Entr'acte

First for recent happenings in France: Last Tuesday I hopped on over to the Bolshoi Ballet at the Opéra, performing Don Quixote by Jules Massenet. For 8 euros, I won myself a very partial visibility seat in a 2nd floor loge (missing the key moment when DQ's live horse came out), but I moved for the last and most spectacular act. It's not a ballet that really resembles Cervantes at all, other than lots of Spanish costumes. Anyway, the primo ballerino wowed us all with his e-nor-mous thighs (and spins) -- turns out he is only 21! Anyway, Bolshoi under the belt I plowed ahead through the week, preparing my two final exposés (on the influence of Moghol miniatures on Gustave Moreau/Berber revolts in Morocco).

Totally weird parade that hand the entire Paris bus system in a tizzy and prevented me from attending class.

Then, on Saturday, came the much-awaited Nuit des Musées. What that means is that almost all the museums in Paris are open until midnight or 1am and have all kinds of special events. I kicked off the evening at Quai Branly, which is the newest major museum in Paris (2006) and houses African, Oceanian, Asian, and American art -- mostly tribal things like masks, totem polls, clothing, musical instruments etc. rather than painting, for example. The lush garden (with blue and green sticks that light up at night) is surrounded by a high glass wall through which you can see the Eiffel Tower. A river of moving words representing all the places and peoples on display in the museum and projected on the floor (apparently in physically accurate ways), leads to the collections. I saw an ok temporary exhibit on Middle Eastern women's clothes curated by Christian Lacroix, but my favorite pieces were a shrunken head from Cameroon covered partly in leather and with stones stuck in the eyes, secret masks from the Kono society of Mali, and an enormous mask worn by the ox leading a Burmese oxen caravan. Also the snake goddess offerings from Bengal and tattoo artist designs from Egypt. Anyway, from there I headed with friends to watch a fencing/medieval martial arts demonstration at Cluny (museum of the Middle Ages), and then to the Carnavelet (history of Paris museum) in the Marais. There were heard a lovely concert of 16th and 17th century chamber choir music - Purcell was the one name I was familiar with - in the ivy-covered courtyard of this old 'hotel' (beautiful former private mansion). From there, our wanderings took us too far afield and we missed the dinos at the Natural History Museum. BUT we were saved, and gloriously so, by the beacon of light beaming from the tea room of the mosque - at 1am! Yes, it was open, and we sat in the courtyard and had Moroccan tea and pistachio cakes at 1am underneath the orange trees.

Musee Quai Branly (designed by Jean Novel of Institut du Monde Arabe and fall JP fame!)


The next morning, I got up 'early' and sought out the weekly bird market on Ile de la Cité (the island Notre Dame is on) in the middle of the city. The birds' cages line one row of the daily flower market, adding to the panoply of color. Even before you round the corner you can hear the chorus of tweets emanating from birds representing the full rainbow (everything from chickens to parrots). As it began to rain for the first time since, it seemed, the Great Flood, and the owners, mostly speaking Arabic and Chinese, rushed to cover their birds, I strolled over to the enormous mall Les Halles. There I saw the movie 'Midnight in Paris' (here, 'Minuit à Paris), directed by Woody Allen, which opened last week at Cannes. Not profound, for sure, but pretty hilarious and really apt for us as Americans in Paris -- like the characters in the movie. Highlights included Adrien Brody as Salvador Dali rambling about rhinoceroses, beautiful photos everywhere of Paris (including special places we love like Parc Monceau) and jabs at the Republicans. It was most fun to see mundane things - like the bus that goes to my friend Claire's house, the 53 - because it made us feel like we've really gotten to know Paris. My host mom saw the movie and thought it was equally funny because they are as amused by the 'type américan' as we are, if not more so. Not twenty paces from the theater, we stumbled across Duluc Detective Agency, which had just figured in the movie.

Now of course the big thing in the news is the leading French Socialist politician Dominique Strauss-Kahn's New York hotel assault debacle. My host parents didn't like him anyway... partly because they've known him for ages since their kids went to school together. Small world. Anyway, it's interesting to see how the French media immediately gives primary credence to sources who say he was probably trapped - including one that said, 'they trapped him knowing he just loves women so much' -- hmm. American media takes the side of the victim it seems pretty much as a rule, whereas French media (and this is my host parents talking) tends to 'take the side' of the perpetrator in such cases. I was surprised to hear a popular morning radio show acting out a parody of what supposedly happen, with voices and all. Anyway, tomorrow morning I head to the Orangerie for the last of my art history class museum visits. Ah, the life.