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RedScharlach @redscharlach.bsky.social · 1m

It’s my last day in Paris (sniffle) so while I wait for the Eurostar home, here’s a thread of today’s photos. This is the view from my hotel room this morning – it’s been a sunny day ☀️

A view of Paris rooftops and an autumnal tree through a hotel window

RedScharlach @redscharlach.bsky.social · 17h

An added bit of hilarity is that every French news report I’ve seen this week has featured the exact same clip of Lecornu walking up to a press conference lectern and then cutting away before he speaks. Then the next bulletin, here he comes again, like he’s in Groundhog Day. Now he really is!

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RedScharlach @redscharlach.bsky.social · 17h

And with a few more pics of the interior of the Villa Demoiselle, this thread comes to an end. Au revoir, Reims 🥂

More stained glass in the Villa Demoiselle in Reims

An Art nouveau fireplace surround in the Villa Demoiselle in Reims

A fancy Art Nouveau cabinet with a built-in seat

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RedScharlach @redscharlach.bsky.social · 18h

The interior of the Villa Demoiselle is full of stained glass and decorative woodwork, with a lot of Art Nouveau furnishings and also some contemporary art fron the current owner’s collection.

The bottom of the main staircase in the Villa Demoiselle in Reims

A dark wood-panelled room in the Villa Demoiselle in Reims

Top of the main stairs in the Villa Demoiselle in Reims, with a view of the stained glass windows and extremely long chandelier that goes all the way down the stairwell

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RedScharlach @redscharlach.bsky.social · 18h

Champagne tourism is big in Reims. I don’t like fizz much myself, but the Pommery champagne house does have one thing I wanted to see: an Art Nouveau house called Villa Demoiselle. Built in 1904-08 for the Pommery boss, it fell into disrepair in the 70s but was fully restored in the mid-2000s.

The exterior of the Villa Demoiselle in Reims

Detail of the exterior of the Villa Demoiselle in Reims. You can see the band of grapevine-motif tiles that runs around the building.

Front door of the Villa Demoiselle in Reims, with a fancy iron and glass canopy.

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RedScharlach @redscharlach.bsky.social · 18h

Yeah, I suppose those have earned their keep linguistically.

RedScharlach @redscharlach.bsky.social · 21h

I also had an Art Deco cake break at the patisserie Waïda, with its stained glass and wood panelling. Oh, and a delicious Opera cake too.

Me visible in a mirror with a stained glass surround in the Waïda patisserie, Reims

The tearoom in the Waïda patisserie, Reims

Wooden panel decoration in the Waïda patisserie, Reims

An Opera cake (made of layers of chocolate and coffee mousse and sponge) in the Waïda patisserie, Reims

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RedScharlach @redscharlach.bsky.social · 21h

The former Cinéma Odéon is now a branch of Mango, but it’s still got its 1923 facade and wavy-gravy stained glass canopy across the front.

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RedScharlach @redscharlach.bsky.social · 21h

After going to the library, I went to the post office! Designed by François Le Coeur in 1926-27, it looks plain from the outside, but inside it’s a modernist wonder. It’s also a working post office and they don’t like you taking photos, but I snapped a couple before the nice lady told me not to.

Inside La Poste Cérès, a modernist post office in Reims

The rounded exterior of La Poste Cérès, a modernist post office in Reims

Detail of the ceiling inside La Poste Cérès, a modernist post office in Reims

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RedScharlach @redscharlach.bsky.social · 21h

I’d seen pictures of the Bibliotheque Carnegie chandelier before, but had no idea how big it really is – maybe seven feet long? And the building has lots of other lovely decorative details too.

Magnificent Art Deco chandelier in the entrance hall of the Carnegie Library in Reims

Coloured stone mosaic panel of a muscular farmer sowing seed, from the entrance hall of the Carnegie Library in Reims

Decorative stair-rail from the Carnegie Library in Reims

Mosaic decoration from the porch of the Carnegie Library in Reims

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RedScharlach @redscharlach.bsky.social · 22h

The Bibliotheque Carnegie is one of the thousands of libraries worldwide funded by Andrew Carnegie, but the only one in France. Designed by architect Max Sainsaulieu, it opened in 1928 and is still a working municipal library, so the public areas can be visited for free.

