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mercredi 12 mars 2003 |
maternity by picasso, one of many incredible works on this theme at musee picasso.
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the range of picasso's talent was astonishing. and the breadth and depth of the collection in his musem was equal to his prodigious talent. given the dark and dismal buildup to war in iraq during this time, driven by our beligerant american president, i was especially drawn to picasso's tender representations of peace and motherhood. this must have been some form of denial on my part i suppose, especially given picasso's arrogant treatment of women and his foolish political beliefs. picasso and bush are both deeply flawed men, but at least picasso left behind works of staggering beauty.
after shopping in the musem store we walked down rue vielle du temple. it was only six blocks to the apartment where we would move the next day. this was one reason we came to the picasso, to scout our new neighborhood. one block from the musee picasso we found an enchanting little cafe. we stepped inside. small tables with yellow checkered table cloths were tightly packed in the shallow dining room. a wall of windows let in copious amounts of daylight. the hostess was friendly. her smile shone like sunlight. the walls were decorated with posters of picasso's works. the hostess helped us patiently with our french, giving us advice in english when we messed up. it was the most pleasant restaurant experience i remember in our entire visit to paris. and the food was excellent and the prices reasonable.
leaving the tiny restaurant we continued down rue vielle du temple, a narrow, busy one way one lane street crossing into the fourth arrondissment. this was a loud, crowded, young and passionate neighborhood unlike the quiet, mature, professional family neighborhood of our apartment on rue duvivier. we passed art shops, upscale clothing stores, trendy decorator shops, book stores, newsstands and a gay cafe flying a giant rainbow flag. mixed in the young crowd were occasional orthodox jews in black hats, long beards and black suits. the street was very busy, and the narrow sidewalks were densely packed with pedestrians and parked scooters.
we found the door to our apartment, wedged between a bakery and a cafe at the intersection with rue sante croix de la bretonnerie. we turned away and walked four blocks to the pompidou center.