Paris in November.

Au revoir Algeria; bonjour France!…

Next up on my brief Africo-Euro November business-trip: Paris.

The Paris segment was busy on the work front: new acquaintances, meetings, negotiations – all as per. However – also as per – I just had to get some tourisms in: after all, this was Paris, no less. But, as luck would have it – the weather spoiled those plans somewhat: there was snow (in November!), it was windy, and it was freezing (in November?!). And this was Paris – not Kamchatka!!…

Looking out the window of my hotel room, there was no way I fancied venturing out given such murky, windy, cold and wet weather. Yes, we were in Paris – a European center of mindless mass tourism, but on a snowy November day there was absolutely nothing to be done!…

Snow in Paris in the fall. What?! :0)

It was decided we should wait – hoping that the weather would improve. However, alas – it only got worse!…

We waited a bit longer – and still no improvement. Updated plan: to hell with the weather, let’s go… here – to the Bourse de commerce (Commodities Exchange) to check out the Pinault Collection…

Impressive old building:

I recall once saying… no – let me delve into my archives and find the actual citation…

Yes, here it is:

“Paris is one of my favorite cities. I don’t quite understand why, but I can walk around it for hours and hours…”

You guessed it – during that visit (it was in 2013) the weather was nice. Fast-forward to 2024, and it’s been updated:

“Paris is one of my favorite cities – given nice weather. I don’t quite understand why, but I can walk around it for hours and hours – but not when it’s gray and snowy and windy and cold!…”

All right – enough venting of the spleen. You know me – never one for dwelling on negatives. Let’s get to the museum!…

But then we got inside the museum… ->

My patience with this day was starting to wear thin…

I mean – I do sometimes like modern kunst, but when I’ve other irritations in the background… grrrr!

I’d have called this one “the Anticipation of Black Friday” ->

What is this? Why? ->

At least there are still some artists who can actually work with stone to be able to produce decent (avant-garde) sculptures ->

Melted Roquefort? Wait – is that a corpse under that “sheet”? :)

Looking up – aaahh: the contrast! ->

Time to go up a level…

In among the far-fetched bizarre artifacts, you occasionally come across pieces that you actually like. I guess it all depends on the individual – beauty being in the eye of the beholder and all that. This here owl took my fancy ->

Hmmm – I think something like this could work in the garden at the dacha ) ->

Wait – but… where’s the reflection? ->

Why? No idea. You still stare at it for a good while ->

Ditto:

A croc – leaving a trail of what you often get in a crock, but which is actually made up of illuminated numbers. Why those numbers? What could they signify? Or am I overthinking it? ->

All this reminds me of Rothko’s “work” – which changes hands for millions. This one, for example, perplexingly entitled Orange, Red, Yellow…

…last sold for nearly 87 million dollars!

Then there’s this here potato – an unwashed one at that…

…which sold for a million euros! To the right is the author – Irish photographer Kevin Abosch, whom I once met (we chatted, and he, too, was astonished at the price it went for!).

Enough already – all this bewildering modern art was getting too much. We stepped outside for a breath of fresh air – both literally and figuratively…

We pass the Centre Pompidou ->