REMINISCING NO - DISCOVERING - YES

I have resolutely lived in the present, all my life.  Unless I am with friends who have known me well over the years and refer to the past, it’s difficult for me to conjure up memories of another time. So why was l going back to Prague for a short visit? The last time l had been there with my Mother and had seen Prague through her eyes and that was at the end of the 90’s or beginning of the new century.  Let me explain. Mother had lived and worked in Prague for close on a year in 1948. She was working on a documentary film with Joris Ivens, Hans Eisler and her closest friend, Marion Michel.

I discovered this in the archives:-

 In Europe: (arriving in 1947)

    •    Scripted “The First Years” for Joris Ivens in Prague, the first documentary to  be made in the Soviet satellite countries after the Second World War. 

 That was in 1948.

 We often spoke about that period - so - she wanted to see Prague again. I might add that this is the only request that my mother ever made about "the past".

Winter and snow on the ground and over a New Year. This was some 50 years later for her. Once Mother got her barings, she held onto me with a determined grip and off we went. Through little back streets. Lo and behold the Charles Bridge. Treacherous as it was with ice, we strolled over to the other side and came back. Once again she held me and this l can remember …. « now where was it? A little Hungarian restaurant where would could eat when we had some money… » Off we went again and bingo after quite a few turns into a far from salubrious area, she found this very small restaurant and with a lot of satisfaction in he voice « that’s it » . The last place I would have gone into if alone. In we went. No English menu (nor French) and no-one seemed to speak anything we could understand either. Mother calmly uttered  two words to the Cook - lunch was ordered. A Czech wine was put on the table and a little later some very doubtful looking rissoles in an equally doubtful looking sauce. I picked at my food. Mother gobbled her’s up. For the following days I saw Prague through her eyes. On returning to Paris this time, I found the photos of that trip. Other than what I have mentioned, there is not too much l can remember about it. This was a little like the short break l had away to Budapest some years ago. This time, I was returning to see Prague with my own eyes and not through my Mother’s. Perhaps 15 or more years later.

The first day I wondered why l had made such a choice. The hotel was right in the centre of Prague and the first thing that hit me were the crowds. I certainly needed my Mother for her fabulous sense of direction as all l did was get lost for the whole afternoon. That didn’t matter but it was the frustration. The crowds on the main square with it’s famous astronomic clock tower were horrendous.

St Gilles Church

The crowds

The Famous clock that chimes ever hour 

and the 12 apostles circle around

More Asians and especially South Koreans than I think I have ever seen in Europe in one go. The Charles bridge was so crowded that it was not easy to make my way across. The sculptures were dirty, people were scruffy and rude and the number of tourist stalls made me cringe. I envisaged Mother rolling around in her ashes. This was not the place to be. Of course I never found the little restaurant nor the little street. Near the centre of the Old Town there were no little streets without touristy shops any longer. Back onto the main square at 6pm and the crowds had their cameras aimed at the astrological clock to watch the 12 apostles come out. I hadn’t even remembered that, but had we seen it?

You can just see the heads of those going on the the bridge

Black statues

Looking across the river

The St Charles Tower

Looking down at the damn

Walking back

Shop after shop with limitless « hand-made » crystal to be bought…was there anything original to be found? Some quieter streets but oh so few....

The Estonian Embassy tugged away

Disillusioned l made my way back to the hotel. And on the way.....

My attitude had to change if l was to get anything out of this visit at all. There were several museums on my list to see and the Jewish quarter to visit once more. When I got to the Jewish part of the city, a guided tour was about to start, l would take this. The group was small and most of the tourists were visiting for a « purpose ». A Korean couple and l were there to see and learn. 

