The ParisSharing Blog

Contemporary Art Market at Bastille

It was Hemingway who first referred to Paris as a moveable feast. In another sense, life in Paris is also a repetition of moveable feasts in the form of reoccuring fairs, festivals, markets and other events. There is a hardly an official Paris calendar that can keep track of them all.

The Bastille district is particularly well-endowed, with its bi-weekly market on north side of the monument, and it’s annual events on the arsenal side. On roughly the same dates each year (end of October, beginning of November) the contemporary art market (Grand Marché d’Art Contemporain) is held along both sides the canal that feeds into the Seine.

The event is tremedously popular because it allows art enthusiasts to visit 500 exhibitors in one walk-through. Most of the exhibits are held by the artists themselves, and it is always more gratifying to buy art directly from the artist. There is art for just about every budget, and the constant flow of visitors from all horizons makes it less intimidating than the typical art gallery, not to mention more economical. There is no intermediary for in the art market, except for the market organisers, who sell entry tickets for 8€.

This year is the 37th edition, with the theme of “The Eternal Feminine”–an eternal theme in itself.

If you missed out this year, think ahead for 2012 and reserve your nearby accommodations on ParisSharing. Albeit on a much smaller scale (and with no entry fee), you can also experience the weekly Bastille art market each Saturday morning throughout the year.

See more information about the Bastille district.

Was it her shoe?

..that came to hang here?

From feet to the street, from street art to art, this is the story behind the bunches of  talking shoes that currently hang from a cedar of Lebanon in the Jardin des Plantes.

The origins of the hanging shoe phenomenon remain the subject of speculation. Like any social and cultural movement, no one can be exactly sure where it begins and why.

The first hanging Parisian shoe was reported in the Butte aux Cailles neighborhood in the 13th arrondissement. It was a single high-heeled shoe having belonged to a parisienne, perhaps the woman rendered in several works of street art in the same neighborhood. The reasons for which her shoe now hangs gracefully above the street are shrouded in mystery.  Soon after this first shoe, others began to congregate on wires nearby. This second bunch included some men’s sporty models.

What had remained street art took  an officially artistic turn when Malachi Farrell conjured up the bunches of used shoes that now hang in a Paris public park. The work is called “Strange Fruits” and is on display in the Jardin des Plantes as part of Paris’ international contempary art fair (FIAC – Foire Internationale d’Art Contomporain).

The shoes carry on a conversation in the form of a hilarious parody of the Beatle’s song “She Loves You” by Peter Sellers in Dr. Strangelove. Although the YouTube video clip doesn’t have the best sound, you can hear the audio clearly here.

The “shoe story” is only one of many unique bits of Paris that you can discover thanks to ParisSharing. Through our home sharing approach, we want you to experience Paris in your own, individual way.  Off the beaten path, closer to local culture. Look for your place to stay on ParisSharing today. Come and maybe leave a pair of shoes behind?

A home in Paris enjoyed by guests from Sydney

Almost a sixth of ParisSharing guests come from down under. Considering the distance and the expense involved in such a trip, that’s more than we would expect. Our ParisSharing hosts enjoy Australian guests, who always prove to be open, enthusiastic, and respectful of people’s homes.  Their trip to Paris is often a big  and sometimes once-in-a-lifetime event. We are always delighted to make it special for them. Some write back to thank us, and sometimes (even better) write about us in the paper!

This month features an article in the Sydney Morning Herald from one of our guest Australian families who spend a week in the lesser-known Butte-aux-Cailles neighborhood last spring. It describes the experience of having a historically unique Parisian home entirely to one’s family,  a comfortable and convenient base for discovering local life in addition to all the must-see monuments. The only inconvenience: kids like homes with other kid’s toys and sometimes prefer to stick around and play rather than sight-see!

Read the full article here.

About the same time, we had another ParisSharing member from Sydney offer her apartment for a home swap. As you probably know, ParisSharing offers rentals, home exchanges, and B&B. You can have a look at her offer here. Maybe you’d like to go and enjoy the sunshine and the swimming pool?

Paris for Syndey, anyone?

To arrange a swap, all you have to do is register your own home on the ParisSharing website and then submit a request directly to the owner the home you want to swap with. Unlike most home swapping websites, ParisSharing does not charge you a subscription unless you actually succeed in finding an exchange partner. Lastly, we offer self-catering rentals and B&B as alternative approaches to home sharing. This is because home exchange, even though the most economic option for all parties, is not always easy to arrange since it requires finding just the right match in terms of destination, lifestyle, and timing.

