Saturday, January 26, 2008

Friday, January 25, 2008

Odor-ific

I'm watching the news and they are covering stories about the new "no smoking in restaurants/bars/discotheques" law and everything seems to be working out nicely except one thing. Since there is no more smoke in dance clubs, the overpowering odor of sweat fills the unventilated space instead of the smoke!! And as we know, French people have not mastered the art of deodorant so this is bad news. The smoke used to cover up the smell of sweaty dancers! Perhaps this will lead to the revolutionary idea of smelling good (and ventilating rooms)....perhaps.

Waiting in line at the grocery store, I've practically been knocked out by bad body odor. It is so overpowering sometimes that you are forced to cough and turn away. I wonder if these people just don't shower (which would confirm my SB neighbor's theory) or if they just smell like that even after a shower...

Just had to share that cultural tid-bit with you all.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Guiness to Lacroix

The sun finally came out today and it was wonderful! I had a wonderully Parisien day today. In the late morning I went to coffee with a friend my mom made in the countryside, who lives in Paris with his family. He seemed to have quite a few hotel contacts and is going to try to help me out in my job search. His next endeavor in life is in the chocolate world! Good friends to have.

After coffee I took the bus to the 4ème arrondissement, and walked down rue du Pont Neuf looking for a restaurant to eat lunch at. Creperie Saint Honore drew my attention. I had a wonderful view from my table of Ste Eustache (please visit my photos to see it) and I even ended up with a lunch companion, seen below.
Would you believe his name was Guiness? He is the restaurant cat, which I found quite charming though I giggled at the thought of people getting upset at the thought of having a cat wandering around a restaurant. I enjoyed a goat cheese, tomato, walnut crepe and then a sugar & whipped cream crepe. Delightful!

Since it was so lovely out, I walked to the Musee des Arts Decoratifs on rue de Rivoli. There I saw the Christian LaCroix show. He's a haute couture fashion designer and he made a show of works he designed inspired from pieces of clothing across the ages grouped by black or white or stripes or texture. It's all a bit out there for me, but I enjoyed seeing the vintage clothing.

The museum is located in part of the Louvre building and in parts of the museum they left the rooms unrestored. You can see the old paint and all the different styles in each room. I highly recommend this museum. I walked out of the building into the Tuileries gardens and the view below greeted me. Incredibly romantic, non?

In the crisp air, I walked through the sunlit Tuileries gardens. What a day!

Please visit my photo album of Paris, if you want to see more of my days here, by clicking on the slideshow on this site.