The Art Deco frontage of the Carnegie Library in Reims

The entrance hall of the Carnegie Library in Reims

A doorway and corridor in the Carnegie Library in Reims

The reading room of the Carnegie Library in Reims

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RedScharlach @redscharlach.bsky.social · 22h

Ha! I suspected every Sewer Museum exhibition involves rata in some capacity, whether they intend it to or not…

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RedScharlach @redscharlach.bsky.social · 22h

Today I’ve been visiting Reims (pronounced Rrrrass), a city in the Champagne region, about 45 mins from Paris on the train. Because it was hit hard by World War I, a lot of Reims was rebuilt in the Art Deco era, which means pleasing buildings galore. So here’s a thread 🧵

Cast iron window grating in the Art Deco style, from the Carnegie Library in Reims

Frontage of a random Art Deco building called the Hôtel de la Mutualité in Reims, built in 1927

Stained glass from the Villa Demoiselle, Reims

Stained glass from the porch of the former Cinéma Opéra in Reims

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RedScharlach @redscharlach.bsky.social · 1d

I see the latest glossy issue of Philosophie magazine is a Hannah Arendt special, ideal for the kids who want a bit of anti-totalitarian glamour on the bedroom walls. #OnlyInFrance

Magazines in a French shop window, including Philosophie magazine’s Hannah Arendt special

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RedScharlach @redscharlach.bsky.social · 1d

Just as long as you haven’t seen any seagulls coughing up whiskers…

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RedScharlach @redscharlach.bsky.social · 1d

Curious French things: they call Asian-style dumplings “ravioli”, which means that if you see a ravioli restaurant, it’s really a dumpling place. Come on, France – I know it’s the same basic culinary idea, but on the other hand, what’s Italy got to do with it?

A dumpling restaurant in Paris called Viva Raviolis

A dumpling restaurant in Paris called Ravioli Nord-Est (North-East Dumpling)

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RedScharlach @redscharlach.bsky.social · 1d

I haven’t been to the Sewer Museum, but on a previous trip to Paris I saw posters everywhere advertising the Sewer Museum’s then-current exhibition on rats!

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RedScharlach @redscharlach.bsky.social · 1d

Oh, I do like him, otherwise I wouldn’t have gone there. But I didn’t know what the building was like, so seeing it was a wonderful surprise.

RedScharlach @redscharlach.bsky.social · 1d

Watching French Bake Off (Le Meilleur Pâtissier) and remembered I’m behind on my cakeposting.

Here’s Tuesday’s chocolate/praline/meringue delight from Yann Couvreur (it has a delicious nutty caramel layer inside, like a posh Snickers) and today’s sesame/matcha brutalist beauty from Sadaharu Aoki.

A chocolate cake with little foxes moulded into the chocolate mousse topping

A striped slice of mousse cake in white, black, grey and green. Really delicious if you like sesame as a flavour.

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RedScharlach @redscharlach.bsky.social · 1d

Yes, I have never knowingly met anyone with a mandolin who didn’t have a hideous injury tale to tell about it.

RedScharlach @redscharlach.bsky.social · 1d

The outside of the Giacometti Institute is pretty too. Even the toilet door is pretty!

The former front door of Paul Follot’s house (the Giacometti Institute has its entrance through the garage door). It’s made of decorative metalwork and framed by mosaic patterns.

A toilet door with pretty stained glass in it

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RedScharlach @redscharlach.bsky.social · 1d

The best thing about the Giacometti Institute, however, is the building it’s in. It was the home and studio of architect Paul Follot, designed and built by him in 1912-1914, just as Art Nouveau was turning into Art Deco. It’s been sensitively restored and features beautiful stained glass & woodwork.

Art Nouveau fireplace nook and shelving by Paul Follot

Stained glass and wood panels in the Giacometti Institute

The library/cooperation space in the Giacometti Institute

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RedScharlach @redscharlach.bsky.social · 1d

Today I visited the Institute Giacometti in Montparnasse. It houses a reconstruction of Alberto Giacometti’s original studio and a rotating selection of his sculptures and sketches.

Reconstruction of Giacometti’s tiny rented studio, with bed, easels, sculptures in various states and drawings on the walls.

The sculpture Falling Man (1950) by Alberto Giacometti

Detail of the sculpture The Invisible Object (1934-1935) by Alberto Giacometti

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RedScharlach @redscharlach.bsky.social · 1d

And possibly mandolin-slice you at the same time

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RedScharlach @redscharlach.bsky.social · 2d

The estate agent next door to my Paris hotel is currently selling this 4-room apartment for 910,000 euros, featuring a cursed metal staircase with no handrail that looks as if it would guillotine you if you tripped on it. Ouch.

Photo of a flat for sale in Paris’s 8th arrondissement (price 910,000 euros, ouch). The picture shows a bland living room with one striking feature: a zig zag metal staircase with no railings and gaps between the steps, with empty space below. Health and safety nightmare.

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