Night Time is the Right Time

This is what we saw at dusk last night when we got off the bus in Place de la Concorde on the way to Clotilde's booksigning and blog anniversary event at W. H. Smith, the English language bookstore on rue de Rivoli. The sky was startlingly beautiful, the clouds casting shadows, the colors morphing from pink to red to rose.  The monuments and streetlights and statues were all just outlines against the depth of color behind them.  We stood still and stared for several long seconds and I noticed others around me pulling out cameras in an attempt to catch the effect.

We were in fact early for the event and on our way to meet a friend at Angelina's, the long-established tea salon also on rue de Rivoli.  I say tea salon, and it is that, but what Angelina's is known for is the incredibly rich hot chocolate, chocolat à l'Africain they call it,  served from china pitchers, with a side of whipped cream, at the little round tables where generations of ladies have indulged themselves.  When we arrived however, they were turning everyone out and closing early, ostensibly for inventory (later on we passed by and there was a party going on).  We nipped in and got a hot chocolate to go before the doors were locked; no whipped cream, no little round table, no pitchers, but heavenly chocolate.  We shared one and couldn't finish it.

The book event was fun, Clotilde talking about her interesting career and her latest effort, the English version of a classic French cooking manual called "I Know How to Cook" by Ginette Mathiot ( the French is called "Je Sais Cuisiner") and recently published by Phaidon.  She updated the original 1932 book and its several later revisions, working with a team of translators.  There were amusing people to talk to and a great spread of food and wine, obviating the need for dinner (especially when you take into account the hot chocolate).

And then we walked home.  It's gorgeous here on a clear cold night.  They light the monuments and public buildings, the stone shines and the sky serves as backdrop.  The forecourt of the Louvre makes the most of the contrast between glass and stone.

 

 

While the Cour Carrée behind it looks like the set for your loveliest dreams.

Dreams you may continue to have as you walk along the quais and look into other lives through the lighted windows.

The Berlin Wall in Paris

Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and it was celebrated in Paris by a concert and light show in the Place de la Concorde.  It was a glorious cold night and the walk along the riverside to the Place was wonderful.  When we got there we spent some time trying to maneuver into a good standing spot, but wound up in the middle of the crowd, since every direction we tried was blocked by police barriers.  It felt as if they were expecting another world-class revolution.

Invited guests apparently had seats near enough to both the musicians and the buildings to have gotten good photos, but the rest of us had to stand in a crowd several hundred meters away and I'm afraid these are the best I could do.  I swear everyone in Paris over six feet in height appeared last night, just to block the view.  

An elaborate and constantly shifting video was projected onto the facades of the Hotel Crillon and Naval Ministry.  It included news photos of the time, pictures of people celebrating, symbols of the fall of Communist rule in other Eastern European countries, graffiti from the Wall, and ended with a tribute to the European Union, with maps and flags.

  

The short concert began with a video of Mstislav Rostropovitch playing at Checkpoint Charlie in 1989 and continued with 27 European musicians playing in the Place, perched on stones meant to represent the fallen wall.  I think a chorus was also singing, although I didn't see them and it might have been recorded.

 

 

There were fewer spectators than I would have expected.  It was apparently shown on television, so maybe the cold night discouraged personal participation, but my impression is that it wasn't very widely advertised.  No one to whom I mentioned it this weekend had heard about it.  I wonder why?