Photo diary: Project 365, week 15

 Eventful, that's how I would describe the past week.

In the last couple of years we have enjoyed short holidays in Paris several times. My husband has been working in Paris these couple of  years, and rents a teeny tiny apartment in the Marais. 

I was a very impressionable 25-year-old when I visited Paris for the first time, romantically inclined to see everything through the rose-tinted glasses. 

Fast forward thirty years, my idealistic views have changed, perhaps not entirely, as now I'm discovering it through the eyes of my boys. 

Sasha loves travelling by train, and he keeps showing me his social story about our trip to Paris (many thanks to his disability team who created, printed out and laminated the story, Sasha absolutely loves it). He knows what he wants, yet he doesn't understand the costs, or how much planning it takes.

Sash was so happy when we got on the train, radiating joy and excitement.

We arrived to Paris in the evening, walking from the metro station to the apartment where we stayed.

While my husband and Sasha stayed in the apartment to relax after the trip, Eddie and I ventured out to buy something for dinner, and Eddie practiced his French, ordering a bao bun from the Chinese food vendor (my French is about Mr Bean's level, if you remember Mr Bean's holiday, well, maybe a tiny bit better).

We haven't had any particular plans in mind for Sunday. I was hoping to see Notre Dame at some point, but you cannot book a slot in advance, like I did with the exhibition tickets. They release slots on a daily basis, and you need to keep checking if there are any openings. The reservation slots are free. 

After a quick lunch at the cafe Beaubourg near the Centre Pompidou (five minutes walk from where we stay), we walked towards the Notre Dame to see if there was any chance of getting in without the reservation. The queue was endless, and we didn't bother. Sasha cannot do queueing.

It was a sunny day, and we decided to have a river cruise. We had to wait for twenty minutes, and goodness me, didn't Sasha let us know that he doesn't want to wait. My husband had to leave the queue and take him away. When it was time to get in, I made a quick call and asked if they were still around, and perhaps could join us.

Once on the boat, Sasha was as good as gold, smiling and enjoying the ride. 

It was warm, but not too hot, the sun was shining, the scenery was pretty amazing. I would have loved it much more, if not for the obnoxious Italian woman behind me. She must have been one of the so called influencers/TikTokers, totally oblivious how it might spoil the trip for anyone else, taking video of herself and shouting so loudly that I could hardly hear the guide.

The tour took about an hour, we reached the Eiffel Tower, and then travelled back. 

If you think of taking this tour, you can book tickets in advance, but then you still have to wait in the same crowd before getting on the boat. Tickets cost 17 euros per person. 

Later that day we popped into the Lego store, and admired the Eiffel Tower made of Lego bricks. I was surprised when Eddie asked me if I could get him a small Fortnite/Durr Burger set. 

I booked tickets for Artemisia Gentileschi exhibition at Jacquemart Andre Museum well in advance. She was an important artist in the Baroque, and a true hero, a survivor of rape, who showed a great strength of character. Her works are imbued with rage against male dominance and violence. A powerful exhibition.

Having a pause in one of the rooms at the museum... Can you spot my Hunger Games badge?

My husband has been promising to take me to see Ralph Lauren in St Germain. While there, I took a few photos and shared them with my family. My sister-in-law commented that we were very brave, venturing to the posh boutique store. I replied that we were not brave but brazen. The personnel looked at us with an air of superiority, however, I'm not easily intimidated. 

It's a beautiful house, more like a museum of fashion, with lots of portraits on the walls. 

I loved that suit on the standing mannequin. Such elegant lines. No idea how much it would cost, as they don't display the prices (so vulgar!) and we didn't ask. :)

From fashion to gastronomic pleasures. We had a hot chocolate at Cafe de Flore, apparently, this is one of the top three places in Paris to have a hot chocolate. It is one of the oldest coffeehouses in Paris, and has become iconic as it's associated with Sartre, Camus and Simone de Beauvoir.

Another day, another museum... Eddie and I had tickets to the Degenerate art in Musee Picasso. The term was coined by the Nazis to condemn the modern art. It is an educational exhibition, which makes you think about propaganda and distortion of reality. Topical, and sadly on point, as people are so easily led by all sorts of political agenda, and propaganda is rampant.

We also saw the permanent collection at the Museum. This portrait of Picasso's son is one of my favourites.

Bachir ice cream is all the rage at the moment. We passed by this Lebanese ice cream place a few times, and the queues are unbelievable. By pure chance, we happened to pass it one afternoon, when the queue was considerably shorter. Here is my happy child with the famous pistachio ice cream. It was so big, he struggled with it. It is tasty, but my advice, if you're not hungry, don't go for the grande version. 

More food pics, this is a very pretty avocado toast.

