Christmas Eve at Angelina, Sebastien Gaudard, Ritz Chalet de Noël

 

As requested more Paris Christmas🌲 I was headed to the Toy Museum in Poissy yesterday, after a dip 🏊🏽‍♀️in the pool. Going to a toy museum around Christmas is always a good idea, but there were perturbations on ligne RER A😧

Change of plans and back to Paris on ligne 1, getting off at Tuilleries.

The French Way

I am staying with a Fr girl in Paris. We met 2 years ago in NYC.

Fr Girl writes to me:
Dear Macaron girl,

Oh btw, when you are here, we will do things The American way. You do as if you were in your home. You open the fridge, put in tons of macarons. Eat in the kitchen. Use everything you want.......so funny!!!!

~

American girl arrives Sunday morning.
 Fr girl announces her friends are joining us at noon for lunch in Chinatown.

At 12:06: American girl famished from long plane trip says,
"Where are your friends...ahem?"

At 1:06: American girl says,

"Ahem...do you think we should call your friends? Maybe they are lost?"
At 1:30:American girl is dying to look in the fridge for macarons.

At 2:15 friends arrive on time .
This is The French way.

American girl is leaving for Sonia Rykiel show.

Fr girl politely asks: "Are you taking that bag with you?"
The American Way: "You are not leaving the house with that horror!"

Fr Girl has a snack The French Way: She eats 2 potato chips, with a naughty smile and folds the bag away.

The American way: Devour entire bag mindlessly instantly.
Fr Girl eats her petit dej' of two slices of toast slathered thickly with beurre de Normandie, honey and drinks some tea.

One has to wonder how Fr Girl fits into her complicated, witty skirts that only a French girl could wear? It's beyond me.

In the morning (5am) I'm at the computer, headphones on, working on my blog post, humming merrily away to Whatchasay.

Fr Girl is suddenly standing in the doorway in her PJs.

"Your singing is waking me up!"
Fr Girl does her blog posts the evening before like any sane Fr person.

Fr Girl is off to Carnaval in Limoux Thursday night, so she warns,

"French people sleep in on the weekends.
No loud singing SVP!"

On Thursday I go to my macaron class at the Ritz.

I see deux mecs/2 guys standing in chefs jackets yacking in English. I ask them,

"How do I find the class?"

They respond The French way,

"BONJOUR...BONJOUR"

then lead me down to the Ritz kitchen.

At reception 2 Fr women look at my facture and remark, giggling, "But your class is next week!"

Eeep...I did not read the fine print.

I remember author Elizabeth Bard is doing a reading/book signing of Lunch in Paris at W.H.Smith just up the street on rue Cambon.

Elizabeth has a delightful way of recounting her experiences of The French Way. She met a Fr guy in Paris and married him. Elizabeth's French mother-in-law/belle mere is eternally thin and fits into skirts she wore in high school. She never snacks between meals and at the beach only brings a bottle of water.

Elizabeth describes her French husband at breakfast:

He leisurely makes coffee, sits down, reads his paper perhaps, surrounded by chaos, yet ignoring it
The French way. I know you'll enjoy her book.

Wednesday night, Fr Girl says,

"OK I am going away tomorrow.

Tonight we eat The French way.
After, you can do what you want."

She takes away my soup pot, puts the computer on the floor, lays down a linen tablecloth and silverware. Soup is served in a proper bowl. Then she sits down and joins me for dinner The French way and heaves a sigh of relief.
Fr Girl's parting words:
"Don't burn down the house."
This is a universal sentiment.

So whatchasay? Have you experienced
The French Way?

Paris Greys

Staying with Paris fashion for another moment,

I felt I have to tell you that GREY is the color for Fall.

Audrey Hepburn is always all over Paris in many forms, but this is an innovative version in these grey handbags..non?

You wouldn't think grey rubber rain boots would be a fashion statement but you'd be wrong in Paris...

Grey flannel flats will do very nicely too... The windows at HELLO KITTY were full of grey... HELLO KITTY! Are you kidding me? Hey! do not turn up your nose. This shop is on Place Vandome down from THE RITZ. I admit I was a bit surprised too...ahem The layered look toute en grisIt's all over this town up the whazoo. The KEY accessory is a metalic leather bag/sac...Note this gold number with the grey stripped scarf flung over it...
Just stitch on a few odd buttons (grey of course) and you've got a fashion statement par excellance. Or you could mix your metalics...plenty of flats are still out there. Should I buy this one? Pas cher either - maybe 45 or 65 Euros. I forget which. I also forget where I took this picture :(This was the piece de resistance of my GREY research and a "stolen shot" on the Metro too! A bag made entirely of pop can openers!
Tres chic non?
I had Sunday tea with another blogger at Dalloyau.
She's lived in Paris a few years, put forth an interesting point:
Americans come to Paris and desperately want to dress like the French. And Americans desperately want to pass as French. I was of course, wearing my correctly knotted French scarf + a ton of grey/gris, while she was wearing a white cable knit V-neck "tennis" sweater = very AMERICAN! Naturally the whole world wants to dress "FRENCH" but what do you think of this phenomenon?