Bonjour!!

We're back! The afternoon I landed back in NYC, I refused to get on the computer, relishing in my internet-free bubble from Paris. Plus I was so engrossed in The Other Boleyn Girl, which I started on the trip, I called in sick to myself (I'm the boss, remember?) to read and catch up on my Paris journal which was hard to update because we were moving so fast.

I don't know where to begin for this post, or future Paris posts, so I've included some pictures that tell a short story of our trip. There will be more Paris posts to come. The weather could not have been nicer to us - dazzling sunshine and cool breezes prompting purchases of new scarves. I survived with my French-English dictionary, but realized that I really should have at least learned numbers, so that when I asked "Combien?" ("how much?"), I could understand what the heck they said. Also would have helped for bartering at flea markets! Landing back in New York - language-wise - was not that drastic, since everyone around me was still speaking different languages, so I could easily still keep my Parisian habits of greeting someone with a "Bonjour" and not looked at twice.

All I know is, going to Paris is like taking Yoga. It needs to fit into everyone's schedule. Both are good for the mind, both are inspiring. But Paris gets to be visually and audio-ly stimulating. And as my mom said, it's so nice to be amongst people who are well dressed, and creatively dressed, all the time.

The Metro. This is one of the few older stations with the original ironwork.

As of October 18th, the transportation union went on strike, so we got out just in time! Apparently, the French finance minister (a woman), wants to Americanize the French style of working. I'm not so sure this is the greatest idea, since I'm re-evaluating my style of working, and realizing that it needs more creative and relaxing time.

We had many destinations, but only hit a few! We missed the Eiffel Tower, but did b-line to the Mona Lisa. This is a picture of my mom and I completing this goal. However, I was more fascinated with the new fact I learned: the Louve is a Medici mansion. It is huge. And from reading The Other Boleyn Girl, I'm beginning to see how they used all of the rooms with all of the members of court having chambers and studies and such.


We missed some key destinations because we were distracted by beautiful window shopping! We did hit the Hermes store, but on the way, saw the Channel store, which was displaying these wedding dresses from 1994. We did build up the courage to go in, but we went in to basically treat the store as a museum to see the dresses closer. Let me tell you - tulle is in. You may see a tulle wedding dress come out of Katie James for the wedding...sketches hopefully to come.



Antique shopping was included in the mix, and we Metro-ed it to one antique district that was very sketchy around the Metro station, and right away, a tall shady man with a large athletic bag was wondering all around me like a lazy fly. I was carelessly playing with my new purse by placing my wallet in a just-so way, and my godmother quickly dragged me by my hood to hurry up and get out of the way. Here are some of my favorite stalls at the Paul Bert antique market.





And of course, a vintage hat of Sarah Gareghan (sp?).


We out-walked ourselves. My godmother wore her pedometer everywhere, and we walked at least 10,000 steps each day. On our second day, we walked 20,000 steps. This picture is of my mom and godmother, feet propped on our hotel room wall. My mom is reading her new "Eloise in Paris" book, in French, that she bought at the original Shakespeare and Company bookstore.