10 May 2011

Lunch with Celia at Ralph's


Celebrating the milestone birthdays should be a long fun-filled experience! 2011 is a momentous year...I turned 50 and C turns 16!! Our celebratory lunch was at the beautiful garden terrace at Ralph Lauren's in Paris. We lingered for three hours in the dappled sunshine enjoying the plumply cushioned chairs and the fresh delicious American style menu. C sipped a crisp buttery chardonnay while I enjoyed my Pouilly-Fumé.

We started with a cool mint and garden pea soup and followed by splitting a Lauren Ranch hamburger with bacon and cheddar and a spicy turkey burger topped with avocado and cheese. The ranch fries took us back to our favorite burger joints in California. Unfortunately we were both too full to even attempt the peanut butter chocolate ice cream.

Although the restaurant was complet, we felt like we were on a private garden terrace far from the hustle and bustle of the Boulevard Saint-Germain-des-Prés just steps outside the courtyard of the mansion that houses the flagship store and restaurant.










Ralph Lauren Homes: architecturaldigest.com

Ladurée!


While strolling the Champs Elysées, Celia and I decided to indulge in the incredibly beautiful desserts of
Ladurée.  We had eaten their macaroons before...which are out of this world good!...but never the pretty little desserts.  If you have ever seen the movie Marie Antoinette (Sophia Coppola/Kirsten Dunst), all of the incredibly gorgeous desserts in that film were created especially by  Ladurée.  The little cake with the sexy lips was framboise coquelicot flavored light cream enrobed in white chocolate.  There are no words to describe how sublimely delicious this little beauty was!  No matter how famous this pâtisserie is, they continue to produce beautifully subtle treats!

Marie Antoinette
Images of the Laduree treats from Marie Antoinette!

Ladurée




09 May 2011

Repetto Paris


The dream of so many girls...to be a ballerina. The grace...the poise...the beauty. The Paris stores of Repetto are filled with the dreams of ballerinas. Walls of tiny satin toe shoes, tutus and leotards, soft pink wrap sweaters all lit softly by crystal chandeliers.

In the store window, an incredibly beautiful handmade tutu sparkling with crystals and paillettes. Each Repetto store displays a unique tutu specially made by artisans.

If you are a ballerina in your dreams or just an ardent admirer of the beauty of ballet, take the time to watch the videos featured on the Repetto site.
Repetto






 

Bike Riding in Paris with Celia

In honor of Celia's 16th birthday, we took a girl's only trip to Paris. One of the highlights was our bike ride from Place de la Bastille then along the Seine to Notre Dame to the Eiffel Tower. The Velib bikes that you can rent in Paris are so great! You can find them everywhere and they are so fun to ride. You just have to have a credit card with a chip on it. 

The traffic in Paris is a bit intimidating to ride through the first time...the taxi drivers are incredibly aggressive and would love to push bikes out of their way if they could!  The secret is confidence and a fairly good grasp of French traffic laws and the Paris streets!  If you ignore the taxis and push your way through, no worries.  Even more interesting at times was the tourists.  Even excusing ourselves politely, many tourists have their heads in the clouds and were completely unaware that there were cars and bikes around them.  Amazing that more tourists don't go home in a flat pack box!!  We found that Saturday before lunch and Sundays are the best times to take to the roads. 

In two hours we covered almost all of the heart of Paris!  With the sun shining and the perfect weather, it was a perfect end to a beautiful trip to Paris!




This group was celebrating an enterrement de vie...the last days of freedom for the cute little ballerina!  They were golfing in the Champ du Mars in the shadows of the Eiffel Tower.  One of the red shirts had a rolling suitcase full of libations.  Note that this was at around 11h00 on a Saturday morning!  I can just imagine how well our ballerina could dance by the wee hours of that night!!









http://www.velib.paris.fr/