Beauty in paper

Tags

paper, Paris, postaday2016

   
 
   
 
My very dear friends Claudine and Marc sent me this lovely card for the First of the Year, in France holiday cards are meant for wishing friends and family a happy New Year, Christmas is more of a religious holiday, the festivities are really reserved for the New Year. They also sent me an absolutely lovely film of an evening boat ride along the Seine in Paris, my husband and I felt as if we were on the actual boat, sitting back and drinking in the gorgeous nighttime scenery of Paris, the City of Light. My husband turned to me and said “this is what we will do the next time we find ourselves together in Paris” I can’t wait, I have never taken a boat ride along the Seine, so I have something new to look forward to and my husband knows how to make things like this happen and make it a lot of fun as well.

A sweet souvenir

Tags

Paris, postaday2015, selfie

  
My sister sent me this sweet picture, it brought me right back to that moment, we had such a wonderful time together in France, those days and weeks will remain with me forever. 

I can’t quite grasp the fact that we were there just a sort 4 months ago, in August and a few months later, tragedy exploded. My heart is with France in normal times, when horrific things happen, my heart bleeds for them even though I am far away.

La Tour Eiffel is always a sight to behold, grand and majestic in its simplicity, a fitting symbol for the city of light. It makes for an excellent background for a selfie. lol 😀

An open letter to the monsters who did this to Paris

Tags

Paris, postaday2015, terror

To those who have no soul,

What is wrong with you?! I am sitting here with my stomach in my throat, wondering what some of my family who live in Paris are going through, what the rest of my family in France are dealing with, the panic, the terror and the anguish the French people must be feeling right now.

There is no justification for using terror as a means to an end, especially where the end isn’t clear, the means are murderous and the perpetrators cowardly retreat to the shadows. If you feel wronged come out into the open, don’t take advantage of a political system, a cultural system based on the ideals of equality, liberty and fraternity that welcomes immigrants and tries to intergrate them into their society. 

What is your end goal? This has nothing to do with religion, because Islam as understood by the prophet Mohammed is all about peace. The Christian extremists  that we have in the United States, who are willing to take up arms against our government because they belong to the KKK or other rightwing militias, retreat as you do, hiding behind the shield of religion to give yourselves any excuse to commit crimes and horrendous acts of violence. You terrorists are pitiful human beings, you have nothing in your lives because you make nothing of your life, your ideas are empty, your hearts are empty and  this will come back to haunt you in the end.

I am sick over this, it breaks my heart to think that my family is frightened, that they feel vulnerable and that they don’t know if this is a one time event or if there is more to come and because of that their emotional and psychological states must be very fragile and insecure.  

You will get yours, karma has a lot of patience and doesn’t forget.

A sleepy stroll through Paris

Tags

Paris, postaday2015, tourists

   
    
   
Believe it or not, I took these pictures during the same leisurely stroll from one arrondissement to another. The sky was in a state of flux, the dark sky fighting the sun for primacy and the sun was winning for the most part, aside from a brief half hour of light showers.

August is a great time to walk around Paris because half of Paris is on vacation and as you can see the streets are much less congested. I am blending in nicely with all of the other tourists. lol

Jet lag is better today, I had my first pain au raisin, a tiny little one, so delicious, I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s at breakfast time. My hotel offers a lovely breakfast included in the room so I know another one is going to be there waiting for me.

My arrival in “gay Paris”

Tags

Paris, postaday2015, travel

   
   
This is my view from my room, I have always loved the little courtyards that make up an inner life within most Parisian residences and hotels. It’s like a well kept secret away from the prying eyes of yonder avenue.

I am overtired, I had a small layover in Iceland, I walked around the shops during the wee hours of the morning.

Outside it is overcast, but the temperatures are wonderful mid-70’s, cannot argue with those numbers.

I miss my little family already, thank goodness for Skype and Facetime.

Scorching heat in Paris

Tags

France, heat, Paris, postaday2012, scorching heat, travel

Today we came full circle, as Inigo Montoya said in the “Princess Bride” you told me to go back to the beginning, so I go back to the beginning. The TGV from Lyons to Paris CDG was really nice, we found a luggage cart quickly and wheeled ourselves and our luggage directly to the Sheraton Hotel right in Terminal 2B. Our flight leaves at 6:40 so we have to be here by 4:40, I know that I’m not going to be at my best at 4:30 and neither is the baby girl so that is why the airport hotel.

The bonus of arriving a day early is that we had more than enough time to hop on the rail to get into Paris. The baby girl wanted to get two small packages of the famous Macarons of La Duree, I said why not, going into Paris is a wonderful idea, my famous last words.

The train ride only takes twenty minutes but today it was twenty minutes of crazy heavy heat. I don’t remember Paris being 40 degrees Celsius ever in the past. The train ride was brutal, we were sweating huge drops of sweat, it reminded me of Carcassonne. The train took us to the Gare du Nord, in the northern part of Paris, with the heat attacking us I flagged a taxi, there was no way that the baby girl and I could have walked to the rue Royale near the Place Concorde. We would have melted away the heat without question.