Every morning I checked the Notre Dame site, hoping to get a slot for our visit. When one of the slots became available on Wednesday afternoon, I couldn't believe my eyes. I quickly filled in the form, but by the time I finished, the slot was already gone. Drat. Back to the start of the page, and thankfully a later slot appeared. I booked us in as fas as I could.

For me, the visit to Notre Dame was the highlight of our trip. They've done an amazing job of restoring this historical place after the inferno. 

We moved slowly, and Sasha was very calm and thoughtful. For some reason he feels safe in churches, and loves visiting them. I lit two candles, asking whoever listens up above to be kind to my boys.

In the evening we had a short walk along the river, and talked about our short holiday. 

Sasha was super excited to go back home the next day. He was beaming, getting on the train. 

I was feeling a bit sad to say Good bye to Paris, but also glad to go back home to my comfortable bed. The sofa bed where we slept in the apartment is the most uncomfortable bed ever. Plus the lights outside keep going on and off all the night, like a blinking disco. 

On the train I had a beer, haven't tried Two Tribes brand before, and apparently Nomad is only available on Eurostar.

Friday was the day of unpacking, laundry, groceries and a bit of ink drawing. 

And now back to "normal"... 

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Musée Carnavalet, Paris

If someone told me just a few weeks ago that I would be staying in Paris soon, I'd have burst into laughter. Yet in the second week of the Easter holidays I found myself wandering the streets of Paris and exploring two of its numerous museums.

The trip itself wasn't a walk in the park, as everything has to be planned, taking into consideration Sasha's needs. His autism means hightened anxiety, even with medication and behavioural techniques for managing stress. 

After a long discussion with my husband, we thought it might be a good idea to expose Sasha to some new experiences and sights, since we tend to do the same things, and visit the same places with him.

Overall, it was a positive experience for him, though I was always on edge, not able to relax for a minute, concerned how our boy will feel and behave.

Eddie and I visited two wonderful museums, Petit Palais and Musée Carnavalet. My husband was a real trooper. While we explored the museums, he took Sasha to cafes and accompanied him on long walks. 

It's been thirty years since I first arrived to Paris, wide-eyed and elated. A total innocent abroad. I loved visiting Le Louvre, Musée de Cluny and Notre-Dame then. I will always cherish the memories of those distant days, when I was young and carefree, and seeing everything through rose-coloured glasses.

Before our trip, we were searching online for smaller museums, that would have a cafe, possibly a garden or park nearby, where Sasha could escape if he found it too much of a sensory overload being in the museums.

Petit Palais and Musée Carnavalet suited our plans perfectly. Both happened to be great choices, and I cannot say which one Eddie and I enjoyed more. They are both splendid, both worth visiting, and I'm so glad I had a chance to see their collections.

 Musée Carnavalet is a museum of history of Paris. Spreading over two town buildings - Hôtel Carnavalet and Hôtel Le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau - it houses an amazing collection of artefacts reflecting the history of Paris, from prehistory to modern day. 

The collection consists of nearly 625,000 works: paintings, sculpture, drawings, models, photos, furniture and more.

It's wonderful that at least 10% of the works are displayed at children's eye level, so that they can enjoy the intricate models and displays.

As you enter the museum, the first rooms show an array of shop signs to reflect the city's heritage.

As Sasha wasn't that interested in the museum, we searched for the museum cafe first, going across the inner courtyard. It was a bit chilly but at least it didn't rain. We found a couple of tables in the corner, away from the other people. 

The choices are quite limited, if you only want a drink and a little bite. Prices are like this: cafe creme - 5 euros, tea - 6, diet coke - 5.50, juice - 6.50, Le Big Cookie - 5 euros (and that is just one cookie). 

We left Sash and my husband to enjoy a bit of sunshine, and began the tour of the museum.

The basement rooms are dedicated to prehistory, antiquity and the period from the Middle Ages to the mid-16th C.

It's impossible to cover everything in a short blog post, so I will highlight a few of our personal favourites, and those historical artefacts that we found fascinating.

I've always found the story of Hėloϊse and Abelard's doomed love affair captivating. At the museum you can see the heads and hands of the effigies of the tragic lovers.

Où est la très sage Heloïs,

Pour qui fut chastré et puis moyne

Pierre Esbaillart à Sainct-Denys?

Pour son amour eut cest essoyne.

This is a fragment of a big mural as you climb the stairs. The murals by Paolo Antonio Brunetti used to belong to the Duc de Luynes' townhouse, which was demolished in 1900. The frescoes were saved and re-assembled in the Musée Carnavalet in 1909-11. 

Portrait of Francis I, who loved arts and fashion, and who invited Leonardo da Vinci to his court. Leonardo brought Mona Lisa with him, which the king has acquired, and this iconic artwork can now be seen in the Louvre.

