Saturday morning, very quiet

The sun is out which is lovely and the cloudy grey sky has patches of a delicate azure. The sun is catching the top of the cathedral's square towers sending all the detail into lovely contrast.
It gets light here very fast, at 8:00am still dark then by 8:20am light!
(Well now at 11am the sun has been gone awhile, looks like I am having a morning in today!)
Yesterday was a misty drizzly day, you sort of get wet but you can't really tell if the misty wet will be a drizzle but certainly less than a sprinkle.

I walked to the Pompidou, very close, just off the island and up past the Hotel de Ville.

 This is am amazing town hall - the history of this building like most things in Paris is amazing.

 It's so huge that I had to have three shots!

 Next door to it on the north side is a gorgeous looking department store.

 Now the Pompidou. When I was here in 1982 with Lizzie this was pretty brand spanking new and shiny like a huge toy box. Now 31 years later it is very much part of the landscape and the contrast to the rest of the soft warm tones of Paris looks good if a bit less shiny now. Its cooler tones of the glass and steel link in with the darker stone buildings yet uncleaned.
It's such a contrast to the rest of the neighbourhood that it's created its own world. It's tough chic, no curlicues or balustrades or marble in sight! No whiff of any imperial history here...but a whiff of nostalgia for a bit of 1970's. It's functional, spacious and of course grungy groovy. You sort of need to swagger around here and be forthright - no apologetic woozes please!
I noticed that many of the visitors are French rather than foreign. In fact there was a long line of visitors outside waiting for the museum to open.  It opens at 11am whereas everywhere else opens at 10.
Also I came across at least 3 groups of tiny school kids being wowed by excellent introductions to particular pieces. There were also groups of more jaded, ho-hum looking high school students.
So I did my best to be part of the furniture ( not much by the way and very lean and mean).
Having negotiated the cloakroom I made it up to the wonderful glass external escalator.

The views are terrific.

You can go up and up and end up at Level 6.

 From the roof level it seems closer to Montmartre which I guess is north west.

 Then more west is the site of Les Halles - the huge cranes are doing the face lift of the top of the Forum Les Halles and just behind is Eglise St Eustache and further away is the shape of the Opera House. (There is a terrific model of Garnier's Opera House sliced down the middle at the Musee d'Orsay.)

This is the view down into the Place Stravinsky - the pool is full of lovely playful sculptures by Dubuffet and others.

This view is to the south west and it was so foggy that the Eiffel tower was obscured - well I think it is out there on the horizon.

Again inside you can take photos with out using the flash. I remember taking heaps in 2010. But this time I just tried to soak as much in as possible. But I thought this was just a fabulous painting in a circle. I'll get the artist next visit.

Also on the 4th level I came across this work by Nicci de St Phalle which was so gritty compared to alot of other stuff.

I came away full of thoughts - there was a lot of art there that I thought could do with a big dose of Fiona Hall and Tracy Moffat. I was disappointed in the contemporary painting but hey isn't painting so yesterday? Seeing the huge Joan Mitchell was wonderful but I looked in vein for any Yayoi Kusama.

More on this thought provoking collection another time. It's really got me thinking, so it's working!

I spent most time on the 5th level which has the redesigned modernist collection. The 4th level has contemporary work . The 6th level has an exhibition of Surrealist Objects which I'll visit with Richard in January. 

The layout of this place is challenging for me - hey my swagger slipped! I'll get back there next week.