Two weeks ago yesterday we were wandering around the Centre Pompidou in Paris
Given that today is Friday and I've spent all afternoon battling with the totally counter-intuitive Google Photos function, we're going for a short post instead of The Odyssey today. I thought I'd reward me and you with some more photos of the Centre Pompidou to add to yesterday's post rather than go for a full-fledged post on our Bataan Death March through the Louvre and beyond on the second day. So, dear Steemians, here are a few more pics of the whimsical piazza outside the Centre Pompidou.
I love this little guy. How could anyone not love a multi-coloured elephant perpetually squirting water out of its trunk in front of a bright red heart?
These two were so much fun, with the snake's "YIKES!" expression and the whatever it is's hair/wattle squirting water out of its roosterish head. Love them!
How about those two photobombing the Centre Pompidou? The nerve of some people! By the way, that line over @tim-beck's head is actually the stairway going up to the exhibition space, and the red line outside is the escalator. There are spectacular views of more conventional Paris from the fifth floor where the special exhibitions were presented.
An interesting fundamental to the design was that the exhibition space was to be unencumbered, so all the services (including air conditioning, electricity, water and people circulation - that's lifts and escalators) were placed on the outside of the building. This page on the Centre's website tells you much more.
How cool is this guy? Is he Salvador Dali's brother? From where we were standing in the previous photo, this was at our 10:00 or so, with a rather staid, pigeon-encrusted church right next door. We loved the contrasts of art, architecture, culture and age. Bonus: the pigeons don't land on your head.
This gives you more of a perspective on the exterior of the Centre - imagine that the big guy on the wall is just to your left and slightly behind you to orient yourself. You can see the weird rooster-man more or less in the middle of the pool, and elephant guy is peeking out from behind the multi-coloured heart.
As you can see, all the services are indeed outside the building. Blue is for aircon, red is for moving people, yellow (next to impossible to see here) is for electricity and green is for water.
Let's just say the architecture is unusual.
By the way, seen from afar, the Centre Pompidou looks really out of place. But it's been there for forty years now, so it must be part of the Parisian furniture by now.
Doesn't exactly blend in, does it? But somehow, it works. It really works.
@tim-beck did a bit of research and recommends these two articles if you're interested in the history and the architecture of the Centre:
http://architectuul.com/architecture/centre-pompidou-1
It was such a spirit lifter to get to a place of fun, colour and art even on a chilly, rainy day.
And if you're wondering about the context of this post, have a look at these previous posts to get into the swing of this roller-coaster ride through Paris, Pas-de-Calais, Bruges and Amsterdam.
https://steemit.com/travel/@kiligirl/whirlwind-tour-of-paris-pas-de-calais-bruges-and-amsterdam
https://steemit.com/travel/@kiligirl/paris-day-1-part-2-of-several-posts-on-our-trip-to-paris-pas-de-calais-bruges-and-amsterdam
More on the way, but in the meantime, have a great Steem weekend, all!
It is weird how many of us could go through some great intense adventures one week and a few days later we are put back into reality just doing our usual thing.
I love the pieces of abstract art there. The animals look a bit bizarre but wondrous nonetheless.
Great Photographs @kiligirl. I can't wait to see more of your adventures
Yep, back to reality, @arckrai...but a big part of all three of us is still wandering the streets of Europe :-). Thanks for the compliment on the photos - I think my phone deserves the compliments as it seems to have all the talent! Cheers 😊😊
Exciting excursions!! In addition with family increasingly gains!!
Thank you, @qye 😊😊
have fun all years
Wow Playland for kid
Adult kids!
😀😀
Nice pictures
Thank you, @ezema 😊
great photography thank you!
Thank you, @bernardchapin 😊😊
Love this place. We were in Paris last December and enjoyed the musicians as well there. Very lively place. Followed 🐳! We do travel vlogs on YouTube and would like to make global connections on Steemit 🌎! Follow us back so we can be friends 🤗
Sounds like you had a wonderful time in Paris last year, @shinidanitv. Thanks for sharing your love of the City of Lights 😊😊
beautiful pics of a beautiful place...
upvoted and followed...!!!
Thank you, @hamlet123 😊😊
Thanks @kiligirl. Your first 2 pictures look like a lot of fun. Upvoted and followed.
Thanks, @rosatravels! 😊😊
great post! been to Paris twice, but only a short few days, so these pics are new to me. My friend has a apartment near the Eiffeltower, so this is the area I explored most. A museum I liked in particular was the Moreau Museum - and since you mentioned Google photos: I sort of neglected it, am just now installing the synch. I got lots of photos on Flickr. My last Paris trip.
Glad you enjoyed it, @thermoplastic! My last trips there were also quite rushed. I would love to visit that Moreau museum - will check out your post later today. Thanks for stopping by! 😊😊
Hey hey, if you're seeing this post it means I personally read it and liked it so much that I would like you to be one of the people helping to test out a new web application that automatically adds your steemit posts to a worldmap!
If that sounds like something you would be interested in learning more about, you can find all the information here: https://steemit.com/travel/@steemitworldmap/steemit-worldmap
And see the result here: http://www.steemitworldmap.com