"Cheri"

My latest distraction is watching old movies on NETFLIX.  The other day I happened upon "Cheri." (Turns out I was looking for "Gigi.")  But serendipidously I found "Cheri."  Both are movies based on nouvellas written by Colette; both are about the grand courtesans of the Belle Epoque in Paris; both are loosely based on experiences that Colette had or the reverse of experiences which she had.  (It was a pattern of hers when she was mining her own experiences for fiction, that she would write the story with the reverse outcome:  if it had a happy ending, she would write the unhappy ending for the story or vise versa.)  In this case, both her own experiences and the nouvella ended unhappily.

Bateau-Mouche

I shot this with my iPhone in Paris last month and then played with it on PicMonkey.  At first, I didn't think much of it, but as it scrolls on my Mac along with all my other photos, I think, "Oh, that's not too bad."

PARIS REVISITED: No. 2: My Pastry Fix

Just being in Paris is a pleasure.  I don't have to be doing anything -- even shopping.  However, one of the things I always do is visit the patisseries.  There is nothing comparable to them in my world at home.

My day in Paris is incomplete until I have treated myself to a tarte au citron.  Much better than the lemon ice box pie I used to make for my family on Sundays.  (I believe that was the only dessert I ever made with any consistency.)

I love looking at these little pastries with raspberries and strawberries, with chocolate and whipped cream, but I rarely buy one to eat.  Photographing, yes.

In fact, after the enormous amount of walking that is virtually required in Paris, it is impossible to finish the day and evening without a coffee and a pastry (and even a nap) around 4pm.

Speaking of finishing the evening, except for one lovely meal in the 14th following a vernissage in which one of my Paris friends had a photograph on display, all of my evenings were spent the same way.

I would walk down to Odeon sometime after 7pm and find a small table at the Danton Brasserie.  There I would have an omelette au fromage and a pot of Earl Gray tea.  I found that to be my ideal meal for the end of the day.  Most of the other people there were having coffee or wine with a friend, the line for the movie theater next door was wound around the block, but I was getting prepared for "show and tell" of what we had bought for that day in my travelling friend's room and for a lovely night's sleep in the wonderful bed with the fat pillows in my own room.

PARIS REVISITED: No.1: rue Monsieur le Prince

Alas, I couldn't get my blog to work on my iPad while in Paris, so now that I'm home,  I'll just post a few pictures along with a recap of the trip:

This shot was taken on rue Monsieur le Prince, the street I walked up every day two or three times coming from Odeon to the Grand Hotel des Balcons on  rue Casimir Delavigne.

The woman, sitting with her back to the sun outside her boutique, is enjoying the unusually warm weather in Paris in late September.

Last year I posted some shots of her window with handsome leather bags and small pouches for bling blings.

I don't know if she is both the artiste and the shopkeeper as is the case with many of the small boutiques in this area of St. Germain de Pres.

In one such tiny shop, maybe three feet across, I bought some glass earrings from the woman who made them.  She took great interest in helping me find just the right color for my skin and hair, not the light lavender, but the darker plum colored ones.  Tiny little things, but just right for everyday wearing.

In the photo, I am particularly drawn to the shoes, perfectly chosen for a chic look and a working lifestyle.