Tales of Two Cities

Dr. Mandelbrot, I Presume

It is 8:45 on a gray Sunday morning.  The sun has not been up long and there is no one else on the rue des Bluets as we hurry towards the métro at the bottom of the street.  We are headed for the  amphitheater in the Jardin des Plantes to wait in line for a showing of a 2008 NOVA episode called "Fractals: Hunting the Hidden Dimension" (produced by our very own WGBH!).  We have made a reservation for this free event, but we are taking no chances that we will miss it because of lack of space for the hundreds who are expected.  Already the sponsors have moved the event from an auditorium in the building that houses the Hall of Evolution into the more commodious amphitheater.

Why the heavy interest in the event? 

Benoit Mandelbrot will be there to make some remarks and take questions after the film.

We are among the first to arrive, but soon the line begins to grow.  Half an hour before the show is scheduled to begin, a young man, looking very official, asks how many people have reservations.  Hands go up.  He then tells all those who do NOT have reservations to line up in another line.  This leaves us at the front of the "have reservations" line.  More time passes.  The lines grow longer.  New arrivals are placed in the appropriate line.  Then the powers that be start letting people in to get their tickets.  After we get our tickets, we are directed to start a third line:  the line of those with tickets.  Now there are three different lines.  There is a certain amount of amusement expressed by those waiting. How very bureaucratically French, the French say with indulgent smiles.

You would think that all of those with reservations would get their tickets first.  Well, no.  Every now and again, the young man directing traffic sends about 10 people from the "don't have reservations" line in to get tickets, leaving those in the much longer "have reservations" line to wait for theirs, hoping all the while that the supply will not run out.

Finally, those with tickets are invited to enter along with all of those getting tickets but who have not gotten back in line.  (Are you following this?)

All of which to say that we got good seats (good if you consider a wooden bench with a wooden back a good place to sit for more than 2 hours).

The movie is typically NOVA - which is to say excellent.  We learn that, using the characteristics of fractals, it is possible to make more accurate than ever estimates of how much carbon dioxide an Amazon forest absorbs.  We are taken through the history of the theory and see some clips of Dr. Mandelbrot speaking about his years of being ignored because he saw the world with a different and unique eye.

After the film, there is a restless sense of expectation in the audience. 

Is he there?

Is he really coming?

Then in he walks.  A man of 85 who seems much younger.  The crowd rises to its feet and begins to clap in a sustained applause.  He seems pleased.

When the applause subsides and everyone sits down, Dr. Mandelbrot speaks of his early years in Poland (he was born in Warsaw) and Paris the about  how he ended up in the United States working for the IBM Research Center.  He emphasizes his more recent work on the application of fractals to financial behavior and markets, something that was not included in the film. 

The crowd hangs on his every word.

Following his talk, two French mathematicians speak and then the floor is opened to questions and answers.

By this time, my mind is numb and I an having trouble following the questions and answers.  In any event, it is entertaining to just watch the faces of everyone involved. An American woman, speaking in heavily accented French, stands up and announces that she has 4 questions.  The moderator asks her to limit it to one.  She asks question number 1, gets an answer, then proceeds to ask question number 2 before the moderator can stop her.  He graciously lets her continue, remarking that in fairness to others, that is to be her last question.  With canny fortitude, she plows on to question number 3 before she can be silenced.  Dr. Mandelbrot brings it all to an end by a succinct "no" in answer to her third question. This allows the moderator to give a few others a chance.

Shortly afterward, the moderator calls time.  Those in the audience who have come prepared with books for Dr. Mandelbrot to sign rush to the table where he sits.  Those with cameras (I am not the only one) rush to get a snap or two.

Charles waits to shake Dr. Mandelbrot's hand and I wait with my camera.  Alas, a young woman  gets in the way and refuses to move in time and all I get is this:

Talk about missing the decisive moment!!  Just the same, as Emily would say, it is evidence.

What a great time!!

Postcard du Jour #2 - December 2007 - While They Were Striking ...

