The famous Berthillon ice cream and a pink car, Ile Saint-Louis, Paris.
La Charlotte de l'isle, a chocolate shop on Ile Saint-Louis. Vintage chocolate moulds are on display.
Purple shoes at Shakespeare & Co. "When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple..."
Searching for bargains at the popular bookstore across the street from Notre Dame.
Tourists taking a break at Shakespeare & Co.
Complex flower.
Pink rose.
Weekend guests
On Friday, the daughter of a long-time friend came to spend the weekend with us. Sarah is a smart, funny and engaging linguistics student, currently studying French in Nantes. On Saturday, we met the delightful Jeanie, visiting from Michigan, for a trek to the flea market at Vanves. All three of us bought some lovely things.
For me, the find of the day was a bound set of The Studio for 100 euros. Last week I saw The Studio books, filled with illustrations by Aubrey Beardsley and other Art Nouveau artists, at an Arts & Crafts exhibit in London. The books were priced at £400 each! To get an entire set for 100 euros was incredible; I think the dealer didn't realise their value.
I also found two more aqua opaline Hermes wine glasses to add to my collection; they're so rare, I come across maybe one per year. Saturday, I was doubly lucky.
Jeanie and her friend Jerry came to our apartment for dinner Saturday night, Thanks to my husband the chef, we had delicious food. We also had a lot of fun! Jeanie brought lovely treats from the US, including a beautiful set of her handmade collaged cards. Plus she brought gifts from two other Michigan girls, Judy Winter and Jane Rosemont. Judy sent a signed copy of her book Breakthrough Parenting for Children with Special Needs, while Jane sent cards and a magnet featuring her gorgeous photography. For me, it was just like Christmas! Many thanks to the three Js!
On Sunday afternoon, I took Sarah to the train station. Along the way, we saw well-dressed senior citizens rummaging through the garbage near a grocery store, looking for discarded vegetables. So sad. We often see older people looking through too-ripe or damaged fruit and vegetables that vendors throw out on market days.
I was so exhausted from racing around for three days, I completely forgot about a brocante at Parc des Princes - in my own neighborhood! The weekend was also Fete de la Musique in Paris, so we listened to noise music from across the street in the Bois de Boulogne until early this morning.
Solidays
Beginning this Friday, it's Solidays in the Bois, the annual three-day music festival which raises funds for AIDS charities. We're going to skip impossible-to-sleep-due-to-booming-bass-from-bands-performing-on-three- stages Solidays and spend four days in Amsterdam.
Nattering neocons
If only the nattering neocons would take off their rose-colored glasses and stop talking! Their aversion to reality is pathetic, not to mention their numerous attempts to rewrite history.
Hi Tara! That very man served me Berthillon ice cream in April! Chocolat noir and cassis! I will be sending you some photos very soon. I hope your foot is better! Denise xx
Posted by: Denise @ Swelle | 17 July 2009 at 19:54
oh you have the best blogger visits! jeanie..how nice was it for you two to meet?! i have been away from you too long and have missed out on so many of your treasure seeking adventures. in this post the amazingly complex flowers really caught my eye. how beautiful they are!
hope you are well! XO
Posted by: Robin Laws | 28 June 2009 at 07:45
Love the photo of Berthillion and Shakespeare & Co. Classic tourist landmarks!
Posted by: jen laceda | 25 June 2009 at 03:56
i really love those bookstore shots...totally atmospheric. and the lady's purple shoes--fantastic. makes me want to take a wander with my camera...
Posted by: julochka | 24 June 2009 at 10:29
Loving all this pink. I especially love the handwriting on the chalkboard of the Shakespeare and Company sign.
Posted by: Relyn | 24 June 2009 at 06:26
I have this 'scene' playing in my head of someone (me:)) careening around Paris in that little pink car (how many cc's has it?), singing, waving at women wearing purple shoes as I park to browse Shakespeare and Co. The verve of this post is a wonderful counterpoint to the scavenging elderly and the neocons. Thanks for the balance.
Posted by: Barbara | 23 June 2009 at 19:30
Tara,
I love how the photos begin and end in pink...the first is delicious!
Posted by: Patricia | 23 June 2009 at 14:45
Wonderful post - delicious for the yeux!
Posted by: Kay | 23 June 2009 at 10:33
Loving all the pics! Oh so delightful! Miss you xoxx
Posted by: gypsyAlex | 23 June 2009 at 08:13
As usual, magical photos. And would love to spend an entire afternoon in that bookstore.
