April Paris Map

When finally I came in Monday night I could still hear the sirens of the pompier. But all the church bells were ringing too. An hommage to Notre Dame.

I was working on a map of Paris cookwareshops and it wasn't Going very well...

Then Deb in Australia emailed me a little drawing of Notre Dame from another map. Why not do a map of all the beautiful Gothic churches near Notre Dame? Et voila!

Tuesday I went to 4 Gothic churches near Notre Dame. End of day my hair smelled like incense.

Saint Etienne-du-Mont in the 5th arr. was formerly the resting place of Saint Genevieve, patron saint of Paris, till her bones were destroyed during the French Revolution and tossed into the Seine.

I made doodles during the service.

EGLISE SAINT-GERMAIN-Des-PRES has been newly, gloriously renovated. A Must-See. I went to see the three gorgeous DELACROIX murals at SAINT-SULPICE. Look at this little still life in the foreground.

I needed a border of course. Every map needs a border. But French manuscripts were not going to work obviously. Obviously it had to be stained glass! That came to me out walking. Yes!👍🏻

A wonderful free guide I picked up by chance in the Paris Tourist office to the 120 churches in Paris!

FYIThere are more Notre Dame watercolors in my shop. Thank you for reading Parisbreakfast. If you enjoyed this forward to a friend. Receive monthly Paris letters or maps in your mailbox + French souvenirs at ETSY.

xxx💋Carolg et Bear 🐻 in Paris

Pray for Notre Dame

My touchstone is burning

 Everyday I pass Notre Dame 2, 3 times. 

The crowds are immense and quiet. This forlorn pup expresses our loss.

Notre Dame early morning when the Seine is like glass

C'est un incontournable

If you come to Paris, you come to Notre Dame. 

Such skies like I've never seen before

Better times ❤️🙏🏻

Salon international du livre rare et de l'objet d'art au Grand Palais

On thursday I was lucky enough to get an invite to preview the annual  SALON DU LIVRES RARES ET L'OBJETS D'ART at Grand Palais. Naturally I was thinking I'll just run in for 20-30 minutes and then off to the pool.

Ha! Two hours later I could have stayed and stayed. A veritable treasure chest of old books, art and and artifacts to linger over. This stripped tent from military dealer, BERTRAND MALVAUX contained Napoleonic medals, helmets, armor, toy soldiers. Was that the dealer's grass green shoes? Qui sait. 

160 exhibitors, 44 countries represented, 50 art experts to consult. 

What more could you want? A giant book store.

An area just for prints and small drawings amd watercolors. As if you are browsing a tiny shop.

Special invited guest, library, LA BIBLIOTHEQUE FORNEY brought treasures from their collections

There are small shops of jewelry, fabrics, watches as well...

Famous French 20s printer, DRAEGER had a big stand of old posters, fashion drawings

I was lured in easily and would have bought up everything in sight if I could have.

Still the fun of going to these big, glorious art shows is browsing up close things you would normally view only behind glass cases

Today is the last day of Salon international du livre rare & de l'objet d'art au Grand Palais. Run, don't walk to catch it. Thank you for reading Parisbreakfast. If you enjoyed this forward to a friend. Receive monthly Paris letters or maps in your mailbox + French souvenirs at ETSY.

xxx💋Carolg et Bear 🐻 in Paris

Faberge Easter eggs, Russian Tea Room, Rouge at Grand Palais

I'm not ready to drop the eggs yet. And Easter is still 11 days away.

This is the "Imperial Hen" (1885) made by PETER CARL FABERGE for Czar Alexander to give to the Czarina as a surprise Easter gift. Inside the hen was a replica crown and small ruby egg, both lost.

Paris is full of enormous chocolate hens at the moment. No rubies within but full of miniature chocolate fish and foil eggs. France may be the only country I know that has goodies inside their Easter chocolate molds. Tell me if I'm wrong. 

Shake any French chocolate egg of any size (this giant is from FOUCHER on 13 rue du Bac) and it will rattle.

The jeweled "Imperial Coronation Easter egg" is rather small comparatively made in 1897. The crossed pattern referenced the robe worn by the czarina at her coronation.These delicate FABERGE eggs could take up to a year to create.

Its covered with diamond and rubies. Inside an exact replica of the coach the czarina rode in. It was sold to publisher Malcolm Forbes in 1979 for around 2 million dollars. The Forbes collection of 9 Faberge eggs, rare toys, and motorcycles etc. was displayed in a town house on 5th Avenue and West 13th street. I lived a few blocks away and often stopped in for a look at the rotating exhibitions.

Later I did menu art for the Russian Tea Room. They had their own collection of Faberge-styled eggs like this tree in the ballroom. So I seem to be joined at the hip to Faberge. Especially after eating all the  Lindt chocolate bunnies. And one of their small Lindor eggs (I just gobbled down the last egg) has a Faberge-style pattern on the blue foil. FYI its dark chocolate ganache inside.

Forbes amassed a huge collection of Faberge pieces, not just 12 imperial eggs. His goal; to own more Faberge than the Soviet government. After his death his family put the collection up for auction at Christies in 2004. Russian billionaire oligarch, Victor Vekselberg swooped in and bought everything pre-auction for the presumed sum of $100,000,000. They are now on view in the St. Petersburg Armour museum, quite far from 13th street in Greenwich Village.

On right now an exposition ROUGE,GRAND PALAIS a collection of Soviet artworks made during the revolution. Desperate for money to support the new regime, the Bolsheviks sold off priceless artworks belonging to the imperial art collections. Armand Hammer was used as a middleman and brought over artifacts to sell in New York department stores. 

What a long convoluted story! All from eating chocolate Easter bunnies.Thank you for reading and sharing Paris breakfasts. Subscription letters 💌 maps and watercolors are in my Etsy shop. 
From 🇫🇷Paris 💋with love ❤️Xxx🐻