February 28th... well really the 1st of March
I am cheating a bit and pretending that it is still February.. my logic being that what I am writing about took place in February.
My main reason for going to Paris was to check out my friend Phillippe's parallel exhibition. Seemed like a good excuse to me, what do you think? I stayed in my usual hotel, getting a good deal at 60 euro for a double room for the night. I left Geneva at an ungodly hour on Saturday morning (especially after a lovely night out) and caught the train to Paris. After dropping my bag off at the hotel, I made my way to Raspail and to Gallery XXI and Phillippe's exhibition.
There were a couple of pieces that I really like - check them out:
One of the curiosities I saw in Paris was an escalator with wooden steps. Maybe I am odd, but I thought it was interesting and worth photographing.
I had lunch with Phillippe and his friend Greg. It took about 5 minutes, but I realised that Greg reminded me extraordinarily of someone. In fact, he reminded me hugely of my friend... Greg! I have been trying to find a photo of my friend Greg to do a comparison.
Phillippe and I went for a wander through the Jardin Luxembourg. The weather was freezing cold so I decided to head home to thaw out. As the sun set I got to admire the view of the Eiffel tower and peace memorial.
For dinner I joined Phillippe and the gallery owner Michel, his wife, and two friends, for an excellent chinese dinner. The next morning I headed out to the Marché au Puce (Flea Market). I was very restrained there, but did buy some gilt lace as a gift for Stephen and Mathilde. It was snowing and after 5 hours of wandering I was frozen to the bone and headed back to the hotel. After lazing about for a bit I had dinner in a lovely restaurant called 'Fontaine de Mars' just around the corner. I started with a lovely piece of warm chevre and brown bread, followed by duck confit with garlic fried potatoes and mushrooms. The confit was absolutely lovely, but nearly killed me, even with scraping off large parts of the duck fat. I wasn't sure I could face dessert, but a trio of sorbets, mandarin, pear and raspberry was a perfect finish to a lovely meal and weekend.
February 28
Saturday morning I caught the train to Paris. More on the trip later - its late at night here!
February 24
Watch this space because I will have lots of news for you after this
weekend. Friday night is my Valentine's dinner at d'Angleterre, and then
early Saturday morning I am heading up to Paris so that I can check out
Phillippe's art exhibition there.
February 18
Ok, I have made a gallery of Phillippe's art, and another page of photographs of the opening night.
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Tonight was the opening
of an art exhibition of my friend Phillipe. I will put a full gallery
of pics up later, but just had to show you something now.
Phillipe's art is fascinating,
bright broad colours, with fantastical and outrageous imaginary
beasts.
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February 14
Valentines Day.... that most mixed of dates. As usual no flood of Valentines on the doorstep. I always have mixed feelings about it. I know the date has been hugely commercialised, but since, on the whole men aren't flooding the joint with random acts of romance, I can't help hoping that having a reminder spread across the media might actually spark something in their brains. [grin]
But there was a highlight to the day. I have been listening to the radio occasionally in the morning, WRG. (Geneva's English speaking station) They've been having a Valentines competition, where they listed 5 songs (with 'LOVE' in the title). To enter I sent an sms to WRG with the song I liked. Well, apparently I won! Among a small group of people, I have won dinner at a rather fancy restaurant. The ironic thing is that the song on the list I chose was.... 'Tainted Love'. How's that?!!!!
February 13
Nothing to report. It was a week of birthdays, celebrated Wednesday 3 workmates birthday and Saturday, my friend Danijelas. A lovely dinner at Cafe du Soleil, which now finally has a non-smoking area! Every time I went to the restaurant I would ask about a non-smoking area (which I knew they didn't have). Well, finally they made one; my friend Alison told me they should name the room after me.
February 3
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Wandering the streets
of Geneva, I stopped past a chocolate shop and saw these lovely
chocolate owls. I wish I could have got one for mum but I know that
they would be a melted mess by the time it got there.
Oh and today I read an
article in the Australian by Debra Adelaide which beautifully describes
my attitude towards reading:
'That question "Do
you like reading?" is actually difficult to answer. Can you really
say you like reading? It's similar to saying you like breathing
or the function of your liver or any other unseen but mute pulsating
part without which you would cease to exist.'
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Easter is on the horizon; its first sign being new boiled eggs in the shops.. You see here you can buy pre-boiled eggs, coloured in bright shades so you don't confuse them with fresh eggs. Well for easter, they have brought out these:
Gorgeous aren't they!
