{"id":5197,"date":"2026-09-13T19:13:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-13T18:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=5197"},"modified":"2026-09-13T19:42:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T18:42:17","slug":"week-37-aigues-and-paris","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=5197","title":{"rendered":"Week 37: Aigues and Paris"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n

37_1<\/strong>
\nBut I start with a cat, resting on a bench in Verdeg\u00e1s:
\n\"1050459\"\/<\/p>\n

37_2<\/strong>
\nAigues 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:
\n\"1050461\"\/<\/p>\n

37_3<\/strong>
\n\"1050462\"\/<\/p>\n

37_4<\/strong>
\n\"1050463\"\/<\/p>\n

37_5<\/strong>
\nMany of the balconies around the square were similarly decorated:
\n\"1050465\"\/<\/p>\n

37_6<\/strong>
\n\"1050466\"\/<\/p>\n

37_7<\/strong>
\n\"1050469\"\/<\/p>\n

37_8<\/strong>
\n\"1050470\"\/<\/p>\n

37_9<\/strong>
\n\"1050472\"\/<\/p>\n

37_10<\/strong>
\n\"1050473\"\/<\/p>\n

37_11<\/strong>
\nThe painting on the balcony above the butcher was quite topical:
\n\"1050474\"\/<\/p>\n

37_12<\/strong>
\nI finish the art exhibition with the proverbial fat lady singing:
\n\"1050471\"\/<\/p>\n

37_13<\/strong>
\nAigues 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:
\n\"1050476\"\/<\/p>\n

37_14<\/strong>
\nI started the working week as usual, with a Monday morning walk on the beach with Mochi. Two women get a pre-sunrise dip:
\n\"DSF0326\"\/<\/p>\n

37_15<\/strong>
\nMorning colours:
\n\"DSF0327\"\/<\/p>\n

37_16<\/strong>
\nAfter work I took Mochi for his evening walk. We walked past the stone wall which is usually inhabited by cats:
\n\"DSF0327\"\/<\/p>\n

37_17<\/strong>
\nOn 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:
\n\"DSF0399\"\/<\/p>\n

37_18<\/strong>
\nThe 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:
\n\"DSF0352\"\/<\/p>\n

37_19<\/strong>
\nI love Parisian architecture, here close to my hotel in the 17th arrondissement:
\n\"DSF0333\"\/<\/p>\n

37_20<\/strong>
\nThere are lots of Japanese restaurants and shops in Paris, but this is a rather curious combination on rue des Acacias:
\n\"DSF0334\"\/<\/p>\n

37_21<\/strong>
\nI 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:
\n\"DSF0340\"\/<\/p>\n

37_22<\/strong>
\nA bit later, I passed this side street with a view:
\n\"DSF0335\"\/<\/p>\n

37_23<\/strong>
\nThe LEGO shop caters to local tastes:
\n\"DSF0341\"\/<\/p>\n

37_24<\/strong>
\nThis is not the restaurant where I had dinner, but it was similar:
\n\"DSF0344\"\/<\/p>\n

37_25<\/strong>
\nAfter dinner, I walked to the Arc de Triomphe, always an impressive sight:
\n\"DSF0346\"\/<\/p>\n

37_26<\/strong>
\nI 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.):
\n\"DSF0357\"\/<\/p>\n

37_27<\/strong>
\nInside the bakery:
\n\"DSF0359\"\/<\/p>\n

37_28<\/strong>
\nFrench pastries, almost as good as the Danish ones:
\n\"DSF0360\"\/<\/p>\n

37_29<\/strong>
\nI walked back to the Arc de Triomphe to see it in daylight:
\n\"DSF0370\"\/<\/p>\n

37_30<\/strong>
\nI had brought my 90mm lens with me, so I could have a closer look at the Arc:
\n\"DSF0369\"\/<\/p>\n

37_31<\/strong>
\n\"DSF0362\"\/<\/p>\n

37_32<\/strong>
\n\"DSF0363\"\/<\/p>\n

37_33<\/strong>
\nView from the inside the Arc:
\n\"DSF0374\"\/<\/p>\n

37_34<\/strong>
\nBreakfast was not included in my hotel rate, so I relied on the neighbourhood caf\u00e9s for my morning caffeine fix. It also allowed me to look at the passers-by and at the other customers:
\n\"DSF0376\"\/<\/p>\n

37_35<\/strong>
\nLater on Wednesday morning, I arrived at the OECD headquarters for my meetings. The beautiful Ch\u00e2teau, which was being cleaned when I was last here in April, was now revealed in its full glory:
\n\"DSF0379\"\/<\/p>\n

37_36<\/strong>
\nThe 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):
\n\"DSF0385\"\/<\/p>\n

37_37<\/strong>
\nAfter 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:
\n\"DSF0393\"\/<\/p>\n

37_38<\/strong>
\nSign of the analogue revival:
\n\"DSF0387\"\/<\/p>\n

37_39<\/strong>
\nLater in the evening, I met with my Polish economist colleague Piotr for a beer and subsequent dinner:
\n\"DSF0396\"\/<\/p>\n

37_40<\/strong>
\nOn Thursday morning, there was a crowd of what looked like high school students on a field trip outside “my” bakery:
\n\"DSF0398\"\/<\/p>\n

37_41<\/strong>
\nThe same man as in photo 34, back for his morning coffee:
\n\"DSF0400\"\/<\/p>\n

37_42<\/strong>
\nMorning traffic in Paris:
\n\"DSF0404\"\/<\/p>\n

37_43<\/strong>
\nDuring 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:
\n\"DSF0412\"\/<\/p>\n

37_44<\/strong>
\nBack at the OECD, I entered the Ch\u00e2teau (home of the offices of the top management of the organisation and some formal meeting rooms). I always enjoy visiting it:
\n\"DSF0410\"\/<\/p>\n

37_45<\/strong>
\nThe main lobby:
\n\"DSF0406\"\/<\/p>\n

37_46<\/strong>
\nThe flags of the OECD member countries, a symbol of the kind of international cooperation that is sadly disappearing:
\n\"DSF0411\"\/<\/p>\n

37_47<\/strong>
\nOne of the grand rooms in the Ch\u00e2teau, the Marshall Room:
\n\"DSF0407\"\/<\/p>\n

37_48<\/strong>
\nAs 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:
\n\"DSF0416\"\/<\/p>\n

37_49<\/strong>
\nThe exhibition was by a Mexican artist called Alberto Ram\u00edrez:
\n\"DSF0414\"\/<\/p>\n

37_50<\/strong>
\n\"DSF0417\"\/<\/p>\n

37_51<\/strong>
\n\"DSF0418\"\/<\/p>\n

And then I got in the taxi, went to Orly and flew home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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. 37_1 But I start with a cat, resting on a bench in Verdeg\u00e1s: 37_2 Aigues is a village with 1200 inhabitants. Its main square is exactly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":4915,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5197"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5197"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5197\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5204,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5197\/revisions\/5204"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}