Pompidou centre

On my third attempt at visiting this building I went in.  I decided last night to buy a ticket on line to save time in the queue, but the system got confused with where I was from and wanted me to pay in English pounds and would not let me pay in Euros. Never mind.  It was a cold drizzly day which may have put some people off. I did not wait long and what is more impressive, I was quite calm and not agitated in the queue. The holiday must be doing me some good.

The blurb claims that they have the largest collection of modern ( 1905 to 1965) art in Europe which may be true.  I enjoyed seeing many of my favourite painters. There were several interesting Chagalls, a Pollock which had some recognisable forms in it and several Mondrians.  Plus others. The blurb also claims to have the largest collection of contemporary art ( 1960's to prsent) .  A cynic might say that is because no one else wants it. Most of the stuff I did not get at all.  Why watch a video in a small room of someone wrapping fishing line around their nose? There was one interesting installation in a room made up of  a sort of large net at head height  made out of hundreds and hundreds of personal headphones. There were interesting shadows on the floor. As you moved around, there was an eerie sound. But why?

It was an easy decision to stop for lunch. I dined in style in the fancy restaurant at the top of the building with a lovely view over Paris. Mainly because I was there and I could not be bothered finding my way downstairs to the other place. It was a no alcohol and no desert day!   My salmon, one of the cheaper dishes, was delicious.

There is currently an exhibition of Vasarely's work. I did not recognise his name, but recognised some of the works. He makes all sorts of graphic patterns with different colours.  I enjoyed looking at them, but some , mainly the circular ones, bothered me  - disturbed my vision and made me feel vaguely queasy, so I didnot stay long.

Because I knew that the yarn  I bought  several weeks ago would not fit into my suitcase, I bought another bag.  So I had no qualms today about buying myself a jigsaw - a stylised map of Paris. Not the brand I saw before that was hand made of wood with a price which reflected the craftmanship.

I was going to walk to another area to potter but decided I could not be bothered and made my way back to my apartment , without reference  to a map, just waking in the rough direction and making a few corrections - not all the streets are in a rectangular grid.

I forgot - The Pompidou centre is new - built in the 1970's it was quite contraversial because it built as an inside-out bulding. Its structural system, mechanical systems, and circulation stuff are exposed on the outside of the building. All the pipes are colour coded = green for plumbing, blue for climate control etc. Renzo Piano was one of the team that designed it.  You got good views from the escalator on the outside of the building.