FLOCKE.

So the reason for my daylong detour to Nuernberg, Germany was to drop off a painting for a client. However, once in Nuernberg, I could not pass up the opportunity to see this:...the widdle baby polar bear born last December at the Nuernberg Zoo. CUTENESS. I couldn’t resist. Unfortunately, she was out only briefly, and was a bit far away from where I was standing... here's the best photo I got of the wee bundle of fuzzy adorability that is Snowflake, the polar bear cub ("Flocke, das Eisbaerbaby):I also got to see her waddle offstage with her minder. I died. Died of cuteness overload.
Also cute, though significantly larger, was Flocke’s Mom, Vera:Unfortunately the Zoo has embarked upon a rather odd tactic for its marketing campaign to woo Nuernbergers to come see Flocke; behold, one of the umpteen bus shelter posters to be found around town:Translation: Knut (the polar bear born in 2007 at the Berlin Zoo) is yesterday’s news, like Knut is so totally five minutes ago. As in, Knut, he’s all grown and no longer a cute widdle fuzzy wuzzy Eisbaerbaby, now he’s a full-grown polar bear just like all the others and could probably bite your head off, so who cares about Knut? COME SEE FLOCKE. Kind of a harsh message to put out there... that animals are no longer worth your while after they’re no longer widdle and cute. Alas, ageism strikes everywhere.

All that said, Flocke was indeed worth the trip. There were countless other lovely animals as well of course. And it was a beautiful day, sunny and gorgeous, and I was happy:

After the zoo expedition, I got to waddle about in Nuernberg. Many things were closed, as it was Pentecost. But it was an entirely pleasant day weatherwise and otherwise, city was lovely and in fine form, great walk through the center and up to the Kaiserburg. Here’s a shot of the placid Peignitz river:And a view from the heights of the Kaiserburg:A curiosity in the Hauptbahnhof - a whole world of wigs:On my way back to the airport back to Paris at the end of the day, I snuck a photo of this couple on the U-Bahn... they were just so ridiculously, cutely typisch-ly Bavarian looking, I couldn’t help myself......not quite as cute as Flocke, but almost. Maybe.

Adieu, 7 rue Dupin.

With much sadness, it was time to vacate my lovely apartment in Paris this morning. Sadness! It was a great place, the owner is awesome, and if you are ever in the need of a petite studio in Paris (for one or two people max), I can give you the owner’s contact info. Good stuff.

Tonight I fly into Nuremberg, and in the meantime, I’m hanging with my classmates Linda and Susan:

Ah, Paris. More interesting street art:
This could potentially be street art, but I suspect it's more likely that it is an accident that this mannequin is lying on the ground. Since the standing mannequin in the front bears a resemblance to Naomi Campbell, however, I prefer to think that this is a mock scenario wherein Naomi-mannequin has smacked down her rival mannequin (likely with a cell phone). This would add some drama to the scene:Will I ever tire of drippy, touristy, trite photos of the Seine? Answer: no.I made it, safe and sound, to Nuernberg via the heinosity of the RER and via Air Berlin (less heinous). Here’s a self-portrait in the mirror of my hotel room in downtown Nuernberg:bis morgen...

Fun to be had in Argenteuil.

A sunny, gorgeous day in the Paris region. Today I went out to Argenteuil, north of Paris, to hang with the Mennesson-Mentré crowd. In doing so, I was privileged to hang with the cutest two little girls on the planet, behold:
Here's Sarah...And me with her sister Meghann (this photo taken by Axel le voisin, aged 5):Here's Sarah avec maman:Here's Meghann with Axel le voisin (aka Spiderman)
...and Sabine and Philippe (maman et papa) are pretty cute too. Hee hee.

The last days of Paris in the springtime.

Spent the day getting some last errands and last delights of Paris in, before I leave for good next Tuesday (sniff). Graffiti, as always, had much amusement to contribute to my day... this one projected a rather bleak sentiment, “this world is destroying us.”…while this one was decidedly more upbeat: “have fun.”Here’s a particularly unwelcoming front door on the rue Vieille du Temple:This, by contrast, is one of the more welcoming places in the Marais – Celis, a boutique selling handmade alpaca sweaters. Cozy.I usually try to avoid its touristy-ness and crowdedness, but I went up to Montmartre to look for some fabric:And, of course, I went back to the Louvre tonight to draw. Ah, the Louvre:

All good things must come to an end...