Posted by: Carla | 23 June 2009 at 08:05
I love all these pictures. It made me want to go back to Paris! I tell Georgie that some day she and I will go together, because of my "Pink in Paris
dream I had, when I knew I was pregnant. Now she wants me to make her new bedroom a "paris and fashion room". :)
The flowers! Oh my, so lovely.
Have fun in Amster. Try not to smoke too much doobage. ;)
:)oxox
Posted by: amber | 23 June 2009 at 07:05
Oooh, that bookshop looks great, Tara - I picked up a 1902 copy of Rudyard Kipling's "The Seven Seas" in a country bookstore just last weekend - love to browse.
The complex flower looks gorgeous.
Posted by: Scotty | 23 June 2009 at 01:36
Oh, What a delightment! Visitors, pink cars (I want it pleaseeee!! ;) I think I need a shop right on that street, and I need that pink car to go with it ;)
Your guests sounds delightful, but noise, that deters sleep? No nononnooooon ;)
I am just back from visiting the familia... I LOVE your wedding shots! Off to browse your beautiful blog! xoxoxo
Posted by: A Fanciful Twist | 22 June 2009 at 23:24
You make me laff!
Posted by: Chris | 22 June 2009 at 22:48
What is it about that pink car sitting in front of the ice cream parlour???
It just feels as if it jumped out of the pink bubblegum flavour and is resting
for a moment while it dries off ... .
Posted by: judith | 22 June 2009 at 22:47
Hi Tara,
Wonderful photo of the woman in purple shoes.
AND of that amazing flower!!!
Wish that the older people you see were not having to go though the garbage for food. Very~Sad.
Happy you could spend time with Jeanie and Sarah,
That your husband is a good chef.
That you will get to go to Amsterdam!!
xox
Constance
Posted by: Rochambeau | 22 June 2009 at 22:46
Oh look at these beautiful pictures. May I wear purple with you? Pretty please, friend. : )
Look at the bookstore!!! These photographs look like they are straight, out of a magazine.
Amsterdam? Bliss! Hubby spent part of high school there. He adores, Amsterdam.
xo
Posted by: Christina | 22 June 2009 at 21:51
well, another case of you giving me what i need!
the neocons link has been forwarding
left and right to friends...
so thanks for that.
you are so spot*on to send it out
here to the wind...
and
Shakespeare and Co. is the best, isn't it
with the rooms filled to the top with twin beds and toppling books
of every language near and far.
:-)
i long to sleep there
sort of
and
your complex flower...well
i bought one just yesterday
in a shop near my home
and
as luck would have it
i have the little sticker label right beside my computer
as i Googled it last night...
complex flower
that cannot make up her mind on color
--->curcuma alismatifolia.
go figure!
now
if i could only find the pink car
parked outside my front door
waiting to zip me away...
aahhhhh....
Posted by: somepinkflowers | 22 June 2009 at 21:37
Tara~
I love the first three images! So real! You are a great photographer~ Thanks for sharing your eye with us.
xx's
Posted by: FrenchBlue | 22 June 2009 at 20:58
Tara you have just picked me up and taken me back to that book shop. I have been there when I was in Paris. It's my fathers favorite. Loved looking at these photos! Thank you!
xoxo Noel
Posted by: Noel | 22 June 2009 at 20:28
All I can say is: WOW! These photos are GREAT and made my day. And...YES!! To the pink car and the purple shoes!
Posted by: Helen | 22 June 2009 at 18:34
Life is so FULL around you...happy to peek in and share bits of it, both the arts and culture AND the day to day realities.
Posted by: Stephanie | 22 June 2009 at 17:38
The part about the seniors rummaging for discarded produce surprised me and made me sad. I guess I figured that sort of thing mostly just happens here en masse. I just read a study that says the welfare requests are the highest they have been since the Clinton administration.
Oh! Berthillon! *crying* Best damn ice cream ever.
Posted by: tangobaby | 22 June 2009 at 17:18
What a great post to wake up to. And, I want those purple shoes!
Posted by: Jane Rosemont | 22 June 2009 at 17:03
Your pictures bring back memories of walking those same streets and seeing the same sights.
You indeed had a very social weekend and great finds too. Thanks for the article on the neocons.
Posted by: Marilyn | 22 June 2009 at 16:24