Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Bibliothèque du jour


       Bibliotheque Forney-Hotel du Sense, 4e arrondissement de Paris

What can be more inspiring than a library in a castle? I recently discovered this library in the the 4th district of Paris. It is based in an old medieval castle called ¨Hotel du Sense¨ and it´s absolutely a magic place for reading. You can find more information about it here.

Later on I also discovered the European library at the Science center in Cite de la sciences, Metro Porte de la Villete. Here non-Greek children are still very excited to see how the Coal and Steel adventure started. What about you? What is your favorite library?

Sunday, July 17, 2011

What's your favourite wifi cafe?


                                                      Chat Noir - Metro Parmentier

I am always looking for inspiring places to work and especially when we travel abroad we always appreciate a quiet coffee place with good wifi and hot tea.
One of the favorite spots I found in Paris was the ¨Chat noir¨ coffee, the wifi password is (surprisingly): black cat, and the black tea pot is 2.60 Euros. Not to mention that they have all the good magazine and great service.

Close to Metro Parmentier (where you can get introduced to the story of the Potato culture in France), line 5, this coffee is also close to Oberkampf street, vibrant place during the evening with lots of Cous-cous restaurants and underground concert halls.

Bonne lecture!

Street art in Porte de Vincennes



The drawings above are made by the Parisian active community of street artists. I was very lucky to find this Bus Hall, close to ¨Porte de Vincennes¨,  metro stop where ¨graphers¨ are allowed to express themselves as much as they want.

This leads to colored alleys, smiling neighbours, and elaborate graffiti works which couldn´t be made in a 20 minutes police rush.

As I got to meet some of the artists they told me that they get the sprays for 3 euros a piece and a complete drawing could cost 30 euros, small price to pay for a week lasting opportunity of expression:).

It´s funny to see how for my  ¨Né dans la rue Graffiti¨ -Fondation Cartier badge got me to:). It was precisely this badge who made a Parisian waiter wonder if I am interested in this ¨strange art¨ and after a couple of coffee flavoured questions there I was in Porte de Vincennes, mesmerized by all the textures and colors of this street poems.