Paris pit stop, cont’d - another rather fabulous restoration: former ‘universal store’ shopping institution La Samaritaine returned to its original Art Nouveau glory, with Eiffel-style metal frame, vast atrium, and enamel panels. Disappointingly, though perhaps predictably, the new shopping experience has dropped the eclectic ‘On trouve tout’ approach in favour of the more anonymous luxury brand concessions.
Paris pit stop, cont’d - the cupola frieze at the former Bourse de Commerce, depicting art, science, agriculture and industry (those factories spewing fumes were the future, once), and former French colonies and dominions.
Kniphofia time at the Barbican. And Melica, and Sesleria and, and… dozens more plant species which create a mass in almost constant movement. From a distance, it can look a little homogenous, with the grass matrix really coming to the fore in places, but as you approach, you get distinctive ‘frames’ of plant combinations, where each plant shows its own form, features and colour, and you start noticing the summer flowerers coming up: Salvia, Echinops, Perovskia, Penstemon, Hylotelephium, Verbena, Stachys, Nepeta etc. And it’s really difficult to photograph properly.
