Paris part iii

[kaberett]

We woke up in time to get to the Centre Pompidou! We got there about ten minutes after it opened, in fact, and once again swanned past every single possible queue and did not buy tickets. I am not going to get used to this unless I spend a lot more time in France; I am still, at the moment, apologetically wandering up to security at the front of the queue and saying "um, excuse me, where is it that I should be waiting...?" and getting cut off to be waved in halfway through that. It is disconcerting; I am Disconcert.

But! Centre Pompidou! We did a whistle-stop tour of the Musée, with the Collections Contemporaines and the Collections Modernes. I was especially enamoured of the curatorial decision that Respirare l'ombre was accessed via a stark white room containing trees by the same artist: Nel legno, Albero di 7 metri, and one other -- trees right-way-up and upside-down, excavated to their branches and sometimes their twigs, in the forest of their shadows. Sol-Mur is the kind of thing I'd reblog in a heartbeat on tumblr, labelled "hashtag aesthetic". And, while I didn't particularly care for the explanatory caption accompanying Precious Liquids, I did like the installation.

There was also a room full of wire-frame Friends whose name I did not take down because I was a little distracted, and balconies full of excellent swirly metal sculpture, and various other bits and pieces I would like to make the more detailed acquaintance of at some point in the future.

We cleared out of the Musée at 2pm, and were on a bus to the Gare de l'Est a whisker after half past; half-way up the hill between Gare du Nord and Gare de l'Est a pain spike started. I curled up in a sofa in the business premier lounge (because, again, being a wheelchair user just... gets you that, for the £29 flat-rate Eurostar tickets for you and a companion) and contrived to have A fetch and carry me drinks and snacks; and eventually onto the train we got; and eventually, eventually, home. Where I have been curled up in a small pile on the sofa basically ever since, watching the birds.

I think this is the first time I have Gone On A Holiday that I substantially conceptualised and orchestrated? It feels very grown up, in a very young sort of fashion, and I think I'm going to keep enjoying that.

Comments

[vass]

That sounds like a great holiday.

[kaberett]

It really was! We got incredibly lucky with the weather -- we only got seriously rained on once -- and were staying on a Gardening Street; I didn't quite believe it was actually going to happen until we got there, and I had a lovely time. :-)

[ninetydegrees]

Very happy you had a lovely vacation!

[(Anonymous)]

I passed through France on Friday, I was somewhat disappointed to see that a very large Auchan had only four disabled parking spaces that I could see. Struggle a bit with the slightly different person to person interaction as we tried to find the things we wanted in a huge store. Then was very surprised when we joined the line at the disabled check out to be called forward to the front of the queue - didn't make up for all the other accessibility barriers we faced and may even be a falsehood where they think they are doing you a favour and thus don't need to do the things that equal real accessibility.

[sfred]

Sounds like a lovely holiday.

[cesy]

I'm glad you had a good holiday.