The third Thursday in November is Beaujolais Nouveau day - this is when the wine is officially released worldwide. It is the first wine of any vintage year, and is only fermented for about four days before being bottled. It is supposed to be drunk within a year or so. The labels are colourful and festive looking, less formal than many wine labels. All over Paris now there are signs in every bar and bottle shop advertising the advent of the Beaujolais, with inviting offers of tastings and cheese plates to accompany them. We had a bottle on the Thursday, which was very fruity tasting and quite pale. I know less than nothing about wine, so it's nice to start to recognise some. This one was not for me. Wine is one of the very few things here that's cheap (in shops at least, the mark-up in bars is huge) and it seems, certainly if you stick with red, that it's hard to go too wrong. Although it helps if your palate is not so sensitive I'm sure!
On Saturday we went to see an exhibition of Raoul Dufy at the Musee d'Art Moderne, which is north over the Seine from the Eiffel Tower. We took the train to Pont d'Alma and crossed the river and walked through the grounds of the Palais , which was an assault course of tenacious mini-Eiffel Tower vendors. When we came back that way hours later after dark all the mini-ETs were illuminated and still being shaken at us.
I enjoyed the Raoul Dufy and enjoyed alleviating my guilt at not having gone to an exhibition in Paris earlier. His output appeared to be massive, and included forays into textile design and ceramic painting. There was some very beautiful work, but I haven't thought much about it since, so maybe it didn't make me feel much. (It feels weird writing that about a famous painter, though I know I'm entitled to my opinion... when we were looking at Descartes on Amazon (us rue Rolliners must stick together), one person had given him 4 out of 5 stars, which seemed sort of hilarious: "Pedestrian work by Descartes. I could philosophize better in my bath. I think therefore I sham, morelike. Pah! etc" Although maybe he was just reviewing the binding.)
Then I drew in a cafe while Richard gave an English lesson to an older Polish lady who lives in a very smart flat nearby. Apparently she is writing a novel and a monologue and in her spare time does portraits from magazines of famous modern celebrities such as Christina Aguilera, which hang on the walls of her flat. She's booked Richard for two more lessons, so that's some Euros in hand for him.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Dearest Tor - really enjoyed your latest very Parisian blog - especially the description of your walk to get to the exhibition - pretending to myself that I know those bridges and feeling as though I was walking along with you and Richard - you manage to give a real feeling of the city in your blogs. As for Raoul Dufy, and you know what depths of ignorance this comes from, I have always seen him as a poster artist - decorative and pretty but not much more. But then seeing the actual paintings and also the other media you described adds more depth. Perhaps now your course is over you will have time to see more - what about the Impressionists which you love?
We had a French friend once who was very into the whole Beaujolais nouveau thing - I don't know if they still do it here but people used to race across the channel to bring the first bottles here - that really sounds a very LONG time ago! Anyway I remember not liking it much, what I call, to Dad's amusement 'thin wine'.
Is there starting to be a Christmas feel there? Do you get the feeling that it is a big thing with the French? I assume it would be because of Catholocism. Here the stores are much more empty than usual and there are lots of bargains so save your money!
Mum xxxxx
Post a Comment