Changing lives at Le Centre du Pompidou

When I studied French in Year 12 I had a 60 year old Swiss woman who used to be a journalist. She was a bit unorthodox with her teaching but I didn't seem to mind her, by the end of the year I could follow her instructions in French, so she must be good.

One of the activites that we did in her class was a culural assignement which made us answer 20 questions about France in a kind of investigative journalism way, which is important. Anyway one of the questions was to describe what Le Centre du Pompidou was (a modern art gallery) and what the furore was about it when it opened. Turns out that the bishes who designed the building opted to maximise the inside space but putting all the service elvators etc on the outside of the building, which makes the facade of the building look scarier than what Cher and Joan Rivers would look like today sans plastic surgery.

Ofcourse this lead the poor beautiful and fashion conscious Parisians up in arms and wanting th building to be torn down or rectified so that it would be in keeping with the rest of the cities landscape. Anywho I had never been there but on my last visit had seen the outside of the building. The museum is actually really cute and has great art inside, especially some amazing instillation pieces, well worth a visit if you like f**ked up art that makes no sense and will probably leave you wanting to see a psychatrist by the end.

I have to say that one of my favorite parts of the galleries was actually going up the service elevators. They are super fun and showcase some of the best views of Paris, which I was not expecting. After checking out the art I went to the cafe for lunch, which is actually on a mezanine level and overlooks the entrance, so you get to do a bit of people watching too.

The girl sitting behind me was Dutch and had just recently moved to Paris. Anyway she was talking to her friend about how she was doing adjusting to the city and life in general; here are some amended quotes (she was the highlight of my visit to the Pompidou) -

"I just felt that I had to escape Holland because my art was being repressed and I had to be with people who really understood me and my art, this is why I am in Paris"

"I met a guy who is from Holland and it is nice to be able to speak to him in my own language but when I speak to him he reminds me of home and how my art suffered"

"I am going to met a guy today for a coffee that will last for half an hour but will take me an hour and a half to get to his office on the metro, but that's ok, I am in Paris to met new people"

"I feel that Paris is giving me everything I was looking for when I deicded I needed to start over again."

FARK ME - SHE COMPLETED ME!!!!