{"id":34174,"date":"2021-09-21T05:30:09","date_gmt":"2021-09-21T03:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=34174"},"modified":"2021-09-20T22:42:57","modified_gmt":"2021-09-20T20:42:57","slug":"christos-arc-de-triomphe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/christos-arc-de-triomphe\/","title":{"rendered":"Christo\u2019s Arc de Triomphe"},"content":{"rendered":"

A dream almost 60 years in the making is finally a reality. Last Thursday – on the eve of the Journ\u00e9es Europ\u00e9ennes du Patrimoines<\/a> – President Emmanuel Macron inaugurated l\u2019Arc de Triomphe empaquet\u00e9 de Christo<\/strong>1<\/a><\/sup>The wrapped Arc de Triomphe by Christo<\/em><\/span>.<\/p>\n

Christo\u2019s Arc de Triomphe<\/h3>\n

Thursday\u2019s ceremony celebrated a project that Christo and his wife Jeanne-Claude first imagined in 1962, \u201cune id\u00e9e qu’ils ont eue en regardant le monument depuis leur premier appartement parisien, avenue Foch<\/strong><\/a>\u201d2<\/a><\/sup>an idea that first came to them as they looked out on the monument from their first Parisian apparement, Avenue Foch<\/em><\/span>.<\/p>\n

While the French president referred to the work – which required \u201c25.000 m2 de tissu recycl\u00e9 argent bleut\u00e9, maintenu par 3.000 m\u00e8tres de corde rouge<\/strong>\u201d3<\/a><\/sup>25,000 square meters of silver-blue recycled\/recyclable fabric, held by 3,000 meters of red rope<\/em>\u00a0<\/span> – as \u201cun chef d\u2019\u0153uvre<\/strong>\u201d4<\/a><\/sup>a masterpiece<\/em><\/span> \u2026 not everyone who saw the work was as impressed.<\/p>\n

While some of the reactions<\/a> were esthetic (\u201cObjectivement, c\u2019est quoi cette horreur?<\/strong> \/ Objectively, just what is this horror?<\/em>\u201d; \u201cPardonnez ma vulgarit\u00e9 mais recouvrir l\u2019arc de triomphe de papier cul<\/strong>5<\/a><\/sup>Note: papier cul<\/em> is a slang term for papier toilette<\/em><\/span> \u2026 \/ Forgive my vulgarness, but covering the Arc de Triomphe in toilet paper \u2026\u00a0<\/em>\u201c) others were offended by the 14 million Euro cost of the project (\u201c14 millions d\u2019euros d\u00e9pens\u00e9s pour le n\u00e9ant<\/strong>. \/ 14 million Euros spent for nothing<\/em>\u201d; \u201c14 millions d’\u20ac, pour emballer l’#ArcDeTriomphe<\/a><\/span> ! Dans quelques semaines, les SDF<\/strong>6<\/a><\/sup>SDF is an acronym of \u2018sans domicile fixe<\/em>\u2019 \/ \u2018without a fixed residence\u2019<\/span><\/em> s’appr\u00eateront \u00e0 affronter le froid. La honte<\/strong> \/ 14 million Euros to wrap the Arc de Triomphe! In a few weeks the homeless will be getting ready to face the cold. The shame<\/em>\u201d<\/span>) even though \u201cle projet est enti\u00e8rement autofinanc\u00e9, sans subvention publique, gr\u00e2ce \u00e0 la vente d’oeuvres originales de Christo, dessins pr\u00e9paratoires, souvenirs, maquettes et lithographies<\/strong>\u201d7<\/a><\/sup>the project is entirely self-financed, with no public support, thanks to the sale of original works by Christo [related to the project including] working designs, souvenir models, and lithographs<\/em><\/span>.<\/p>\n

You can see pictures of the installation process here<\/a>\u00a0and a simple Google image search for \u2018Christo Arc de Triomphe\u2019<\/a> will bring you to many more. For a deeper look, check out this news story from the American news program CBS Saturday Morning<\/a>.<\/p>\n

News term of the week<\/h3>\n

Franco-American relationships hit a bump this week following the announcement of a joint US-UK deal to provide the Australian government with des sous-marins nucl\u00e9aires<\/strong>. The new deal resulted in the \u201c[l]a rupture du contrat du si\u00e8cle par l’Australie [. U]ne commande de 12 sous-marins fran\u00e7ais<\/strong><\/a>\u201d8<\/a><\/sup>the breaking of the contract of the century. An order for 12 French submarines<\/em><\/span> worth an estimated 66 milliards de dollars<\/strong>.9<\/a><\/sup>Billion dollars<\/em>. Remember that un\u00a0milliard<\/em>\u00a0in French is one billion \u2026 <\/em>while un billion<\/em>\u00a0equals an English trillion<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The conflict also resulted in la France rappelant ses ambassadeurs aux\u00a0\u00c9tats-Unis et en Australie<\/strong>10<\/a><\/sup>France recalling its Ambassadors from the US and Australia<\/em><\/span>. As an American who loves France, I hope that the parties can come to a mutually acceptable resolution of the tensions soon.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s your lucky day<\/h3>\n

As I was wrapping up this week\u2019s post, I happened across this fun new video from the French group Catastrophe. Here are a few useful terms that should help you interpret: l\u2019inconnu<\/strong> \/ the stranger<\/em>11<\/a><\/sup>Albert Camus\u2019s most famous novel in English is, of course, The Stranger. The original French title is l\u2019\u00c9tranger which can be translated<\/a> as stranger<\/em>, but also as\u00a0foreigner\u00a0<\/em>or outsider<\/em>.<\/span>, la chance<\/strong> \/ luck<\/em>, la malchance<\/strong> \/ bad luck<\/em>. I hope you enjoy Jour de chance<\/strong> \/ Lucky day.<\/em><\/p>\n