This week’s blog has two main parts: art seen while cycling to the village of Aigues, and on the opposite end of the scale, a business trip to Paris.
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But I start with a cat, resting on a bench in Verdegás:
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Aigues is a village with 1200 inhabitants. Its main square is exactly 16 km from my house, at an elevation of 330 m. It is a frequent destination for my bike ride, providing a nice mix of distance and climbing. The main square contains a grocery store (where I usually buy a Coke for my break), a butcher, a bar, and the church. Nearby is the town’s bakery, tobacco shop, another couple of bars and a pharmacy. Aigues is the kind of place where everyone knows each other, and for a town this small, it puts on a surprisingly wide range of activities and fiestas. I often am surprised by something I see when I arrive on the main square. On this occasion, there was an art exhibition, with several balconies decorated with paintings by local artists, including two on the church wall:
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Many of the balconies around the square were similarly decorated:
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The painting on the balcony above the butcher was quite topical:
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I finish the art exhibition with the proverbial fat lady singing:
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Aigues celebrated its annual Moros y Cristianos festival during the last week of August (every town around here celebrates Moros y Cristianos, but not at the same time), and apparently these two girls were elected as the Queens of the Christians:
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I started the working week as usual, with a Monday morning walk on the beach with Mochi. Two women get a pre-sunrise dip:
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Morning colours:
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After work I took Mochi for his evening walk. We walked past the stone wall which is usually inhabited by cats:
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On Tuesday I worked at home in the morning, had lunch, gave Mochi a quick mid-day walk (something I don’t usually do because of the heat), and drove to the airport for a flight to Paris, where I was going to attend meetings at the OECD on Wednesday and Thursday. Landing at Orly, I took the metro to a station called Argentine, 100 meters from my hotel. I have seen the classic Metro sign a million times, but I never get tired of its truly timeless design:
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The Argentine station is decorated with photos of various parts of Argentina, and there is this small memorial plaque for the victims of the dictatorship in the 1970s and 80s:
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I love Parisian architecture, here close to my hotel in the 17th arrondissement:
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There are lots of Japanese restaurants and shops in Paris, but this is a rather curious combination on rue des Acacias:
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I walked to a restaurant near the Arc de Triomphe where I was going to have dinner, taking in the street life along the way. This woman is clearly on the way to some occasion:
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A bit later, I passed this side street with a view:
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The LEGO shop caters to local tastes:
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This is not the restaurant where I had dinner, but it was similar:
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After dinner, I walked to the Arc de Triomphe, always an impressive sight:
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I got up early on Wednesday morning and went for a walk in the neighbourhood. A woman waiting for the bakery to open (usually at 7 a.m.):
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Inside the bakery:
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French pastries, almost as good as the Danish ones:
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I walked back to the Arc de Triomphe to see it in daylight:
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I had brought my 90mm lens with me, so I could have a closer look at the Arc:
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View from the inside the Arc:
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Breakfast was not included in my hotel rate, so I relied on the neighbourhood cafés for my morning caffeine fix. It also allowed me to look at the passers-by and at the other customers:
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Later on Wednesday morning, I arrived at the OECD headquarters for my meetings. The beautiful Château, which was being cleaned when I was last here in April, was now revealed in its full glory:
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The OECD Conference Centre, where every day meetings of various task forces and working parties are held, including the one in which I was participating (on IP-backed finance):
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After the day’s meeting, I went back to my hotel, changed into comfortable clothes, and went for a beer in a neighbourhood bar. Other people had the same idea:
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Sign of the analogue revival:
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Later in the evening, I met with my Polish economist colleague Piotr for a beer and subsequent dinner:
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On Thursday morning, there was a crowd of what looked like high school students on a field trip outside “my” bakery:
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The same man as in photo 34, back for his morning coffee:
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Morning traffic in Paris:
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During the lunch break, I walked to a nearby high-end shop to buy some nice chocolate, passing various embassies along the way. This is the Iraqi one. In general, I find an inverse relationship between the governance and wealth of a country and the grandeur of its embassy in places like Paris or Brussels:
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Back at the OECD, I entered the Château (home of the offices of the top management of the organisation and some formal meeting rooms). I always enjoy visiting it:
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The main lobby:
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The flags of the OECD member countries, a symbol of the kind of international cooperation that is sadly disappearing:
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One of the grand rooms in the Château, the Marshall Room:
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As I was getting ready to leave the OECD for the airport and the flight home on Thursday afternoon, I saw workers setting up an art exhibition. The OECD headquarters has a lot of art, some on permanent display, some in temporary exhibitions like this one:
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The exhibition was by a Mexican artist called Alberto Ramírez:
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And then I got in the taxi, went to Orly and flew home.