The centre is a complex in the heart of Paris bordering Les Halles and the Marais.
It houses a vast public library, the largest modern art museum in Europe and IRCAM, a facility for music and acoustic research. Named after a President of the French Republic from 1969 to 1974, Georges Pompidou, the Centre has received over 150 million visitors since it opened in 1977.
This is where my friend Monique lives and where I went last Sunday.
There’s a great creperie overlooking this Stravinsky Fountain, however it’s not as good as the best creperie in Paris (in the Marais) which I wrote about in my winter posts (see January or February.)
Below is La Maison de la Poésie and journalists talking to Canadian poet-author, Michael Ondaatje.
The most interesting part of that literary festival last Sunday was listening to Ishmael Beah, a child soldier during the Sierra Leone civil war. Abducted by Sierra Leonean rebels, he was forced to fight alongside them in the bush. He wrote a book called “A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier”. After his parents and two brothers were killed, he was rescued by UNICEF and eventually adopted by a Jewish woman in Brooklyn, New York. Here’s the link to his foundation:
http://www.beahfound.org/Beah_Foundation/Home.html
I nearly bought this lamp coz I love Danish retro.
Here’s the specialty of Lille – fresh mussels and fries, washed down with Belgian beer:
Juliet in Paris