My Ramblin Man
Final Dinner at Ma Bourgogne, Place des Vosges
Bienvenue and welcome back to Musée Musings, your idiosyncratic guide to Paris and art. Mostly Paris this week, since Nicolas is not a fan of museums. My big news - I finally got to Bob’s Bake Shop. To buy bagels. Which I have been wanting to do for years. Ever since a friend and I walked into a little place somewhere in the Marais for a pokie bowl. I was surprised to see bagels for sale. I was even more surprised when I tasted one. It was a real bagel, not a doughy pseudo-bagel that is really no more than bread with a hole. (I’m talking to you Bagelstein) This bagel was chewy - boiled, then baked. Of course I asked them where they got their bagels and then I forgot the answer. I think I mentioned another time that it wasn’t until Ginevra and I were waiting in line to get into Shakespeare and Company that I remembered the name. Well, not exactly, Shakespeare and Company has expanded into the building next door. Not for more space to sell more books but for a café. And as soon as I saw the name of the café, I knew that was the name of the boulangerie that made the bagels that the pokie bowl place sold and that I have waited for years to find.
When I looked at a map, it turns out that Bob’s Bake Shop is only a few blocks left after passing the painted ladies on the Canal St. Martin. In a strange little commercial development, in the 18th arrondissement. Away from the street, away from the traffic, away from the noise and fumes, Nicolas and I enjoyed our lunch sitting at a picnic table on a cool, sunny day in Paris. Since I bought 1/2 dozen bagels to take home with me, I decided to try something else on the menu. Their vegetarian quiche was delicious. The salad had as many slices of beautifully ripe avocado as did Nicolas’ bagel with cream cheese and smoked salmon (aka lox). (Figures 1, 2, 3)
Figure 1. Seedy bagel with smoked salmon, cream cheese, avocado and red onions at Bob’s Bake Shop
Figure 2. Comfortable outdoor seating at Bob’s Bake Shop
Figure 3. My vegetarian quiche and salad at Bob’s Bake Shop
Another day, Nicolas and I were walking over to Eataly and I convinced him take a detour to check out the exhibition at Lafayette Anticipations, just across the street from Eataly. I have written about exhibitions there before. The one on now is really fantastic. The paintings and sculptures are interesting and the use of the space is, too. That’s one of the best things about Lafayette Anticipations. The space can be manipulated to be whatever the artist showing their work wants it to be. The artist whose work is showcased and who created an environment for it, is called Pol Taburet. Not only did I enjoy his work, I really appreciated his explanatory wall texts which referenced his sources and his inspiration - from Orpheus and Eurydice to Brancusi. I’ll tell you about that exhibition next week. (Figs. 4, 5)
Figure 4. Brancusi inspired (coneheads, too?) sculptures, Pol Taburet, Lafayette Anticipations
Figure 5. Soul Train, Pol Taburet, Lafayette Antcipations
And yet another day I needed to return a book to the American Library. We got there by metro but walked back. What fun it was, walking along the Seine part of the time, walking along the quai some of the time. (Figs. 6, 7, 8) We stopped by Shakespeare and Company but the line was too long for Nicolas (Figure 9) so we walked over to the comic book stores on Blvd St. Germaine. From there, our route was just as circuitous. And that’s because Nicolas is a flaneur. I would love to be but I am not a flaneuse. I walk with purpose, to a destination. It is not because I don’t enjoy walking for the pleasure of it, but because I have absolutely no sense of direction. My husband used to tell me that whenever I thought I should go left, (or right) I should do the opposite. Which worked out about 50% of the time. It was worse before I had a telephone with GPS. I would write down my route before I ventured out and follow it religiously. I always assumed that I would be able to return by doing the opposite of what I had done to get to my destination. That is, turning left at the places I had turned right and right at the left hand turnings. Somehow, that never worked out. So, for me, the joy of walking around, mostly with no particular destination in mind, with someone who happens to be not only my wonderful son but also someone who loves to walk and who has an impeccable sense of direction - what bliss!
Figure 6. Walking along Quai Voltaire
Figure 7. Le Messager, Ossip Zadkine - where the Pont des Invalides meets the quai d’Orsay.
Figure 8. Statue of Thomas Jefferson by Jean Cardot in front of the Palace of the Legion of Honor
Figure 9. Small part of the line that snaked around in front of Shakespeare and Company
Before I forget. Before we got to Copenhagen, I was worried that the cyclists would be as aggressive and unpleasant as I found them to be in Amsterdam when I was there a few years ago. Not at all. Cyclists in Copenhagen are pedestrian polite. And the city makes sure that everybody stays in their own lane. There is even a pedestrian bridge across the Inner Harbor which is actually two bridges, one for pedestrians and one for cyclists. (Figure 10) Dreamy!
Figure 10. Lille Langebro cycle and pedestrian bridge, Inner Harbor, Copenhagen
This week’s post is about the fantastic exhibition I saw at the Louisiana Museum of Modern art north of Copenhagen. It was a retrospective on the Icelandic artist, Ragnar Kjartansson. It was overwhelming, it was astounding. This is an artist whose name and work you should know, so keep on the lookout for him at a modern museum near you. Gros Bisous, Dr. ‘B.’