Fall brings a new season of exhibitions to Paris museums.  Here is a list of the top five exhibits to see while visiting The City:

Grand Palais -  Of Toys and Men (September 14, 2011 – January 23, 2012)

Of Toys and Men is the history of toys in the western world and highlights the importance of toys in children’s education from birth.  The exhibit is possibly the largest toy exhibit ever featuring thousands of toys from Antiquity to modern day.

Centre Pompidou – Edvard Munch (September 21, 2011 – January 9, 2012)

The Centre Pompidou presents Edvard Munch, l’oeil moderne [Edvard Munch, the modern eye], a collection of eighty paintings, thirty drawings, fifty photographs and a film all shown for the first time in France.

Musee Maillol – Pompei (September 21, 2011 – February 12, 2012)

In 79AD, the city of Pompei was completely buried under lava and ash from the catastrophic eruption of the volcano Vesuvius.  However, the extremely well preserved ruins of Pompei rose from the ashes when they were discovered in the 1700’s.  The exhibit guides visitors through a typical Pompeian home, featuring over 200 artifacts including wall murals, vases and jewelry.

Musee du Louvre – La Cité Interdite – Forbidden City (September 26, 2011 – January 9, 2012)

The Louvre exhibit features 130 artifacts from China’s Forbidden City on loan from the ancient imperial palace museum.  Artifacts range from jade carvings, lacquerware, seals, porcelain and bronzes to personal items previously owned by Ming and Qing Dynasty emperors.

Les Arts Decoratifs – Goudemalion – Jean Paul Goude Retrospective (November 11, 2011 – March 18, 2012)

Les Arts Décoratifs welcomes this grand retrospective of Jean-Paul Goude, the French graphic designer, illustrator, photographer, director and art director. For over 40 years, Goude has been one of the advertising world’s leading “image makers”, who is best-known for his campaigns for such brands as Perrier, Citroën, Galeries Lafayette and Chanel.

Fall is one of the best times of the year to visit Paris, and it’s an excellent time to take advantage of some of ParisSharing’s wonderful apartments at special fall prices.

Baguette "de tradition". Photo credit: Roboppy on Flickr

Over a year a go we wrote about the secrets to finding the best bakeries in Paris. Timeless wisdom, of course.

Still, since life is too short for bad baguettes, and since the price of the baguette has increased by 0,05€ all across the city, we’d like to contrive a more foolproof system for only getting only the best. The quality of bread produced by the some 1200 bakeries in Paris is far from being constant. The good news is that there are about 200 that we can consider as excellent, and these are scattered across the city.

So, wouldn’t it be great if you could always know, in whatever neighborhood you happen to be, where is the nearest mouth-watering bakery? You can’t really follow the masses, because if you could, bad bakeries would go out of business.

You could trust the experts, of course, and go buy a book on the subject (yes, these exist). We’re suggesting another approach….to ask YOU. That’s right, to enable ParisSharing fans and members to tell us the name and address of their favorite Parisian bakery (or just one of them). We will then publish this information on our website,  quartier by quartier.

Would you like to participate? All you have to do is become a fan of ParisSharing on Facebook, then add your favorite boulangerie here. When all is said and done, we’ll get you to vote on the very best one.

To get the ball rolling, here below is  list of some of our favorites. Disclaimer: the bakeries have been selected only on the basis of the quality of their baguette called “Tradition”.  Hint: if you want the best baguette, don’t ask for a baguette, ask for a “baguette de tradition” or simply “une tradition”.

4th: Au Petit Versailles du Marais, 1 rue Tiron

4th: Boulanger Patissier, 29 rue Saint-Antoine (the baguette is called “Le Parisien”)

4th: Au Levain du Marais, 28 boulevard Beaumarché (décor is better than the bread)

9th: Le Petrin Médiéval, 35 rue Henry Monnier (Medieval-style bread)

9th: Mme et M DHEILLY, 10 rue des Martyrs

11th: La tradition du pain, corner of rue Saint-Sabin and rue Daval

11th: Boulangerie (recently opened): corner of Boulevard Voltaire and Jean-Pierre Timbaud

11th: Boulangerie (across the street from the Extra Old Café on the rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine near Place de la Nation

12th: Le Pain au naturel, Place d’Aligre

14th: le Moulin de la Vierge, rue Vercingétorix

16th : Le Grillon d’Autueil, 65 rue d’Autueil

18th arrondissement: Le Grenier Abesses, 38 rue des Abesses

The rest is up to you!

Read our advice on other simple pleasures, such as the best sandwhiches.