (28, rue Vieille du Temple).  Spent the rest of the outside wandering through the Marias trying to get our fill before returning home to pack up our gear.

Saturday November 5 - Paris

Got up early to be at the Grand Palais for a 9:30 ticketed entry to see a fantastic show about Gertrude Stein and her family of art dealers and collectors.  The same show, entitled The Steins Collect:  Matisse, Picasso and the Parisian Avant-Garde will travel to the MET Museum in NY and open in late February 2012.  

Ticketholders on line at the Grand Palais

Afternoon at the Musee Guimet, a perennial favorite of mine.  We took advantage of the charming Asian restaurant in the museum and had lunch there before viewing the wonderful Khmer sculpture and other treasures.  

Musee Guimet

Had a quiet dinner at our hotel.  

The bar at our hotel

Hotel Dining Room

Friday November 4 - Paris

Today the weather was miraculously gorgeous and warm after having had torrential rain yesterday.  Basically Ferris and I walked around the area that Elizabeth and I used to stay in on the Left Bank for the entire day.  We shopped.  Ferris bought lovely undies.  Of course we both bought a beautiful necklace, or two, or five at Fabrice.  But who's counting?  Had dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, Gaya Rive Gauche.  

Boulevard Saint Germain

Boulevard Saint Germain

Saint Germain des Pres

Saint Sulpice

Thursday November 3 - Paris

Had lots of rain today.  In the morning Ferris and I ran an errand near the Place Vendome.  She had several pieces of jewelry she'd bought years ago that needed adjustment so off we went to visit the jeweler.  I was glad to get to see the shop, plus have a fleeting chance to see such an iconic section of Paris.  It reminded me of many years ago when Elizabeth Cohen and I were lucky enough to stay at the Ritz Carleton Hotel on the Place Vendome.  Ah, those were the days.

Afterward we met the group at Jerome DeClercq whose business is making beautiful tiebacks for draperies.  His family has made them for kings going back hundreds of years.  Imagine huge colorful tassels and things.  Really wonderful, interesting and quintessentially French.  

Then we visited Karen Petrossian, an African textile collector who was absolutely charming.  He spent a couple of hours pulling out rare pieces to show us.  

Buckets of rain we falling by the time we left.  Where are those new galoshes when I need them?  

Wednesday November 2 - Paris

Had a very laid back day, giving in to the grayness of the city, walking around chilly Autumnal Paris.  We crossed over the Seine to the Left Bank and walked down toward the Sorbonne.  As we ambled around I thought I remembered that a old favorite eatery, Brasserie Balzar, was somewhere in the vicinity.  In my best (or worst) broken French I eventually obtained the address for the restaurant.  Ferris and I enjoyed a delightful lunch of French comfort food - soup a l'oignon et poulet roti avec pommes de terre.  The very best in Paris.

Brasserie Balzar interior.

After lunch we meandered once again toward Boulevard Saint Germain and walked until our feet could no longer carry us.   Had drinks at the Hotel Montalembert on Rue du Bac before taxing over to Les Fables de la Fontaine for dinner.  This petite seafood restaurant (only 10 tables) came highly recommended by Elizabeth.  Absolutely worth a detour.  

Les Fables de la Fontaine

Les Fables de la Fontaine

A mad snap from the window of the taxi.

Tuesday November 1 - Paris

Woke to a very chilly, overcast day.  Our first stop today was one I'd been looking forward to very much:  the Musee du quai Branly.  Believe it or not, I have not been to Paris since the Branly opened about 10 years ago.

The Branly is a museum of (for lack of a better word) tribal or "Native People's" art from around the world.  I was amazed by the beauty of the installations and the art itself.  The building was designed by architect Jean Nouvel, the same person who designed the Arab Institute here.  From the outside I wouldn't say the building is particularly beautiful.  But on the inside, where display cases are set off against black walls making them look like jewel cases, it is stunning.  And the examples of art from the Americas, Africa, the Middle East and Asia are some of the most beautiful I've seen.  We had a guided tour for about an hour and half that took us completely around the world. 

I had a special treat at the quay Branly - I'd noticed a poster outside advertising a work called THE RIVER by Charles Sandison.  This happens to be an artist whose work I own; I own a video projection based on Charles Darwin's Origin of the Species.  I assumed that the work had come and gone but when we entered I was thrilled to see that it appears to be a permanent installation and it's the first thing you encounter as you enter the museum.  It serves as a vehicle to visually convey the flow of cultures and ideas that you are about experience in the vitrines below.  Text from the quai Branly website says it much better:

"Visitors are invited to immerse themselves in a river of moving words projected with varying rhythms and concentrations along the whole of the ramp leading up to its source: the collections area.  16,597 names of all the peoples and geographic locations displayed in the museum's collections accompany the flow of visitors in this way.

The installation is brought to life by software that combines speech and hydrological cycles, mixing simulation techniques intended to create artificial life and to illustrate the laws of physics.  The wealth of cultures flows like the words through time and space, like water. This also allows us to observe human diversity by contemplating the channels and canyons that mark its surface, engraved by the flood of language. Visitors can take every chance to imagine the relationships, to allow themselves to be captivated by the movements of exchange of these signs, to bring them together, interpret them and dream them."

Charles Sandison's THE RIVER

By the time we exited, a light rain had begun to fall making the day even more raw than it had felt before.  Had lunch at a cafe at the Branly before dashing to the Musees des Arts Decoratifs to see an exhibition of avant garde fashion designer Hussein Chalayan.

Returned the hotel after this and stayed local for a casual dinner in the neighborhood.