Following the Red Balloon

Paris has a wonderful collection of movie theaters that show classic films and "art house" movies. Being a great fan of the movies, I really enjoy the chance of seeing old movies on the big screen. Earlier this summer I saw that a childhood favorite, The Red Balloon had been re-release at one of these movie theaters in Paris. Many people may recall sitting through this short film - if they were lucky enough to - during their elementary school years. That's where I had first seen it. It is a short film (about 34 minutes) by Albert Lamorisse first released in 1956. When I had first seen this movie the fact that it was set in Paris hadn't really made an impression on me at that time. Seeing it once again was a real treat. The movie is also more beautiful than my younger self could ever have understood. The story of a small Parisian grade-schooler, played by the director's son Pascal, becomes best friend to a red balloon. This balloon will not leave his new friend's side. It was great fun to see Paris in it's recent past as the young boy rides the city buses, goes to school, and climbs the hilly neighborhood of Bellville and Menilmontant. Just this week the request to visit this part of the city came my way. As I wandered there this weekend the images of this movie came to my mind. Of course the old fallen down shanties no longer exist. Now there is a modern, beautiful park that offer a less known view over Paris. It's quite spectacular to come upon the city in this way. It was nearly the view that is quickly glimpsed in the movie.
This wasn't the only classic that I set out to see over the summer. Most of the theaters that play these great old films are located in the Latin Quarter of Paris. Places like "Action Ecoles", "Grand Action", and "Reflet Medicis" were showing some great old classics this summer. There was a festival of Marx Brothers movies to a movie musical festival like An American in Paris.

"I bought myself a red balloon, And got a blue surprise,Hidden in the red balloon, A pinning of my eyes,It took a love light from my eyes,Blue, blue surprise." Tim Hardin lyrics from the song: Red Balloon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-L2-wOJMPw

Re - Starting

This has definitely not been any way to run a blog!

I'm coming back to my blog after a very long absence. More than six month have passed since my last commentary. This has been due to a difficult year of distractions. My main excuse for bad attendance was the passing of my mother Eleanor. It is her photo that I've posted here with a sign that says, "I'd rather be in Paris". On the back she had written: "I'd rather be here sitting in my living room with Michael and Scott by my side- just talking and laughing." I would be forced to remain in Paris while the events to honor my mother back in the states unfolded. The updates on these events from home felt like odd dreams.
My mother was a strong woman. She would beat cancer twice in her lifetime. She was a great and loving woman that knew how to make people feel good about themselves, always with a wonderful sense of humor. Everyone that had any contact with her will miss her greatly.

Of course my one regrets will be that she never got to see Paris. There had always been too many things preventing her from making the trip. Most often her worries were related to her health. These kept her close to home. Still, she had been talking about this being the year to make her trip to Paris. I'm sorry that she wasn't in better health, or felt strong enough to make the visit earlier. I know that she would have loved it here. So often the photos and images that I took would be captured with her in my mind. I hope that she at least was able to visit the many photos that I would post of my Paris wanders. Sharing the pleasures of Paris with her was something that I so wanted to do. Now this Autumn I'm looking forward for my father to make the trip to my adopted city. My mother's passing has put the idea of a Paris visit into the minds of others in my family back home. I really hope that they are able to make the trip at some point in the very near future.

This year Paris had a very odd spring. A chill would fall over the city throughout the month of May. The city did not have the feeling of past summers experienced in recent years. Once August had arrived it felt as if autumn was already in the air. The month is already at an end with tomorrow bringing another September and another rentrée. I started this blog a year ago to celebrate living here for ten years. I'm looking forward posting more photos at this site, along with more frequent updates about life in Paris.
Thanks to all that have visited this barren blog over the past months to find things at a stand still.

Past the new year...it's already February!

Not even my new year's resolutions could get me back to this blog for proper weekly updates. It's already February and this is my first post here in the new year.

The most talked about change to occur in Paris, and all over France in this new year has been the country's law making it "smoke-free." It is now illegal to smoke in all public places like bars and restaurants. This has brought all the smokers out into the streets of Paris. Because of this one seems to get the impression that there are more smokers in Paris than ever before. What seems impressive to most visitors is the fact that the Parisians are heeding these no-smoking laws. Of course smokers are allowed to enjoy themselves outside at cafés and restaurants. So, you may end up being closer to a smoker when enjoying the outdoor experience around the city.

Another perk for visitors to Paris in the new year will be the free entrance to a had full of museums around town. There is an effort to increase attendance to these less visited spots in the city. This is just being done on a temporary basis to see what affect this will have on attendance. There is an effort to bring more of the natives out to these museums. This will be in affect for the next six months until June 30, 2008. If you are visiting Paris in the next few months you might think to add this to your list of sites:
Musée de Cluny - http://www.musee-moyenage.fr/

Musée des arts et métiers - http://www.arts-et-metiers.net/
This is a favorite place to visit. It's a museum dealing with of design and technology. The permanent collection focuses on seven sections: scientific instruments (like Foucault's pendulum and Pascal's arithmetic machine), materials, construction (bridge and building models along with a statue of Liberty model), communication (like cameras of Niepce, Daguerre and Edison), energy, mechanics and transportation (how the metro line 14 works without a driver on board). Part of what I like about this museum is that parts of the collection are contained in the old Priory and Church of Saint-Martin-des-Champs. Some of these buildings date back to the 12th century. Part of the priory's crenelated defensive wall is visible on the rue de Vert bois side of the museum building.




Musée Guimet -http://www.museeguimet.fr/
This is a museum for the fan of art from Asia and the Far East: India, China, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Southeast Asia, Japan, Korea. Just up the street you can also visit for free the “Galleries of the Buddhist Pantheon.” This houses the Guimet Museum's original collection, as conceived by the founder Émile Guimet from a collection of works brought back from his travels in Japan. If you have any interest in the art of Asia, this well worth a visit.

Happy Year of the Rat.

For the first time in my ten years in this city, I went to the Chinese New Year's Parade. The parade was held in the large "China Town" area in Paris. (One year I saw part of this parade when it was held on the Champs-Elysées during that year's "Year of China celebrations.) I went to the area that the parade was to begin near the Rue du Disque in the 13th arrondissement of Paris. It was a beautiful day for a parade and the crowd was quite happy in part because of this. But so much excitement was generated by the firecrackers, costumes, dancing and bright colors that made this event so much fun. I really enjoyed the parade because it came from the locals of this part of Paris. It had such a personal touch that gave it it's own personality. This was not the Mummer's Parade. It was simple but beautiful. Again, it seemed to truly reflect the people that live in this neighborhood of the city. I had the great privilege of having a number of dragons pass over my head. Hopefully they will bring some luck in this year of the rat. Wishing lots of luck to everyone this new year. Visit my posted photos of the parade at facebook: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=27320&id=712776764