Amblings #10: Last Days in Paris - St Germain des Pres

Tomorrow is our last full day in Paris and on Tuesday we begin the long journey home. For our last few days we decided to try out the Left Bank, i.e. the left side of the river Seine. (The Marais, where we've stayed before, is on the Right Bank).

So before we leave I'll try to capture a taste of the sights and sounds of this area.

listen to ‘St Germain des Pres’ on Audioboo

This is the bell tower of Saint Sulpice viewed from the window of our entry hall.

We are staying in the street to the right, just out of view. In the centre that's Saint Sulpice seen from Rue Mabillon. I don't really think the photo really shows you the way it looms there, like a giant at the end of the street.  

 

Les Deux Magots

Inside

One Magot (above)

                                                                     Two Magots (above)

 Dessert!

You can just spot the accordianist in the beret near the cars.

Un bistrot

And a glimpse into another world. (click to enlarge)

Au Revoir Paris!

A Little Show & Tell: Books

As you can see, we've moved on to the UK now,  but on our last day in Paris we went to an antiquarian book fair at Saint Sulpice. This is held annually, and if you were reading this blog last year, you may remember that we went then too, and bought this beautiful old book.(scroll down a little).


This year I had a specific goal in mind, and I struck gold! Yes, I am now the proud owner of my very own tunnel book. This one is from the 1939 World Fair, and is therefore considerably younger (and cheaper) than the ones I mentioned in my last post. Nevertheless, I am thrilled to own one and I have to thank my dh for searching it out on my behalf. Perhaps it could be the start of a little collection?

This is the front cover.

Looking through the peep-hole.

And again. Look at that "vehicle" on the left! Is it a fore-runner to the segway?

A view from the side.

And to finish off some photos of the books I made in Paris at Atelier du Marais. I promise I will share my experience there in more detail a little later.

Project 1

Blank journal for writing and sketching. Leather cover, marbled end-sheets and prefab book block.

Rolled leather headband.

Project 2

Blank journal for drawing with hand-torn watercolour paper for pages .Linen covers, rolled leather headband.

Amanda's Amblings #5

listen to ‘Amanda's Amblings #5: Early tunnel books’ on Audioboo

 In the podcast today I talk about some early tunnel books I saw but I wasn't able to take any photos. Luckily I have been able to find some links to sites with photos and some with further information, in case you are interested in finding out more.

You can see The Thames Tunnel and Crystal Palace Peepshow, both of which I saw, at The Allegro Movable Book Collection (amazingly located in Australia!!) Just scroll down the page a little and you will see them.

There was an exhibition of children's pop-up books earlier this year at the University of Washington and they have some pictures of early German tunnel books by Martin Engelbrecht on their site. Again you need to scroll down, this time about half way down the page.

Over at the Smithsonian website, there is a post about the restoration of another Engelbrecht tunnel book and finally, if you're very keen, this link will take you to Historical Highlight in Paper Engineering, which briefly explains how tunnel books fit into the development of books, printing etc.

And to finish off, while I'm on the subject of miniature worlds, I saw this tiny etching press in the window of a workshop up the street.

You can see it does work, there are some tiny plates and actual prints.

And here is the inking table.

The workshop seemed to be for metal fabrication, so I'm a little unsure why the press is wooden. The tiny musical instruments seem to be more in keeping, but anyway perhaps they would be a good source of aluminium off-cuts for any local etchers.

Amanda's Amblings #4: Beyond the Marais

All the photos in this post were taken with my iPhone as I haven't felt like carrying my larger camera with me. As a result they're a bit fuzzy at times! Naturally I blame all shortcomings on the equipment!! Actually I'm looking into getting a new camera...but more about that if it happens.

This week has been a big one: Monday and Thursday were spent at the bookbinding studio and I am progressing well with my first book and have the second underway.

On Tuesday I finally ventured over to the Left Bank (this refers to the southern side of the river Seine). I took my first bus trip in Paris rather than the Metro, and I am hooked. The reason? Well you can see things from the bus, which you can't underground on the Metro. This photo is looking down towards Saint Sulpice.

 I'm becoming addicted to photographing old walls.

Back on the Right Bank, I jumped off the bus here: Hotel de Ville (City Hall) and walked back home to the Marais. This is image is fairly heavily processed using the Iris app on my iPhone.

More of the above.

On Wednesday we celebrated our 25th Wedding Anniversary with a degustation menu at Le Bristol's 3 Michelin Hat restaurant. It wasn't really the sort of place where you could whip out the camera but by the last course the champers had done its work and I snuck the phone out to quickly snap this.

On Friday we headed to the Centre Pompidou, the National Museum for Modern Art, which is also in walking distance. They have 60,000+ of their works in their online catalogue. If you would like to take a look it's here.

View to the "you-know-what" taken from the top floor of the Centre Pompidou.

The restaurant at the Centre Pompidou.

I focussed on the display from the permanent collection, which was a chronological survey of modern art. This display rotates through works from their collection and I can't say I saw any of my long-standing favourites. Instead I was surprised to find that it was the room dedicated to work by Giacometti that caught my imagination. Above a sculpture, and below part of the wall from Giacometti's studio. Isn't it gorgeous?

It's a long week-end here now and the weather has hit the summery high-twenties. I've been taking it very quietly after the busy week, just enjoying the view from the bedroom window.


A bientot!

Amanda's Amblings #1

 

listen to ‘Amanda's Amblings, Audio #1: A Spring Flea Market in the Marais’ on Audioboo

This is a view of one of the more eclectic stalls I saw today, and yes that does appear to be a life-size Egyptian sarcophagus of some sort (right in the centre of the photo).

This is the street in the Marais where we are staying. It's the same apartment we rented last year. The market today is just at the end of the street.

This is the staircase in our building. I love the worn stair treads, and near the front door there is another set of stairs leading down to a very creepy-looking (and musty smelling!) cellar. There is talk of these stairs being renovated, but I'm against it!

Here's a view inside our apartment. There's a separate bedroom and large windows that go almost to the floor. It was only renovated about 2 years ago, but the floorboards are original and beautiful (and extremely creaky, especially in the middle of the night).

This is the building across the road. Not sure if you can see, but it says "Public Hygeine Sociale". I'm not sure to what exactly that refers, but it sounds a bit unsavoury! Fortunately there's a gallery in there now and this sign:

which means of course, "The Love of Books", so I know I'm in the right place.

More soon.