Fleas, but no itch at Porte de Vanves

Ah, the flea markets... Either you hate them or love them. One thing's sure, there's always something interesting to see, whether that be the actual items or the people.

In Paris, there are several flea markets and the one at Vanves is one of the more famous and visited ones after les puces de paris at Clignancourt.





I should probably've known better than getting there around 11 o'clock in the morning. Vanves opens at 7am in the morning and closes at 3pm, but many of the merchants were already closing up when I got there. This means that to get the best deals and the nicest items you have to get up a little too early for my taste. I'm not sure my judgement would be half as good as usual at that hour either, and good sense and a well developped notion of what to avoid and what to get is essential at any flea market.













There weren't many nice items left when I got there, alllthough traces of what might've been good buys at the booths closing up. My favourite item was the above chandelier made in Venice. It was at a really good price and in perfect condition, but too cumbersome to take home. It goes to show that you can make a great purchase even at a rather ordinary market, despite being big, oustide puces the paris at st ouen, which rests the most interesting of all.

Fête de la Musique in Paris

Sunday was the fête de la musique, or the day celebrating music, in Paris. It's a tradition dating back to 1982 that since has spread across the globe.

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All over the city there are free concerts and people play in the streets. You're bound to see, or rather hear, something if you're in Paris that day. As for me, I went to hear some Bach.

The music overall was ok, however most of the venues, as was this, were filled up and people had to stand. Allthough there are local versions of the celebration, it seemed like Paris was a popular destination for suburban residents making a daytrip. There were people everywhere! Luckily the city had taken measure with police being visible in the streets.

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What's the biggest success of fête de la musique is also its biggest default. As anyone can participate, but most of us aren't brilliant musicians, the quality of the music will not always be within the range of easily digestible. Sometimes, noise is a more suitable word than music for what ressonates through the streets. Especially those living in the central areas this must be one of the most dreaded days and nights of the year.

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But I guess that's what makes it the success it has become and without it, there would surely not be that special ambience only a big party for everyone to enjoy has.

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Sales in Paris starting june 24th!

June 24th, official summer sales in Paris start all over the city! If you want to catch the good stuff, you'd better be early and have everything planned out!

At BonMarché sales start at 8 am, and allthough they open their doors earlier, I'm not sure it'll be as crazy as the line outside Hermès' sales at Porte Maillot that opens at 9 am. Other big departement stores also start their summer discounts the same day including Lafayette and Printemps and a number of Habitat stores.

Apart from the big stores, many of the smaller individual boutiques will also be having sales. To avoid the big and sometimes violent crowds, to take a stroll through Rue Grenelle and the rest of the area around st. Germain or the mid-parts of st. Honoré.

So, what are you waiting for? Make a list (and stick to it, not to get carried away) put on some comfortable (but stylish) shoes and fighting gloves, eh I mean patience.

Good Luck and happy shopping!

Le magicien de fer: Exhibition on Gustve Eiffel at Hôtel de Ville

To commemorate the 120 jubilée of the famous iconic structure of Paris, the city is holding an exhibition on the founding father; Gustave Eiffel.

Apart from the obious, there were many sketches and projects that have never been realised and even more of those who have been realised. Bridges, various buildings and structures from south east asia to europe shows a man of great fame and of equal skill.

I also highly appreciated that there was a section of paintings that incorporated the famous tower, notably by Delaunay and Chagall. It made you realised that the tower since the beginning had a very important impact on contemporary popular cutlture, that's still continuing today.

Delaunay & Chagall

All in all, it's was a very nice exhibition, allbeit too small to wait 30 minutes in line for, espeicially in the rain. If you by any chance are in the area and there aren't too many people in line, it's worth having a look.

The exhibition is open untill 29th august daily except sundays and public holidays from 10 am to 7 pm at 5, rue Lobeau.

Bunny time at Printemps

For spring, the departement store decorated the building inside and out with plastic bunnies in various colours that all go well with the spirit of spring and bunnies! Some of the biggest ones were left in the street and give an overwhelming and slightly fear inspiring impression (Imagine the size of their teeth!).

These bunnies wont be around for long, as spring season is soon to be over and sales start next week, so if you want to catch a plastic bunny, go to printemps now!

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Brunch at Le Pain Quotidien

There's nothing like a brunch with friends when you have the morning off. Le Pain Quotidien, french as it may be in name and concept, is a world wide chain of Belgian origin. In addition to being a traditional bakery, they sell jam, fruit syrup, oil and vingar, all of which is more or less Bio, of course.








This morning, we went to the café in rue de Varenne. It's one of their four addesses in Paris, the others being in the Marais, Montorgeuil and rue St Honoré. What makes rue de Varenne especially nice is the light and spacious interior with a big french window to the street.