There was no one in the streets or the cafe’s, I think that everyone was hibernating. It was too hot, it was unbearable, we got to La Duree’s without a problem and upon entering the store filled with Macarons, patisseries and veinnoiseries, we immediately forgot the heat. The presentation of all the perfectly crafted desserts coupled with the air-conditioning, rendered us oblivious to our internal thermostats. The only thing that I could think of was “all those desserts look perfect, which one do I want to eat right now?” it was so pleasant in the store, we really didn’t want to leave, so with a little sadness we left, but not without goodies, I bit into my cannele as soon as we were outside, it was perfect, the little cake was moist and custard like for a cake, complete with the caramelized exterior, makes for a perfect little cake, more than one bite, but not too many bites so that you feel bad.

We tried to continue exploring Paris but it was just too hot, we made for an immediate retreat back to the Gare du Nord to hop on the return train to CDG. On the train we were sitting, not talking, just dripping these insanely large drops of sweat. There was no refuge from the heat, not until we got back to our room.

Tomorrow we’ll be traveling back home, so I am turning in right now to try to be fresh for the flight.

My feet, my legs oh, my Paris

Tags

metro, Montmartre, Paris, postaday2012, steps, walking

The baby girl and I had left our hotel yesterday and came to the east side of Paris to visit with my cousin Pierre and his wife Isabelle. They have three kids, the youngest a daughter is 12 and 1/2, the oldest boy is 18 and the second boy 16. My cousin Pierre is an extraordinary intellect as well is his wife, their knowledge of Paris architecture, artwork, monuments and history is so expansive. They both make incredible guides. The four of us, the kids had other things to do, headed out to walk through the west side of Paris up towards and through Montmartre and then back down south and heading towards the east. Pierre showed us these little residential hideaways with gorgeous 17th buildings and small gardens resplendent with flowers and plants, he then showed us all the passages ways built within the buildings as a means of traversing Paris in that quarter without getting wet. These passage ways had hotels, stamp collection vendors, cafe’s, restaurants, bookstores. A real treasure trove of special items, I could happily get lost there. We then walked the roundabout way up the Sacre Coeur, the steps were a little much, and the view from there takes your breath away. Paris is laid out for the eyes to take in all of her glory and history. I have to say that Pierre, who has since I can remember been a walking enthusiast, has not slowed down nor has he lost his stamina. We walked for four and a half hours, I can walk with the best of them but I have to admit that towards the end, my buttocks and my legs were moving slower because they were getting heavier, but I thanked Pierre and Isabelle profusely for giving us a unique tour of sights that I haven’t even seen on any guide book. Today was another great day but I wonder how my lower part of my body will greet me tomorrow. Be assured that I will tell you.

Promenade in Paris

Tags

architecture, Driving, Paris, postaday2012, walking

Yesterday after returning from Angelina’s, we went back to the hotel for two reasons, one was for the baby girl to relax a little before we set off walking again and two I wanted to change. I have to admit that I feel frumpy. I never feel frumpy at home, even in New York or in Boston. I walk around without a care in the world, confident and happy with myself. Here you can’t help but be extremely aware of how well put together the women and men are in this city. The key is accessorizing, the scarf around the neck just so, the statement necklace, the cardigan casually draped on the shoulders, the high heels and on and on. In short, I changed my jeans for khaki’s and my long sleeve shirt for short sleeves, because now it is warm, actually 81 degrees. I still felt frumpy, these sophisticated ladies almost make it a patriotic duty to be at their best all the time. I think that if I lived here, my outlook on fashion would take an extreme form of evolution and I don’t mean that to be negative, I think that there is something in the air.

Besides the people watching, the architecture here in Paris is just breath taking. Everywhere you look there are tall imposing residences and public state buildings such as the Palais Royale, The Ministere des Affaires Etrangeres, the Palais de L’Elysees, le Musee D’Orsay it is incredible. I get a laugh when I think of the Pont Neuf, which means new bridge, when in actuality it was constructed in the mid 1600’s. The constant reminder of the agelessness of Paris reminds me of how insignificant the individual can be but at the same time an individual can be very significant. You just don’t know while you are passing through that moment of time. All the statues built in memory of the greats were most certainly not built during their own lifetimes.

One exception is the builder, engineer Gustave Eiffel, he knew that he was impacting the world on a huge scale and he was present to see both monuments to his genius completed and presented to the world. The Statue of Liberty and the Tour Eiffel, both are incredible. Yesterday when the baby girl and I were standing directly beneath the tower, I mentioned that the Tour Eiffel was built before trucks were on the road and before power tools. She thought about it, I think that the Tour Eiffel impressed her even more after thinking about it in a historical perspective. With the sheer size and metal framework, I think that it is very easy to forget that it was built for the Paris World Fair of 1899.
After we admired the tower, we went and had a drink at Cafe Gustave, walked some more and then took the metro. The baby girl was quite impressed with the Paris metro, clean and fast, we hopped on and it took us directly back to the Opera.

Navigating Paris once you get the hang of it, is fairly easy. We are definitely enjoying the city.

