Paris, New Year and le Musee du quai Branly

When my good old French friends invited me for New Year, there could only be one answer. So on New Year's Eve I found myself walking along the Seine with my old chum Thierry, who runs an exceptionally innovative engineering business near Limoges.

I've always loved African indigenous art. Once called 'primitive art' as it's materials are basic, yet Picasso was a big collector and it had a huge influence on him, as well as European modernism and design worldwide. Because of this we went to the Musee du qui Branly which has one of the Worlds greatest collections of ethnological art.

Located just a few 100m from the Eiffel Tower, the site was originally selected for one of Francois Mitterand's grand projects. However it was Jacques Chirac who took an interest in the project, and the museum opened in 2006.

Musee du quai Branly divide their collections into four geographic regions, Asia, Oceania, Americas and Africa and I took a few photos in each :

The last looked like an effigy of Homer Simpson.

Every great city needs an iconic building, and Paris has the greatest of them all, the Eiffel Tower. It seems strange today that people hated it when first built and wanted it demolished. It only stands because the money ran out after the 1889 Paris World Fair, yet no visitor like me can avoid taking pictures. Here are a few of mine :