Cheap Art: The Paris Print Shop

($24 by The Paris Print Shop)

Oh look, I've discovered a new favorite Paris art obsession: these illustrations by the husband and wife team at the Paris Print Shop. You might know Nichole Robertson from her blog Little Brown Pen, which is now called Obvious State. LBP was renowned for Robertson's photos of Paris in all its varying color collections. What a nice compliment to her work to see that her husband, Evan, is such a fantastic illustrator/designer.

Museum of Broken Hearts

(photo via France Inter)

Sure, Paris may be known as the city of love and romance and all that crap, but it's not as romantic as you might think, and getting your heart broken is universal. A broken heart is as sure to the human experience as breathing or sleeping. If you've ever laughed, you've had (or will have) your heart broken. Because there's no way to experience joy without pain, nor darkness without light.

The folks at the Museum of Broken Relationships in Zagreb, Croatia know this, and created an entire gallery that houses the artifacts of love lost - teddy bears, love notes, handcuffs. The donation of these objects had many reasons, whether catharsis, exhibitionism, or just for fun - but all were the relics of a relationship ended. Now the museum has taken the show on the road and are now displaying "Le Musée des Coeurs Brisés" (Museum of Broken Hearts) at the Centquatre in Paris.

It's fascinating to browse the seemingly simple objects of the expo (an axe, a wedding dress) and to read the stories tied to each item. What would you donate? I still have a plastic ring my college boyfriend got for me at a gas station toy machine during a road trip. I'd probably donate that.

Museum of Broken Hearts
4-7€
Now through 20 January
104 Centquatre
104 Rue d'Aubervilliers  75019 Paris
Métro: M7 to Riquet

Learning French

Happy New Year, dear readers! Do you do resolutions? I'm not so much about resolving, but more about making goals to work toward. This year, one of mine is to become fluent in French - which means going beyond just dirty words and medieval curses (two areas I'm pretty good in). I want to be comfortable in conversation with fast-speaking Parisians, able to decipher song lyrics, and hopefully, someday, able to read a book in French. My dream is to one day be able to eavesdrop at a party of Frenchies and integrate myself into the conversation (which is difficult for me even in my native language). As I wrote for Girls' Guide to Paris, I've tried many ways to learn this language, some fun and some tedious, but it all boils down to working hard at it. Listening to the radio helps, as does having a French boyfriend. But let's take this one resolution at a time.