As we get to our final few weeks in Paris, I'm moving my weekly emails to a blog format (I know, I should've done that in the first place...but I was busy!). And, we are thinking more and more about Ireland  (we begin that phase of our trip on May 22). In the meantime we're filling our remaining time here, digging into some of the 'deep cuts' from our list of things we want to do.

After coming across chocolate manufacturer Atelier C / Robert Chocolate earlier in our trip, I attended a découverte du chocolat workshop. Although presented in French, there was a very helpful English-speaking assistant to help me (along with near-constant Google Translate) so I was able to grasp the bulk of the information presented.

Our instructor and two fellow students

I and the other 12 other participants enjoyed learning about the history of chocolate (including the fact, grudgingly presented, that the French did not 'invent' chocolate, but did 'perfect' it), an overview of the manufacturing process and all the different kinds of cocoa beans, an illuminating tasting process (very much like wine tasting, only with more agreement among us tasters about the flavors we were experiencing), some easy chocolate 'funneling' and decorating with nuts and fruit, and a taste of cocoa fruit juice. Wha? When the large cocoa fruit is opened, there is a white pulp, within which are the cocoa beans used to make chocolate. Usually the pulp is discarded, but our chocolatier had acquired from Ghana a container of the juice made from that fruit pulp. It was wonderful, very citrus-like, apparently very healthy. And very difficult if not impossible to obtain outside of a cocoa bean producing country. I had a really fun time, and came home with 15 little self-funneled and decorated chocolate treats - it was a very different and very French experience!

That's 'our' corner!

So the other night I was watching The Diplomat on Netflix, in which the key characters were in Paris. I was astonished to see them in the cafe at the bottom of our building, and walking down our street, right past our door! We've already seen numerous photo and film shoots in and around this neighborhood; I think it lends itself well to that, being quintessential Paris, away from most vehicle traffic, and easily cordoned off and managed for filming. Anyway, if you want to get a feel for our neighborhood, go to season 1 episode 8, and jump in at 22:43 (we've been in that cafe, and in the restaurant you can see through the window behind the actress) and 28:08 (they walk right past our door - the brown one) and onto 'our' bridge.

On Monday evening, with our friends Mark and Juliet, we were coming out of a restaurant on Rue Saint-Louis here in our neighborhood, and saw a commotion at the end of the street, right where we were headed on the way back to our apartment. People running, some yelling. Then, from several directions came dozens and dozens of motorcycle cops, including one right in front of us jumping off the bike and chasing someone. Apparently there were rioters who had run onto the island to escape the gendarmes. We hung on the side of the very narrow road for maybe 10 minutes as more and more cops on motorcycles and in police vans came screaming by us. This is their BREV riot response team (currently under investigation for excessive force, btw), which I described in an earlier missive: two cops per bike, one is the driver and one to jump off and give chase. 

We finally went around the corner and into our apartment, then watched from the balcony. A lot more cops on bikes, and several arrestees on the ground. Crazy. First time we’ve seen this kind of activity on Ile Saint-Louis - overall it’s been very quiet for weeks. However, this being May Day/International Workers Day/a holiday, and with the unions urging protests, people were out all day, which is fine - but come nightfall, those with a more anarchistic bent start their activities. I have a feeling what you've seen in the news may be a bit overblown (really? The media exaggerating for ratings? It can't be!), but there was rioting to some degree, injuries, arrests, fires, tear gas...even though the pension reform issue is a done deal and will not be rescinded. Here's a video of the cops leaving the island.

Le Vieux Chene (The Old Oak), Jacob Van Ruisdael, 1648

We found another of the smaller museums that we are loving - the Musee Cognac-Jay (named after the man and wife who collected the art up until 1920). Like others, it's presented in a mansion, with few other visitors viewing the collection. Makes for a wonderful, relaxed museum experience. Here are pictures of just two of the many paintings there which were enthralling. 

Afterwards we visited what seems to be a de facto dog park - none of the dogs approached us until we realized we had to say 'Qui est un bon garçon? Bon chien!' - English just didn't work!

Le Grand Canal, Antonio Canaletto, 1725, as viewed by Eileen McKenna

Another off-the-beaten-path site we visited was the Colleges des Bernardines, a 13th century gothic building that now houses a religious studies school, and is an event center for lectures, conferences, and music. We were only able to visit the main entry room (shown here). Perhaps another time we'll take a tour. It was originally a Cistercian college of the University of Paris, housing monks of that order - until the revolution. Fortunately it survived.

The day for our long-planned visit to Fondation Louis Vuitton - a modern art museum in a corner of the massive open space/park Bois de Bologne - finally arrived on a beautiful, warm, sunny day. The main exhibit was of the collaborative artwork by Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, from 1984-85. I'm not a particular fan of either, but I did grow to appreciate and enjoy the exhibit, especially after learning of their collaborative process (one would start the painting, the other would then add to and enhance it, sometimes covering up parts of the first phase). We also learned a bit about the art scene in 1980s downtown New York.

'Mind Energy,' Warhol-Basquiat, 1985

One other exhibit there which we enjoyed was a video installation called The Guru by Ndaye Kouagou.

Kind of hard to describe, but he first tells us he's a 'guru of the average' (look for that as a song title on my next album!) and says anyone who thinks they're exceptional should leave the room  (coincidentally or not, some people did leave at that point, to the amusement of those who remained). Anyway, he later says no one should listen to him or follow him. We think the overarching message is that we are all good as we are, and don't need to follow or try to fit in...or something...it was heartfelt, humorous, and deep all at the same time.

For me the star of the show at Fondation Louis Vuitton is the Frank Gehry-designed building. I don't even know how to describe it, except as a monumental feast for the eyes. Here are a few pictures and a video (one pic is from a poster in the museum, as there's no way to get a photo of the entire building). 

What a week this has been! All of the above, and then today we made it to Musee L'Orangerie (yes, housed in a former 'orangery' built in 1852, into which they'd bring citrus trees in from the cold...). Fabulous room-sized Monet pieces - his water lilies cycle - plus Renoir, Matisse, Cezanne, a little Picasso, many others...and we discovered a contemporary artist we really like, Philippe Cognee. After L'Orangerie, we had lunch at a cafe in Jardin des Tuileries, which is so different than when we visited early in our trip, now filled with flowers and blossoming trees, and of course a lot more people.

 

Peches, Pierre-August Renoir 1919

   

1 of Triptych, Philippe Cognee