There are big rooms, showing the interiors of the Parisian homes of the nobility, with the exquisite woodwork and rich silks.

I loved seeing the portrait of Madame Recamier by François Gérard in the 19C rooms. I've seen her portrait many times in art history books, and was thrilled to see the painting in real life. She is absolutely stunning. You can almost see her lips moving mischievously.

Juliette Recamier was a Parisian socialite, who was married at the age of 15 to someone thirty years older than her. She was intelligent, quick-witted, and her beauty inspired many artists of her day.

The French Revolution takes a central stage in the museum. Carnavalet has the world's largest collection of artefacts and objects dating between 1789-1799. It covers a vast selection of historical posters, pamphlets, paintings, sculpted busts, flags, furniture, weapons, models of The Bastille and guillotine, medals etc.

It is sobering to walk from portrait to portrait and read the short biographies, learning that this person was executed, and that one, and that one. Terribles times, tragic deaths, rivers of blood. All in the name of freedom and equality.

The furniture below belonged to Marie Antoinette, when she was a prisoner at the Tour du Temple. The bed looks quite petite. I even checked how tall Marie Antoinette was (168cm, if you're curious). I'm the same height, and I would find the bed short.

This faience ecritoire (writing case with the ink stand) with a motto "Vivre Libre ou Mourire (live free or die)" circa 1791 caught my eye. 

The bust of Napoleon by Charles-Louis Corbet.

The room with this beautiful window is dedicated to the years 1830-50. There is a superb portrait of Franz Liszt on display, and other romantic artwork.

George Fouquet asked the famous artist Alphonse Mucha to design the interior for his boutique at 6 Rue Royale, and what a splendid piece of art is this shopfront! So flamboyant and extravagant.

We loved Marcel Proust's re-created bedroom, with its simple bed and comfy armchair. You can sit on a bench next to it and listen to the extracts from his famous novel, In Search of Lost Time.

Crib of the Imperial Prince Louis-Napoleon. It is very grand, but doesn't look particularly comfy for a baby.

A pretty fan with giraffes.

In a hurry, I didn't take a snap of the name of this portrait of a mime artist. The reverse search of the image doesn't bring any results. If you do know the name of the artist and the mime, please let me know.

Commedia dell'Arte was very popular in Paris from the late 16th C. These are painted wooden sculptures from Dominique Séraphin's theatre. The painting in the background shows the main characters of the Commedia dell'Arte: Harlequine, Colombina, Pulcinella, etc.

By this point of the tour we were hastening our pace, as my husband texted me, asking how long we were planning to explore. I wish we had more time.

This striking portrait of Juliette Gréco, French singer and actress, renown for her bohemian lifestyle, and being an inspiration of the song Michelle by the Beatles.

If you find yourself in Paris and want to escape the crowds of Le Louvre, Musée Carnavalet is worth visiting. 

It is free, and you don't have to book in advance. I hope to explore it in-depth one day, and let's not wait another thirty years until I visit Paris again.

Photo diary: week 27, project 365

Is it just me, or the evening light is already getting a little bit shorter?! I usually water the potted plants around 8pm, and noticed that it's not as bright outside as it was a couple of weeks ago.

Last Sunday we made a trip to Oxford, and thankfully it was cooler than the previous day.
Since it was on Sasha's request, he chose going first to McDonalds and then to the Ashmolean. I really need to pick a day and make a trip there on my own, as with the boys we tend to spend more time in the Ancient worlds rooms, and I do want to revisit the later periods and look at the paintings.

Eddie loves the Egyptians, he enjoys exploring the artefacts, especially the mummies.

On Monday I was taking some last minute photos for the book review, which I finished recently - Storytellers by B.Larssen. It is a brilliant novel set in Iceland in 1920. For me this was the best novel of the year so far.

On Tuesday I was invited to have a coffee at a neighbour's house. We are not house neighbours, but our gardens are divided by a big stone wall. The conversation took a slightly surreal turn, when the lady mentioned that they've noticed that our fig tree has no fruit this year. And apparently, the squirrel who used to eat our figs has now eaten all the figs in their garden.
I didn't know what to say to that really, it's not like it's my pet squirrel, and what am I supposed to do with such an inconsiderate animal?
Rather than that, I enjoyed looking at their well-kept garden, with lots of roses, lavender and lilies.

In summer I tend to make lots of salads for dinner. This is the base of the Italian-style salad, which I served two ways - with tuna (for omnivores) and goat's cheese (vegetarian version).

Running to collect Eddie from school I've spotted two aeroplanes moving towards each other. From my point it looked like they were going to collide, but of course, they were on different levels.