It’s a history which goes back to 895 when an Arab describes that Jewish population. « A prosperous town, thanks to its commerce and people ». Already though in the 13th century there are the signs of a ghetto. Once upon a time the Jews were able to practice any kind of metier but now they were only authorized to be money lenders, a profession that Christians were not permitted to enjoy. One of the worst massacres was in 1389 when the Jewish and Christian Easter fell at the same time. I wont go through the whole history except perhaps to say that it was during the Joseph ll reign that there was more tolerance. 1781. The second world war was, as we well know, disastrous. If the intellectuals had not been authorized to stay for the time it took them to write an inventory of all objects in the synagogues and museums, there would have been no basis to compile any facts for today. Before the war, over 40,000 Jews lived in Prague. Thousands were sent to the camps. Today there are only 1,400 Jews living in the city. Fortunately they are an extremely active community, as were told.

This is a map of the Jewish quarter today.

We were to visit all the synagogues, see the Town hall, the Old-New Synagogue which I will say a word about, the Spanish Synagogue as well but perhaps the most important are the museum and the cemetery.


The Town-Hall is not as  impressive as the Synagogues, but still serves for the self-government of the Jewish Community in Prague. It was totally rebuilt in 1577 after being badly damaged by fire. The Town Hall was funded as well as many other buildings in the Jewish Town by Mordechai Maisel (1528 – 1601) who was one of the richest people in Prague in the 16th century. He even had his own synagogue – the Maisel Synagogue. Today it is used as an exhibition space for the first part of the History of the Jews in Bohemia and Moravia. I could have gone back to study more of the history, but l didn’t.

The Town Hall

The Old-New synagogue is the oldest landmark of the Jewish town in Prague and one of the oldest surviving synagogues in Europe. Built in the 13th century, it was originally called the New and Great Shul but after other Synagogues were established in the ghetto in the late 16th century it became known as the Old-New or in German, Altneuschul. The main hall is the old existing medieval-type of its kind. Divine services are still held there today. 

Inside the Old-New

Inside the Old-New

The Old-New Synagogue

Children's Drawings from the Terezín in the  Pinkas Synagogue which is the second oldest preserved synagogue in Prague and also the Jewish museum.

Jewish Museum 


                                                Located on the first floor, this exhibition focuses on the fate of Jewish children who were incarcerated in the Terezín ghetto during the Second World War. It is based on the new world children's drawings that were made in the ghetto between 1942 and 1944 under the supervision of the artist Friedl Dicker-Brandeis.

These emotionally powerful drawings bear testimony to the persecution of Jews during the Nazi occupation of the Bohemian territory in 1939–45. They document the transports to Terezín and daily life in the ghetto, as well as the dreams of returning home and of life in the Jewish homeland of Palestine. The vast majority of the children perished in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

(I did not want to reframe these drawings. Sometimes you can read the names).


If you have looked at the video, I’m sure you will be as moved as l was.

A very vivid memory returned to me when we approached the Jewish museum.

I saw my Mother slip and fall on the ice. Within seconds people rushed to help her and with them we went into the museum. The first thing we saw was this.

Panel 1. Three panels side by side with all the names of those Jews who lost their lives in the camp

A lovely looking woman of my age today, asked Mother «  is there anyone you are looking for? » I can see the tears in her eyes as she said « no » with her head. 

Out now into the cemetery and there like a flash everything came back. It was then I remembered the photos l had taken under the snow. This was a very different scene. It’s right next to the Old-New Synagogue and is one of the most prominent site of the Jewish Town of Prague and the oldest and best preserved Jewish cemetery in Europe. Founded in the early 15th century on the western edge of the ghetto. Not knowing my left from my right when it come to directions, l was a little lost when the guide gave us this information.

An icon of an important person

An icon of an important person

An icon of an important person

An icon of an important person

An icon of an important person

Up stairs in the Spanish Synagogue

Replica of a model of Rabbi Loew

Window

The Spanish Synagogue

Before leaving Paris, I had booked a concert in the Spanish Synagogue - it was the musical festival in Prague while I was there. Built in 1868 on the site of the oldest Prague Jewish house of prayer ( the « Old School ») it also serves as a concert hall and a museum today. I found it very beautiful indeed. Moorish Style and somehow it  was comfortable to be inside.

