Surprise in the morning

After relaxing around the house in the morning, I headed over to the "House of European Photography". Got there 10 minutes early and asked for a full fare ticket. Alas, ticket could not be sold before the stroke of 11. While I was reading, I looked up to note that reduced fare tickets for seniors (60 and over) was a mere 4euro... Yahoo! Half price for having breathed longer than others.
Now I have to say that of the maybe 150 museum exhibits I see every year, maybe 3 or 4 are worth the time it takes to walk through them (Lately, that's mostly been at FIT Museum in NYC). But a Japanese photographer at this joint named Kimiko Yoshida did a series of self-portraits called "I Am Not There". Self portrait photos can be the dreariest of all, of course, so I trudged downstairs expecting nothing. Explosion! There's still Patti brain shrapnel sticking to the walls down there. I can't really explain her work, but here's a link- http://www.kimiko.fr/art/thumbnails.php?album=2
My main task for the day was to visit some of the famous covered passages of the city. These are like Victorian versions of shopping malls, with glass rooves and tiny shops. Except for maybe Passage Viviane, they can be quite shabby ala the "shopping Mall time forgot" varieties....
My trek led me down the Rue St. Denis, one of the city's prime red light districts. Though it was only early afternoon, many girls and lots of sex clubs were working. Although I couldn't take pix (they get livid when you do- I had tried it on an earlier trip) their outfits (from pink tutu and white tank top, to very sedate school girl uniform) fascinated me.I suppose Project Runway should have an episode designing for these gals, also.
Met D for an afternoon flick- "The Girl Hunters"- 1963- with Micky Spillane as Mike Hammar. Of course it was a dreadful noir, but the lady across the asile loved chatting with us before and after. At one point, the projector glitched and burned a hole in the film, but everyone just settled in and chatted whilst they fixed it. I am amazed and delighted at the film fanatics here. Can't think of anywhere in the US where you'd see over a dozen people at a film like that on a Friday afternoon.
Our dinner was at one of our fave restaurants on the west side of town that includes in theirprix fixe an aperitif of champagne and a bottle of swell wine.
More as life progresses....