The Thinker & The Shaman

It was a bright and sunny Sunday morning in summer, what else to do except to loiter around Paris?

Alrighty...we have ran out of ideas to take the Eiffel with.

We were supposed to visit the architecture museum at Trocedero, but was informed that the museum will be closed for a period of 2 weeks. There were no notices on their website, just at the entrance... brilliant. And so, this is all we did with the museum.

Les Invalides certainly shine under the summer sky

Les Invalides is not within the list of museums participating in Free Sundays, so we opted for some museum hopping in the region instead. We started off with Musée Rodin located just round the corner of Les Invalides.

The iconic Thinker

The Thinker and The Stoner

The Gate of Hell

I was in an adventurous mood that day, I didn't know what got into me to want to try tartare de bœuf. I remembered that I did have a good impressive of raw minced beef on toast as an entrée. When the waitress pressurized us for our order, I found my brain hovering around tartare...and before I knew it, I blurted tartare de bœuf. When I saw the dish, it was like a big can of raw minced beef topped with a raw egg yolk, with 4 types of condiments (onions, pepper, mustard and pickles) at the side. This was the Fear Factor moment for me, I felt that everyone around was waiting for me to "embrace" the dish.

I would say that it is not as bad as it looks, just that perhaps there are too much raw beef in one dish and kinda makes one sick of finishing the whole dish. This is the time when I really appreciate the Student, the "rubbish bin" who can eat anything...:)

Musée du Quai Branly is of course along Quai Branly, along the Seine River. This is the place whereby there is a fancy restaurant at the terrace for some great views of the Eiffel Tower. The museum displays collections from Asian, African, American and Oceania civilisations. A little eerie to visit on a wet and rainy day with the spiritual and religious displays I think.

A Mid Summer Night at Chateau de Versailles

As per tradition, there are countless activities in France in summer. Château de Versailles has their fountain night show every Saturday night during summer (with some exceptional dates). The night show starts from 9 to 11.20pm, and there is a combined ticket price to watch the "Royal Serenade'' at the hall of mirrors. We have 2 hours to visit the fountains before the fireworks at 11pm. Beautiful display of fireworks with orchestra music in the background, fountain display from Apollo's basin and fire torches on the green belt. A grand experience fit for a King indeed.

Practical information for the night show after the jump break...

The Orangery before sunset at 8.30pm

2 idiots waiting for the groves to open... 

This is the best place to view the fireworks - top of the staircase leading to the Latona Fountain

This is the crowd on a mid summer night Saturday! Everyone's crowding around the entrance to the groves.

The show begins at 9pm sharp!

Circuit B consist of fountains like that, with music and water flowing...(the map has got 2 circuits, A & B for the night show)

The night is still young, 9.30pm under the blue sky.

If we were to do this again, we'll just grab our wine and cheese and sit at Latano fountain to enjoy this show which is ongoing for the entire night.

Water display at Apollo's basin

This is along circuit A, a sculpture of Pluto snatching Proserpine and carrying her up to the sky.

This is an entertaining piece along circuit A, water display with music.

The King's garden.

Finale fireworks for 15 mins.

Free Sunday @ Centre Pompidou

We decided to go to Centre Pompidou for some contemporary art last Free Sunday. The museum opens at 11am, so we went by Notre Dame for some decent photos with lesser people in the morning. Turned out we  were still too late to beat the crowd, the queue to climb the tower was snaking to "where we can't figure where". Nonetheless, I would want to climb the tower again...it was a climb I did that I have never regretted and would want to do it again with the Student. From what I remember, the climb requires some physical tolerance through narrow spiral stairs to the room of the hunchback and the bell tower (similar to the staircases at Vatican). Since the Cathedral is the middle of Paris, it has a really good view of Paris city, and shows a clear progression on the history of Paris, through its architecture.

Pompidou is a place where I realised that ANYTHING can be art. From daily objects, to graffiti...it is amazing on how artists can portray a subject through the various medium, be it film, photography, sculptures, canvas, kinetic art, and the list just goes on...There was a particular exhibit that was very disturbing...The artist donned his birthday suit, and had himself leashed like a dog, pouncing on people on the streets, while his companions filmed the entire process of him terrorising the public. The title is: MAD DOG...and indeed he is...To avoid any inappropriate content, I chose not to post any pictures on this exhibit, but some of the more interesting contents are below for viewing pleasure.

This way to Pompidou...

A carpet of wine bottle caps and labels

This picture is not taken through the window, but a drawing of a picture taken through a window.

Sitting on these chairs will absorb all electromagnetic waves from the body I believe...

A display of "kinetic art" - an art form whereby the viewer can see various forms as he moves around the object.

I think I saw this display at Debbie's place...Debbie: You're on Pompidou!

It reads: A wall (here), a floor, four walls. a door (there)....this is art?

The projection was showing spheres moving around, and random letter trains wavering....but I have no idea what it is trying to say...

S'pore should use such fences to ward off intruders into MRT depots!

There is an Amorino outlet just outside Pompidou, so we went in for some tasting...and oh la la...I actually prefer Amorino over Berthillion! Reasons being:

1) The sorbet is even smoother than that from Berthillion. I started with a really lousy experience with sorbet in Singapore, where I equate it to flavoured ice. Until Berthillion taught me that sorbet can be smooth and refreshing at the same time. In my opinion, there is a subtle superiority in terms of smoothness for Amorino.  

2) You can choose as many flavours you like in Amorino, as long as the cup/cone size is able to fit. We just need to tell the server how many flavours we intend to order, so that they can plan on how to layer the container.

3) The presentation is so delightful, that it makes my day.

4) Amorino seems to be everywhere, so if there is a queue, we can be certain that there will be another outlet along the way somewhere.

Since we are in the 4th arr, we planned to go for some Fallafel (Israelis snack) as it is just round the corner at Rue de Rosiers. Lately, I've been depending on David Lebotviz's recommendation for dining in Paris...and he wrote that Fallafel at L'as du Fallafel is a must eat in Paris. The shop along Rue de Rosiers is unmistakable with the meandering queue. The queue for eating in was shorter than that for take aways (2 Euros extra for eating in), so the choice is obvious. Furthermore, this is such a messy meal that I think it is better to eat sitting down. Our verdict: It is nice, but not suited to my taste-buds. A little too greasy for my digestive system.

The Student needed to buy some macaroons for his professor, and we took the chance to walk down to Laduree at Rue Bonaparte nearby. By foot, the walk from the Marais (the quarter where we had Fallafel) to Rue Bonaparte normally takes about 15mins, but we took about an hour today, with so much to see on the way. Paris in summer is really vibrant I would say. 

It's summer time, and there are tonnes of music everywhere and anywhere in Paris. 

We wanted to do this cheesy thing too...but I forgot my lock (again!)

These guys were having a blast on the boat with a private event, and the music infected everyone on the Seine River to boogie with them!!!...Humph *Green with envy*

We ended the day with tea at Ladurée. Verdict: I will not step in for tea again. Simply because, they are not the only ones who can make pastries that good, for the price I'm paying and the service that I was receiving, this is totally not worth it. But then again, for some reason or another, I'm more of a supporter of Pierre Hermé for macaroons.