Les Frigos

From an e-mail listserv I'm on, I found out about the free admission to Les Frigos last weekend. According to the information posted therein:

This building was constructed in 1921, and was built by the Paris-Orléans train company as a giant refrigeration unit into which trains could enter. This use ended in the 1960s.

In the 1980s, SNCF (the modern French train company), as proprietor of the building, decided to rent it out to artists and artisans to give them a workspace that inspired creativity and production. Since 2004, the City of Paris has been the proprietor.

It's completely covered in graffiti and drawings.

The circular hallway/turret that contains the old freight elevator is completely covered in writing. It looks really cool.

There are enormous, old doors that have been painted to match each artist's style, and the whole converted industial space gives a really cool ambiance.

You can tell the refrigerators of the time meant business.

This was in one workshop -- art for the hood of your car? The motorcycle made me laugh.

This was one of the hallways.

I didn't get to wander a lot more than this one wing because I went to see the Youngblood Brass band in concert that night, so I had to get going (if you don't know them, check out this video, they're great), but the building is enormous.

French Food

You don't say.

You'll never look at a salad the same way.

This is the 'foreign food' shelf of my local Monoprix. This must be British, because I can't see anyone trying to market 'salad cream' to Americans.

Groooooooooooooooooss.

This box baffles me - it's some sort of weird Franglais. King and home, but with the French partitive article, and if you pronounce it the French way it sounds like kingdom.

McDonalds of the FUTURE

You can pre-order on this futuristic looking device. This has nothing in common with McDonalds in the US. This is why Europeans think we're terrible, they don't understand what McDonalds is to Americans.

At ALL.

Seine-ic overlook.

A week or so ago, when the weather was nice instead of crappy, my friend Anna and I went lounging by the Seine.

I painted my toenails.

We tried to get Berthillion, the famous ice cream, on Ile Saint Louis -- but the lines were crazy.

So instead we bought a box of delicious ice cream bars. Mmmm.

We ended up near Pont Neuf in my usual haunt on the tip of Ile de la Cité. Anna takes prettier pictures than I do.

This is at around 8.30pm or so. The weirdest thing is how late the light stays. Even at 10.30pm it's still not all the way dark.

I'm waiting for the MaxiPad.

These ads are EVERYWHERE. 28 Mai. Got it.

Keep it up and I'll show you where to stick that pad ...

Jared would probably eat to celebrate.

So the ongoing sandwich debates, we have a winner. Of course Subway knows that there's no w and the plural is es.

I no longer have to whine unless I find a new variant.