Otanjou-bi Omedetou Gozaimasu! To Me.

We spent today in and around Roppongi Hills. An area of Tokyo I first became aware of years ago through it's graphic identity – a brilliant typographic system developed by British designer/typographer, Jonathan Barnbrook .

Like each day before it, today was a long day packed from one end to the other with blog-worthy stuff. Today also shares the problem of the last few in there's been either no time or I'm too tired at the end to craft a post that would do justice to the day. So, here are the three highlights among highlights.


The astounding show, The Messengers, by French artist Annette Messager at the Mori Art Museum on the 52nd floor of the Mori Tower. A show we missed at the Pompidou by a couple of weeks on our honeymoon.


The Tokyo City View on the top of Mori Tower. Absolutely spectacular views of the whole of Tokyo. You get one view from my iPhone.



Dinner at Gonpachi in Nishi-Azabu, just West of Roppongi Hills. (Gonpachi served as the inspiration for the set in the Crazy 88s fight scene in Kill Bill: Vol. 1.)

Oh, I almost forgot. At lunch Hol – for the first time ever – surprised me by asking for the smoking section and we ended up sitting in what was basically the coat room with another (smoking) couple. Seriously. It was absurdly hilarious. I can barely stop laughing as I write this. It was truly absurd and slightly surreal. This view just gives you the "hilarity" of Hol getting smoked out in the "hotboxed " coatroom – but behind me is a coatrack and to my right is a closet. Maybe you had to be there.

The WTF Paris Bureau is closed.

Just a quick post from the Home Office about something I’d forgotten about our trip. [And it’s this week’s mini-SUEB(AED). – Ed.]

On our way over, Hol and I we’re having a snack at the Wolfgang Puck Express across from our gate during our brief layover at O’Hare [As opposed to our four hour layover on the way back. – Ed.] when who should walk in? Amy Winehouse. If you don’t have her latest album, Back to Black, do yourself a favor – believe the hype and get it. Even if you were trying to stay off the bandwagon. Tears Dry On Their Own, my current fav off the album, is over there on the left as this week’s misnamed Tuesday Track. [For some reason it has a few seconds of silence – so wait for it. – Ed.] [UPDATE: See this post to see/hear Amy. – Ed.]

Oh, and while you’re at it, pick up Regina Spektor’s latest, Begin to Hope. It’s great too and she hasn’t received nearly the hype AW has.

These two ladies provided the soundtrack for our trip.

Exit... Stage Left.

[Which is an excellent live double album by Canadian power trio, Rush. By the way. – Ed.]

Last day. And we had a fantastic time! Best. Honeymoon. Ever.

Great day. [Today we’re going to play, Cherchez La Tour Eiffel. – Ed.]

Great lunch. Amazingly good salads at Le petit café, a little place we came upon in the 5th behind the Pantheon.

Great dinner. At yet another of my old spots – Maison du Gyros. The best gyros in Paris. Worth it, even if the dudes are a little Soup Nazi-esque; “Eets’ self-service!”. At Holly’s request it was our last dinner in Paris.

We did a bunch of other stuff, but that’s it for now. [Make sure we tell you about that last image. Stunning piece of art in a great show in the Jardin du Luxembourg – Ed.] Gotta pack! We’ll tell you everything when we get back.

‘Olly! Allons nous!

Il pleut.

Yes, it rained – lightly drizzled really – off and on all day. But, it wasn't a big deal at all. Not for us and evidently not for anyone else. It was so not a problem that I'm not sure where to begin because it was another action-packed day. And these posts, however brief they may seem, actually take a while to put together. [Please, if you haven’t been (and even if you have), click the links. There is good stuff there – a mix of info and photos. – Ed.]

So, I think I’m going to do a top-line, bulleted, in-no-particular-order posting of the day’s stops/events/sights. Here goes...

• Le Basilique du Sacré-Coeur. You know it you love it – it’s at the highest point in Paris. I'm not actually going to show it to you though.

• Holly, apartment hunting. I think she likes it here.

• Crossing the Cimetiere de Montmartre. Perhaps not as well known as Cimetiere du Pere-Lachaise but I figured Holly wouldn’t know the difference between one Parisian cemetery and another.

• Art! A couple of Murakami pieces in the window of what I think was the LVMH HQ on the Avenue Montaigne. [After you click the preceding link scroll down to Movies. – Ed.]

• Art! Pt. 2. A piece by Invader somewhere around Place Pigale. [I’ve actually seen quite a few (and shot a couple) around Paris. However, this has been the largest I’ve seen. – Ed.]

• Art! Pt. 3. Graffitied truck. A not uncommon sight in Paris. This was a good one though.

• Everything is sexier in Paris. [The copy reads: Stop... and I’ll give it to you. – Ed.] Even if not particularly subtle.

• Moulin Rouge! We couldn’t help but laugh at the thought of the tourists who may have come expecting the movie and found a slightly seedier neighborhood. [See above. – Ed.]