For much of our first two weeks in Paris, we were consumed by the strikes - trying to understand them, trying to work around them - trying to guess whether or not Sarkozy will pull off his reforms.  It felt as though our lives were about nothing but the strikes.  Looking back over the 9 days of the transportation strike, however, I realize that we actually did a lot.  Here are a few of the highlights.

• Exhibit of Edward Steichen's Photography at the Jeu de Paume.  Through December 30, 2007.  I was most impressed by Steichen's masterful use of light, most notably in his portraits.  In his work you can follow the major developments in photography in the first half of the 20th century.  Includes photographs of New York City and portraits of the rich and famous.  Read about Steichen and his work here.
• Paris Photo - Annual 4-Day Photography Salon at the Carrousel du Louvre. A feast for the eyes and a wonderful opportnity to see vintage, modern, and avant guard photography.  And to buy if you have the funds.  Charles was fascinated by the two Diane Arubus photographs available for 30,000  and 45,000 Euros, respectively. (He decided not to buy.)  The exhibit was worth the price of admission at 10 Euros a head.  On the other hand, the catalog was not worth the 15 Euros we paid for it, unless you want a list of the galleries represented at the salon.
• La Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine - Palais de Chaillot. Recently opened, this museum covers French architecture from the 12th century to the present in a huge space (23,000 sq meters or roughly 230,000 sq feet).  I was most taken with the life size replicas of portions of Gothic cathedrals.  The day we were there was the inauguration of the audio guides, so we got to use them for free - in exchange for filling out a questionnaire at the end.  For the moment, at least, the guides are only available in French.  But they are state of the art.  They look like iPods and are operated by touch.  Best of all for me was that they provide a wealth of information both verbal and visual to supplement the exhibits. 
• Abysses - Exhibition at the Museum of Natural History at the Jardin des Plantes. Until May 8, 2008.  This incredible exhibit includes specimens and photographs of recently discovered creatures from the depths of the ocean.  The show stopper is a National Geographic film that takes us into the deep sea environment where the strange and beautiful creatures live without light and under pressure hundreds of times that which we experience at the surface.  There is no commentary, only an original soundtrack reminiscent of music by Philip Glass.  (My apologies to the composer. I do not recall his name.)  To me, the images were art - beautiful, intriguing, mysterious and dynamic - well worth the price of admission.  That said, the very dark exhibit space is frustrating. It is difficult, sometimes impossible, to read about what you are seeing.  For this you need to buy the book.  Happily, to enjoy the exhibit, you have only to let the beauty and grace of these amazing creatures delight and amaze you.  Click here to read about it in French. Even if you don't read French, check out the site for the pictures. The picture above is of a deep sea octopus.

Goodbye to Winter

For those of us in the northern hemisphere, tomorrow is the Vernal Equinox, the first day of spring, but you wouldn't have known it was coming from the weather we had a few days ago.  This was the scene last Friday afternoon at a small graveyard off of a country road in western Massachusetts.  Beautiful, but cold and very, very un-springlike. 

Postcard du Jour #5 - A Month in Paris

Funny how spending a month in Paris instead of just three weeks made a difference in how we felt when it came time to return to Boston.  As we packed, we experienced a sense of being uprooted, a feeling that we were leaving home instead of returning to it.  Ever so briefly, we were reluctant to go home.

What makes a place "home" ?  People most of all, I think.  And after that, but not unrelated, it is a sense of being comfortable in one's surroundings.  French is a second language for both of us and, as our skills improve with each visit, it becomes easier and easier to follow the news, to understand what is going on around us in the métro, on the bus and on the street and, of course, to communicate. 

This spring's visit had some marvelous highlights.  A museum we had never visited before turned out to be a gem.  A tiny restaurant just twenty minutes walk from "home" was a revelation.  Trying to grasp some of what was going on politically in a culture so very different from our own was a challenge.  As always, it was wonderful to visit with old friends and to make new ones.  There were disappointments too, of course, principally the weather, which prevented us from enjoying some of the activities we had been looking forward to.  Here are some of the best and the worst of our experiences.

