A fourth New Years’ Eve in Paris was a landmark for this blogger: I realized that the city had grown on me. The marvel of first being in Paris has faded, the honeymoon is over. We’re officially committed to each other now. Rather than an artifact to dissect, and sing praises, the city has become…
Tag: europe
Bois de Vincennes: Sanctuary, Invigoration, Enchantment
At this time of year, just before autumn, a walk through the Bois de Vincennes is a revelatory experience. There are a few dimensions of a walk in the woods to be appreciated by an otherwise computer bound student: 1. I am grateful that Vincennes is a dramatic break from the urbanised surrounding region. It…
Attached to the river features: affective ties to the Seine and Marne ( emotive geographies 11)
The topography of Paris is fundamentally shaped by the Seine and Marne rivers. One could simply relate to them as physical aspects of the geography of the city… Yet, the rivers are also associated to the varying meanings that we attach to them and the associated feelings that come with those meanings. While jogging this…
Interstitial Affective Zones: Paris, Centre Georges Pompidou (emotive geographies 7)
In between-ness, conflicting emotions, divided points of view, also form an important part of our experience of place. The emotions that spaces around us produce are at times not as clearcut as positive and negative – and this has certainly been the case for this blogger in navigating and trying to discover London and Paris….
Drive and Desire: London (emotive geographies 6)
If Paris is a pleasure inducing sight in the early hours of the morning, London (for me) is less overpowering but rather more enticing. The phrase ‘London is calling’ captures the feeling of seeing London take shape and come to life in the early hours of the morning: I often take a morning run or…
Before the raising of the curtain: early morning Paris (emotive geographies 5)
On this morning’s early morning jog, it struck me that the meanings and emotions that we attach to places are also a function of time: At the most basic, this would mean at what time of the day we find ourselves in particular spaces (this could be expanded to include considerations about season, year, epoch,…
Emotive geography (3): Rue Notre Dame des Champs
A life spent with friends, and family, and familiar faces often unfolds for this blogger on Rue Notre dame des Champs. The sound of the name evokes particualr feelings of belonging, acceptance, being welcomed, warmth. A simple look at the street would not suggest this, necessarily. particularly on the more moody nights when it is…
Emotive Geography (2): Westminster, Whitehall London
A walk around Westminster during term time means coming across various protests – many of them longterm ones. It’s always interesting to stop, and get a sense of the broad range of political and social causes that attract varying sized crowds – from one woman protests that have been going on for years over Tibet,…
‘Emotive’ Geography (1) : London, Millenium Bridge and St. Paul’s
The places that we live, the world around us, is continuously drawing out different emotional responses: peace, contentment, inspiration, anger, security .. and insecurity, and different psychological dispositions: willpower, pride, confidence or the opposite. I’ve been thinking about how different parts of Paris and London evoke particular emotional responses and how they affect – positively…
Village Paris and the last nights of summer
Grateful graduate project: Reasons to be grateful 228-232 Paris’s current design emerged partly from the assimilation of a series of villages. This relegates a lot of daily living, socializing to the level of neighborhoods that have very distinct and accessible characteristics. Bercy was one of those villages formerly outside of Paris that have since become…
Anon's Paris 