After a quick coffee with a friend, I walked to the Royal mail depot to pick up a packet, and also to talk to them. The day before I arrived home after the school run to find two books, which I bought on ebay, to be posted through the letterbox. They were folded in half, and the covers got damaged in the process.
From the packaging it was obvious that these were books. Just what kind of a imbecile careless person folds books in half?!
I know you're not supposed to take photos with the sun straight in the camera, but I liked the look of those rippled clouds. It looks like an evening, while it was still pretty early in the day.

Today Eddie and I went to see Spiderman: Far from home, while Sasha went out with his father to do things they enjoy.
The film was actually better than expected. Eddie loved it, and generously rated it 8 and a half out of 10, but even I cede it was pretty good, if you like Marvel films. The only problem I have with Tom Holland as Spidey is he doesn't look like a 16-year-old, and neither does Zendaya as MJ.

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Mummies galore

Meresamun, the singer

A couple of days ago Eddie and I were browsing the shelves of the "pre-loved" DVDs in Poundland, our favourite place to shop for snacks and plastic tat treasures. I have spotted all three The Mummy movies (the original ones, not the latest film with Tom Cruise which I haven't seen).
I couldn't resist buying them, to revisit my youth and introduce my child to the pleasures of the trashy horror.

We have watched all the Goosebumps on Netflix, and of course, the Goosebumps film. While enjoying the scary parts, Eddie tends to sit next to me, just in case, and if I need to pop in to the kitchen to brew a cup of tea, he would pause the film and wait for me.

We watched The Mummy, hiding behind the big cushions when the scarabs were taking over, but quite often giggled too and said Eww, that's gross!
Eddie thought it was the best film ever.

After watching this masterpiece, I thought it might be a good idea to visit The Ashmolean and see the real Egyptian mummies. Earlier this year we went to the National History Museum and saw some of the glorious sarcophagi.

Temple singer Meresamun, The Ashmolean Musuem

Sasha had a day of activities with Barnardo's, so Eddie and I hopped on the bus to Oxford and enjoyed our time together, just the two of us.

The Ashmolean Museum is a splendid place to visit, and there is so much to see and learn. It is the most visited British museum outside London. Several years ago, it has reopened its Ancient Egyptian collections.

You can argue that displaying the human remains to the public is not ethical, but at the same time the museums spend vast sums of money to preserve them for the eternity. I'm in two minds about seeing mummies in the museums.

They are, of course, an incredible study of culture and history, but they are also dead bodies.
In one of the rooms, you can see a mummy of a two-year-old child. Though it happened thousands of years ago, the death of a child is a tragedy.
Next to it there is a glass installation created by Angela Palmer. The scans made on the little mummy have revealed that the child had a twisted hip and a deformed skull. The artist was so touched by these facts that she visited Hawara, the place where the little mite lived his short life. She brought back with her a handful of sand to place next to the mummified remains.
It feels poignant but also reverential.

The mummy of the 2-year-old boy from Hawara

We loved the Pharaoh Taharqa's shrine, which was once a huge temple. There is a statue of Taharqa inside. We looked for his name written in hieroglyphs outside the shrine, inside the frame called a cartouche.

Pharaoh Taharqa

Pharaoh Taharqa

As canopic jars with preserved organs feature quite prominently in the Mummy film, I pointed them out to Eddie in the museum.

This is the Ram of Amun, he is keeping Pharaoh Taharq safe.

If you've seen The Mummy, you might remember how scared The Mummy was of the cat. Ancient Egyptians revered cats and mummified them as well, so that they could live in the afterlife too.
Seeing this mummy of the cat brought back memories of my childhood and visits to the Pushkin Musuem of Fine Arts in Moscow, where you can find a mummified cat as well.

mummified cat

This is a sarcophagus of Ptahhotep, steward of the treasury.

Ptahhotep, steward of the treasury

We only studied the Ancient Egypt collections and didn't venture beyond that.
I wanted Eddie to learn something from ancient history, while his memory is still fresh after watching the film.

As you enter the Egyptian rooms, you can find a little chest of drawers with activities for children. We picked two of them - Ancient Egyptian Survival Guide (what you need to know to journey safely through life and into the afterlife) and Ancient Egyptian Animal Adventure (which invites you to find amazing and magical animals in ancient Egypt). They are cleverly done, and make a visit to the museum more fun.

One of my favourite pieces in the Ancient Egypt collections is this delicate spoon.

I also admired the Mummy with perky boobs, which is on display as you leave the Egyptian collections and move onto the Fayum mummies of the Coptic period.

It was better not to cram as much as possible in one day, and not visit the other ancient worlds. We came home and looked at the book An Egyptian Pyramid.
And that was our foray into culture for the moment. We are ready to watch The Mummy Returns.