Today was our last day of class, for which I am extremely sad; I'll miss everything about the class, including the great location in Gericault's former studio......here are our fabulous Studio Escalier instructors, soon to be wed, photo taken by Sadie Valeri:Tomorrow night I will probably still take in one more night of drawing at the Louvre, however:Side note: today is a holiday in France, the official end of WWII in Europe – 8 May 1945. One of many many many holidays in France in the month of May.

Je dis merci à Paris.

More Paris awesomeness via photos:

Here are some roses blooming up the courtyard in the building where I’m staying:

Another sampling of Metro-specific Paris awesomeness: poetry in the Metro. I thought this one was very sweet:Awww...

I was doing my laundry the other day at the lavomatique, and noticed this sign on the wall:

This is without a doubt the only place in France, I’m certain, where drinking wine is not permitted. Beware the perils of drinking and laundering! Certainly increases the chances of mixing whites and colors, no question.

Back on the home front, perhaps you may have heard that our car died? Alas, we now must do without our (not so) trusty Sally Sue the Civic, with us for a brief but fruitful 7 months. I may have found a replacement car here in Paris – perhaps this one?

Or perhaps this one?

Paris: the city that never stops being cute.

For your visual and conceptual pleasure, I bring you more tidbits of Parisness.
Anyone who has spent more than 5 minutes in the Paris Métro will likely recognize this sign, posted on each and every door on every car on every line. Though certainly good and sound advice, this sign has perplexed me greatly for a couple of reasons, to follow:
1. Why a bunny? I have yet to see a 6-foot pink bunny riding the Paris metro, much less one which has pinched its fingers in the doors. Much less one in a yellow jumpsuit. I’m not sure what’s up with the Bugs Bunny ripoff, but I can't help but notice he’s been pinching his fingers for years now. Make it stop.
2. While I appreciate the wisdom and practicality of this sage warning, I can’t help but notice that it’s the one sign among many here in this city which they took the trouble to translate into approximately 15 other foreign languages. I exaggerate, but seriously... how often do you see things translated into German or Italian in Paris? Probably not often enough, if you ask a German, or an Italian.

Anyway, I think there is only one conclusion we can draw from this signage: at some point in the history of the Paris Metro, there was a rash of incidents involving the pinching of fingers in the doors of large rose-tinted, yellow-clad German-Italian bunnies, to the detriment of the manual integrity of said bunnies. And the folks at the Paris transit system, bless their hearts, have gone all out to put an end to this menace.
Phew!

If you are Parisian or something, perhaps this is mundane... however, in the U.S., it is relatively uncommon to come across beef hanging around in the street. Unless we’re speaking figuratively.

Saw this movie recently:Despite the fact that I understood only an approximate 3% of the dialogue spoken in this movie, I can still say with great confidence that it was one of the stupidest movies I have ever seen. There were hijinks, hijinks aplenty. Its one redeeming feature was that the female lead had a giant-sized gap between her two front teeth (à la Vanessa Paradis) yet still manages to be considered an attractive woman. God bless France and its ability to embrace difference in its standards of beauty. Ahh. If I'm lucky, maybe they like big noses too.

I finally had the opportunity the other day to explore this itty bitty, hard-to-find, mostly hidden but entirely pleasant little mini-park right near where my apartment is located, off the Rue de Sevres. It’s at the end of the Rue Recamier, a little pedestrian-only inlet.

It was a delightful little place, I'll try to post more photos later. This sign was posted at the entrance to the park, on a wall which separated the Rue Recamier from the park:I think this sign means “No gymnasts allowed.”

Back in the 9th arrondissement, near our class, there were some Parisian dogs, trained to be très mignon every second of the day:

And now for a fair and balanced represenation of the animal kingdom, behold: the cutest cat in the world, to be found at Studio Escalier.I am in love.