The visit was over. Four hours. My notes were indecipherable so perhaps less expansive here than they could of been. Now l knew where we had walked all those years ago. The shops and stalls next to the museum were much the same and my stroll back into the old town was filled with thought but not memories…

Lunch overlooking the square (and not a soul in sight !)

and then l saw there was an exhibition on right behind me.

Not exactly artists that I follow but it would be a good to go and look at Mucha again. After all he was Czech. (1860-1939). He died shortly after being interrogated by the Gestapo on the 14th of July. 

Described as the Master of Art Nouveau his work is mainly of women who are supposedly graceful with streaming hair and great seductress. Some of them l found very sad to look at.

Russia must recover 1922

The Seasons

Orphan

Flower Home decor 1894

Inside decors

Pabeanr on the Vitava River 1925

Regional Fair

His paintings of Sarah Bernhardt I didn’t know at all or if l did, l hadn’t taken much interest in them.

Sarah Bernhardt

Also there were advertising posters which l had seen before and didn’t remember much about them either. It was interesting to see the artist in his own context especially he lived at a time when the country was called Bohemia and part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire struggling hard against the Habsburg policy of Germanization. I imagine that he was like so many others trying to maintain their own language and customs.

Now Andy Warhol (1928-1987) is someone l do not follow.

He was certainly a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art and even if he began his career as a commercial illustrator, l can’t take too much of him. What I did read though was that he was a Byzantine Catholic and during his life, regularly attending Mass and considered himself a man of faith, even taking part in the Church’s charitable activities! I suppose he was very private about his religious beliefs.

It was in the 60’s that he started producing paintings of iconic American products (Campbell’s soup, I do remember)

and International stars such as Marilyn Monroe.

A line up of Marilyn

Reading his biography makes him sound like someone quite revolutionary for the period. Films, the Velvet Underground, and so much more. This was a interesting exhibition as I saw him differently, but no, I will not be following him.

Flowers (hand coloured) 1971

Love is a pink cake l-XXV

Red Lenin - 1987

SAS Passenger Ticket 1986?

Gee Merrie Shoes - 1955

Detail of Renaissance Paintings St. George and the Dragon - 1984

How unattractive

I

I like Boring things

Nor will I follow Salvador Dali. (1904-1989). I have a few friends who « adore » him probably because of the impenetrable depth of his paintings and his scandalous exhibitionistic public behavior. Did you know that during his life he refused to eat any food that was colored red and that his mustache was half-shaven? He was always fond of drawing attention to himself so fond of doing unusual things. One of his quotations that l recall and use

« The only difference between me and a madman is that I’m not mad » .

That is a surrealist quote in itself. Even so there were works to be discovered so it was worthwhile that l took time to look at them.

Women of the Renaissance 1971

Judgement of Paris 1950

King Solomon 1971

Cerano de Bergerac and Roxanne 1973

"I have compared thee of my love, to a company of horses...

The Picador - 1983

The Racehorse - 1983

The Horse of the Spring - 1983

Don Quixote - 1983

The Landscape with Skeleton

The nude with veils

Mother and Child

Horse series

Lady Godiva - 1983

The Trojan Horse

Rhinoceros with Lace - 1956

No title

The Horace's Chimere

Richard III

The Space Elephant (that I have seen)

"Les Panaches panachés"

Butterfly Rose - 1983

The telephone

Water Hibiscus and Swan -1972

Dalinean Horse series

In the Heaven of Jupiter - The Divine Comedy

In the Heaven of Jupiter - The Divine Comedy

The Corrupt - The Divine Comedy

Artist with a Golden Egg 1974

(If dates were on the descriptions, I have added them).


The only way to discover a city is to walk. I walked Prague and my « jawbone bracelet » told me each evening that l had done an average of 25,000 steps. We are supposed to do around 10,000 a day.