The best:

Le musée Guimet Gérard has been telling us for at least 4 years that this national museum of Asiatic Art is a "must see."  He was right!  Housed in stunning, recently renovated space, it features beautiful examples of art from Asian cultures, including the most extensive collection of Cambodian art in the world outside of Cambodia.  If you haven't been, go!  We can also recommend the small restaurant/café in the basement for a pleasant, light lunch with an oriental flavor. 

Le Temps au Temps This tiny restaurant at 13, rue Paul Bert in the 11th arrondisement offers a 27 euro prix fixe menu at night (less expensive prix fixe menus available at lunch).  It seats just 26 people, including 4 at the bar, making reservations for dinner mandatory.  (A least one full week recommended for groups of 4 - two weeks if you want a table for 6.)  We ate both a lunch and a dinner there and not only was the food delicious and the presentation pleasing but the service was cheerful and, uncommon for many restaurants, efficient.  It is closed Sundays and Mondays. 

Le Café Beaubourg. Operated by the same folks who own the Café Marley, this contemporary café next door to the Pompidou Center is a perfect stop for a cup of coffee, for a light lunch or for a cozy dinner. We enjoyed all three this visit and will go back.  In addition to a pleasing, modern ambiance, one of the pleasures of this restaurant is its menu, described in the March issue of Paris Notes as "purposefully unadventurous, a mélange of standards (omelets and croque monsieur or madame) and international fusion favorites (steamed vegetable plates, shrimp with Thai herbs, salads of every stripe)." 

Le Cité des Sciences et Industrie.  A comprehensive science museum located at La Villette near the Canal St Martin and les Buttes Chaumont that is wonderful fun for children of all ages.  We spent an afternoon there exploring an exhibit illustrating hard to solve science problems, trying not to be too rude as we jockeyed with young folks for access to exhibits that gave hands-on opportunities to test our skills.  Exhibits are organized around different themes:  mathematics, sound, genetics, energy, aeronautics etc.  A giant geodesic structure called the Giode (see photo) reflects the surroundings and houses an IMAX theater.  You can even go inside a real submarine.  Great fun for a rainy day.  A must if you take children to Paris.

Chartier. This turn of the 19th century workers' restaurant on the rue Montmartre never fails to please.  The food is not outstanding, but it is "correct" and the opportunity to people watch and to enjoy the belle epoque decor, the family style seating with paper table clothes that the waiters use to keep track of your order are well worth the modest cost of the meal.  This visit we met a local, retired French couple who regaled us with tales of their travels.  The beautiful setting is often used in period films, including the recent World War I movie,  Un long dimanche de fiançailles (A Long Engagement).    Read the history of the restaurant here.         

We can also recommend two temporary exhibits for those who will be visiting the City of Light in the very near future.

La Seine des photographes (The River Seine as seen by photographers) showing at the Conciergerie until May 8.  This exhibit features 150 years of work by numerous photographers, known and unknown, including Robert Doisneau, Willy Ronis and, of course, Henri Cartier-Bresson.  There is a picture showing the Seine frozen over in the winter of 1891, a couple taken at the time of the great flood of 1910 and one showing more than a foot of snow along the banks of the Seine in Paris in the winter of 1944-45. I loved this one of a cart taken using Autochrome around 1910 by Jules Gervais-Courtellement. The exhibition is housed in an open space with high, vaulted ceilings that provides ample room for movement and viewing.

Ingres 1780-1867 at the Louvre until May 15. Ingres is best known for his painting, The Turkish Bath, and for his strange, sensuous nudes that seem to lack a skeletal structure, but, with the exception of The Source which I liked quite a lot, I personally found his drawings and his portraits more interesting.  Worth the visit whatever your artistic tastes.

Disappointments.

The Chateau at Chantilly on a Chilly, Rainy Day We thought that Klaus and Marlene would enjoy walking on the beautiful grounds so took a chance on the weather.  We lost.  We did have a nice walk in the woods from the train station to the Chateau but things went downhill from there.  Lunch at the Hameau was not a great success (although the creme chantilly is seriously decadent).  The inside of the chateau was gloomy and full of Easter tourists. Save this trip for a sunny day.

