Onwards

Good morning Smites, from Tunbridge Wells in the surprisingly sunny UK :)

What a week it's been! Sure, there's been a few lows... (Windsor Castle is closed on Tuesdays, who knew? Yes we should have checked.... Flat tyre on the rental car at Hever Castle was fun and games.... and I've developed a shocking cold) but the highs always outweigh and we're having a wonderful time.

Our few days in Paris was absolutely wonderful. My bestie Flo, who is French, happened to be in France visiting her mum at the same time as we were going to be there - such a fab coincidence! She came from Lille and met us in Paris and we had such a fun few days, with our very own French speaking guide. Here are a few of the highlights!

Our visit to the Pompidou was as wonderful as it always is. We arrived a bit early for our booked time, so we walked around to visit the Stravinsky Fountain, one of my faves!

The fountain was made in 1983 by Jean Tinguely and Niki de Saint Phalle. Its featured in loads of movies so you might recognise it - one of my favourites is the 1995 remake of Sabrina, with Harrison Ford, Greg Kinnear and Julia Ormond. And if you haven't seen THAT, then oooh you're in for a treat :) Pretty sure you can find it on Apple TV or Prime. Such swoon, many tears.

There is a wonderful new(ish) Shepard Fairey mural behind the fountain, which was completed in 2019 so I hadn't seen it before except on his Instagram. Big Shepard Fairey fans in our house so I was excited to see it and send pics to my youngest son.

Behind the Pompidou there is a church, you can see it behind the video of the fountain. As we were so early we decided to go in. The area the Pompidou is in is a little dingier than some of the bigger Paris sights, and the church has not been conserved and looked after the way some of the larger ones have. The existing Church of Saint-Merri was finished in around 1560, but there has been a church of some form on the site since 700 AD. You can read more about the history of the church here if you are interested - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Merri#:~:text=The%20Church%20of%20Saint%2DMerri,Rive%20Droite%20(Right%20Bank).

The inside of the church is dark and a little unkempt, but its worth a visit for the artwork in the 12 small side chapels - one for each station of the cross - that ring behind the main altar. They have painted walls in a variety of designs that really caught my eye.

There is also a spectacular series of frescoes and a tomb at the side of the church, with a high vaulted ceiling. 

My favourite thing that we found was this artwork, but unfortunately there was no information about who painted it or where it came from. It's completely different to everything else in the church, I thought it was absolutely wonderful and I'm so glad we saw it.

Back to the Pompidou! If you are going to Paris and want to visit I have some sad news... you'll need to do it soon, as it's about to close for 5 years for a massive restoration. The building is incredible in itself, but it was built in 1976 and is well overdue for a bit of a tart up. I'm glad we got to go before it closed though, the last time I was there was in about 1988, and I was with my mum. I have lots of fond memories of that trip, we loved going to museums and art galleries together and Paris was no exception. I remember my 16 year old self stopping dead as we entered a room filled entirely with Giacometti machettes, and turning to Mum with my mouth open and tears in my eyes. 

Some of the stand outs this time were this wonderful piece by Mikhäil Larionov, a neo-primitivist from Russia. This was painted in 1912 and was part of a series of four pictures for the four seasons. This is Autumn, and by far my favourite of the four. The figures and the tree (and of course the birds) are awesome. Love it.

This picture is by Robert Delauny, its called Paysage Au Disque (Landscape and Disc), painted in 1096. The colours and lines around that circle make me want to piece it!

One from a German artist this time, Maria Marc -  the wife of Bauhaus artist Franz Marc. I don't actually know much about her, but a few of the google searches I found said she was known for her textiles - I went off down the rabbit hole to find some, but couldn't. Watch this space, if I find anything I'll let you know, and if you know something already, let me know please! :) The figures in the picture are wonderful. Its called Wiehnachtsengel mit Bethlemenszene (Christmas Angel with Bethlehem), and was painted in 1911. 

A fabulous little Frieda was hiding around the corner.... I don't need to tell you about her do I? And look, a bird.... :D

OK so I took HUNDREDS more photos and I don't want you all to fall asleep, but heres a couple more of the faves. Marvellous madness from Victor Brauner -

Fascinating stitching by Bridget Cronnin - 

And these dear little suitcases which I managed to not take any notes on and have no idea who the artist is. Sorry about that, artist. They're fab.

By the time I finished this post we had arrived in London!! Sorry to be so slow with these over the last few weeks peeps but the travel and the work and the holiday combined has rather messed up the old StitchyMites schedule. I hope you're enjoying seeing a little of what has inspired me over the trip... there's still Versailles and the Arc de Triomphe and Hever Castle and Canterbury Cathedral to come so tell me if you're getting bored!

I went to Liberty shopping today, then to Hand and Lock (oooooh so beautiful), and the to Loop Knitting which rounded out an absolutely heavenly first London day. Tomorrow is the V&A, I am in seventh heaven.

Have a great week Smites, take care of yourselves

Sarah x