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We had the breakfast formula, consisting of standard selection of bread, a choice of pastry, a fruit juice and hot beverages, in our case coffe. Nora also went for a boiled egg that turned out to be hardly cooked at all as it started running when it was decapped. At between 8 -10 euros depending on whether you have the egg to come with or not, it's a good price for a parisian breakfast.

All of the tables are fully equipped with the chain's own flavours of jam, nut, and chocolate spreads. For some reason, the white chocolate one is always half empty when we leave (I swear it's my friend that's all over it! ~_^) . I wont deny that a croissant with the stuff on top is more like a dessert than a healthy, filling breakfast, but at least we didn't buy a jar to bring back home with us. You could pick a more healthy, darker type of bread, but with the amount of spread that goes on top, you might as well take it all the way, and, as it's supposed to be breakfast and lunch at the same time, you have to max out on energy, no?


In addition to the darker type of breads, there are less sugary options on the menu. Soup, tea, eggs, fresh fruit and yoghurt are tasty and healthier alternatives to the above. However, these things are very easily forgotten when you order with the spreads and jams right under your nose.

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Pianist Alexandre Tharaud at Champs Élysées

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The beginning of the 20th century concert hall of Avenue Montaigne, le theâtre des champs élysées, hosts the pianist Alexandre Tharaud performing the piano works of Ravel. Obiously a very popular event as the concert was sold out.






For this concert, there had been added two short breaks, making it four parts in total. Many of the works played before the entracte were from Ravel's youth, some which are not often performed. The most known pieces were saved for after the break, like miroirs and gaspard de la nuit.

Alxandre Tharaud played all pieces with impeccable technique and precision. That's highly appreciated when playing impressionist pieces. As there are many notes played very quickly, it can easily turn into a soup of harmonies and sounds. Also, he managed to bring out and convey very well the feeling and imaginary of each song. Upon exiting the theatre I even heard a couple of people praising him for this particular feat, it's not just Ravel perfctly played, but Ravel with passion and feeling.

The highlights were without doubt all of the pieces of the second part, espcially Pavane pour une infante defunte and Miroirs. From the first part I specially enjoyed the menuet sur le nom de Haydn and the waltz'.

Allthough it's interesting to hear the whole works of an artist all at once, the only negative about this evening would be the length of the first part which lasted for about one and a half hour. The second half was much more concentrated and intense, also because of the nature of the pieces played. It also got very hot and I must've seemed like I had quite a workout when I left. Despite this, no one could get enough of this pianist and he returned the overwhelming applause with a highly ornamented baroque encore (whose exact name I've yet to find), rounding off the evening perfectly.

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Pre-soldes at Gaspard Yurkievich 19th - 20th June

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The brand born after the success of Avant-Garde fashion designer Gaspard Yurkieviech starts off the sales with 60% discount on prêt-à-porter summer colletion and 50% for shoes.

19th - 20th june

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11am to 7pm

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243, rue St Martin 75003

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Freezing Delices of Paris

These days, it's getting very hot and humid in Paris! The perfect solution to chill down the summer heat? Get some ice cream and sorbet!
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Paris has a large number of glaciers that makes frozen delights of very good quality. As I couldn't decide on a single one, I decided to try a select few that you'll be able to find easily throughout the city.

AMORINO

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Amorino in 47, rue St Louis en Île

Amorino is the biggest player on the Parisian scene of sweets that specialises in italian ice cream and bonbons. I visited their address on île st. Louis, where there's a smaller selection of flavours and no bonbons. A bigger selection can be found at their other locations among others on place de la Bastille or in Beaubourg.

. At amorino you have the opportunity to have your ice cream prepared in the shape of a cornetto; layered like petals of a flower. Mine consisted of lampone (raspberry), mango and coco. Especially the mango was very rich and you cannot go wrong with coconut. A smooth and delicious delight, allthough the lampone was lacking a little in intensity, or maybe it was simply overpowered by the mango!

JEFF DE BRUGES
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Jeff de Bruges in 79, rue de Sèvres

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Jeff de Bruges is a chocolatier that branched out into the world of cold sweets with his own flavours, often involving new and interesting combinations. Also, each Jeff de Bruges franchise now offers a fidelity card which gives you the 10th single cone for free. Not much of a deal you say? Well, you're right, but it's a great excuse to come back more often.

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This time, I went for Chocolat au meringue and Sorbet Passion de Janeiro. Basically these were chocolate with pieces of meringue and dark chocolat sauce and the latter a very, very intense taste of passion fruit. Allthough I'm sure I could've gone with a better combination, as the sorbet was too acid for the creamy and light chocolate, by themselves, the tastes were amazing. I don't think I've ever had a passion fruit sorbet with such an intense flavour. Absolutely Delicious!

