The Festival of Music

The Festival of Music all over France on the summer solstice (and reportedly now in more than 130 countries but not Australia) was started by Jack Lang, the Minister for Culture in the Mitterrand Government in 1981.  The idea was to celebrate the solstice in a similar way to ancient cultures and to capture French culture at is roots.  Everywhere, the music societies, groups, individuals and choirs come out to sing or perform. The range is wide and the atmosphere is friendly and inclusive. 

  

We spent the evening in Paris walking around taking in the performances. They ranged from French popular songs of the sixties, a range of international songs performed by individuals and groups, African Drum and dancing performances and traditional French songs performed by choirs or accordion players. 

Some groups even had books of lyrics so that the crowd could join in with the fun. Dominique took up the challenge in the shadow of the Académie française

All under the watchful eye of Henry IV on his white horse. 

By midnight, after ice cream, the grounds started to look a bit tired!

All the pictures here.

Louveciennes, Pissaro and the Aqueduct

Camille Pissarro spend some time in Louveciennes around 1871 and painted some famous scenes many times, as was his habit, seeking the different influences of season, time of day and light variation on his subject.  In 1871 Louveciennes was a rural town on the outskirts of Paris. Today is has been captured as a dormitory suburb. 

 His rural scene of the road to Versailles has been transformed into a high volume traffic by-pass of the town. His painting of the scene today may not be quite so sought after.

His streetscapes closer to the centre of town are, however, a bit more recognisable, if you ignore the electricity cables, street lights and the car. 

Louveciennes is also (mildly) famous for the Aqueduct de Louveciennes, which was built in the 17th century as part of the works designed to supply sufficient water to support the fountains and lakes in the gardens at Versailles.   This aqueduct appeared in the back ground to some of Pissaro's paintings. Today it is out of service, but still looks as good as new.

There are more pictures of the Aqueduct here.

Rodin

Rodin is a little more traditional in the Paris visits, but this visit was to the Grand Palais to see a temporary exhibition which featured many of his works in plaster and bronze and some works which were preparatory for some of his better known sculptures. While his work is well known and widely distributed, I am always impressed at the life that he managed to put into cold white stone such as in this picture.

Interestingly, artists inspired by Rodin, either to imitate him or to do the opposite, were also included. The result was quite varied with some electing to represent deliberately thin figures, some imitating the form but not the shape, and some it was hard to see how they were related at all!

The real interest for us was the Grand Palais itself, but unfortunately the main hall under the glass dome was not used for this exhibition, so we had to look at it through the windows. Looking from the inside out did provide some perspective on the size of the building compared with the human scale.  In addition some of the internal decoration was worth closer inspection.

More pictures here.

Promenade Plantée

The Promenade Plantée is a former rail reserve between the Opéra Bastille with an elevated section known as Viaduc des Arts and the Périphérique roadway around Paris around 4.5km away. On the way it passes by Gare de Lyon and through the 12-ème.  The walk created on the former rail reserve was the first rail walk in the world. It has now been emulated elsewhere, notably in New York. 

It is also known as the Coulée verte, French for Green Course, and it is not hard to see why.

In spite of the Parisiennes being preoccupied with the runoff round in the elections of the Deputies, as earlier reported, there were still plenty of people walking along the Promenade on a sunny Sunday afternoon or taking the opportunity to sun themselves in the parks along the way.

From the Promenade itself, it is possible to view interesting streetscapes of eastern Paris, and building features not normally easily seen from the street.

Worth a look on a sunny Sunday, particularly if you consider the rewards for completion!

There are more photos of the walk here.

Elections

We were interested to be visiting Paris for the second run of the election of Deputies which followed the Presidential Election in May.  As the President’s ability to deliver his program depends on the agreement of the Deputies, this was a critical vote.  However, it did not seem so critical at the polling booths we saw, with only 2 voters and the security guard confirming that activity was slow. 

In the end the new President completed the Macronisation of France, but with only a 50% turnout.  The apathy was so great that LeParisien ran a headline suggesting compulsory voting – around 100 years after it was introduced in Australia. 

The enthusiasm for food was a little stronger.

A restaurant on polling day

Tour Eiffel

The Eiffel Tower has become the symbol of Paris, and given that it can be seen from almost anywhere, there is little wonder why.  However, every time we visit, we seem to start at the TE, and this time was not different for us, or for many thousands of other visitors.

 

The full set of photos is hereTour Eiffel Album

The 16-ème

The 16-ème arrondissement is a quiet area in the west of Paris near the Bois de Boulogne, which houses many embassies.  It is relatively untouched by the tourist hoards that consume many other areas around the city, and so it is possible to experience life as a local with only a little imagination. 

The streetscapes are very French, and even the names are familiar, at least to Dominique Bruneau. 

Rather than endless standard meals at cheap Bistros, the market provided plenty of fresh and interesting food, served with vigour by the locals – one slice at a time if necessary.

Although we did find the maker of the best éclair in Paris, he had made enough money from his fame, and closed for the holidays.

One feature of the area is the statue of Jean de La Fontaine, who watches a scene from one of his fables, an exchange between the crow and the fox in the Jardin Ranelagh, Paris. The fox gets the cheese by telling the crow that he would like to hear his wonderful singing voice. The crow opens his beak to sing, the fox gets the bounty.

Paris at a Different Pace

After many visits to Paris over the last thirty-five years, we decided to visit at a different pace and from a different perspective. We chose AirBnB in the 16-ème arrondissement. We spent five days walking – from the 16-ème to the 1-ere and half way back, across the Promenade Plantée, around the Bois de Boulogne and following Pissaro and the Aqueduc de Louveciennes. We also found time for a ride on the Bateaux-Mouches along the Seine at sunset.

Instead of the big galleries we visited the Rodin exhibition at the Grande Palais. We also found our neighbour in the 16-ème, the Musée Marmottan Monet, which is the best permanent impressionist museum in Paris. It houses a permanent exhibition of the best works of Berthe Morisot, the often-ignored woman at the centre of the Impressionist Movement. The current temporary exhibition featured Pissaro including several works from his Louveciennes sojourn in 1871 which sparked the visit to what is now an outer suburb of Paris.

We finished on a high note (not necessarily an accurate one) by joining in the Festival of Music on 21 June, singing along with popular French songs while celebrating the longest day of the year.

On the way, we went back to basics, finding good French traditional food in the markets and one very fine restaurant, and moved at the pace of the locals, slowed by the 35 degree heat of early summer.