Trying to Visit Museums during Easter Week We saved the intriguingly entitled one-hour film compilation, "Paris in the Cinema," at the Hotel de Ville for Klaus and Marlene's visit and found, once we got there, that the outdoor wait was two hours.  Not an option in the drizzle.  As an alternative, we decided to walk to the musée d'Orsay where we found more long lines just to get into the museum to buy tickets.  Klaus and Marlene tried the Grand and Petit Palais and found the same long waits.  Happily, the Pompidou Center was accessible without a wait.

Bad Steak  We had a very disappointing culinary evening at one of our favorite restaurants (which shall go unnamed) when we were served entrecote that was close to inedible.  And this after paying a supplement to have it as part of the prix fixe menu.  I am talking about inedible to the point of having to return much chewed upon pieces to the plate.  The owners were on vacation and my guess is that the regular chef was too. 

Thank You Chester Greenwood

There is no way I could get through the cold months without my earmuffs, so I was interested to learn that Mr. Greenwood, a grammar school dropout and prolific inventor, received a patent for earmuffs on this day in 1877.  He invented them in 1873 when he was 15.  Read more and see a picture of his invention here.

Postcard from Home - Big Apple Adventure Part III

Around 4:30 Sunday morning, I was awakened by a flash of light followed by rumbling.  I opened my eyes and noted that snow was piled up against the window of our 35th floor hotel room.  I thought a minute, decided I must have imagined the flash, and went back to sleep.  Thunder and lightening do not go with snow storms, right?  But it happened again, and then again as dawn approached and there was no doubt.  The predicted blizzard conditions had arrived.

First order of business, after coffee, orange juice and a muffin from the purveyor in the lobby, was to confirm that the trains were running.  A decision needed to be made.  Should we take an earlier train, stick with our plan to take the 6 p.m. Acela. or stay over another night.  Charles, my loyal sherpa, fought high winds, snow banks and blowing snow to check out the situation at Penn Station.  Trains were running late, but ours was expected to make the trip -- sooner or later.  As we considered our options, the hotel's fire alarm went off.  At that moment, having a room on the 35th floor seemed like a really bad idea.  Quickly, we made our decision, packed our bags and checked out.

We lunched at the now familiar Tick Tock Diner and I took a few pictures through the windows (see above for one of them). Conditions were too wet and windy for me to use the camera outdoors, alas.  Fortified, we trudged through the snow to the subway for an easy trip back to the American Museum of Natural History.  Charles wanted to revisit the Darwin exhibit and we both wanted to spend time in other parts of this intriguing and unique museum.  We were pleased to discover that you can enter the Museum right from the subway.  Perfect!!

After a leisurely afternoon in the company of a large number of families who had had the same idea, we made the requisite visit to the museum shop to buy books and, of course, scientific funsies for The Adorable One. Here is one of the photos I was able to take looking at Central Park from the safety of the front steps of the museum before we hopped back on the subway.  Charles gallantly dropped me off at Penn Station so I wouldn't have to go outside then, as I relaxed with a warm cup of coffee, he went into sherpa mode to collect our luggage from the hotel.  His trek back to the station was arduous. He discovered the hard way that having wheels on luggage is useless in blizzards.

The end of our adventure was quite tame.  By late afternoon, New York City had received a record snow fall in Central Park (27 inches I believe). Our Amtrak train was the first of the day to leave on time and we arrived at Back Bay Station only 10 minutes later than scheduled.  Of course, our adventure wasn't quite over.  Boston, too, had received a substantial amount of snow (18 inches or so) and we had 4 short and 1 long, snowy, slippery  blocks to haul our luggage.  At least Charles had help this time.  We opened our door to find two warm and contented cats.  'Tis true.  There is no place like home.

Postcard from Home - Big Apple Adventure Part II

Saturday of our New York City adventure was all about extended family - the one all of us share with the animal kingdom and one that is more personal.

We woke on Saturday to gray skies.  Visibility was still good, however, and, even though the weather channel was warning of an approaching blizzard in DC, NYC and Boston, there was no evidence of it yet.  We took the subway to the American Museum of Natural History where we met our good friend (and extended family member) Barbara who had gotten us all tickets to see the Darwin exhibit that morning.  Barbara, my sister's sister-in law, was in New York to visit her son and his family, to see the Darwin exhibit and to attend a special event scheduled at the Museum on Sunday.  Barbara taught 6th grade for years and is passionate about science.

