jeudi 25 juin 2009
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.
lundi 22 juin 2009
Fête de la Musique in Paris
dimanche 21 juin 2009
Sales in Paris starting june 24th!
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.
Le magicien de fer: Exhibition on Gustve Eiffel at Hôtel de Ville
Delaunay & Chagall
vendredi 19 juin 2009
Bunny time at Printemps
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!
jeudi 18 juin 2009
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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mercredi 17 juin 2009
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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mardi 16 juin 2009
Freezing Delices of Paris
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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.
. 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!
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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!
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!
lundi 15 juin 2009
Dreaful dead or simply sleeping?
jeudi 11 juin 2009
Pulcino: The Elephant at 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.
mardi 9 juin 2009
The Three Bs
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...
samedi 6 juin 2009
Artcurial Auction "A history of man"
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.
mercredi 3 juin 2009
ESMOD Fashion Exam
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
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.
mardi 2 juin 2009
Returning from the Var...
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.