Sun and rain in Paris

Has been like this for the last weeks. Even before Christmas, and now carried over this feeling into 2012. Sun and rain, weather changing, my mood and feelings changing too, as frequently as the Parisian weather lately...
Thinking of the joys and sorrows of the last year, January gives me a lot of inspiration and hope for the new Year... but also this mixed feeling of the heavy 'baggage' to carry on from 2011.

Sure many things happened. Sure I lived through experiences and learned from it. What I appreciate and what I don't want. What I love and what hurts me. I made my decisions, made my choices, and now it is time to pack all those carefully and only take the useful staff with me. Yes, that's right. Time to move into the 2012 mentally and sentimentally! Leave the garbage behind... the past belongs to the past.

That will be my top resolution... one to keep to for this year.
After all, rain always stops eventually at Paris... :)

Love,
Eve

Dive in a photo

A photo is worth a thousand words? That is for sure how I felt wathching the photo exhibition of Diane Arbus at Jeu de Paume yesterday.
I was not really familiar with her work, had only vaguely heard about it, but something had caught my eye... and I wanted to see more of it.

For sure it was worth the 40 mins queue outside Jeu de Paume.
A collection of 200 photos takes you back to the era of 50's and 60's in USA. To see the society changing, and making space for the new couples with their families, for the nouveau riche of the era having fun in masquerade balls... for the artists drawn to New York and, most of all, to the outscasts of that society. Men and women who stood out, either by physical characteristics, lifestyle choices or simply becuase they were deep into poverty. Tranvestites, gang members, nudists, posed calmly for the artist, conveyed the message, challenged your eye and your thoughts of them.
In each photo I stood for more than simply just moments, to abosrb the different layers and feelings, to watch all the actors in the scene that Diane had selected, as if in a play...So strange how the black and white photos hid the colours, but instead took out  a power that was overwhelming. I wanted to cry, to say something, somehow all the photos had me....

Highly recommended for all to see- the exhibition is on until the first week in February.
And a good reminder for me that Paris is not only about the classical, the antique, the old, but it can be nicely and surprisingly provoking...

Love,
Eve

Where is Christmas...?

Sure there is the colour, and some decoration to go with it. And the shopping, the shopping surtout.
From St Germain des Pres, to the famous Champs-Elysees Avenue, the city is oozing its festive spirit.
At Galeries Lafayette and Printemps thousands of tourists (and locals, just to clarify!) are admiring the playful window displays, the kids are screaming for a photo, all metro lines are full and you could almost see Christmas, you would wait it is there.

But I can't help but wonder... where is it indeed? Apart from the commercial spirit, all people I know are either working til late or trying to manage between shopping, last minute arrangements, travelling and feeling exhausted with the burden of the whole year on their shoulders...
This year's Christmas falls in the weekend, and this limits more the opportunities to get into the spirit- for many people it will be nothing more than a weekend with more food and gifts, and money spent as a result..

Can't help but wonder if we have lost something in between.
Can't help but remember some Christmas when families were together, people were smiling and you could feel the spirit of love and sharing.

I will look for it this year too though.  Will walk through the streets and try to capture a glimpse of the spirit of Christmas in Paris. For now, I leave you with the Christmas tree in Galeries Lafayette...
...you can try to find the spirit too!

Love,
E