Surrealistic Paris

It can be a culture shock to go from Nice to Paris and from Paris to Nice. Especially when the weather is so completely different in the two cities. One minute I was having lunch on the beach in just a lightweight long-sleeve shirt, and the next minute I’m pulling out the raincoats, hats, scarves, gloves and boots…not to mention the umbrella. Paris put me in the mood to wear all black, just like everyone else (or they wear navy, gray, brown and taupe, but rarely color).

The cities are so different…and it’s not just the weather that makes them so distinctly different. They are as night and day as New York is to Miami. Paris is intensely urban, architecturally symmetrical, gray in color, and exploding with cultural life. The number of people out doing things with serious purpose is overwhelming. Their faces are serious, too—they have a mission to be accomplished and little gets in their way. Parisians are sophisticated and mostly well-dressed…sometimes overdressed in fact…although those over-the-top are likely the visitors who have been watching Emily in Paris or only here for Fashion Week (whom we call the “Aliens”).

The Niçois take on a very different attitude. They are casual in dress, although the young visitors love to show off their skin, bodies and party dresses. They stroll, rather than take a fast pace on the sidewalks and pedestrian zones, and there are smiles on their faces as they go about their daily business. Just walk along the Promenade des Anglais and you might think everyone is on vacation. (Maybe they are, but I doubt it!) The Niçois don’t have the same kind of stress as Parisians do, as they’re not worried about crossing the street and getting killed by a bike or scooter. Plus, so many are retired or vacationing that they have all the time in the world to do next to nothing or plenty of something.

An American client who came for a consultation this past week wanted to know how there could be so many Parisians hanging out in the cafés in the middle of the day. “Don’t they have jobs where they need to be?” he asked. And a friend visiting from the U.S. on Saturday night remarked on how the cafés and restaurants were packed with people. “Is Paris always this busy?” she asked.

I don’t know the answers to these questions, but their observations are correct. On Saturday I saw lines of people standing on the sidewalks of Le Marais waiting to get into a Pop-Up for some bargains and wondered myself what was so thrilling about the goods they were selling that people were willing to stand in line for long periods of time. They just looked like ordinary dinner dishes to me!

I stumbled across and open door into a courtyard of a Hôtel Particulier along rue des Francs Bourgeois. Streams of people were venturing in to see a torrent of chairs flooding the courtyard. It was a part of an installation by Japanese artist Tadashi Kawamata, with hundreds of chairs cascading from a window, tumbling through the courtyard in quite a dramatic display. Kawamata, known for his frequent use of wooden structures, has crafted this temporary installation, only on view until Saturday, so I lucked out. The project was presented by Phileo Paris and Adidas, with support from Mennour, and is part of Kawamata’s collaboration with Adidas on a sneaker design. Go figure. It’s all in a day of wandering Paris’ streets (that is if you don’t get killed by a bike or scooter).

DON’T WALK, RIDE

The city, once considered the greatest city on the planet in which to walk endlessly, like a bona fide “flâneur,” is now one of the most dangerous cities for pedestrians. Nearly a million cyclists have taken over the roads, puting pedestrians at serious risk. When Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo ordered up all those bike and scooter lanes, she totally forgot about us…the ones on our own two feet, not on wheels.

Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi did not follow in her footsteps. He privatized certain streets in the city, reserving them for bicycles, with new bike lanes established, including one on Nice’s major boulevard, Gambetta. The bike network now boasts of 125 kilometers of cycle lanes through the city and most are separated from car traffic, ensuring greater safety for cyclists…and pedestrians.

To add to his pretty picture, thousands of trees, including pines, palm trees, and banana trees, have been planted along the bike paths, enhancing the city’s green spaces. Estrosi has committed to planting 360,000 trees by the end of his term. No wonder the residents have those smiles on their faces!