BERTHILLON

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Salon de thé at 29, rue St Louis en Île

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The actual tea room of Berthillon is closed for summer holidays, believe it or not, but their products are still easily available throughout the city, especially on île st Louis.

Maybe the most famous glacier in Paris, it's still a family run company that swears to natural flavours and good old fashioned products. They also sell home made cakes and pastries in their tea salon.

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A friend came along to aid me with this one. To the left, there's pêche de vigne with chocolat, to the right you'v got pamplemousse rose with caramel beurre salé. All simple, no nonsene traditional flavours. The pêche de vigne is a certain type of peach grown in the vineyards of Lyon that has a deep red colour. Pamplemousse rose translates to pink grapfruit and last one is caramal made with salty butter.

After tasting each one, we came to the unison conclusion that all of the above were delicious! Even though the sorbets of berthillon sometimes are less smooth than others with some crystallized parts, the flavours are so intense and concentrated it makes it more than worth it. It's my absolute favourite ice cream here in Paris (allthough the jeff de Bruges passion fruit is a nice second) and can best be decribed as concentrated bombs of flavour. There's a reason why the coupes you get at Berthillion are smaller, as there's twice as much taste in them. Yummy!

Dreaful dead or simply sleeping?

One of the necessary evils in Paris is using the subway system. With its odors, labyrinthic organisation, heat and overcrowdedness, it's impossible getting used to, one simply have to withstand it. Going by car is not any better because of the frequent traffic jams, which also affects the buses, leaving the subway as the most efficient mean of getting around in the city.

However, some things are more scary than others. For example the mice and drunks. Drunks usual do no harm except for their smell, the rodents usually flee right away whitout doing anything but cause a creepy surprise. In fact, one of the scariest things in the metro is when someone looking sane and normal is stretched out seemingly sleeping. I stress "seemingly", because that's the part that can turn out to be very unpleasant. Unless the person is snoring or otherwise making noises, it's very hard to tell if he or she is dead or alive.

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Because, let's face it, no one in their right mind would lie down in a place like a parisian subway station. Most people try to avoid touching anyone or anything passing through. So, I've come to the conclusion that in many cases these people must be either extremely exhausted, drunk ot very ill, at least two of which would be a good enough reason to call for help.

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Still, most people pass by without taking notice, me included. Some may sincerely not notice these people when in a hurry, while others are too used to seeing anything and everything to react, again others, like me, are just really afriad one day they'll fall upon someone unfortunate enough to have met their creator in the parisian subway system.

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But, then again, if more people bothered to give them a little push now and then just to see if they react, surely there would be less reason to fear the above scenario.

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(NB, the one pictured above was snoring jollily, so no worries in this particular case ;) )

Pulcino: The Elephant at St. Germain

Say hello to Pulcino, a cute circus elephant that found his way to St Germain.





This is a work of emerging french artist Nicolas Buffé whose goal was to combine classic, "Important" elements with contemporary and transient ones.

By using only black and white, the artist places all focus on the elements which among other things are the cartoonish elephant, the roman style ornaments, the naive and simple with the sage and complex.

The Three Bs

My lunch break today included three distinctively parisian things...

Evidentlly, they are the bag, the baguette and... well...





the Buttes Chaumont (le Parc des Buttes chaumont). Who'd imagine that the most beautiful english garden would be on the other side of the channel?

Lake with temple of the sybille

A pearl from the second french empire, this fantasy playground of Napoleon III includes grottos, cascades, hidden paths, a lake and a tempietto set on a dramatic, but carefully sculpted landscape.

All the parks of Paris are popular among joggers and baby strollers, but none are as popular among lovers as le Parc des buttes Chaumont. Much of its popularity is tributed to its more or less hidden corners where couples are easily concealed from the world, but also the spectacular view of Paris from the heights of the artificial peak where the temple of the sybille is situated.

Temple of the Sybille

This day, the wather started out, and ended, with light rain, but I was lucky enough to enjoy my baguette under the sun inbetween the showers.

And allthough I must say this parc must be one of my favourites, it gets monotonous in the end. No matter how naturally random it was made to be, the artificial rocks, the never ending, but meticulously measured accordingly to one another, beautifully rustic landmarks, it's really not much closer to a real forest than the baroque gardens of the Tuileries. Luckily, Paris has greenry, parks and forests to accomodate every whim and taste...

Artcurial Auction "A history of man"

... or "une histoire d'homme", as Arcurial is a french auction house, will take place on the 9th june in the hôtel particulier Marcel Dassault on Champs-Élysées. It's one of the biggest auction houses in France and they auction off mostly luxury and design objects, antiques, art and collectibles.

