Hey all, just quickly checking in.
I am indeed still alive. Yesterday was spent hanging out with friends from NU and associated trappings. Today was chuck full of awesomeness, but unfortunately, I have to wake up at 6 AM tomorrow morning to catch a train to Fontainebleau where I intend to spend the day!
So as my days are numbered here and I have a million things to do and see, my updates may become spotty, for which I apologize! However, I will try to make big updates, otherwise the huge unloading of pictures on Facebook when I get home should more than make up for it :)
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Friday, September 2, 2011
American(s) in Paris
Because I like to riff off of George Gershwin pieces, clearly.
Started out the morning by investigating the Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris (not to be confused with the National Museum of Modern Art AKA The Centre Pompidou). Solid collection; got to see a couple original Cubist works that I had been reading about. Much to my surprise as I was running out, I ran into Z (I´m redacting names because I´m privacy conscious and whatnot) from Northwestern. Proof that this large world is in fact getting smaller and smaller.
I made my way to the Centre Pompidou to meet B, another NU student who´s in town for a few days for lunch. As chance would have it, still another Wildcat, G, also joined us for lunch. Very, VERY small world...hee hee.
Research finished up nicely at the Pompidou. I can´t begin to express my thanks and gratitude to the team at the Bibliothèque Kandinsky. Very cordial and accommodating. Since I got done a wee bit early, I got to finally check out the Atelier Brancusi, Constantin Brancusi´s reconstructed studio on the piazza of the Pompidou that he donated to the state. Missed it the last time I was here because of scheduling. Very interesting setup and speaks to the whole notion of a total work of art.
Found a new bakery right up the street from my apartment with HUGE baguettes for REALLY cheap. Score. Also, found a really nice Japanese restaurant for dinner (as man can´t live on microwavable meals alone). They even gave me a free cocktail as I seemed to be their only customer. Picked up a slew of groceries to last through the weekend.
So yeah, shortish day all things considered. Can you tell I wrote this really fast? I imagine tomorrow´s post will be quite longer :)
Started out the morning by investigating the Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris (not to be confused with the National Museum of Modern Art AKA The Centre Pompidou). Solid collection; got to see a couple original Cubist works that I had been reading about. Much to my surprise as I was running out, I ran into Z (I´m redacting names because I´m privacy conscious and whatnot) from Northwestern. Proof that this large world is in fact getting smaller and smaller.
I made my way to the Centre Pompidou to meet B, another NU student who´s in town for a few days for lunch. As chance would have it, still another Wildcat, G, also joined us for lunch. Very, VERY small world...hee hee.
Research finished up nicely at the Pompidou. I can´t begin to express my thanks and gratitude to the team at the Bibliothèque Kandinsky. Very cordial and accommodating. Since I got done a wee bit early, I got to finally check out the Atelier Brancusi, Constantin Brancusi´s reconstructed studio on the piazza of the Pompidou that he donated to the state. Missed it the last time I was here because of scheduling. Very interesting setup and speaks to the whole notion of a total work of art.
Found a new bakery right up the street from my apartment with HUGE baguettes for REALLY cheap. Score. Also, found a really nice Japanese restaurant for dinner (as man can´t live on microwavable meals alone). They even gave me a free cocktail as I seemed to be their only customer. Picked up a slew of groceries to last through the weekend.
So yeah, shortish day all things considered. Can you tell I wrote this really fast? I imagine tomorrow´s post will be quite longer :)
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Rollin, Rollin, Rollin
Between the wheels of the endless Métro cars and the countless rolls of microfilm....indeed
I started bright and early at the BnF this morning again. A few problems with their automated request system, but eh...nothing too interesting. Fortunately, I was able to finish everything up by the time I had to leave.
At 1 PM, I booked it to the Centre Pompidou, the research appointment that was kind of the raison d´être of my trip to France. And of course, I showed up like half an hour too early. Needless to say, the area around the Pompidou is bustling with activity and culture and wasn´t too difficult to find something distracting. For instance, I´m walking around the building and something in the window catches my eye: CHRISTIAN MARCLAY. My first reaction was: wait....NO! But yes. Much to my surprise, the Pompidou is going to be hosting a 3 day long 24 hour a day screening of Christian Marclay´s renowned The Clock while I´m hear. Amazingly epic win. Also, there were quite a few hippies around...just sayin...
So I was awkwardly hanging out by the employee entrance I was supposed to go through, and thankfully one of the employees had come down to look for me. We went through a dizzying assortment of tunnels under the Pompidou (seriously, look at the outside of the building and imagine the basement...yes, it´s that crazy) to get up to the library. It became more and more clear (thanks to the ever-present language barrier) that they had really gone above and beyond to help me out with my research. The library is currently closed to everyone as they are undergoing a massive inventory check. They wanted to reschedule my appointment to the 16th, but decided to honor it when they realized I had already bought my flight and made arrangements. For this, I could truly not be more grateful. Whilst going through plentiful correspondance, I´m pretty sure I ran across a letter signed by the Louis Vuitton. Cooly. Also, a band started to play in the piazza aside the museum. As the curator explained, the piazza in front of the museum is owned by the Pompidou and they can control it, but the side one is owned by the city...i.e. no rules. So when brass pep bands decide to have a random performance like today, there is nothing they can do. However, I will say that it was mildly amusing hearing them transition from Tequila to the Spice Girls, culminating in Britney Spear´s Toxic. Yeah France.
Tick tock, I realized I have but a week left here...and it´s certainly going to be jam-packed. I really don´t want to leave again having missed to do something!
I started bright and early at the BnF this morning again. A few problems with their automated request system, but eh...nothing too interesting. Fortunately, I was able to finish everything up by the time I had to leave.
At 1 PM, I booked it to the Centre Pompidou, the research appointment that was kind of the raison d´être of my trip to France. And of course, I showed up like half an hour too early. Needless to say, the area around the Pompidou is bustling with activity and culture and wasn´t too difficult to find something distracting. For instance, I´m walking around the building and something in the window catches my eye: CHRISTIAN MARCLAY. My first reaction was: wait....NO! But yes. Much to my surprise, the Pompidou is going to be hosting a 3 day long 24 hour a day screening of Christian Marclay´s renowned The Clock while I´m hear. Amazingly epic win. Also, there were quite a few hippies around...just sayin...
So I was awkwardly hanging out by the employee entrance I was supposed to go through, and thankfully one of the employees had come down to look for me. We went through a dizzying assortment of tunnels under the Pompidou (seriously, look at the outside of the building and imagine the basement...yes, it´s that crazy) to get up to the library. It became more and more clear (thanks to the ever-present language barrier) that they had really gone above and beyond to help me out with my research. The library is currently closed to everyone as they are undergoing a massive inventory check. They wanted to reschedule my appointment to the 16th, but decided to honor it when they realized I had already bought my flight and made arrangements. For this, I could truly not be more grateful. Whilst going through plentiful correspondance, I´m pretty sure I ran across a letter signed by the Louis Vuitton. Cooly. Also, a band started to play in the piazza aside the museum. As the curator explained, the piazza in front of the museum is owned by the Pompidou and they can control it, but the side one is owned by the city...i.e. no rules. So when brass pep bands decide to have a random performance like today, there is nothing they can do. However, I will say that it was mildly amusing hearing them transition from Tequila to the Spice Girls, culminating in Britney Spear´s Toxic. Yeah France.
Tick tock, I realized I have but a week left here...and it´s certainly going to be jam-packed. I really don´t want to leave again having missed to do something!
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