There were two museums l definitely wanted to see. One was quite a long walk through the gardens . The Kampa Museum and the modern art museum. 

Museum Kampa is a modern art gallery showing Central European, and in particular Czech work. The pieces are from the private collection of Meda Mládek, wife of Jan V. Mládek. The museum opened in 2003 and is housed on the Kampa Island on the River Vltava. I really couldn’t understand the island part as certainly when I got there it seemed to be part of the « mainland ».

These were the outside sculptures

Eva Kmentova "Woman in the sun" 2005. (on loan from the Family)

and there were three exhibitions to see. Jiri Mrazek « Terra Incognito » Karel Malich « Rediscovered » and a favorite of mine Frantisek Kupka « Moving Blues » Oh dear, no photos. If I had been brave I would have « stolen » shots as the three attendants were much more interested in their smart phones than in the very few visitors. Few visitors, fine but no photos….more to take off Internet.

The little I can tell you about Jiri Mrazek(1920-2008) that his is righteously considered a solitaire, who chose his own path in the unfavorable conditions of the 1950’s and the years that followed, even though he was convinced that “modern art will never be done again.” I liked what I saw but this is the only photo I found that was in the exhibition. Shame.

Karel Malich was even more interesting and even less information on Internet….
« World premiere of the Malich´s relief in the Kampa Museum, which he created for the student residence dining room in Pilsen in the years 1978-1980. This unique work of the famous Czech painter and sculptor, which was hidden until last spring in the Pilsen university halls of residence, will be exhibited along with A black and white sculpture (1964-1965), which represented Malich during the exhibition of sculptors of twenty nations held at New York's Guggenheim Museum in 1967. Visitors will have a unique opportunity to see also the Malich´s works from the period 2010 to 2015. »
They were sculptures on the walls.  Nothing could l find on internet so I scanned this….

The other sculptures were fantastic - you’ll just have to take my word for it. 

Frantisek Kupka  (1871-1957) I have been following for years. He was one of the most significant Czech painters of the 20th century who lived in France but maintained contact with Prague’s artistic scene.
He was also known as Frank Kupka. A pioneer and co-founder of the early phases of the abstract art movement and Orphic cubism (Orphism). Kupka's abstract works arose from a base of realism, but later evolved into pure abstract art. I’m pretty sure that my Mother introduced me to him. 

The exhibition Moving Blues is small in scale, but captures through interconnected and contrasting colored materials, evoking the movement of the waves. This painting l know was on show once at the Beaubourg as I remembered immediately - and loved it too.

Another scanned painting called called Black Oval (1925-1926) which l did not know but is part of the Beaubourg collections. 

I left the museum feeling thoroughly frustrated. Little did I know that the following day when visiting the Museum of Modern Art that I would see so many of my favorites by Kupka.

Black Oval

OK, so I was a little limp when l returned to the hotel that evening. Little may not be the operative word. A very handsome young Czech who was only too happen to « practice his English » was somewhat taken aback when l informed him that l only walked in a « new » city. He had told me in his very good American English that I must change, take the underground to and then …..to get to the Contemporary museum. Once again, he looked me up and down when I replied «  and to walk ? »  his reply « you can do it, but there are lots of steps to climb »….I understood what that meant the following morning. But up l went and this was the view half way.

He had also told me that the museum was « just over the road » from the park. THAT was not true and after many requests and many shaking « no » heads, l finally fell upon the Museum of modern art.

Not exactly something you can miss....

