26 May 2007

Other Paris highlights

Saint-Etienne-du-Mont. This is right behind the Panthéon, and it is an excellent example of Mannerist architecture. I wanted to go there in the first place because by chance I read that it has the last remaining rood screen in Paris, but you can see on the facade the succession of pediments which is really unique and interesting: visually congruous to the succession of architectural orders on the Colosseum?


Said last-remaining-rood-screen. It's shaky because I don't think photos were supposed to be taken in the church, but also check out the amazing double-staircases and the gorgeous white marble.


Most of the Moët we drank in the courtyard of the Institut Nederlandais.


The UNESCO Annex building. Normally mid-century idealistic architecture is appealing to me, but this building was uglier than sin and in a state of great disrepair. However, on the inside was a beautiful quote by Gabriela Mistral: "No se trabaja y crea sino en la paz. Digámosla cada día en donde estemos, por donde vayamos, hasta que tome cuerpo y cree una 'militancia de paz' la cual llene el aire denso y sucio y vaya purificándolo."

The general decomposition of the UNESCO Annex as evidenced by the decay of the cool space age phone booths.


Poster against AIDS: the fight continues! and a very effective use of images as text to get the point across.

This guy was playing outside the Luxembourg RER stop -- note his right foot was just as much part of the jazzy Parisian creation of sound as his fingers were.


Obviously, Karl Marx has come back from the dead to play tennis (jeu de paume?) in the Luxembourg Gardens.


I love this ephemeral sort of graffiti. As we arrived more or less as Sarkozy was consolidating his new government, everything was still around. The above distinction seems pretty accurate, as the Marais was full of anti-Sarko, pro-Sego graffiti, posters, stickers, flyers, etc.


There's an interesting play on words here: this can either be interpreted as "keep to the right while you're on this fast-moving moving walkway" or "retain your rights" as in liberté, egalité, fraternité, the First Ammendment, etc.

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