The huge dinosaur skeleton in the photo graces the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Hall as you enter the museum on the first floor.

No photography is allowed in the Darwin exhibit proper, but you can take pictures of the live Galapagos tortoises (mere babes at 2 to 3 feet long) just before entering.  The tortoises were lively considering that they are tortoises and it was wonderful to see youngsters with their noses pressed against the glass watching in fascination.

The Exhibit was extensive.  It took us 2 1/2 hours to get through it and, at that, we didn't see every detail.  It is comprised of large posters with photos and text chronicling Darwin's life and work. Excerpts from relevant correspondence with typed versions beside each were displayed in glass covered cases below the posters, which was a good thing because, as beautiful as the handwriting was, it was hard to read.  There was a life sized reproduction of his home library where he worked and wrote in the years following his voyage on the Beagle.

A huge, live iguana (the same kind as the one that Barbara keeps on her back porch) lounged behind glass, looking inert except when its eyes opened and followed those peering through the glass and, periodically, when its chest moved as it took a breath.  There were also live South American ornate horned frogs whose camoflage made them a challenge to spot among the rocks and moss in their display case.  Otherwise, the animals on display were either preserved specimens or models. Some of the smaller specimens, like beetles, were set up with microscopes of the type used by Darwin that allowed you to take a closer look.  For me, It was a particular thrill to see a tray of Darwin's finches and to be able to observe the differences in the beaks!

In general, I do not care for exhibits that are mostly made up of posters, but this one worked well and it is hard to imagine how all of the information could have been conveyed otherwise.  Nevertheless, I have two complaints.  First, the lighting was way too dim making it really hard to read the interesting materials.  Second, I thought that there was too much proselytizing.  The force of the exhibit was enough to make the point and the film clips and other materials emphasizing the legitimacy of evolution felt to me like protesting too much. 

Exhausted and exhilarated, we walked to the nearby Ocean Grill for lunch.  By the time we finished, it was sleeting lightly.  Still, the mild temperatures lured us into believing that the forecast blizzard would not happen.

Saturday evening we took the subway uptown to Broadway and 72nd street to the home of Barbara's son and family.  Sipping on a glass of wine we chatted with know Scott and Mariela and enjoying the antics of Jack and Allie, their two very bright and active children  Then it was into the subway again for the trip downtown to one of Mariela's favorite restaurants, Landmarc in TriBeCa.  There the five us us enjoyed a wonderful dinner with stimulating conversation in a high energy environment.  Ah New York!

The snow was beginning to stick a bit as we left the restaurant for the subway ride to the hotel.  But temperatures were still on the warm side and we thought perhaps that the forecast blizzard would not happen.  Wrong!!

The Threat of Distant Elephants

"Things get worse slowly.  People adjust.  The problem is assigning the correct degree of fear to distant elephants."  David D. Clark, MIT Senior Research Scientist and Chief Protocol Architect in the development of the Internet in the 1980's quoted in the December 2005/2006 Technology Review article by David Talbot: The Internet is Broken.  Read the article here.

The caution applies to areas other than the Internet, doesn't it?  I think we need to be more afraid of elephants.

Food for Thought

I never thought I would wish I were Maureen Dowd, but I know that if I were, I would have been able to come up with a very witty - nay cutting -  commentary about our current administration based on this interesting news item about the apparent tradeoff in male bats between high testosterone levels and brains.   Maureen, your territory is safe from me.  And that is probably for the best.

Why I Love Photography

"You have to pursue photography, not just in the physical sense ... but mentally and emotionally as well.  Photography is a fascinating marriage of art and physics.  It's a journey of the mind as well as of the the body." Rick Smolan in the Forward to DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY HACKS 100 Industrial-Strength Tips & Tools by Derrick Story.

The book, which is full of really nifty suggestions, was a Christmas gift from my thoughtful son-in-law, Steve.