signs in the metro, part 1

One of my favorite aspects of the Paris Metro is being surrounded by French advertisements. Just as in America, some are annoying (I am so sick of the 2007 French beauty pageant winner letting us know that, "Je suis volcanique"), some are bewildering, and some are quite artful. Even if you don't know French, you probably know enough about decoding signs and advertisements to get the gist of most of them. One of my favorites, one that I've seen in previous years, is the one advertising "soldes" or sales. By law, French stores can only hold sales twice per year. The chief of gendarmes sets the date for these sales, and limits it to a set amount of time. January is always one of those dates, and the advertisement I've posted show a harried but happy shopper. The ad is perfectly arranged in color and in composition. The model is impossibly balanced, tugging a plaid shirt (I think). Her collection of goods almost seems to be exploding from the bag, matching her unruly hair. If you blow up the picture, you'll see that she has bloody scrapes on her arms, presumably from shopping. Despite all this, her face displays carnavelesque joy. Doesn't make me want to shop, but I suppose I'm not the target group, since I seldom where yellow and black leggings. The other ad (just two today) falls more in the category of the inexplicable--at first blush. I'm not making light of leprosy, but if one spoke no French, I'm afraid the immediate reaction would be to wonder why the Metro station felt the need to ban zombies from the underground. Did the foundation really need to make the face of leprosy look so much like one of the extras in Michael Jackson's "Thriller"?  The giant X made out of caution tape doesn't work at all. Much of the Metro system is now undergoing renovations, and similar tape is found throughout the system, so the immediate reaction is to think that sign isn't to be taken seriously, which takes away from its message. If you're like me, you probably thought that leprosy was, for the most part, a thing of the past, so if it is still prevalent, educating the populous may be important, but I think this sign deconstructs itself in an unfortunate and unintended way. By the way, if you click on the images they will load full sized. 

Two days to go

As my time quickly runs out here in Paris, I thought I'd share of few of the interesting signs I've come across these last few days. The first is from the still somewhat dodgy area in Belleville where Edith Piaf made her entrance into the world on the steps below the sign. I've also included a sign from the Place des Vosges, which basically says that the grass is sleeping--so stay off. Before France joined the EU (and adopted many new laws), reclining and walking on the grass in parks was forbidden (Dejeuner ser Herbe to the contrary, so this is probably a leftover of the Gallic need to protect the grass from humans. The final sign was scribbled on a closed HSBC bank--no translation necessary. Next post--signs in the Metro. 

Bridges

Because Paris is a city divided by a river, bridges have always played an important role in the city. I have two groups of pictures for this post. The first is of the Pont Neuf, or new bridge, which ironically is the oldest bridge in the city. It was ordered by Henry IV, whose statue stands at the headway of the Ile de la Cite. It's an important bridge because it connects the left and right banks, via the Ile. One of the oldest squares, the Place Dauphin, is located right next to the bridge, on the Ile. The pictures are of the bridge taken from the right bank, and then there's a close up of some of the metal work on the light posts. Since I included the oldest bridge in town, I though I'd also include the newest, the Passerelle Simone de Beauvoir. It's a footbridge that connects Bercy Village with the newish Mitterand Library. I'm no architectural historian or aesthete, but to my tastes most modern French architecture is soul-less, but I think they got this bridge right. I love the way it dips up and down, and the wood contrasts the sterile glass buildings that it leads to. Bercy, on the other hand, is a lovely green area, although there's a Frank Gehry building right after the park. Again, not to my taste, but his style of deconstructionist architecture seems to be all the rage. At any rate, the Passerelle was an unexpected surprise, as was the two girls on the bridge who wanted to take their picture with me. I'm not sure who they thought I was, but I think it made them happy. 

Two scary animals

Having just finished going through the last of the 245 Paris Metro stations (seemed more like 400 hundred, to be honest), now I'm playing the role of the flaneur, the man who strolls the streets without purpose, observing all that he sees. I'm off to dinner, but here are two picts from today that can only be paired because of the incongruent use of animals. The lion/dead ostrich is from the Luxembourg Parc, while the alligator is a the quay across from the Conciergerie, the prison where many, including Marie Antoinette, were imprisoned before losing their heads.