RUE DE LA SUCRERIE

I may have gotten jaded and take Paris for granted now, something I swore I’d never do. I used to ogle the panoramic views from the city bus windows and now I read or play games on my phone to pass the time instead—I’ve seen it all before, so it lacks the luster of years past. Walking through my neighborhood I realized how unobservant I have become as so many new shops have opened that went totally unnoticed. There are times I wish I was a tourist again, just for the chance of seeing it with fresh eyes.

Impossible to ignore, however, are the new shops opening along rue de Bretagne, the main artery of my little “quartier.” In the last few years, every new establishment, with the exception of one “primeur” (fresh produce seller) and an occasional optical shop, is sugar based…chocolate, ice cream, pastries, macaroons, cup cakes, cookies, etc., etc. I now call it “rue de la Sucrerie” and for sure the locals will end up battling the bulge.

 

The newest one is in the works, replacing an optical shop (pretty funny, actually) right on my corner, that was a primeur before that. This time it’s an Italian vendor named Venchi that has shops in seven countries, including the U.S. Do we need one more chocolate shop? No. They just bring more tourists to the neighborhood. I’d hate it if that village feel my little quartier has gives way to the visitors who just want to take a piece of Paris back with them to wherever they came from.

The Centre Pompidou was wall-to-wall Sunday afternoon in the labyrinth of an exhibition titled “Surrealism” (on until January 13, 2025). Be prepared before you go—yes, it winds around labyrinth-like combining paintings, drawings, films, photographs and literary documents by the movement’s emblematic artists: Salvador Dalí, René Magritte, Giorgio de Chirico, Max Ernst, Joan Miró, as well as by female Surrealists including Leonora Carrington, Ithell Colquhoun and Dora Maar. The exhibition is an unprecedented plunge into the exceptional creative effervescence of the Surrealist movement, born in 1924 with the publication of André Breton’s founding Manifesto.

You will wander through 14 chapters evoking the literary figures who inspired the movement (Lautréamont, Lewis Carroll, Sade, etc.) and the poetic principles that structure its imagination (the artist-medium, the dream, the philosopher’s stone, the forest). At the heart of the exhibition is a central “drum” housing the original manuscript of the Manifeste, on exceptional loan from the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. A multimedia projection accompanies the discovery of this unique document, illuminating its genesis and meaning.

I never tire of seeing René Magritte’s L’Empire des Lumières (Empire of Light) painting, as it is one of my all time favorites. Normally it hangs in the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, and a poster of it hung in my bedroom for many years in the U.S. But, the Dalis (as in Salvador) always catch my eye.

Be prepared. The exhibition is drawing the crowds and Sunday afternoon is not the best time to go! In addition, the maze goes on and on and on and the images can be a lot to digest while battling the crowds. You might find the works of art violent, erotic and manic, but you might also discover their humor. About three-quarters into the maze, sensory overload struck and every work was just becoming a blur. I couldn’t wait to exit and get back on the rainy streets of Paris, surrealistic in itself.

BRASSERIE DES ARTS

Leave it to a new brasserie in Paris to go for broke and do up the decor to the nines, including special slightly erotic plates on which to dine. Located at 28 Rue Saint-André des Arts at the corner of rue Git-le-Coeur, it replaced Corcoran’s Irish Pub that made a lot more noise for the locals than this classy brasserie, with its heart-shaped chairs, hand-painted murals and fancy-schmancy plates. Food is just as good as the decor looks, so give it a try!

HOUSE HUNTERS INTERNATIONAL COMES TO BORDEAUX

Another new House Hunters International is airing this week—”Forget Paris, We’re Buying in Bordeaux,” Season 197, Episode 9:

A married couple looks for a fresh start and a slower pace in Bordeaux, France. They’re looking for something in the Bordeaux Hyper Centre and need separate office spaces, but finding a place in the city that’s in their budget may be a challenge.

Mark your calendar for the air times: Wednesday, October 9th at 10:01pm Eastern/9:01pm Central and Thursday, October 10th at 1:01am Eastern and 12:01 am Central

See our episode page for more information. And tell all your friends to watch!

A la prochaine…