The good, the bad, and the ugly

Despite the dreary weather today, I had something to look forward to: buying a carte orange ticket for the week. There's nothing more liberating than knowing that I can hop onto a metro at any time with my pass.

And I did hop on: first to Republique, where I disembarked and walked along Canal St. Martin. Unfortunately, some of my favorite shops and cafes were closed for the August holidays, but luckily, Artazart....a really cool design bookstore...was open.

After perusing the books in Artazart, I crossed the canal on a quai not far from Hotel du Nord, and saw some very unsavory characters harrassing pedestrians as well as people in cars. It looks like they're some of the few survivors of last winter's tent encampment of "sans domiciles," and particularly unpleasant, aggressive ones at that. I love that area and I felt sorry for the local residents -- the ones who don't live in tents -- when I saw what was happening there.

I had a craving for Vietnamese food, so I walked up to Belleville for lunch....an amazing and mystifiying quartier for me, where Asians, Jews, Arabs, and artists seem to live in apparent harmony.

Then I headed to a shopping area in search of a warm coat, because the weather is in the 50s here and I wasn't prepared for it. I didn't find what I was looking for....there's a new coat style here that's vaguely remiscent of 1962 (think Parker Posey in "The House of Yes"), but got distracted by the incredibly gorgeous bathroom displays.

In Europe, it's completely normal to have beautiful bathroom fixtures (or any kind of home design), whereas the USA still seems to be in the grip of hideous, bulky, neocolonial furniture design. It's no wonder IKEA became so popular in the USA...but IKEA is only one of many European shops. There are many more inexpensive options that look as stylish, or better. I'm including a couple of photos of affordable, good-looking bathroom fixtures that are normal here, but called "European Design" in the USA (which is synonymous for "not ugly").

I don't understand what the deal is with American furniture design....why purposely design something that's ugly and then waste materials and labor on it?

And finally....I'm including a photo of the really cool bike-rental system that just started this year in Paris. Last year they were ripping up the streets and sidewalks to build useful and safe bike lanes...this year, there's a bike-rental system where you can rent a bike for about a euro an hour and return your rented bike to a kiosk in nearly any neighborhood. The bikes look really cool, they're brand new, they have bright headlights, and you see people riding them everywhere....hello, American entrepreneurs...take note...