all change is not growth, as all movement is not forward – e. glasgow

allo all! it’s very late and my last post from paris this time around. it’s been a fantastic trip with lots of great memories and pretty things coming home. but for the first time, it’s a little different for me. as you know i adore the flea markets and all the stories they tell. lately though, i feel a little bittersweetness about it because the subtle ‘progressive’ changes in the city are becoming more apparent and i’m not sure they’re for the best.

ok maybe at times paris can be a bit of a gilded lily, and i can understand wanting to mix the old with the new. but paris is the worlds’ muse and we come for her beauty and inspiration.

le train-bleu, in paris’ gare de lyon

and as someone who loves interior and exterior architecture, i can’t for the life of me figure out why the french allow their beautiful city to be ravaged by renovators.

the changes are everywhere, from the windows coming down and satellite dishes going up

to small details like the books being pilfered for engraving and endpapers sold as scraps

glass fronts on traditional boulangeries and boucheries are tossed aside and the storefronts are cemented over

handpainted panels are removed and separated from the grand walls they once adorned

and apparently stained glass is considered passé

why someone would want to dismantle a marble fireplace and mirror is beyond me

and why would the city allow such destruction?

i mean, i’m not complaining, it gets circulated all over the world i suppose

but it just seems that in this day and age we should preserve what we have and take care of it as stewards

these apartments will be here long after us and what will be left?

where is the love?

and why is it being replaced with  ‘sanitization’of the city’ as the french are calling it?

ok maybe i am complaining just a little. it’s happening throughout the city. these beautiful old tile frames in the metro are all coming down

and the old bouquinistes kisoks are being replaced with one of the prototypes below

maybe like joni mitchell sings,  paris, is old and cold and settled in its ways. but isn’t that why we love her so?  if the powers that be want to make changes, i humbly suggest adding a few more escalators in the metros, make it easier to catch a cab and run a design contest for a pretty something to cover the hanging clear plastic garbage bags on the streets.  of course outlawing satellite dishes and making it a crime to dismantle apartments and store facades over 100 years old wouldn’t hurt either! but some say it’s progress. i say it’s heartbreaking. what do you think?