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Showing posts with label Hugo and Victor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hugo and Victor. Show all posts
Friday, November 26, 2010
A Paris sign that makes me want to dream...
When you're leaving Paris, say on the Eurostar to London, you're entreated to buy parfums so you can feel more Parisienne - last chance! 
Or find your inner chat?
Yet go try to find the thing in the Gare du Nord or understand the signs for that matter? Has this happened to you?
The Paris Metro is another story. I love reading their signs like this one for a family ticket to the Louvre...
The Metro is a goldmine of signs... 
Some purely directional. Regarde! A French Girl who is peut-etre perdu/lost?
No need to worry about this do-not-enter-one way sign if you're walking...
Do stop and peruse the menus/ardoises dans la rue...
Why do I always arrive at Patisserie Secco on the days they're closed?
Why did they have to go and repaint the adorable dog on the wall at Secco? Dommage...
Here's a sign I cannot resist ever...
Why do I feel compelled to read every porte-etiquette/pastry sign in every vitrine?
A sign in a librairie vitrine for Laduree's new sale/savory cookbook.They have translated the sucre/sweet cookbook for us.
Or just paint directly on your sleeve like this girl in the Metro!
Je t'aime PARIS SIGNS!
Or just paint directly on your sleeve like this girl in the Metro!
Je t'aime PARIS SIGNS!Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Dear PB readers, a huge THANK YOU Word-of-mouth rules when researching where to go & where not to go.
You deserve a presie!
So here's today's scoop.
A big part of any French Girl's beauty lurks within. Traitement is the name of the game. How come many of these French beauty treatments are in bleu packages!
True the French adore bleu...but have you noticed that French beauty stuff looks an awful lot like medicine?
The packaging is serious. No butterlies. No flowers. Like French Girl's shampoo here. It's a lovely shampoo. In fact FG bought it in NYC, but I assumed it must be French - blue bottle with serious, almost frightening packaging etc.
The point is, while we desperately try to copy French girls, making copious lists of what to wear, hairstyles, lipstick or no lipstick, which perfume, which shoes?
The French Girl is calmly having a beauty treatment and a giggle on us.
Even though you may be in Paris wolfing down as many macarons in as little time as possible...
And stuffing yourself like a bear at it's last supper...
While racing to beat the clock to do everything on your list...
You too can find serenity now!
After showering yourself with French chocolates...
Do as the French Girl does and go to a spa!
When I saw Pampered In Paris newly listed I requested a copy svp. With all my mad tearing around I usually come home and collapse in a heap. Why not collapse on a massage table IN Paris and start the recovery there?
I contacted author Kim Levesque for suggestions.
"You have to go to Wassana--even if you don't have time. Not for the facility--for the massage--Traditional Thai massage--amazing!" The picture above is from Les Bains Montorgueil in the book - heavenly non?
Doesn't this make complete and total sense PBers?
Just looking at the book is terribly restful and calm inducing...
I grabbed this shot while visiting Guerlain - their spa appointment desk. Wouldn't it be heaven on earth to be in this French girl's ballerinas or boots or whatever?
Naturally after you're all spa-d out you'll want a calm cuppa tea. Most spas offer refreshments, even meals. So isn't this a must-do in Paris?
So here's today's scoop.A big part of any French Girl's beauty lurks within. Traitement is the name of the game. How come many of these French beauty treatments are in bleu packages!
True the French adore bleu...but have you noticed that French beauty stuff looks an awful lot like medicine? The packaging is serious. No butterlies. No flowers. Like French Girl's shampoo here. It's a lovely shampoo. In fact FG bought it in NYC, but I assumed it must be French - blue bottle with serious, almost frightening packaging etc.The point is, while we desperately try to copy French girls, making copious lists of what to wear, hairstyles, lipstick or no lipstick, which perfume, which shoes?
The French Girl is calmly having a beauty treatment and a giggle on us.
Even though you may be in Paris wolfing down as many macarons in as little time as possible... And stuffing yourself like a bear at it's last supper... While racing to beat the clock to do everything on your list...
You too can find serenity now!
After showering yourself with French chocolates... Do as the French Girl does and go to a spa! When I saw Pampered In Paris newly listed I requested a copy svp. With all my mad tearing around I usually come home and collapse in a heap. Why not collapse on a massage table IN Paris and start the recovery there?
I contacted author Kim Levesque for suggestions."You have to go to Wassana--even if you don't have time. Not for the facility--for the massage--Traditional Thai massage--amazing!" The picture above is from Les Bains Montorgueil in the book - heavenly non?
Doesn't this make complete and total sense PBers?Just looking at the book is terribly restful and calm inducing...
I grabbed this shot while visiting Guerlain - their spa appointment desk. Wouldn't it be heaven on earth to be in this French girl's ballerinas or boots or whatever?Naturally after you're all spa-d out you'll want a calm cuppa tea. Most spas offer refreshments, even meals. So isn't this a must-do in Paris?
Now for the presie...
A BOOK GIVE-AWAY today (the book is a tad marked up malheureusement) chosen randomly to a commentor. And you must live in the USA.
BONJOUR PARIS SPAS!
Monday, April 26, 2010
Today's post is not about Parisien perfectly messy hair... 
Nor is it about the joys of attending a Paris fashion show...
But it is about beauty with a capitol B. I love the way Paris beautifies its buildings when they are in a state of la restauration/repair or under construction. Like this witty wall poster covering Prada's new store-to-be that makes walkers on rue Saint-Honore appear to be on a catwalk!
