Episode 6: Aubervilliers

Our apartment is a confusion of rooms, none conventionally shaped and walls with heater and glass cabinet inserts housing no consistently themed artefacts. And there amongst the little sculptures, cups and trinkets will be a handwritten curling note saying thank you Simon, we loved staying here! Higgledy Piggledy has never been a word combination I’ve gone for but it is called for here. We are yet to discover all of this home’s intrigues.  The apartment is owned by film maker Simon Lelouch, son of the famous Claude:

Sa filmographie compte plus de cinquante films dont Un homme et une femme (1966), Vivre pour vivre (1967), Le Voyou (1970), L'aventure c'est l'aventure (1972), Les Uns et les Autres (1981), Partir, revenir (1985), Itinéraire d'un enfant gâté(1988), Tout ça... pour ça ! (1993), Les Misérables(1995), Roman de gare (2006) et Un plus une(2015).

Il a notamment reçu l'Oscar du meilleur film en langue étrangère pour Un homme et une femme, le Golden Globe du meilleur film étranger et le grand prix du cinéma français pour Vivre pour vivre, et deux nominations aux César : une en 1982 au César du meilleur film pour Les Uns et les Autres et une autre en 2002 au César du meilleur film de l'Union européenne pour 11'09"01 - September 11.

There you go! 

I rushed to the chemist for a box of antihistamines which we both needed, but apart from that, it is wonderful here is Aubervilliers. We have been taking it easy, exploring our suburb and enjoying being a part of normal suburban life where there are no tourists at all.  We know the man in the boulangerie across the road (he said my French pronunciation was perfect 😃) and the people in our corner shop are very nice too. Carole, I found a bottle of your favourite Sancerre wine and I can see why you love it.  Pricey though!

The highlight so far for me, has been the Georges Pompidou museum. It was a funny experience though. I bought a ticket for 3 floors and was told to start with their usual collection.  Well… 2 hours later, my head full of jaw droppers, I realised I barely had head space for a second floor.  However, I headed to the exhibition of surrealism, wondering what more surrealism art could possibly be here as their normal collection had many. 

The layout quickly had me in an Hotel California situation. The art, amazing an understatement, pushed my already overloaded senses to the edge and I had to leave. I couldn’t find an exit! It was a like an IKEA maze, but there was no much needed bed.

Therese had meanwhile been exploring the gift shop, the coffee shop, lunching… and kindly looking at shoes shops for me.  I had just recovered from a blister and needed replacement shoes to avoid another one. 

The hunt for new shoes will recommence today. But first we need to call in to the Comedie Francais box office to secure the seats we had attempted to book on line yesterday. The show, recommended by Shefali, is L’Avare (The Miser) by Molière which premiered in 1668. There were so few seats left…fingers crossed and for the magic glasses you can wear that projects English translation without interfering with your view!  The plot:

Harpagon plans to marry off his daughter Élise – without a dowry – to a rich merchant old enough to be her father, and his son Cléante to a wealthy widow.

Will report back. We have a lovely rainy day here.  Our first on this trip.

Kitchen and bathroom. Toilet is elsewhere

My room which also has a lot of Simon’s film and photo memorabilia 

Therese’s room not showing the stack of wood nor close ups of the rude etchings

Gorgeous little wall insets and below you can see that the heater is also set into the wall between Therese’s room and the loungeroom/cinema

Heading from Therese’s room

Projected onto the wall is an interview with Oscar Piastri as we relived the Azerbaijan race in surround sound

View from Therese’s room

View from my room