Visiting Ritz le Comptoir, Mado à Paris

 

I forgot to tell you about my visit to the new Ritz Le Comptoir on July 5, another très elegant joint. 

Its in the back of Hotel Ritz on 38, rue Cambon.

The morning I went there were no lines. Just me and row upon row of lovely madeleines.

These glossy, iced madeleines are different flavors framboise, caramel etc. but no citron/lemon? 

The 3 formules on offer if you want to stop a while.

These French businessmen were chowing down on palmier while talking shop. And yes that is a chocolate bear inside the glass dome. I thought the light fixtures should be palmier-shaped, but maybe that would be de trop/too much?

There are of course other seasonal pastries…

You can pretend you’re in Paris. Buy a complete set of Ritz Proust tearoom china and play afternoon tea at home. Even wear star chef Francois Perret’s jacket to impress your guests.

Just nextdoor is a little Moet Champagne cafe for a quickie glass of Champagne 🥂🍾  before…

You cross the street and go shopping in 31 rue Cambon at Chanel! Oui Madame.

The windows were hmmm…not very exciting. Premonitions of Fall?

Then I went off to my fav sunny yellow madeleines shop, the adorable Mado à Paris on Place de la Concorde. 

So convenient for tea if you visit Hotel de la Marine.

Look what I saw today. Ts in Luxembourg chair colors coming out of bottles of dye!

Seen on the bus coming home today, one big gorgeous cloud. Paris has the best clouds. Reason enough to come back to us dear PBers. Thanks for reading Parisbreakfast☺️You can gift 🎁  yourself Paris letters 💌 and maps 🗺 in my Etsy shop. XOXO 🐻☺️🐝🌸🍒🍋💋

Hotel de la Marine, Palais-Royal

 Yesterday was the perfect day to visit the newly renovated, Hotel de la Marine. Plus PBer Ga in Dekalb has been gently nudging me. Feel free to nudge me if there’s something in Paris you’d like to see. 

I didn't get there till 4:30. I chose the shorter visit (45 minutes for Salons & Loggia - 11€) so I could enter immediately. *Note you need printed proof of vaccination to enter. 

Here is the Hotel de la Marine viewed from across Place de la Concorde back in the day.

You receive a headset that talks to you as you enter each room. It reminds you to look up or here or there. No numbers or dials to fiddle with. Accompanying Baroque music was perfect.

Who knew Hot pink was hot 250 years ago?

So many exquisite chandeliers. My head was spinning. 

Interactive devices stationed hither and thither tell you stories and history through your headset. There are no lengthy explanatory wall labels with viewers bunched up trying to read every word 🤸🏾‍♀️Yay

Loads of Empire period decor! Memories of Napoleon come back. All those  neoclassical Roman and Egyptian details. 

The winged Sphinxes are my favorites. 

If you’re wondering what to wear to such a grand place. Not to worry. Overalls or anything else will do. C’est comme ça.

On the way home on ligne 7, I got off at Palais Royal park to come back down to earth after so much elegant grandeur. 

Just before the park gates, Cafe Nemours beckons. Love the oh so casual throwback to Audrey Hepburn - white tailored man’s shirt + black fitted jeans + simple strappy leather sandals. What do you think of an Audrey in Paris map next? Tipoff - listen to today’s song!

Someone was surprised that citron tartes also come poofy or dome-shaped. In fact the lemon curd is poured into silicon molds to set. Then added to the sable cookie base. Easy as pie. This tarte was seen at Muscade inside the park. I resisted miraculously.

Look at our favorite Paris park chairs in Palais Royal. They are bonded together, facing each other, with snippets of poetry cut out of the backs, including Emily Dickinson lines: “Que c'est bon - d'être en vie!  Que c'est infini - d'être”.

"How good it is to live, how infinite it is to be".  

Bon Dimanche PBers 🌻🐝🍒🥮🐻

Take me to Paris

 

After my almost daily trips to la Poste, I walk along rue Saint Antoine in the Marais. Yesterday  I bought a bunch/boite of sunflowers🌻/Soleil.

“Where are they from?” I asked.

“The Midi”. 

“Oh Provence or the Riviera?” remembering my trip to Cannes 2 years ago. “No, the Midi” which basically means the South including Spain. There are some things you don’t argue about in France. I wanted only one sunflower 🌻 Not allowed. Buy a bunch or nada 👎 “Do you have any less open?” “No, these just came in today. And before I could ask,”They will last a week.”

It turns out all Parisian flower shops have AC. We had a high of 84 today, which is nothing compared to the West coast of course. If it gets hotter, there will be more flowers at PB. I wonder if I could sketch onsite all day? Or sleep with the flowers?

