Conversely

The Sartorialist (aka Scott Schuman) has been in Paris for RTW Fashion Week, documenting the styles of attendees and others for Style.com as usual. He captured this image, posted on Style.com of a guest at Dries Van Noten.

It saves me from photographing strangers as had been my fear. French women, of varying ages love converse. They will be wearing boots, ballet flats or converse it seems - the latter worn in a rainbow of colours, at varying heights but this is simply unexpected for me. Parisian women favouring American sneakers.

A truly wonderful find

Parc du Buttes Chaumont



Today during our perambulations through Belleville I remembered someone mentioning a great park there, was it you Tanya? We were operating off the edge of the Paris Moleskine map but found our way to this treasure.

I am so glad to have first visited in winter, turning corners into misty grottos, seeing the fragile furtive cherry blossoms just coming out. Breathing smoke by the waterfall and being able to look out from the rotunda undisturbed, other than by the sounds made by some men practiscing kick-boxing just below us.

According to a sign we saw, Belleville was not included in Paris until the 19th century which explains how such a monumental park remained in the otherwise built-up city. If you are ever in Paris I recommend it as having a far better view than that from the top of Montmartre - not to mention fresher air and rolling hills. Incidentally, as the second highest point of Paris, you can of course, see Sacre Coeur in the distance.



To conclude, just a little history from a government website:

In 885, the Count Eudes de Paris et de Troyes drove back the Normans at the battle of
Montfaucon on the hillside

In 1814, at the end of the French campaign, the national guard and the marine artillery fought
a desperate battle against the assaults of the Prussians before surrendering.

It has also witnessed some macabre scenes.

At the end of the Middle Ages, the infamous Montfaucon gallows, immortalised by the poet
François Villon in his famous Ballade des pendus, were still to be seen on its western side.
During the Restoration, the hill, which had been occupied by lime quarries since time
immemorial, was turned into a vast public wasteground.

When the communes of Belleville and La Villette were absorbed into the capital and the
quarries were bought in 1862 by the City of Paris, Napoléon III had the idea of creating the
Butte-Chaumont park which was to become a monument to plants.



Oh, and here's David in his new Austrian jacket.

Les chats du Cimetiere Montmartre

For some reason, please enlighten me if you know which, the cemetery at Montmartre is filled with cats. Here is my photographic evidence.




You can see they are pure-bred and tabby, skinny and well-fed and seem to have no common factor. I wonder whether there is a preponderance of rats, whether they were attracted to the songs of birds, one of the few places in Paris where birds other than pigeons reside or something more mysterious.

On our way out we saw a woman come through the gates with a cat in a basket which raised all new questions. Was this some kind of unwanted cat repository? I would love to hear any suggestions.

Spotted

This model, who graces the March cover of French Vogue was tottering down our street yesterday. In fact there were quite a few models since there was a casting, all of whom looked like visitors from some far of galaxy. A special race indeed. But it does mean we don't miss Lisa Ho too much.

More excursions...

Our courtyard

Entryway

Inventive window display



Adventures from the rest of the week include:

A trip to Chinatown in the lover 13e, just about at the end of the metro line. Here the buildings are tall and ugly, the people rarely converse in French and just now the cherry blossoms are coming out. Sadly I forgot to take my camera but when next we venture so far south, rest assured the mistake will not recur. We visited the Tang Brothers store, one of the largest Asian grocers in Europe - with one of the largest checkout queues. But it was cheap and certainly fascinating to see this other Paris where the only common factor with the centre of the city was the dismally coloured sky.



Today featured a walk down the Canal St Martin through Oberkampf in the 10e, an area in which I would happily live. We just missed the open air markets selling fish and flowers, possibly other things also. And sat writing at a lovely little cafe called Le Refectoire at 80 rue Richard Lenoir. The waitress was the cute kind you find in Newtown and was patient with my insufficient French.

The thought of the day is that you can tell in what kind of arrodissment you find yourself by looking at the trees. Some areas the trees have received most careful haircuts (anywhere near the Louvre, Champs Elysees etc) but in Chinatown or along the Canal St Martin the trees are left shaggy. Some comment on presence of an immigrant population perhaps? Regardless, my fascination with carefully trimmed trees continues.


Oh, and really the absolutely last thing I can buy before getting a job. This was a super on sale cashmere cardigan which feels like an embrace from the cloud-cotton-wool-fairy-floss fairy. Believe it.

Paris - days 1-3

Architecture

Yes. It is beautiful. In a ridiculously ordered way. Take for example the trees. I can only imagine the expense of maintaining such straight lines, trees trimmed on all four sides - giving them four sides to start with is surely a challenge - and along the top. But it seems to work, this ordered space with a national character of rebellion, or so they like to think. The proprietor of a cafe complained to us about the new smoking laws and explained that the French aren't law abiding but he still took his cigarette outside.





People



Just about everyone speaks to us in English, from the corner supermarket checkout chick to waiters in cafes and shop assistants. I still persevere with my poor French and have been complimented once, which was really just because he was amazed someone from Australia had any French.

There are far more non-caucasians than when I was here four years ago. The metro, the streets, in rich areas and poorer ones exhibit a near Australian level of multiculturalism. There are sushi places EVERYWHERE and Thai places, although they're expensive.

The French women so far are failing expectations. There have been some perfect examples but on the whole they just look like they're trying to keep warm. The men, on the other hand, seem more frequently to dress exquisitely.

And on some streets it is 95% tourists. In the low season. Come summer I think we'll be hiding out in backstreets, if not before.

Shopping

Until I have a job I planned to get boots and a coat. This has been achieved, under budget no less.



The cape is from an outlet store in the Marais, from Belgium designer Dirk Van Saene. I am now equipped to fight crime.

Boots from upper 2e, just Italian ones, super comfortable.

Weather



It's a bit ridiculous. We're on to our forth day in a row of pure sunshine. It's "frais" indeed but yesterday, as we walked up the Champs Elysees, I went so far as to remove my jacket. This run of sunshine must end shortly. Perhaps it in part explains the the parks full - every seat taken. Just on the seats. It is difficult to imagine a park with loose chairs in Australia. Sure they are not of much value but anything not pinned down in Sydney for instance is stolen quick smart - regardless of value.

Signing off from days one to three. About to embark on day four.

T minus 13...

Well with thirteen days to go and innumerable instances of being asked "how are the plans coming" Alice has little to do but play with her new camera. It's the perfect balance between point and shoot and SLR, according to The Photography Blog and while I may not be quite as committed to the photographic arts as their distinguished contributors, I must confess it's a lovely little machine. No doubt it will be capturing some rather fantastic images... shortly.