The Hotel de Ville Photog shows - Paris in Color and as a Melting Pot.

There are currently two photography shows running at the Hotel de Ville that are big, free, different and worth visiting - one until the beginning (Le Metisse) and the other until the end (En Couleurs) of March.

First, go to the “Paris En Couleurs (from the Lumiere Brothers to Martin Parr)” one, either at 10 AM or really late in the PM any day except Sundays, otherwise you'll be waiting forever. I chose a rainy but warm day and still waited 20 minutes at 10:08 AM.

But it was well worth the wait. Because it's so popular, they only let in 5-10 persons every 5-10 minutes, so one can truly see everything clearly. It's a combo show: backlit color photos, magazine spreads, videos and traditionally mounted photographs plus a film of rare shots of Paris under the German/Nazi occupation, with blood-curdling slogans, semi-realistic pix of people going about their business "normally" and only one of a woman wearing a conspicuous Star of David.

For me there was too much attention to the riots/manifs/demos of '68 (I was here and I truly feared the CRS too) but I think '68 changed France even more than it changed America, so maybe their fixation on it is OK. On the other hand, the photos of street scenes go from nostalgic to clichés, but not one is boring. I had thought I might skip the show because I'd seen a long TV show on the photos and thought I’d seen it all, but in the flesh - so to speak - they were awesome.

Leaving, I saw a sign for a show designated "PARIS: Le Metisse," which strictly translated means crossbreeding/crossbred, but really means Paris as a melting pot, that is, for other cultures/peoples who have moved here. There was no line, it's way inside the courtyard of the City Hall (a fascinating place) and it was empty.

But it too was well worth the visit, featuring photos of all sorts of folks who now call Paris home. It's ironic that the photo they chose as the poster/icon for the show is their small copy of the Statue of Liberty which we, of course, regard as France's contribution to our welcoming immigrants into the harbor of New York, entry to America – but here it's their acknowledgement of their role in welcoming others as well. It was strangely touching to me - a double immigrant.