Saturday, 10 January 2015

Paris Te Souris

Paris changed forever this week. Events there were terrible, and unimagined before Wednesday. Now they are part of our memory. So many lives were lost senselessly.

I've seen these mice on my last few visits, but I didn't discover their (double) meaning until I got back from my last trip in November. Mice in French is la souris which is close to sourire, the verb to smile. Paristesouris is a creation of Dutch artist Kees van Dijk in a workshop on Ile Saint Louis. 30,000 mice have spread their smiles around the world so far.

Paris needs more smiles this week. And so do we.

It's important to keep your eyes peeled in Paris

You'll see all manner of things

Sometimes you'll realise you've seen them before

Like these little white mice

They pop up all over the place
I never knew why sometimes some were missing

I thought maybe they'd just fallen off

But now I know that they're making people smile.

Next time I'll have to bring my own Paris Souris home to Australia. 

Dreaming of France is a wonderful Monday meme
from Paulita at An Accidental Blog 

Saturday Snapshot is a wonderful weekly meme
 now hosted by WestMetroMommy

at

11 comments:

  1. Unknown10 January 2015 at 21:01

    The face sticking out of the wall reminds me of a tour we went on somewhere else in Europe, and the tour guide was trying to get us to find this sculpture. His only clue was "nobody KNOWS what it is". Eventually he had to point out the brass nose sticking out of the wall. Such fun!

    ~Linking over from Saturday Snapshots Linky~

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  2. Laurel-Rain Snow11 January 2015 at 02:12

    Well, we can always use a smile...especially in these dark times.

    I am not a fan of mice...LOL; but in this context, yes.

    Thanks for sharing...and for visiting my blog.

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  3. grammajudyb11 January 2015 at 02:52

    How very interesting! Love those little mice showing up everywhere.

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  4. Sandra Nachlinger11 January 2015 at 05:02

    Great photos and what fun! With so much to see in Paris, it would be hard to overlook those little white mice. When I visit (eventually!), I'll be on the lookout for them.

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  5. Esme11 January 2015 at 06:03

    what a clever play on words.

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  6. westmetromommy11 January 2015 at 10:22

    I've never heard of these before...how delightful! Thank you for sharing!

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  7. Deb Nance at Readerbuzz11 January 2015 at 14:08

    Thank you, Louise.

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  8. Brona11 January 2015 at 20:06

    I love all the wonderful details you spot on your visits, but this particular one seems so poignant after the events of this week.
    Anything that reminds us of good times, peace, generosity, humanity at its best is a fine thing indeed.

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  9. Esme12 January 2015 at 03:21

    I do not know why in the US they think it odd to hang the laundry out to dry. We did it all the time in Canada. and I forgot about doing it when I lived in Australia. My husband (and neighbor) would probably have heart attacks if I strung a line here. I may just strings my bras and undies from the trees for the fun of it. Ha Ha.

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  10. Paulita 13 January 2015 at 07:19

    Great eye to be able to find these. I'll be on the lookout in March! Thanks for playing along with Dreaming of France.

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  11. Julie14 January 2015 at 01:28

    This is really quite amazing. Whenever I make it to Paris someday, I will be on the lookout for these! Thank you for sharing!

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