Diplomatic relations between Paris and the U.S on the outs

Tags

Angelina's, breakfast, Paris, postaday2012, walking

This morning I woke up at nine, I think that I slept a full twelve hours or so, hooray for me, the baby girl doesn’t have my gift of sleeping. Apparently, she woke up a few times and had a hard time going back to sleep. I waited until 10:20 to get her going because Angelina’s, where we were going to have breakfast, served it until 11:30 and I didn’t want us to miss it. In the elevator, the baby girl still not fully awake, asked if we could take cab. When we got outside, there weren’t any so I asked her if she would be amenable to walking a little, she said okay. We walked down rue de la paix towards la Place Vendome, I am going to say it now, I wish that I could upload my cell phone picture to my postings but my iPad won’t talk to my cellphone which I can only laugh at the irony of that sentence. Anyway, when I get back I will be uploading pictures and recreating my little holiday with my visual aides. The Place de Vendome is only two streets away from rue de Rivoli where Angelina’s is found. So I got us there without a taxi, hooray for me. It was at Angelina’s that the diplomatic incident took place, part of the reason that I was so gung ho for breakfast at Angelina’s is that it is featured in my book, The Chic Bootlegger, the heroine Madeleine has tea and pastries with her best friend Sabine a least once a month at Angelina’s, it is a Parisian establishment. I had to go there. Inside it is so lovely, there are beautiful old murals painted on the walls, the moulding is expertly sculpted plaster, the ambience is relaxing and pampered. The pastries and confectionary creations are superbly crafted. The baby girl and I were seated at a cozy table for two, we both ordered the Parian breakfast, coffee, tea, or their famous hot chocolate, choice of lemon, orange or grapefruit juice, a basket of veinnoiseries, pain au chocolat, croissant, pain aux raisins, small breads, butter and preserves. A very respectable offering, the portions were typically French(tiny) and delicious.

On the subject of delicious, Angelina’s was one of the first salon of tea to offer hot chocolate and became famous for it everywhere, or so most seem to think. Delicacies are subjective, what appeals to an American palette wouldn’t necessarily appeal to a European one and vice versa. The baby girl took a sip of her chocolate, did I mention that it comes with homemade whipped cream, and by her wrinkly nose I could tell that it wasn’t what she had expected. I asked her if she wanted Earl Grey tea instead and she nodded. When the lovely waitress came with out fresh juices, I said that the hot chocolate was a little rich for my baby girl and if she could have an Earl Grey tea. The look on her face of incredulity and shock, she recovered and straightened her face. I promise you that it was in that instance that I witnessed firsthand what is meant by straightening ones face. I think that the poor waitress was mortified by her own reaction, I couldn’t blame her because who would think that a young American girl would find something chocolate too rich. Since we were still keeping the hot chocolate, I had a taste and I could see why the baby girl wanted tea, the chocolate was yummy, thick, rich and creamy but I couldn’t see myself drinking it. I could see myself dipping a croissant into it or a simple sugar cookie. That would have been quite lovely. I was very happy when the baby girl said that she was having the best cup of Earl Grey ever. I couldn’t help but giggle to the baby girl that singlehandedly, she had undone years of diplomatic ties simply by critiquing the oldest, grandest hot chocolate in all of Paris. She giggled at that as well.

Jet lag

Tags

exhausted, jet lag, Paris, postaday2012, sense of direction

Today has been our first day in Paris and we are enjoying a beautiful day of 70 degrees and sun. We arrived on French soil at 6:00 and by the time that we traversed all of Charles de Gaulle in search of our baggage, border control and looking for the Roissybus, it was about 9:00. The bus ride into Paris was very interesting, the outskirts are very commercial and industrial in nature. The closer we got to the center of the city the more recognizable my memories became. The Roissybus left us right across the street of our hotel, Le Grand. The staff at reception were very welcoming and made every effort to get us in a room as soon as possible. The baby girl and I were so tired that trying to find our room felt like walking through that evergreen maze in one of the early books of Harry Potter, the one where Robert Pattison doesn’t make it when he tries to figure out his maze. The aby girl and I fared much better but it did feel as if we were walking in circles. The hotel encompasses a whole city block and has room on every all four streets. We are staying on the Capucine side, we had to walk past the Scribe side, The Opera side and there is another but I can’t recall it just yet, still foggy in my head. We finally found and stumbled into our room, so happy to have found it.

Our jet lag is playing with our stomachs, our appetite doesn’t know if it’s awake or asleep. The proof is that we passed patisserie after patisserie all the while looking at the beautiful presentations and we weren’t tempted. There are times when your internal clock is so confused that even your stomach shuts off and your sweet sense says no thank you.

It is 6:00 p.m and we took a small nap, still not hungry so we are probably going to rest and gear up for tomorrow. Already we walked to the Louvre, walked through the Tuileries Gardens, found the tea salon of Angelina’s, Pierre Herme, Pierre Marcolini, the Maison du Chocolat and Fauchon. Fauchon is a very famous gourmet food shop that has been around for ages. We walked past the Elysee Palace on the rue Faubour St Honore. We walked and walked. So now to rest and rest for tomorrow.