« In Prague 7 sits a huge functionalist gem of a building, Veletrzni Palace; constructed from the design of Oldrich Tyl and Josef Fuchs in the years 1925-1929, this massive building was used for trade fairs until 1951, after which it was home to several international companies. A heartbreaking fire destroyed it in 1974. Since a meticulous restoration in 1995, it has been the seat of National Gallery for the center of Modern and Contemporary art. Four vast floors, resembling a huge cruise ship, house a wonderfully impressive collection of 19th to 21st century European and Czech art. The span of one day can easily be spent wandering around this museum, but if you are short of time, head, preferably, to the 3rd floor where you will find 19th to 20th century French art (some Rodin, Gauguin, and Van Gogh) and Czech art from 1900 to 1930 (most notably Frantisek Kupka). The 4th floor showcases the works of various intriguing Czech artists, such as Josef Myslbek, Josef Manes, and Julius Marak, including Art Nouveau sculpture, beaming portraits and lush landscapes; while the 1st floor displays Warhol, Lichtenstein, and Picasso. Often, on the ground floor, the works of up-and-coming artists are featured in small exhibitions. This museum is not to be missed as it houses a rich array of masterpieces. The Art and Design bookshop is worth exploring as well »

I have taken that text directly off Internet. When I returned to the centre by foot, and in a direct route, I  understood at once that my eager young man perhaps had never visited this exceptional museum. It is just that. I started on the 5th floor and worked my way down. There was a lunch break and this poster in the café says it all….

I spent six hours coming down floor by floor. Sometimes I stayed longer - and for Kupka I stayed much longer

Looking down

Looking up

And from the ground floor installation

The kites and Senagalese work ElHadjï Sy

 As you can surely imagine, there were a lot of discoveries. Let's start with this one. ElHadjï Sy who comes from Senegal who is active both on the National and Internation scene as a curator and cultural activist. I find his work quite exotic. He works a lot on hemp and some of the wall hangings are very different from what we know in Europe.

Untitled on canvas -1992

Coincidence en spirale, 1984

Tann (Le vautour) 1991

Woman, 1989

Seven stories, 1991

Snake charmer, 1984

Le cavalier, 1987

Genie, 1987

Untitled, 1991

Untitled, 1994

Untitled, 1995

The Coran Board, 1994

Untitled hanging on tarpaulin, 1994

Hemp Bag, 1995

Looking into the bag

People on jute sacking

Part of a face on canvas with miror, 2010

The wrestlers - a dyptch, 2013

Jute sacking, 2013

Mixed techniqes, 2014

Return of the warrior, triptych, 2013

 Down to the next floor.

Here we saw a lot of Art Deco and I didn't really pay too much attention.

 The advertising posters were quite good fun, but seemed to look like what we all knew from all over the world.

These were very modern as sample of tiles. Even so, they date from 1900

The Devil and Kate 1917 : Ladislav Saloun : 

Now this I adored as could quite easily see my Mother Kate is this role !

Michael Powolny (1871-1954) Billy Goat. He looks so much like the owl Mother brought back from Prague(see below)

Jan Kastner (1860-1899) An adjustable chair with Female. Very strange

Mother's owl

Down another floor and here is what I was looking for. Frantisek Kupka. (1871-1957

Kupka "Maya" 1946

Kupka "Round and Straight ", 1937

"Synthesis", 1946

"Variations of Blowing Blue" 1913-1922

"Cosmic Spring" 1913-1914

"A story of Pistils and Stamens l, 1920

"Lines, Planes, Depth lll" 1913-1923

"Sold of a Brown Line", 1912-1913

"The Energic ll," 1925-1926

"Cosmic Spring l" 1913-1914

"Gigolettes" 1909-1910

"Autumn Sun" 1906

"Joys (Ballad, Joys of Life)" 1901

Self Portrait - 1906

 On the same floor, I was really baffled and thought from a little way off that Picasso was here !