• Suddenly, out of nowhere... Skate Mob! [With a rollerblading Police escort! – Ed.]

• Art! Pt. 4: Architecture. I didn’t find out what this building is. But it was a trip! [Update: Here’s the story. And here it is poorly translated. – Ed.]

• Dinner! Coming home in a taxi I pointed out a pizzeria I used to frequent. It was another of my old haunts that I almost forgot – Pizza Vesuvio. And it was walkable from our hotel. [Again, the route marked is the driving route. We took the more direct walking route. – Ed.] The best pizza in Paris. It’s a thick, rough, chunky, ‘country-style’ pizza. It’s délicieux!

Saturday in Paris...

Looks like the photo above. Everywhere. Particularly on a beautiful day such as today was. The streets were teeming with people. The day goes roughly like this: eat, shop, eat, shop, stroll, drink, drink, stroll, eat, drink, stroll home. At least that’s how I think ours went. [Note: I believe there are two or three new pieces from the Self-Portrait Series in the above mass of photo links. – Ed.]

Of note:
Brunch at TheStudio a restaurant in a (the?) ‘Terrasse sur Cour Classée du 17eme Siecle” a courtyard in the middle of a dance school in a 17th Century building which surrounds a 17th Century courtyard. Through the French windows which opened onto the courtyard from all sides, we could see and hear classes going on all around us; one side had ballet on the second floor, on the opposite side what sounded like African dance and on the ground floor a flamenco class. Somehow the piano of the ballet class, the pounding drums of the African class and what sounded something like the Gipsy Kings (and the pounding feet) of the flamenco class managed not to be caucophonous but pretty damn cool. We both wished we could have captured the sounds of the courtyard.

A German store called Dom. The site does not do it justice – imagine an über-hip Spencer’s crossed with a nightclub. And if that doesn’t sound cool, just trust me, it was cool.

Dinner at L’altro. We’ve really enjoyed just wandering to ‘discover’ where we’ll eat each meal – we have yet to be disappointed. Tonight was no different. We found our way to this fantastic, hip little contemporary-Italian place on the rue du Dragon. We sat at table Nº 01 in the open front and enjoyed a great dinner after another long day. Awesome.

Okay, that’s all I can do tonight. À bientôt.

Take a picture, it'll last longer.

[Blogger seems to be having some posting issues tonight. I hope it doesn’t give anyone any viewing issues. – Ed.]

Somehow, between the two of us we only managed to take six pictures today. And of those six, three were almost identical shots Holly took for some unknown reason of the Pont au Change. The other three? Three nearly identical shots I took of the front of our hotel while outside having a smoke and waiting for Holly to come down this morning. [We’re the two windows with ivy at left. – Ed.] So, we really only took two pictures today!

And nothing for the Self-Portrait Series! So, here's one from yesterday, it’s the ‘nightcap with cheese’ mentioned in yesterday’s post. The shot up top is the opposite view – a wee dude exiting the metro with a cello strapped on. We were sitting at a brasserie on the NE corner of the Pl. St.-Michel – right outside the metro entrance/exit – and doing some ‘people watching’.

As for our day today – we basically spent the day shopping in Le Marais. [I can’t remember if I gave a Wiki link for Le Marais in a previous post – if not, it’s right here. However, I can’t seem to find a site that has a comprehesive listing of the many, many great shops that are collected in this neighborhood. – Ed.] [Update: Good (but, still by no means comprehensive) Le Marais shops/restaurants link here. – Ed.]

We had reservations for dinner at Brasserie Flo. However, while Hol was still getting ready I started looking up reviews and couldn’t find a single good review of the food and we began to have different reservations all together. But it was when I came across this, from Zagat, “the reputation is better than the food”, that we cancelled our reservations, made new ones, hopped in a taxi and went to Tan Dinh instead. It was great and close enough that we could walk home. [We actually took a route through the streets on the way home as opposed to the route marked that we took in the taxi on the way there. – Ed.]

Encore!

>
Okay, let’s see...

We woke up late. Twelve twenty to be exact – apparently jet lag and two days of non-stop hoofing it around Paris finally caught up with us. But not to worry! We quickly rallied and have just now returned from another solid 10 hour day – we are both having a truly wonderful time.

However, we did dial down the pace a bit today. We decided to do ‘leisurely stroll’. So, we crossed over to the île Saint Louis and headed for the little neighborhood just NE of Notre Dame and, with a taste for quiche and crêpes we tracked down another great little find – Les Gourmands de L'Ile on rue St. Louis en L'Ile – which fulfilled on both counts exquisitely. We then proceed to stroll along that street for an hour or two shopping its boutiques. Holly finally got her shop on. From there we crossed over to the right bank and window shopped our way up to the Marais and its boutiques. More jewelry for Hol, some clothes for both of us. Another couple of hours of shopping and we were hungry again. Which was perfect because we were close to one of my old haunts – featuring the best Mexican food in Paris – La Perla. I know it sounds crazy, but it really is good Mexican, and it really is a cool bar.

