When in Paris, chances are you might suddenly encounter Mr. Cat (Monsieur Chat) who has become an iconic figure, which surprises Parisians and tourists alike with his enigmatic feline smile in the most random places.
I particularly remember having a coffee at Georges, a swanky cafe/restaurant situated at the top of the George Pompidou center, which boasts one of the most breath taking views of the City of Lights.
Well there I am, sipping on a café crème, and all of a sudden I notice a giant yellow grinning cat staring at me from a rooftop across the street. I loved the image but wondered who had the guts to actually climb that high. I didn't really got too curious until I spotted another such tag on a wall in Montmartre and then a few days later another one in Bastille. It wasn't long before I realized that Paris was full of Monsieur Chat graffiti graphics, and it became almost like a game, like a personal wink that would bring a smile to my face whenever I spotted a new cat somewhere unexpectedly. I later heard that he has traveled to other cities in France and even the rest of Europe.
Monsieur Chat has become such an icon that a young filmmaker Chris Marker, of La Jetee fame, made a political essay called Chat perches (Perched Cats) in which he claims that the cats started to appear after the September 11 attacks. True on not, Monsieur Chat and his dashing grin are a definitely a nice little detail about modern Paris.
check these out for more fun:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tofz4u/sets/1691054
Pour les Francophones check this out
http://monsieurchat.free.fr/MChat.php
Another fabulous Parisian graffiti treat are the sexy Fafi girls. The artist has already become a star in her own right with albums featured at the Colette ûber-store
http://www.fafi.net
http://www.myspace.com/fafinette
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