Otto Gutfreund(§ 1889-1927) "Cubist Head" 1913-14

Emil Filla (1882-1953) "Still Life with Boar's Head and Grouse", 1927

Emil Filla " Still Life" 1939

Otto Gutfreund "Cubist Head," 1913-14

I was certain this was a Picasso. No. Emil Filla "Head" 1935

Emil Filla "Head" 1934

Emil Filla "Two Women After Bath" 1936

Bohumil Kubista (1884-1918) Smoker (Self Portrait) 1910

Otakar Kubin (1993-1969) "Abstract Composition" - 1912

Otakar Kubin "Composition" 1914

Antonin Prochazka (1882-1945) "Girl's Bosom", 1915

Josef Capek (1887-1945) Accordionist, 1946

Vaclav Spala (1885-1946) "Autumn", 1929

Jan Zrzavy (1890-1977) "Cleopatra" 1942-57

Jan Zrzavy "Sermon on the Mount", 1912

Jan Zrzavy "Biblical Landscape" 1913

Josef Capek "Bathing" 1928

Viasta Vostrebalova-Fischerova "Lethna" 1922-26

???

I really laughed out loud looking at this painting. A wonderful sense of humour, don't you think?






Just a glance for the artists l knew - even Picasso did not tempt me to linger longer. Sure I did not do  justice to the other European artists. Did l need to ? I doubt it. Kupka had invaded my visual space. I didn’t need to see the artists l knew, or just a few of them!

The Picasso Gallery

Matiss (1869-1954) Joaquine" 1923

André Lhote (1885-1962) "Landscape", 1932. We don't see much of his work but I quite like it.

Le Corbusier (1887-1965) "Nude Woman" 1934

Marie Laurencin "Girls in a landscape"

Chagall (1887-1985) "At the Circus"1927

Othon Friesz (1879-1949) "View of the Port at Toulon" 1933

And then, out of no-where came someone new.....

Toyen (1902-1980) "The Swamp" - 1931

Toyen "Fjords"

Toyen

Toyen "Sleepy Territory" 1937

Josef Sima ( 1891-1971) "Island l" 1931

Zdenek Macek (1905-1987) "Untitled" 1940's

Jan Bauch (1898-1995) "The Return of Odysseus", 1968

René Roubiecek 1922
"Three Dimensional Composition..." 1958

Jan Krizek

Jan Krizek(1919-1985) "Untitled" 1957

Jan Krizek"Untitled" 1958

Sculptures and space

Milan Knizak 1940- "Wounds, Scars as Jewles," 1970-74

Karel ? "Great Dialogue

Jiri Naceradsky (1939-2014) "Woman-Chicken", 1980

Lovely space again

Viktor Pivovarov (1937 Russian) "The Diary of an Adolescent" 1980

Petr Pisarik (1986-) "I love the Russian Modernism" 2005

Josef Bolf (1971-) "Car" 2008

Roman Trabura (1980-) "Blue Primeval Forest, 2004

 Oh, there was so much to see and l was close to saturation point....

Milena Dopitova (1963-) "Sixtysomething" 2003

Milena Dopitova (1963-) "Sixtysomething" 2003

Jerald Webster (1930- English ) "Celebration of Life" 2000

Lucy Baker (1955 - English) "He Loves me" - 2001

Joseph Drapell (1940-) "Males" 1999

Joseph Drapell - "Self Confidence " 1996

Would you believe "Tony Cragg" (1949-) "Social Situation"

Roy Lerner (1954 - USA) Deux Ex Machina" 200

Ais Guzzetti (1953-) "Talking Glass" 1986

Wenzel Hablil (1881-1934) "Crystal Castle in the Sea" 1914

Strange for Edvard Munch in 1905

You know who this is...

Marjorie Minkin (1944-)

???

Gustav Klimt "Lady With a Muff" 1916-17

Egon Schiele (1890-1918) "Pregnant Woman and Death" ("Mother and Death") 1911

Gino Severini (1883-1966) "Restless Dancer" 1911

Aristarcg Vasiljevic Lentulov (1883-1943- Russian) "A Ballet Theme" 1912

Josif Solomonovic Skolnil (1883-1926 - Russian) "The Turkish Central Courtyard" around 1917

Otto Dix (1891-1969) "The Dancer" (Floozy) 1917-19

Karl Schmidt-Rottluff on the left and Max Pechstein on the right.

