Paris

I was lucky enough to have been in Paris to see some of the fall colours. I decided to take the Eurostar train to there because it gets you to downtown Paris is less time than the three frickin' hours you are supposed to be at Heathrow before your flight even gets off the ground. Terrorist jerks! That and also because it freed up an extra stop on my round-the-world ticket to see friends in San Fran next June. And rail travel can be so much more civilised than air travel. In Paris, I had dinner with my tres pregnant friend Pet and her beau. She choose Hotel du Nord as our dining destination, where we were joined by another friend of theirs. Coincidentally, I was staying at the Nord Hotel, right across from the Gard du Nord; a place I recommend if you're looking for decent, relatively inexpensive Paris accommodation and will be travelling in and out of the city from the Gare du Nord train station, as I was. Not top choice for neighbourhood strolling, or dining, however. For that go to the very french Hotel du Nord. Not only does it share names with my hotel, but it is film-themed, in a way, like my year off. Check out their nifty website www.hoteldunord.org
And by the way, the food was excellent. It won't be quite as french in the near future, as the new smoking ban takes effect.


The day after dinner with my old friend from Toronto, I went to see the new Cinematheque built by Toronto-born architect Frank Gehry. On my way there I came across this modern, grass-covered structure built for sporty people activities. I don't really know much about it, but I liked the way the sun was illuminating the grass and plaza area so I laid down on the ground and took some pictures. That's kinda sporty, isn't it? Up, down, click, up.





In the same way Hotel du Nord was very french, this newish Cinematheque was very Gehry. Lots of curves, playful, surreal. The back street-side and the side that faced a neighbouring building were tamer; that is to say more geometric and therefore more traditional than the corner facade. They fit harmoniously with their surroundings, while still speaking the same language as the facade, which, being more organic, both faced and reflected the adjacent trees and park area. I really like the way the cube in the black and white photograph seems to float and drift away. I think this sensation of motion is very apt for a building that is devoted to the moving image.