When the Champs Elysees turn into a tarmac...

Apparently the French Aerospace museum owns the largest collection of "flying objects" (which includes balloons from the 17th century!). Like last year, they picked a few models and exhibited them at the bottom of the Champs Elysées. Passers by can then currently see the only SPAD XIII (apparently a very rare plane built in 1917), the first helicopter - well the first "plane" that took off vertically in 1907 (called Cornu, after the name of its designer) and many other unique models. I chose to show you the European rocket - called Ariane (Astrium is the company that owns almost 30% of Arianespace, the main European rocket company).

Seing Grace

Only a few more days, before the Grace Kelly exhibition closes at the Paris Town hall. On display: many photos (from when she was a Hollywood actress till when she became Princess of Monaco), clothes (her wedding dress) and a few letters she wrote to Jackie Kennedy, Alfred Hitchcock, Cary Grant… No less! Oh yes, I almost forgot, they also show the purse that then became to all the French "Le Kelly" by Hermès (which was not invented for her though). I know she was originally American, but she slipped into the French (well Monaco !) lifestyle with a lot of ease... (Bonus: the soundtrack!)

Palestine in Paris

Last night on my way back home I noticed some unusual traffic on the Pont des arts. I stopped and found out they're having a photo exhibit called "La Palestine à Paris". If you wander on this wonderful bridge, you can see about 150 photos about the daily life in Palestine taken by two famous Palestinian photographers: Rula Halawani and Taysir Batniji. This photo shows one of the two street lamps at the entrance of the bridge that they used to hang a street sign that says "Palestine, life, simply life". I don't know why, but something tells me this photo will have less comments than the one of yesterday ;-)

Concours Lépine (Foire de Paris)

If you're in Paris, this is the last day you can visit La foire de Paris (the Paris Fair), probably the largest in France. The greatest part - in my opinion - is the Concours Lepine (named after the guy who created it), a competition for inventors. Walking down the aisle of this part of the fair is like watching the Shopping Channel all day, only 100 times better! Frankly, who would have thought of inventing this "Champagne cork stopper" that prevents corks from hurting people when they pop out of the bottle?! Il Signore Michele Procopio (who is actually Italian) did, and he sells them for 25 € each. Pretty cheap!

Moleskine

Do you know what a Moleskine is? It's an oilcloth-covered cardboard that has been - supposedly - used by European intellectuals to write, draw or even glue little souvenirs from their trips and thoughts (yes, just like modern scrapbooking!). The manufacturer of these notebooks is a marketing genius: he managed to turn Moleskine notebooks into exhibition material... In Paris, for instance, several Moleskines made it to Beaubourg, Le Printemps (where I took this photo) and Librairie Flammarion. But wait, that's not all! They also have great websites, like this one, on which they interview famous (LOL) city daily photo bloggers....

Photo Trottoir exhibit

Yes, I know it’s a photo of photos, but it’s not just ANY photos. It all started when Nicolas Laugero-Lassere, art director of l'Espace Pierre Cardin and teacher at l'Efap Paris (a Communications school) had the idea of giving a camera to several homeless people with no particular directions. The result was presented last Wednesday in an art gallery called Art & You in the 9th arrondissement. The exhibit was a big success I must say (well at least the opening!) ; congratulations to the pupils of L’Efap who did a good job promoting the event. More photos here. PS: I'm currently in Romans at the moment, for the Internet Festival, remember?

Searching for Utopia

If you'd walk by the Grand Palais today (a huge exhibition hall originally built for the Paris Exhibition of 1900) you'd see something pretty unusual: a huge turtle made of bronze (it weights no less than... 5 tons!). The little man on the turtle is... a self-portrait Jan Fabre, the Belgian artist who actually made this masterpiece (called "Searching for Utopia"). BTW, the reason why this turtle sits outside the museum is that the Grand Palais is going to host ArtParis, a pretty famous modern art exhibition.

Marie-Antoinette makes it to Le Grand Palais

For some reason queen Marie-Antoinette is probably the most famous French queen in the world. Most of the people remember her 1) because she was beheaded during the French Revolution - well technically, slightly after - and 2) because she's supposed to have said "If [people] have no bread, let them eat cake". I say supposed because apparently this quote already existed in a book written in 1736 [Les Confessions] by Jean-Jacques Rousseau (a French Swiss writer). Anyway, they're currently having an exhibition about Marie-Antoinette at Le Grand Palais which has good reviews. I went last night but taking photos is prohibited, so I stayed at the entrance... Hope your Easter [for those who celebrate Easter!] weekend is doing OK, mine just started!

Hello Dolly!

My favorite trade show is back! Le Salon de l'agriculture (the International Agricultural Show) opened this Saturday and will last until March 2nd. This show is often called "the largest farm in the world" for its spreads out on almost 150 000 sq meters (1 614 586 sq feet) and shelters no less than 4,000 farm animals ! Even though it's a trade show everybody can come and attend the "cow beauty pageant", eat one of the many specialties from our provinces and meet some of the few farmers that are left in France (3.6% of the active population...).

Nina Ricci dress

Let's start the week with a very "girly" post! Last weekend I went to Le salon du Vintage, an exhibit dedicated to clothes, objects and furniture from the 70's (and a bit from the 80's too...). It was really good but I only found the the time to select the best photos I took there today. Anyway, I chose to post this dress by Nina Ricci (sold by En ville-Vintage in the 11th arrondissement) on PDP, but you can find more photos of the event on the making of.

Iced Eiffel Tower

Isn't it odd to see a mini Eiffel Tower on the first floor of the big one?! And though that is where I took this shot 2 days ago, as I was attending the pre-launch of a new website (Radionomy, a service that will allow anybody to create his own radio). The funny thing is that this Eiffel Tower is actually made of - real - ice for it is part of an exhibition dedicated to both poles. Click here to see more photos on the actual Eiffel Tower site.

Caps exhibit

Remember the train photo I took last week? I told you it was for an exhibit in Le Grand Palais (the 70 year anniversary of the National French Train Company). Well I went to see this exhibit and it was fun - I even got to see the inside of the locomotive I shot the other day. They also display things that are train related, like station furniture or even ticket controllers' uniforms and caps, as you can see on this photo! A nice change from Christmas scenes... If you want to see more photos, here is a little animated diaporama made with a little help from the guys from Animoto!

Train exhibit

Ladies and gentlemen, you're presently looking at the first high speed locomotive France ever produced: the famous BB 9004, which, in 1955, broke the fabulous record of 331 Km/h (206 mph). Of course compared to the 575 Km/h (357 mph) of the TGV (bullet train) it's nothing, but considering it took place 52 years ago... Anyway, the reason why I shot this locomotive in the middle of the street is that next week; the French Railway Company (SNCF) will celebrate its 70th anniversary with a huge exhibition in Le Grand Palais. I'll try to go and take a few pics.

Rocket Star!

Every year in Paris, there is "La fête des transports et de la mobilité" (Mobility and transports festival). The current one is the 3rd one and it will feature several means of transportation such as boats (on the Seine obviously!), electric cars, trains, planes... and even rockets like this one that I photographed this morning on my way to work. I must say it's quite surprising to see these unusual vehicles in the streets of Paris! More - in French only - here.

Chocolate Fashion Show

Today, I attended the "Salon du chocolat" a show entirely dedicated to... chocolate. It was created by two French people (Sylvie Douce and François Jeantet) and is so successful that it now takes place in New York, Tokyo, Beijing... One of its highlights is a Fashion show where dresses are designed by famous chocolate makers. Huge success. I took several photos of course; if you want to see some, have a look at this little video.