Paris Insights - The Blog

A friend who was exhibiting her work of art at the Salon des Indépendants invited me to attend the grand opening. The exhibition was held at the Grand Palais, located just off the Champs-Elysées.

When I arrived, I was surprised by the number of people milling about on the sidewalk in front of the exhibition hall. There were hundreds of them! There were three exhibitions going on at the same time, but the entrance to the exhibit that I wanted to attend was not clearly marked. In listening to conversations around me, posing a question to one of the guards, and following some people who seemed to know where they were going, I was able to get into the grand hall.

Once I got into the Grand Palais, I had to figure out how to find my friend, the artist. The exhibition hall is vast!

To look for her, I decided to start from the northernmost side of the hall and work my way south. In my wanderings, I came upon a paper and cardboard sculpture of an astronaut by an artist identified as Bodoc (E).

Next to the sculpture of the astronaut was a sculpture of a swarm of sea jellies (jellyfish), but I forgot to note the title and the name of the artist.

I finally found my friend, Marites Van Vianen, on the south side of the building.  She was exhibiting at an art space bearing her name. Other artists from the Philippines were showing their works in that space.

Bong Canuel was there. I have met him several times at the Village Suisse exhibition space in Paris.

He is pictured in front of his works wearing a hat that he painted and holding the Philippine flag. The hat displays a carabao, the national animal (a water buffalo) of the Philippines.

Aurea Calanog lives in Belgium.

Chelony Mercado created a four-panel work of art to hang on the wall and a work of art to wear.

Marievic Beaune illustrated the harsh life of a little boy carrying a jerrican of fresh water.

She also created this intriguing image of Marianne superimposed on a Philippine flag.

Tei Leonardo holds a lovely bouquet of flowers in front of her paintings.

The artists posed for a group photo. Most of the women wore lovely dresses, as is customary for them to do at exhibitions.

The exhibit continues through Saturday, February 22, 2025.

Salon des Indépendants – Art Capital
Grand Palais
7, avenue Winston Churchill
75008 Paris

For information about many of the artists featured in this blog, click here:
https://www.facebook.com/GaleryaTess.

Located steps away from the southwestern corner of the Luxembourg Garden, Un Grain Décalé serves coffee and sells roasted single-origin coffee beans.

I stopped by to purchase a bag of roasted beans and inquired as to what espresso was being brewed that day. Coffee from Burundi was one of the two choices offered, and I requested a cup of that.

The coffee shop is narrow. There were a lot of customers, so I felt lucky to get the small table at the front, where I had a view of passersby on the sidewalk. I took small sips from the espresso and found it to be rather harsh to my taste, but I nonetheless ordered a 250-gram bag of the roasted bean to take home.

Back home, I ground the beans finely and brewed espressos with my 9Barista stove-top espresso machine. Try as I may, I could never detect the caramel note indicated on the bag. I still found, cup after cup, that the flavor was rather aggressive, and not at all soft (or sweet) as the note on the bag indicates.

I recall having purchased Burundi from another roasted coffee outlet a long time ago and I remember that my experience with the taste of the coffee was the same.

On another note, Un Grain Décalé has a warm atmosphere and I think that travelers who visit the Luxembourg Garden will enjoy stopping here for coffee, tea, or another beverage served with a pastry.

Un Grain Décalé
3, rue Vavin
75006 Paris

We were on avenue Victoria the other day when we spotted Kawa, a purveyor of roasted coffee beans.

We entered and saw that a bean called Indonesie – Frinsa Sarapan #1 was on the beverage list. I sat at the counter and ordered a cup. The barista told me that I could also buy a bag of the roasted beans to take home.

The espresso was served alongside a glass of light lemon-flavored micro-fizzy water. The coffee had a sweet, fruity taste. Sipping the beverage, I could not identify any of the tasting notes that were indicated on the bag: date, milk chocolate, or toffee. (My palate is still in training!)

After tasting the coffee, I purchased a 250-gram bag of the roasted bean, took it home, and brewed a cup with my 9Barista stove-top espresso machine. The machine produced a 40-gram shot of espresso that had an agreeably sweet, fruity taste. My partner declared that she could detect a fleeting chocolate aroma.

The coffee beans are roasted at Kawa’s coffee-roasting facility in Aubervilliers, a town located just outside of Paris.

Kawa
22, avenue Victoria
75001 Paris