Europa '11: 5. République Française - Les Voyages Forment la Jeunesse

Les voyages forment la jeunesse // Travel broadens the mind.

A French quote I found fitting to this last part of our tour de France, if you will.
There's a chunk of photos and verbiage in this post. If you got the time, please indulge.

Having spent 3-4 exhausting hours in the crowded Louvre, we tried to check out the Maison Européenne de la Photographie, but it was closed. Fortunately, we met Laura, a curator for the MEP, as she was leaving. Though Henri Cartier-Bresson's work was not being showcased, I was particularly excited that the MEP was exhibiting Jane Evelyn Atwood's deeply humanistic and raw street photography. Regardless, the museum had just closed up shot, so Laura told us to come back "tomorrow," and directed us to the Pompidou Museum. When we got there, we found out that it had also just closed! Determined not to let these early-closing-museums get the best of us, we decided that we were going to drink our way to oblivion, whilst listening to French house music at the original Social Club...

But something else was in store for us that night...





Do you see what I see?



Love the film grain.


Laura, on the left. When I asked why she didn't smile. She replied, "It's a French thing."




The all-seeing-blood-shot-eye-of-riot-v.





Which way?


Haha clever.


As we were walking back to the direction of our hotel, I spotted some street art next to a building where some people were hanging outside a bar drinking mojitos. After the shot, I kept walking down the street until Mathieu, shouted out, "Hey, did you take a picture?" "Yes," I replied. "Can I see it?" "Uhm.. sure." I proceeded to show him the photograph, and then we decided to chill with him, and two amazingly fun dames françaises, Aurelie and Giulia. As the night progressed, we met Justin (a graffiti artist, aka "El Socier," spraying sauces all over Paris one can at a time), Thomas (the owner of the bar), and Jacque (a really cool guy who later hooked us up). We must have had around 10 drinks that night, from Mojitos to shots of vodka. I've got a funny video of Keny hammered, but I'm not sure what to do with it yet. Anyways, it was a really fun night, where our conversations were charged about our respective jobs, our differing cultures (from the European, to the American, and the Asian), the radical paths of our lives take us, our pasts, our futures, false stereotypes, art, graffiti, the Parisian lifestyle, California, Ireland?, Korean movies, Jewish jokes, places to see in Barcelona, what French food we should try, being abroad, traveling!, learning from others, being cultured, ex's and love, how to cheers in French (2 ways: Santé, and Chin-Chin), staying young, believing in something, being content with what we have, and just enjoying our short lives. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would meet such cool Parisian French people and I'm glad I took that photograph. Thanks for the great time, Giulia, Aurelie, Justin, Jacque, and Thomas!



The shot.








Random old German elderly man making to make some conversation.


I'm not sure how we made it back that night, but somehow we did. The following morning we decided to check out the MEP, and some other modern art museums. But, we got off to a late start having nearly blacked out the night before. Eventually we made our way to the MEP, where Jane Evelyn Atwood's photographic series of the prostitutes, the blind, women in prison, Jean-Louis/Vivre (who later died of AIDS), landmine victims, and those affected by the earthquake in Haiti just last year, were being shown. We weren't allowed to take any photos inside, so I don't have any from her exhibition, but I managed to take one from inside the building looking out. That night we made it back to the Face Bar, partied, and went back pretty early because we wanted to check out the Dali Museum before we left Paris.

Here are the last few bits.
Have fun!



The Essentials.


From the MEP.


Dude was high on something. He kept asking me why I took the shot. It was fired at the hip too with the Superheadz. Didn't think he'd notice.


Mini.


My fingers kept getting in the way of the lens on the Superheadz.






Begin Dali.
























Thanks for the great memories, til next time Paris~

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Now: Europa '11: 5. République Française - Les Voyages Forment la Jeunesse
Next: Europa '11: 6. Kingdom of Belgium - Best Waffles in the House


pax