Anyway, more shopping in the Marais (we’re going back tomorrow to finish what we started) and a significant detour through a show, called T-mode, of 95 up-and-coming jewelry and clothing designers all gathered under one roof. [Flyer here. Difficult-to-navigate-and-significantly-less-cool-than-the-show website here. – Ed.] I had a great time having an almost tri-lingual conversation with a really nice couple – one of the designers (a Brazillian ex-pat) and her French husband – while Holly shopped the wife’s booth.

So, after we looped past the Centre Pompidou, the Hôtel de Ville, and back past Notre Dame, then across the river, we ended up sitting down for a nightcap and a selection of fromages and now we’re back. I'm writing and Holly’s leaning out our window taking pictures; left (at the top of the post), right, and straight across, where there’s a cinema playing, Ne touchez pas la hache.

A bientôt.

[Oops. I forgot to play WiPaHaC?. So, instead, we’ll play: What is Holly looking at? – Ed.]

Where in Paris are Holly and Chris?

That’s now the daily challenge from here on out. I post a picture of us somewhere in Paris (No, not the one up top. This one.) – you figure out where we are. [Bonus points if you can name the building from the last post. Hint: We were standing on the Pont des Arts – Ed.]

Anyway, another jam packed day: The Louvre, the shops on and around Rue St. Honoré (including the super chic colette), the Champs Élysées, the Artclub gallery (across from the Louvre) where we saw a great show of paintings and manequins [Click image above for larger image – Ed.] by Parisian, nouveau-pop artist, David Cintract. More manequins here, here, and here. Trust me, they are way cooler than these shots through the front window portray.

And after stumbling around exhausted looking for a place to have dinner at 9:30 we found an almost clichéd sounding ‘little gem hidden down a tiny side street in the 6th’ – Le Christine. It was truly merveilleux! We sat in the window on the left.

There was probably more, but we’re trés tired and I’m going to bed.

Nous sommes arrives!

And there's free wi-fi in the room! I decided to bring my computer when I noticed that on the site yesterday. Anyway, room is great. It's the red striped deluxe suite, here.

Sixteen hours after we left our house – and looking and feeling it – we soldiered into our Parisian adventure and spent the day walking around and getting our (my) bearings. Went past my old apt in Le Marais. Had croques-monsieurs and espressos outside at a bistro in our hood – the Quartier Latin. [Correction: We’re actually in St. Germain des Prés which abuts the Latin Quarter. I knew this. I was tired. – Ed.] And took a spin on a Bateau Mouche. And that's after getting in to Paris two hours late. A great first day!

So, I'm getting in a quick post while Hol naps before dinner... and she’s up!

A tout a l'heure.

[I'm not sure what we're standing in front of. We were mentally drained and just soaking in pure ambience and loving it. – Ed.]

A tout a l’heure!

We’re off!

[This is actually another from our Self-Portrait Series. Which is just what it sounds like – photos we take of ourselves out and about or, in this case, standing in the kitchen getting ready to go out to dinner this past winter – I think we were going to King Louie’s. It just felt like a ‘leaving for Paris’ photo. – Ed.]

[Some notes on the art you can barely see: To the left is an art brut chicken on wallpaper covered plywood that my mom bought on the street in New York. Peeking over the kiss is a silkscreen done of me by family friend Ralph Maradíaga in ’74. And, to the right is the ubiquitous Maurin Quina ‘green demon’ poster. – Ed.]

hfta+cla

After a long, yet whirlwind, day (week!) we finally collapsed onto the nuptial bed and... snapped a few shots for our ever growing Self-Portrait Series. [More on the S-PS in future posts. – Ed.]

Next stop: Hôtel Villa d’Estrees, Paris.
[Our hotel is on rue Gît-le-Coeur – translation: Here lies the heart. I hadn’t really registered this until today and I think it probably could go without saying that I found it quite fitting. Anyway, I found this an interesting read with quite a bit of history on the street and its name. – Ed.]

A Toast!

Posts may get sporadic and/or lacking in any real depth from here through the 14th as we're in the final run up to the wedding. [But don’t let that stop you from checking in. – Ed.] From the 14th through the 22nd there won't be any posts – I'll fill you in on the honeymoon when I get back. [UPDATE: Okay, that turned out to be a big, fat lie. – Ed.]

And we won’t let this happen to you. It’s on!

And watch The Office tonight! [And 30 Rock. – Ed.]

Cheers!

hft+cla

Okay, last post for Day 1 of WTF. But it's well-worth noting.

I'm thrilled to be getting married on May 11 to a woman without whom I'd just be a grumpy old bastard of 40 but with whom I'll be a grumpy old bastard of 40 with a wonderful wife.

We're honeymooning in Paris.

And that's all I'll say about that. [Apparently, this does not prove to be true... in the future. – Ed.]