Shot upside-down yet then turned right-side up. It makes you think a bit...
Hermés is the master of the street face-lift with this Punch and Judy window
Take a closer look and you see delightfully casual sketches with a dash of watercolor on a corner on rue Saint-Honore...
The Paris Opera has gone for something much grander-almost an abstract artwork in their coverup while under construction...
It's true you'll see plain old construction signs now and then in Paris...
Hasn't this happened to you?
You tell a friend,
Hermés is the master of the street face-lift with this Punch and Judy window 
Take a closer look and you see delightfully casual sketches with a dash of watercolor on a corner on rue Saint-Honore... 
The Paris Opera has gone for something much grander-almost an abstract artwork in their coverup while under construction... 
It's true you'll see plain old construction signs now and then in Paris... 
Hasn't this happened to you?You tell a friend,
"You have GOT to see this gorgeous old bistro/cafe/or whatever."
You get there and the %$#@ thing is completely covered in scaffolding!
Why is that?
Because Paris preserves it's beauty.
It does not (well only rarely- Cojean how could you do that to Cador Patisserie?) throw them away.
Passing the New York Public Library, I was sad to see no terrific Parisien-style witty skrim or faux wall while the library is under construction...
Back in Paris, along the Seine, this building shows all the workers of Paris while being repaired...
There is a guide to all the figures and their travaille/work placed on the bridge...
Hermés again has a big mural of sketches of shoppers on rue de Sevres...
Reflecting the actual shoppers rushing by...
Here's an Older French Girl or OFG wearing a bit of red walzing by a lovely big under-construction sign...
Because Paris preserves it's beauty.It does not (well only rarely- Cojean how could you do that to Cador Patisserie?) throw them away.
It takes care of it's treasures, unlike some cities.
And does it with wit and charm to boot. I took Barry Lewis' brilliant course on New York architectural history at Cooper Union this Spring. I've taken it before and will again. Barry is a NYC monument himself of endless, fascinating information on the city. One thing I heard Barry say over and over again,"In America, we throw things away. We get tired of them after 10 years and into the ashcan they go."
I would walk up 5th avenue after Barry's class with my head in the sky like any visiting tourist...
I would walk up 5th avenue after Barry's class with my head in the sky like any visiting tourist...
Passing the New York Public Library, I was sad to see no terrific Parisien-style witty skrim or faux wall while the library is under construction... 
Back in Paris, along the Seine, this building shows all the workers of Paris while being repaired... 
There is a guide to all the figures and their travaille/work placed on the bridge... 
Hermés again has a big mural of sketches of shoppers on rue de Sevres...
Reflecting the actual shoppers rushing by... 
Here's an Older French Girl or OFG wearing a bit of red walzing by a lovely big under-construction sign... 
I'm trying to post earlier...ahem
BONJOUR PARIS RESTAURATIONS!
Friday, April 9, 2010
This morning I got an email from Cindy:Bonjour Carol - What does "miam-miam" mean?
This is a complex question that has been keeping me up nights...
The basic translation of miam-miam is your everyday Yum Yum or nom nom nom, it's used more extensively in France than we would expect...
And while it's also true "miam-miam" is basically a kid's word (like yum yum),in Paris you'll hear "miam miams" coming out of the most sophisticated mouths. It's actually kind of shocking...
If you go into Hugo & Victor, you'll hear a lot of "miam miams" over these very high-end marshmallows.
Galeries Lafayette Gourmand is Miams HQ (headquarters if you're not British). They have this giant poster plastered over the entrance. And please note the words MIAM MIAM are spelled out in red and hit you immediately upon entering. You would never in a million years find Dean & Deluca plastering YUM YUM on any of their posters...if they had a poster, which they do not...sniff
Another one of those French cultural nuances that takes a bit of getting used to - this woman is having a severe attack of the Miams and is trying to merge with the window - something the French call, "le leche vitrine" meaning to lick the windows!
Laduree, is another Miams HQ. This customer is on her cell desperately calling for help on what to buy and who can blame her? The choices are infinite...
At macaron class at the Paris Ritz the sound of miam-miams was deafening, and this was The Paris Ritz! 
One Parisien phenomenon that makes me go miam are these "fake" madeleines inside every vending machine in every Metro station. They have to be fake don't they? Can a madeleine be mass produced? It goes against all belief. And yet I have lost more $$$ than I like to think, trying to grab a bag. These vending machines are a total scam...
For something to be miamable, it does not have to be food - no way. Like these adorable Jaime Mascaro ballerines...
This mec/guy at ART-PARIS, was drooling so much over his own white Pentex I took a picture...
If you know this miamy mec, please contact him so he can sue me...ahem Have his lawyer call my lawyer etc.
I regularly send pictures of NYC to French Girl to miam-miam over...
French Girl has yet to send me a single miamable picture of Paris, but then I have plenty of my own to drool over.I went into The iPod building the other night...
Which should be re-named The iPad building - I wish I had brought an umbrella for all the miaming going on...
Both Bear and I miam-miam over chocolat chaud. Good thing we have the same taste...
So what makes you go miam-miam?
Which should be re-named The iPad building - I wish I had brought an umbrella for all the miaming going on...
Both Bear and I miam-miam over chocolat chaud. Good thing we have the same taste...
So what makes you go miam-miam?Which by the way is pronouced something like yam-yam...
*Forget pronouncing the 2nd M
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