Originally Posted by vsevolod4

Yesterday was a beautifully-unstructured, intentionally random walk throughout the city from 9 am to 2 am, hooking up with as many 11 FTers each creating their own montage of impressions from the cultural to the culinary, from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Fleeting moments which included:

* A progression of architectural visits, expositions, museums and concerts, punctuated by a progression of a half-dozen cafes; beginning with the Belle Epoque-era Café de la Paix, designed by the same Charles Garnier who designed the adjacent Opera, with concomitant flights of wine (beginning with a Rose from Anjou; ending with a Gewürztraminer Vendage Tardif from Alsace), pates and cheeses.
* Seeing the exhibit organized by the principality of Monaco within the 1st Arrondisement’s Hotel de Ville of Grace Kelly … a true and beautiful, fashionable, articulate and beloved princess.
* As it was the Fête de la Musique de Paris, there was music all around us. We saw African dancers, Norwegian marching bands, Scottish fife and drummers, Franco Hip-hop, and what briefly was an outstanding organ recital at the High Gothic Église de Saint-Eustache near Les Halles where the pipe organ console broke, requiring a technical overhaul of the six-tier console with the mechanics literally pulling out all the stops. Ending with the strident warbles of the thrash metal band Villina C
* The photography within Maison Européenne de la Photographie, the post modern art of Centre Pompidou, and the sequences of the Cathedrale de Rouen and “Impression: Sunrise” within the underappreciated Musée Marmottan-Claude Monet, far removed from the madding and obnoxious crowds at the other, more famous Impressionist museum.
* Shopping at the myriad antiquities dealers at the Louvre des Antiquaires, finding a Chinese Neolithic vessel of the Banshan phase circa 2500 BC that I might add to the collection.
* Exploring the Mariology of the statuary and the gargoyles around Notre Dame de Paris, and the monumentality of the Banque de France.
Learning the bloody history of St. Germain l’Auxerrois, the oldest church in Paris, which heralded the St. Bartholomew Massacre of the Huguenots in 1572.
* Window shopping at the various boutiques in and around Fauberg St. Honore.
* Wandering past the Gallo-Roman baths at the Thermes de Cluny, atop which the medieval frescoes of the Musée de Moyen Age- Hôtel de Cluny.
* Avoiding the seemingly ubiquitous con artists’ latest trickery, finding “gold” rings on the street, right in front of you. Not avoiding the used booksellers lining the banks of the Seine.
* Enjoying the pulsing music in the 30-meter-high atrium of Pershing Hall, the beautiful mansion that served as General John Pershing’s Parisian residence during World War 1, turned into an ultra-chic boutique hotel designed by Andrée Putman.
* Returning to the InterContinental Hotel to prepare Monday’s lecture at the Columbia University Business School.

The many FTers whose own explorations of Paris variously intermingled with mine today (thank God for cellphones, SMS and Blackberries!) are all a lovely, interesting, curious, multi-faceted and generous group of people, with whom I could discuss many topics, and of course FT. I’m proud to be part of this group, and thank Randy and OpenSkies for having had the opportunity for this nice toot to Paris.

A tout alors,
Vsevolod4