Despite the selection reflecting the tastes of the stereotypical gentleman with watches, cigarette cases and sport related curiosities, the number of bicycles greatly outnumbered the number of cars. In fact, the only car there was a Triumph spitfire from 1980, below pictured outside the hotel.

At least the car would be a more practical purchase than most of the bicycles going under the hammer:

Coming with obligatory use of helmet and infallibe balance skills as a pre-requisite, these vehicules are better left as decoration than a greener altrnative to the car. Also note the complete lack of breaks.

Other than the two and four wheeled means of transportation, there was a little bit of everything; a basic selection of watches, pens, notably by mont blanc and Cartier, elaborate walking sticks, various decorative objects and a selection of vintage barbie dolls. One of these dolls had her own special ordered Goyard case, fittingly in a light shade of pink!

Not to be outdone by a fashion doll, there were many trunks, bags and other pieces of maroquinrie both vintage and new for gentlemen:

All of the new pieces by Goyard are declined special orders and included a bag for carrying wine bottles, a cover for carpets to keep in the car, a porte-documents (see above) and a messenger bag. Among the Vuitton pieces there were several suit cases in all sizes and conditions both in monogram and leather. Some of the trunks were absolutely stunning and would add a classic touch to any home. It will be interesting to see how the results of the auction turns out as espcially some of the Vuitton suit cases had low price estimations.

Finally, the selection of clothes and shoes was rather disappointing, except for one piece which is also my favourite out of everything, an original cut away coat from the reign of unfortunate Louis XVI:

Silk with embroderied buttons and decorations all in extremely good condition, it's a true gem in a sea of what was truely a "little bit of everything" and a selection that left an impression of a haute gamme clearance sale or garage sale than a properly themed auction.

Found anything of interest? Maybe you're collecting old bikes? The auction doesen't start untill monday and bids can be places by phone or over internet, visit artcurial.fr for more info.

ESMOD Fashion Exam

Being the final result of three years of hard work, students of l'Ecole Supérieur des arts et techniques de la MODe, better known as ESMOD, showed off their final exams at the headquarters in rue la Rouchefoucauld.

The exhibition was not open to the general public untill 14h00 after buyers and others in the industry had the opportunity to see it, so naturally many of the designers were rather exhausted when we arrived.

There was great variety in styles and themes, especially in the men's section. Each aspiring designer was given a small space to exhibit the clothes as well as walls where inspiration, promo pictures and the creative process were shown. I was lucky enough to get a guided tour by my friend, Banette, who's also among the graduates:

Banette's collection

Taking inspiration from street wear mixed with a touch of army plus adding some really original details, Banette created her "Urban military" look. It was impressive and inspirational how someone, who had never touchd a needle three years ago, accomplished to make something of such a high quality. The look itself was easily transferable to everyday fashion. Each piece of clothing would go well with many different styles, while still being a distinct part of the entire vision.

Two mannequins and schetches

As for the women's wear section, there was less variety, but still a number of interesting creations. Use of light fabrics lik chiffon and also layered frayed fabrics, furs and frills as dcorative elements made the overall impression very feminine and girly. My personal favourite was the one pictured above, a parisian chic, belle epoque inspired collection.

The less crowded (more agreable for those of us who went) children's clothes showroom offered a wide variety of infantile fashion. Isen't it odd how even the craziest patterns seem adorable in such a small size? Some were simply awfully cute though, like the creations pictured above.

After passing through the lingerie section where there were tons of people, maybe because of the live models, an inspirational and exciting visit ended with canapés and drinks on the first floor of the school.

Returning from the Var...

Allthough this blog will mainly feature posts about Paris, to start out I thought I'd share some (atmospheric) photos from my trip to the Var departement in the South of France, including the famous village of St.Tropez. Let's begin with something a little less known though...






Village of Grimaud

One of the charming and rustic villages on the hillside of the peninsule is Grimaud, whose history goes all the way back to the middle ages and is linked with that of the Grimaldì family, which still rules Monaco. Nowadays, Grimaud is sleepy village that has managed to keep its original charm despite tourism and is a great family friendly alternative to some of the louder and high paced villages along the coast.







Fort Grimaud makes up the original center of the village. It's currently under reconstruction to bring it closer to its original state as little was left for tourists to enjoy.

Views from the fort

Moving on to the coast...

View of St Tropez Docks

The ever busy docks of St. Tropez with bars, clubs and restaurants to the right and the yatchs to the left.

View of coastline beyond the yatch docks

Remiscent of the simple beginnings as a fishing village, there are still places of relative peace and solitude, even in St Tropez itself.

There are strict rules on how and where buildings can be made in the entire departement. This has without doubt contributed to preserving the characteristic beauty of the region, but also some of the highest real estate price in all of France.