A final shot of the harbor at Villefranche taken after dinner one night:
The seagull on the roof is real:
Markets to die for:
As for other bits of information, Ilona asked about the clothes I took. They were OK, but I still felt fat and frumpy. It is much, much easier to feel good in fall/winter clothes....boots, scarves, longer coat. We experienced a number of hot (90+) days. I felt I was in Merida which is why I think I will go to Buenos Aires next summer...temperatures there were in the 20s and 30s while we were in Paris. Patti and I raised the art of people watching to a new high. Actually, we seemed to only watch Frnech women. Everything we read about them is true. French women are not fat. They aren't. Their clothes fit well; they move with a grace and confidence that we rarely see in the US. Gosh, they look good zipping by on bicycles in their regular street clothes and shoes. They wear wonderful shoes...just regular shoes. (The only place we saw outrageous high heels was the night we hung out with the papparazzi in front of the Grand Palais where the A/W Chanel show was being held. ) They have wonderful handbags...not all of them are the high end brands, but they all look great. Very few are shoulder bags as most are carried on the arm. The only cross body bags I saw were on students or tourists. Young women were wearing cute summer fedoras, but we only saw one woman of a certain age who pulled off that look. It was depressing.
With fashion and style on the brain, we also went to the Yves Saint Laurent exhibit in the Petite Palais...across the street from the Grand Palais. All we wanted to do was touch the clothing because the fabrics looked so rich and sensual.
On a smaller scale, Patti found a line of clothing she really liked. She bought some great pieces and all on sale. I bought a handbag, a scarf and a pair of earrings.....as if I needed any more of any of those three things, but they were the only things that would fit me.
We did go to a couple of museums including the Cluny where the famous tapestries of the Middle Ages are displayed. It seemed appropriate that we two middle aged women found ourselves there.
7 comments:
The pictures are gorgeous. And your observations, intriguing. So are these traits (the simple elegance, for instance) (or looking good on a bicycle?) that we can learn, practice, cultivate? Or are we doomed to live out our days as dumpy/frumpy/sweating American women of a certain age?
While you were away, I spent time looking through the offerings on your blogrole, and actually looked at BitchCakes for the first time - yesterday. One of these days I'd like to go through some of her older posts to get the back story.
okay, just in case you're curious - I didn't say anything offensive or even questionable (unless you resent being lumped into the category of Lumpy/dumpy/sweaty along with me). No, the deleted comment simply had several typos that went unnoticed until I hit the publish button and read my entry. And just as I was thinking "Oh Bother!" I realized there is a small trash available in the lower left hand corner - obviously waiting for just such a crisis, so I took advantage of the marvels of modern communications and deleted myself. After, bien sur, I copied, pasted, and corrected the original message in the little box. Who knew?!
My initial reaction was that we are doomed, but my optimistic reaction is that I think there are some things that we can do. Perhaps the biggest one is to comit to wearing clothes that fit well and feel good no matter what our weight and age.
I find Bitch Cakes fascinating and inspiring.
Thanks for the explanation of the comment deleted. My heart skipped a beat when I first saw the message and then I read the deleted by author note.
Do I detect some final paper avoidance today?
Moi?
thanks for the handbag tips! your are saying messenger bags are for tourists, right? i wonder if that applies to other parts of the world or only Paris. And to folow up all the previous comments on this blog post, I should say I need to go to Paris before I hit middle age. that won't be long, I just turned 33. I am changing my old favorite nurses cc for one that wll earn me lots of miles. :)
Any time you want a guide, let me know.
I am thinking about Provence in 2012.
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