Miscelaneous notes from around town

Some photos of things I like to remember when I look back on the blog...

One of the problems with building a museum with the inside on the outside is keeping it clean. The Pompidou Center has all the structure and plumbing on the soutside, so cleaning can be a real chore. Looks like the center is covered for its maintenance.

There is a "new" mall where the old market section, Les Halles, is. It looks a bit like something from outer space. There are at least 3 levels underground and lots of mall security checking  bags as people take the escalator down to the shops.The lighting is not too bright in the mall and it has a bit of a 3rd world look to it. The cinema can show 35 films at a time.

Speaking of security, there doesn't appear to be as much as last year. Here are some soldiers walking around near St. Paul's church in our neighborhood. We see special police forces around from time to time too. 

Here is a street artist near the Pompidou Center drawing on the sidewalk. If you can't read the caption, it says, "Life without art is stupid." I tossed a euro into his dish, he never looked up. At least the homeless guy on our corner says "Merci" when I toss him a few cents.

Here is some very modern, abstract art in a wading pool in front of the Church of St. Martin. Mixing old and new is definitely a thing here in Paris.

We finally had a nice day and everyone was on the streets and bridges. This guy was pretty good and was later joined by a guy with a drum and a guy with a bass fiddle. He had quite a crowd sitting on the bridge between Ile St Louis and Ile de la Cite. 

This is one of my favorite spots. Twice already we have bought a chicken here. The chickens are roasted on the rotisserie in red. The juices from the chickens drops down onto a pile of potatoes. You ask for a chicken from the storage area and have it cut into pieces, then you ask for enough potatoes to feed X number of people. The guy weighs everything, you pay in the rear of the shop, then you get your bag of dinner. Delicious.

Early spring the city starts planting fresh flowers in the gardens so they will be in bloom when the warm weather hits. This is just outside our window.

This is an example of a typical Haussmann building in Paris from an exhibit at the Pavilion D'
Arsenal. The exhibit was pretty detailed, describing such things as the height of buildings, height of ceilings in rooms, number of windows, the look of the facade, width of streets, plus much more. Many individual homes were destroyed as well as some of the worst slums to make Paris what it is today, I'm looking forward to reading more about this time in history.