On rue Saint Antoine I get to see what people are wearing. Now that I recently discovered my entire life has been spent revolting against print dresses, I’m thinking its time for a change? I could test one out perhaps..

Remember that filmy sheer skirt? A PBer said she bought it and loves it.

I love this country goose sitting out in the street in front of the très elegant truffés and foie gras shop.

The Summer solde/sale T-shirts are always so attractive at this time of year, but you can’t buy them for neither for love nor money. I’ve tried. Do they appeal to you? Probably not.

All the Paris cafes look so enticing in Summer with their red umbrellas/parapluies and the sun splashing through leaves casting delicious shadows.

I’m seriously in love ❤️ with these red Café Richard cups☕️ They go perfectly with the green rattan chairs. I tried painting🎨 some☕️. I may need to paint a few hundred more. You tell me.

Another long-standing, Paris ongoing love❤️ affair is with Sabre’s red checked tableware. If I’d bought just one piece when this whole thing started, by now I’d have enough for a banquet dinner party. Its on 4, rue Quatre Vents. Are you in love with a Paris spoon or fork or some other ridiculous little thing that makes your heart ❤️ go pitter, patter when you look in a shop window?

Pastries are included merely for color coordination. I, like 20,000,000 or so other post-confinement folks out there, am trying out the 8/16 IF regime 🙏🤞Pastries are off-limits in the 8 hr window when you’re can stuff your face. The odd thing is you lose you’re appetite for the most part. But it def helps not to spend to much time window gazing in patisseries 🥮

Last Sunday I got on a near empty bus for a quickie ride and fell ❤️ for this spaniel, who looks ancient but is in fact only 2 years old (so theoretically he should not be sitting in the ‘oldie’ seats in the bus). Sweet as pie and no one minded. I’d love to dog-nap him but the owner being right there was not the best opp.

Yesterday, Parisians were doing their Renoir thing along the Seine as usual/comme d’habitude. My fav song this week is Take me to Paris. Stay cool dear PBers 🍒🤸🏾‍♀️🇫🇷🌻💋🐻❤️

Signac paints Clafoutis

 

                                       Photo by Jill Colonna
When you waste time on Instagram dreaming of Capri, you can also get ideas for the next Paris letter! Jill Colonna showed her easy cherry clafoutis. 

Jill made me want to paint it. And July is always cherry time 🍒 in France.

                 I was going to bake a clafouti but I ran out of eggs and had the wrong pan. Instead I mailed your letters💌📮

Luckily Gerard Mulot had individual clafoutis. I got 3 to paint, of course. 

Don’t they make you think of dots and Pointillism? And of Damien Hirst’s cherry blossoms?

It seemed like a good idea to go see the Pointillist Signac exhibition at Musee Jacquemart-Andre. And its been extended to July 26th🎉 🤸🏾‍♀️

Leçon/lesson time: We are going to have to talk about neo-Impressionnismes.

Signac was influenced by Impressionnists Monet (who wasn’t). But even more so by Seurat, who started Pointillism.  Here’s a nice simple video explaining DIY Pointillism. Why should you care? Because more than Impressionism, Pointillismes  took painting much further and influenced painters like Mondrian, Damien Hurst, Chuck Close, Alex Katz. Not to forget Matisse. 

Its all about Optical color. Instead of mixing 2 colors on your palette or on the canvas or paper, you put separate dots of color down next to each other. Your eye and brain will mix them together and INTENSIFY the color in a nutshell.

Granted this is a rather laborious way to paint. A lot of planning and science is involved…knowing the color wheel, color theory and planning ahead! The Neo-Impressionists did not go outside and paint ‘en pleine air’ like the outdoorsy Impressionists in their sunhats. They wasted away in their studios. But they got tremendous color effects and changed painting forever.

Later years Signac discovered the joy and ease of watercolor. He got to travel often every summer to Saint Tropez, plus visit Venice. 

He was sponsored by Monoprix’s owner, Gaston Levy to paint all the French ports. 

What was supposed to be a 3 month project, became 3 years. 

By the way if you want dotty glasses to get in the right frame of mind Galerie Lafayette has them.

I came home from the Signac show and thought I’d try my hand at a bit of cherry watercolor Pointillism. Easier than baking a cake. Please stay safe and cool Western and Canadian PBers🙏 Here’s a rainbow🌈  song I just discovered this weekend. If you’re not into art history 🎨 just play the song and go buy a letter ☺️❤️🍒🤸🏾‍♀️🐻🌸🌈🎨📮✏️🇫🇷💌💋🗺