The presentations were frequently much better than we see in  southern Europe as often two paintings were hung side by side and it was difficult to know which painter had done the work. Look below now. Both artists were German

Max Pechstein (1881-1955) "The Bridge in Leba" 1922

Karl Schmidt-Rotuff (1884-1976) Village Green" 1927

Oskar Kokoschka (1886-1980) "The Red Egg" 1940-41

The works selected for the exhibition "International 

Art of the 1st half of the 20th C are paintings and 

sculptures by artists originating from Central Europe, Norway, Russia, Italy, Spain and France. All having a close contact with the cultural scene in Prague even if they never visited the city.

Boris Grigoriev (1886-1939) "The Face of the World" 1920-31

See above

And another close-up

Leopold Survage (1879-1968) "Landscape with Bird" Between 1917-1920

August Tschinkel (1905-1983) "Slovak Emigrants" 1920s

Martial Raysse (1936-) "Vocabulary Element" 1968

Roberto Matta Echaurren (1911-2002) "The Paintingé 1956

Oskar Domingues (1906-1957) "Woman on Balcony" 1946

Ivan Mestrovic (1883-1962) "A Bust of Moses" 1927

René Roubicek (1922-) "Hommage to Mikulas Kopernik (1971-72)

Close up of the structure

 It was now time to leave and get back for my concert. If you have bothered to look at the " life-time" dates of these artists you will see quite clearly that I am very interested in  early 20th to mid 20th century art. Of course there are many later artists that I enjoy and follow but there are not too many French in that basket. Quite obviously the names of  many of the Czech or Russian artists I will not retain but it will be a pleasure for me to go back and look at the work, the obvious influences of the cubic area (Emil Filla, Otto Gutfreund whose names I may retain as their work is exhibited in some of our museums). When the 2nd world war broke out, many of the Czech artists opted exile to southern Europe and mostly France. This is where I have come across their work. The exciting part of my travels is discovery. Seeing artist's work that l know nothing about and will probably will not see them again. Once upon a time l worried that l could not retain their names. I don't any longer. There are too many new discoveries which l hope to enjoy for as long as l can.  The day had gone by too fast. The photos posted are only a limited number of what l took and could be classified as work l really enjoyed or curious art which caught my eye.....writing down what l have seen helps my memory buds and l come back to the chapters to see what l have remembered.

As I was leaving, I saw these sculptures and they looked very familiar...remember the Tuileries Gardens and the zodiac signs by Ai WeiWei ?

The Zodiac sculptures

Zodiac Map

The walk back was perhaps 30 minutes. Now for a concert in the Spanish Synagogue. Perhaps 30 of us enjoyed a selection of very well known music and then I meandered back toward the hotel to find somewhere to eat.

Kafka outside of the Spanish Synagogue

Magnificent but I love the dog and the cat

A nice Facade

I could have chosen this to ride around in

A strange wooden structure near my hotel

Night is upon us

People are eating

I finally found a post-office - open after 8pm!

Another nice facade

Ajouter une légende

And there was my hotel....

Contrast between old and new

Then onto dinner and, my goodness, l was glad to be alone. Two girls in their late 20’s stared at one another with nothing to say. An Asian couple next to them played with their smartphones  throughout  dinner and another couple just ate and ate and …..I never wanted to be like that so being alone is not such a bad thing.

Dinner with smart phones

Two bored girls

The following morning, I had an hour to wander before heading off to the airport

Or even had a ride in this ?

Early bird Asians with their guide

The theatre

Perhaps I could have taken this

These tiles are not easy to walk on and they are everywhere

These are even worse....

However, reminiscing should not be done alone. Mother was not with me but there were moments during this trip that I enjoyed thoroughly - even to being blessed by a very old priest in the Saint Gilles baroque church - l had asked him a lot of questions and his blessing was his answer.