Sunday, February 28, 2010

Two Things Challenge - Ugly/Pretty


Oh I hate to do this to you, my loyal readers. I know you long to see the lovely side of Paris right here each day, but today we must have a peek at the other side. I promise, just this once. The Two Things Challenge is Ugly/Pretty and well........if this door in the Marais isn't pretty ugly I don't know what is. I'm a bit surprised that it's been allowed to go to rack and ruin , or at the very least hasn't been painted a fabulous rouge!

Click here to see the other great participants and how they interpreted the theme today.

20 comments:

Alexa said...

Ugly, yes, but only on the surface. I'd sure love to go to work reviving that actually-very-beautiful door! Bet you would too.

Maya said...

OH V! This is my exact same idea (except mine is in Lyon). I wonder if I should even bother posting now... le *sigh*

Debi said...

Pretty door. Pretty dog. Pretty knocker. Pretty passerby.

But, sheesh, that is some ugly tagging. I thought tagging in Paris would be a cut above.

Wonderful entry for 2 Things.

Owen said...

Like the old song "Both Sides Now", it's good to see more than one side of things, and some of the harder parts make us appreciate that much more the truly beautiful. What is really a shame here are the hideous "tags" where people brainlessly scrawl their vulgar signatures. A very far remove from street art, which has nothing to do with the crass act of tagging. But you are right, it is often surprising in Paris, and elsewhere in France to find how people have let potentially beautiful old properties get run down...

Shell Sherree said...

In a way, it's good to get a dose of reality so that I don't pass out if I come across something like this in Paris. But it would be returned to its 'pretty' state fairly easily, thank goodness...

Amanda said...

Such a shame!

Harriet said...

You have reminded us with this photo that we should not take beautiful buildings/fascades for granted --- they must be cared for.

Starman said...

Ugly? Not at all, it just has character.

seanjonesfoto said...

i think this image is quite beautiful... i often find that old and/ or deteriorating structures and objects to be equally as beautiful, if not more beautiful than their contemporary counterparts... i agree with you that it's a shame that it's a shame that this stunning door was allowed to fall into such ruin...

Virginia said...

In Paris or anywhere else, I do appreciate the old and the worn so very much. I think what turned me off here was, as many of you have said, the senseless graffiti and defacing of this fine old door. I hope on my next visit I can find it, and it's been lovingly restored in some way.
V

Katie said...

I agree that it's tough to see this beautiful old door defaced. I'm well aware that not all of Paris is gorgeous, and I will admit that there's plenty of Parisian graffiti that I actually like, but this is just wrong! I do like the photo though, esp. the little dog.

Petrea Burchard said...

I don't mind seeing the ugly side of things, Virginia. Feel free to show us all your photos!

When I saw the dog I thought maybe you were still doing last week's challenge (gift/door)...

Virginia said...

Petrea,
LOL!! Le petit cadeau des chiens! Always a surprise to find on the streets of Paris.
V

Louis la Vache said...

When «Louis» first visited France in 1996, you saw graffiti in the "red belt", but very little of it in Paris. Each year between 1996 and 2005 when «Louis» moved to France, he saw more graffiti in Paris. When he lived there, it seemed the graffiti had gotten out of control. «Louis» isn't optimistic that you will return to find a decline in the defacing done by graffiti...

Virginia said...

Louis,
I fear it's on the rise in Paris and everywhere else. what's the answer? It makes me so sad to see all of our cities defaced like this.
V

Vivian aka Deborah said...

The door is pretty beautiful....the graffiti is ugly. Is any city without graffiti? Shame that.
This challenge of ugly/ pretty has brought out some very interesting photos. Great photo for the challenge!

Daryl said...

A perfect illustration

Dianne said...

It really is the ugly and the pretty but that's the same in all cities especially Paris. Virginia have you ever been able to capture a photo of a "clochard" ? I saw a lot of them in front of the Hotel de Ville in the evenings - there faces so full of character- i would have loved to have taken a photo! but felt maybe they would feel uncomfortable about this.
Dianne

Eeyore said...

The urban art that is soemtimes even commissioned by the store owner can be quite stunning, and in it's way beautiful, but I wonder if the truly great at it don't wind up encouraging the truly bad at it. This tagging seems senseless, to me.

Jilly said...

Oh how sad this is! People who do this should be made to scrub it down in front of the population and named in newspapers and shamed. Grrrrrrrrr

Fab shot with the person and dog crossing this lovely (once) doorway.