Fête de la musique 2008

OK, you may think it's not very original to post a photo of the Fête de la Musique as you probably experienced it yourself in your own country (if you look at these posters, you'll see that it took place in more than 100 places all over the world). You may not know, however, that it was "invented" in France (by Jack Lang, a former French culture minister) in 1982. Principle? Very simple: on June 21 (which is also the longest day of the year in the north hemisphere) everyone can play music in the street, in gardens, places... or churches' backyards like in this photo, that I took near Saint Séverin church. It looks like the virgin Mary too, is enjoying La fête de la musique!

Sacré Coeur

OK, enough museums and auction sales, it's Le week-end! How about a classic view of Paris? Not that classic actually, I took this photo of Montmartre and le Sacré Coeur from far away, and more precisely from La Défense where I attended a pretty unusual art opening in the offices of Eurogroup (look for Sponsorship>Artist Residency, if you want to know more). Did you know that Montmartre means Mont of the Martyrs because that is where several Christians got killed during the 3rd century?

True gems!

See the pearls on the upper left of this box? They belonged to Marie-Antoinette... And this obscene sapphire in the little black box? Louis the XIVth used to wear it! I know it's hard to believe but most of the French crown jewels (at least the ones that have not been stolen or lost for good during the French revolution) are to be found in this not much to look at box. How do I know? I've been fortunate enough to see them last evening at the French Mineralogy museum! But don't be jealous, you too can visit the place, even if you're not in Paris, thanks to the incredible website that this museum just released. Not only does it allow you to visit the virtual gallery, but also to "play" with some stones (10% of them for the time being) in 3D. Cherry on the cake; the website is even in English! Watch the trailer here.

Buy a little piece of Paris' history...

Today, let me take you inside a palace: Le Royal Monceau! It's not the most luxurious hotel that we have in Paris (yet?!) but the reason why I'm posting about it now, is that today (Thursday) all its furniture (including paintings, chandeliers, silverware, bathrobes...) will be auctioned by the famous French auction house Cornette de Saint Cyr. And guess who went there especially for you to take photos?! It was fun actually, even if it was really crowded (I had no idea so many people would be interested in the place). FYI, the Royal Monceau will be closed for more than a year after this, enough to let famous designer Philippe Starck turn it into the next hypest place to stay in Paris ;)

A must see Museum

If I tell you I photographed this masterpiece in a museum, which one do you think it was? The Paris Modern Art Museum? The Beaubourg Center? The Cartier Foundation? All wrong! I took this photo in the computer museum, a pretty new place, located up top the big arch of La Défense. This place is like heaven for geeks, believe me. Not only can you see what a computer looked like in the 40's (well, OK, maybe they did not really qualify as computers...) but also discover - or rediscover, depending on your age - the first PC, the first laptop, the first Apple Macintosh... I had a blast! More here.

12 hours for the Franco-Israeli relationships

In Paris, there are 2 main Jewish quarters: the "Pletzel", located in Le Marais and Le Faubourg-Montmartre where I took the photo of these clever posters, advertising for an upcoming event called Les 12 heures bleues (the 12 blue hours) - organized by the French Jewish Student Association. It will be the occasion to debate about the relationships between France and Israel, to listen to Israeli music, watch Israeli films... Talking about Israel, let me encourage you to visit this site and scroll down a little. I'm sure, you'll recognize the guy in the photo ;) And if you can read Hebrew, the experience will probably be even better!

Mass at Notre Dame

A few weeks ago, Rahul, a true Paris lover from Bombay/Mumbai, started chatting with me about France, India and... movies. He convinced me to open myself more to the Indian production and even said "I'll have you discover a few films..." And he kept his promise. Saturday evening, I got a call from, Diti, a friend of his, who happens to be visiting Paris at the moment. She said "Rahul will kill me if I don't manage to give you his gifts (2 DVDs)." Now you're probably wondering how this photo can possibly fit into this story?! Well, it's simple: Diti and I agreed to meet at Notre Dame on Sunday morning and since we kinda missed each other, I went into Notre Dame (during mass) and took this photo. Don't worry I finally managed to get my DVDs!