One Word ~ Paris

We arrived in Paris to a rainy mist and cold (by our Miami standard) temperatures, but our hearts were eager to wander and explore after an all night flight. A city where I have spent much time in my life, I needed to get reacquainted like an old friend and get my bearings after a hiatus of several years left me twisted around. It all comes back, and my forgotten parlez slowly returned enough to get us by on our wanderings. As it was morning, we dropped off our luggage at the hotel but could not check in and decided to just spend the day walking. We stayed at the elegant and quiet Hotel Sofitel in the 8th arrondissement, which is a favorite area of mine...a five minute walk to the Champs Elysee shopping and the Arc de Triomphe, that offers the most sweeping vista of the city of Paris from it's roof deck. Despite the inclement weather, we walked for miles on our first day, and these photos are just a few that I have to share with you...more than 400 taken! We brought my smaller Canon Elph camera instead of my big guns Rebel XTI with all of the lenses and equipment, as we wanted to be less encumbered, but I think that the photos came out well. I will write several posts over the next week or so and let you know about the sights, the food, fashion and what probably most of my blog readers want to know about ~ the Flea Markets! We experienced and saw a bit of everything during our week's stay, from the sublime to the outright silly, so join along....I will keep the commentary brief and the photos flowing: That's it for today, I am in need of answering many emails and getting caught up with the packing and shipping that has piled up while I was away. If you are waiting for a package, it will be going out asap.....and hopefully next week I will start to post some of what was purchased for the website ~ some fabulous treasures!


In front of our hotel (do I look tired or what?). Thank goodness I brought the ONLY coat that I own, a white trench that is perfectly suited for Miami, but made me look a bit like a marshmallow in Paris! Mr. Fufu was happy though, as he said that I was easy to spot in a crowd.


A five minute walk and voila~the Arc de Triomphe!

Just strolling around admiring the many beautiful balconies in Paris.

The Bateaux~Mouche along the Seine...and there are so many! We didn't do very many of the usual touristy things, as I had done these in the past and my novice Paris husband was eager to just experience the street life. Check out the gorgeous swags along this one of several bridges that connects the right and left banks of Paris. They recently did a massive re~guilding of all of the faded gold on the old structures.

The Gendemerie were conducting some sort of drill for emergencies. They are not the friendliest law officers that you might run across and don't want to be bothered with you unless you are a beautiful 22 year old female.

An interesting wall near the Eiffel Tower that has been landscaped with plants.



Beauty all around in all of the details.




We happened to stumble into this museum exhibition that was being installed in a centuries old building. The modern with the antique is very popular with the younger generation in France.

Bookstores abound in Paris, reading is not a lost art here.


More balconies~gorgeous, no?



Obviously the most universally recognized symbol of Paris and worth the trip if you have never been. Watch out for the gypsies though, they are quite prevalent around all of the tourist areas and brazen.



Hungry for a macaron? Every patisserie has these sweet confections, with those at Laduree the most recognized. Will do a post about that later, and I brought back some things for the website as well:-)


Guerlain, amazing facade.


Just one of the many, many shops catering to the well heeled decorator who prefers the moderne. The color palette though is universally Parisiene with whites, cremes, faded greys.

That's it for today, I must get rolling.... à bientôt ~ Janet