At Notre-Dame

The gothic cathedral:

Luminous visions of heaven piercing through cold stone darkness.

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

- Revelation 21:1-2

With a touch more aggression than passivity

revendiquer (v.t.) :
to claim (or proclaim), to assert, to demand, to stake out


So says the dictionary translation. However, I get the sense that it also describes in France a certain kind of low-key but perceptible revenge, somewhat like what is called by English speakers (or as the French call us, "les anglo-saxons") as passive aggression, but with a touch more aggression than passivity. This attitude is why I gather Parisian waiters occasionally act arrogantly (alright, more than occasionally) to demanding foreign (read: North American) customers, and why French workers always seem to be going on strike, as a way to keep their allegedly pompous bosses (in this still strongly hierarchical society) in check.


Another case in point: This evening at a street intersection near my place, a car was parked on the diagonal at the very corner itself by the curb, straddling most of the zebra-striped pedestrian crossing. You sometimes see this in Paris if there are no other curb-side parking spots to be had. The driver was nowhere to be seen, but he or she had nonetheless parked up against the bumper of the car in front, which left a bit of space between the illegally diagonal car and the parked vehicle behind that a person could squeeze through. 


Nonetheless, I watched a gentleman pedestrian approach the intersection to cross at the zebra crossing, and instead of easily passing around the back of the offensively-parked car, he climbed up onto the hood (with a bit of difficulty, his legs probably not quite as flexible as they used to be) and walked across that---claiming, asserting, demanding, even staking out his right to cross at the zebra crossing. He descended to the pavement and continued his stroll once he had revendiqué one audibly hood-deflecting step ("wop! wop! wop!") at a time. 


I took a look at the car hood after he'd left. No permanent dents, just a few smudged footsteps in the layer of dust on the steel surface, should the car owner even notice. That this is the only damage is, of course, a good thing---but I admit I also think it's just the teeniest bit unfortunate.

Crafty cursive

These are some photos from the 18th-century registries I was going through today at the archives. Note (as I'm sure you will) the extravagant handwriting.

Neat Art Nouveau building near Montparnasse

Yes...

... this man is indeed making balloon sculptures while balancing a water-filled glass jug containing live goldfish on his head.

In and around the Palais Royal

Galerie Vivienne

"The arcades and interiors are residues of a dream world."

- Walter Benjamin

Château de Chantilly

Saint Eustache Church

Paris = The World

... Beyond the Paris city limits, there is only Void.

Random March photos

Grand Palais

Awesome old Citroën (?)

Alphabetic tiles, Métro Concorde

Kilim display in the cloister of a Lutheran church... why not?

Relaxing in the Tuileries (see my foot?)

Charming passage in the 17th district

What is there to do on a bare public square?

Musée Gustave Moreau: House as Mind

I paid a visit today to the Musée Gustave Moreau, which was the Symbolist painter's family house (and his own house) before being converted into a museum in 1895, a few years before his death. I wasn't too sure what to expect, except for some vague idea that it was the artist's house-museum, a fortunately fresh condition to be in as a visitor. This tight Parisian house expands as one moves up, both spatially and in terms of the displays, so that moving through it is akin to penetrating a mind.