Is this a great continent or what? We went to Paris last weekend (see the Travel page Paris Weekend) and had a fabulous time. We took the night train Friday night, got to our hotel at 8 am, where our room was ready. We dropped stuff off, I took a shower and then we went downstairs for a “Continental Breakfast”. The best damned croissant, piece of baguette, jam, coffee and orange juice, you ever had. The bread was God like. Then we rushed off to the Champs-Elysées to shop, shop, shop. The stores were just opening. All our Paris Eyewitness guides are missing so we had to buy a new one at Mr. Branson’s (Virgin Megastore). We went to Sephora but didn’t have much luck. If you see any Benefit “Boo boo Zap” buy it all. It is brilliant on white heads and thus stores have a hard time keeping it in stock. Anyhow, the only thing we were looking for in Paris was a dress for me to wear to Brett’s wedding in October. We took the risk and went to the Tara Jarmon (she is Canadian, hey). They were having a sale. Death. I got a pink raw silk strapless dress to wear to the wedding, an awesome hot pink a-line skirt that has laces up the back and a black chiffon skirt with an elastic waist. As it turns out, I can wear the skirt over my bust and now it is a strapless dress!
So then we had lunch at a British Pub (guess we will have to have French in Leeds next weekend). We both had Cheese Burgers. They were heavenly. Patrick doesn’t trust German beef because the German gov’t still denies to a certain extent that they have mad cow so there is little testing. France admitted it and is testing vigorously like Britain. They were great burgers and we were totally sick the next day (since we hadn’t had beef in forever).
After lunch we went to the one place Patrick has been wanting to go in Paris. The Roman Amphitheater. It was really simple. There were some locals playing Bocce Ball in the center. We hiked up one side and took a bench in the shade. It was so pleasant just sitting there and watching the people play bocce. On the bench next to us was a couple with a pet Chihuahua. Patrick kept impersonating the dogs voice. He would say things, in a high pitched whine, like “Feed me. Please, feed me. They don’t feed me enough at home. They dress me up in frilly dresses.” When the owners called the dog back he said “Only if you give me a biscuit. No not the leash. I want a biscuit.” Strange boy. So then later the dog barked at some people coming up the stairs. The bark was pretty pathetic so Patrick started quacking. Making fun of poor defenseless animals.
After a while a large group of slightly large rather unattractive old people in vests swarmed the entrance. We knew in an instant…German Tourists. Time to leave.
We continued on a shoe hunt to accompany my dress. Patrick had bought me a beautiful pair of snub nosed black high heels at Charles Jordan that could work for the wedding but we wanted to try other places. In the end we didn’t have much luck on the shoes but did have other luck. I got a used winter coat that makes me look like Madeline, a cool hooded sweater with dingle balls (you have to see it), a Custo shirt that says “love and hate” and looks very gothic and lastly a tiny babies t-shirt that has the perfect angel wings on the back for my tattoo. Yes Mom and Nana, I want a large tattoo of wings on my back. We’ve been looking for the right picture of wings but haven’t had any luck so far. Unlucky for you, we found it in Paris. Patrick got a cool sweater shirt from Custo as well. Custo is a Spanish designer by the way. If you saw the shirt you would recognize it. Keep an eye out on my fashion page.
We had sushi for dinner and then met my friend Stefan at a cool lounge/bar. He was with a girl and I saw him kiss her even.
The next day we got to do what we had come to Paris to do…go to the Alfred Hitchcock exhibit at the Pompidu. It was brilliant. I spent 3 1/2 hours in one exhibit. I’ve never spent that much time looking at art ever. There were the most amazing things in this exhibit. Turns out Hitchcock wrote few, if any, of his movies. he used others short stories and books. He also was a great fan of art, specifically paintings. The exhibits showed the painting he owned and the artists he admired. Then next to the painting they would show a clip of the movie that painting was “in”. For as little as a second and as long as 10, you would see a near exact replica of the painting. It was amazing. Hitchcock took others work and saw much, much more. There was one painting by George Braque called Les Oiseaux. It is obviously where Hitchcock got his idea for The Birds. He told his art director people to refer to Edvard Munch’s The Scream for the ambiance for the movie. Salvador Dali assisted in the art direction, especially a dream sequence in Spellbound. He also considered Hair to be the ultimate erotic fixation. My kinda man. Really I can’t say enough about the exhibit. It was wonderful. You should all go out and get on planes to Paris and see it before it is over Sept. 24th. If you miss it, I bought a book about Hitchcock and the exhibit that you can borrow.
Do you like my new Gaultier above? Patrick bought it for me. It is my first (and likely only) Gaultier.
Saw a cute movie by the same director as The Full Monty. It is called Blow Dry. It is about the 2000 World Hairdressing Championship in this little town in England. The story revolves around the 10 year previous “supreme winner” who now only cuts hair for 7 pound 50 pence because his model (female) ran away with his wife (yes they became lesbians) the night before the “total look” finale. His ex-wife and model live in the same town. Through a series of events the son unites the “family” back together, sort of, to compete. I can’t tell you much more or it will ruin it. Alan Rickman plays the jaded hairdresser and is BRILLIANT. He is an amazing actor. Turns out I have seen him in more things than I realized and he is always brilliant. Anyway, go see it.
I read an interesting article in one of my aging issues of Talk magazine this month. It was about what happens to a couple’s relationship after children are born. The woman who wrote the article (and subsequently divorced her child’s father) said that when the child is born the relationship shifts from being between the Husband and Wife, to between the Mother and Child. A great quote to this effect was “Men often feel as a pay check for their wife to have an affair with someone else (the child)”. See I always figured, when you have kids you agree either explicit or implicitly to giving up your relationship until the children are independent. Children first, making a living second, couple third. Apparently this was enlightenment on my part and lots of people don’t realize this.
Remember when I wrote up our trip to Budapest and I mentioned the great poem that I was going to provide a link for, then didn’t? Well I have finally gotten around to it. You really should read it.
Next weekend is the concert festival in Leeds for my birthday. We are very excited. In the spirit of my mom we are not camping out with the rest of the dedicated festival goers. We are staying at the Crown Plaza. So when we come back each late night covered in mud from the mosh pit, we have hot water and soft fluffy towels to wash with.