La Cafe de la Mairie, Chanel bonus

This last week I've been running 🏃‍♀️

All over Paris looking for large brown cardboard envelopes.

No luck. So today I ordered 100 envelopes online.

A couple weeks ago 

I went back to your favorite breakfast café, Cafe de la Mairie.

Since then I've been trying 

To paint their pretty coffee cup. 

Not much luck there either.

I'm ready to throw in the torchon/towel and just relax like this French gal. I need a dog...

I got swimmer's haircut because they turned off the hairdryers at the pool. My swimmer's body is back-ordered.

This Pylones Summery turban would be cute, but maybe not with a mask...

Today in BHV I was shooting this ginormous bottle of Chanel Gabrielle.Naturally the sales gent came running over. "Puis-je vous aider/can I help you?" I asked "How much is it?" He said something like "€2,000+." I said, "I'll take 2 bottles s'il vous plait" He said, "deux bouteilles, et voila!" I said, "Its a cadeau/gift." He said, "Un cadeau. Bien sur". "A cadeau for me." "Mais oui, bien sur," he said. By this time we were both giggling... "Oh just one thing," I said, "can you change the name (Gabrielle) and put my name on it?" "Ah...non. Non, non, non! Pas possible!" "Ah..dommage,"I said. End of story.

But you dear PBers can have your name on a bottle with a subscription to Paris Maps/Letters. Pas de problem. Crossing my bridge 3 generations of Parisiennes. Toute en blue marine/all in navy blue. Please stay well and cool dear PBers. Paris is waiting for you❤️💋🐻

Sunday on Bus 69 with Bear

Sunday afternoon we went looking for August Paris letter ideas. The best idea was taking bus 69 from the 7th arrondissement. What a grand tour of PARIS MONUMENTS! 1st we passed Les Invalides. 

Next the Louvre. Wish the bus windows were not so greenish.. 

And so-expansive former train station, the Orsay. If we'd gotten on the 69 earlier there'd be an Eiffel Tower monument to show you. 

Look! Grand Palais off in the vista. We got off the bus at Hotel de Ville. Is that considered a Paris Monument? 

Certainly Paris cafes count...sort of. They were bustling Sunday.

A brocant was stretched across Pont Louis Philippe bridge. Social distancing and masks was obligatory.

Bear noticed his current obsession, 'clouds' were reflected in the silver spoons!

Bear browsed a few shops on the Ile like Nina Kendosa. And  It was sunny and warm.

Everyone was eating Berthillon ice cream cones. What's your favorite flavor?

Bear is a purist and goes for so-called plain vanille. Which in Paris is not so plain. It can be Madagascan or Tahitian or Mexique with real vanilla bean specks. No vanilla extract thank you very much. Plus Berthillon won best vanille in La Figaro's Contest and is a worthy Paris monument. Forget the other 56 flavors svp. What's your favorite Paris monument? You're wondering who is BEAR 🐻? For more BEAR STORIES. Umm, we made a mistake last post with the 'name the song' contest. We'll do another free letter offer shortly je te promis. Please share Parisbreakfasts with a friend. Stay well and stay cool dear PBers ❤️🐻

James Tissot, d'Orsay

Dear PBers, the week-long heatwave finally broke yesterday. And I finally got the JULY LETTER in the post last night at 5 PM. To celebrate a return to sanity I went to the ORSAY to see the James Tissot exhibit.

The Orsay is open till 9:45 PM on Thursdays. Not so many people. Its reservations only but you can easily RSVP online outside.

I'm experiencing the museum differently now I'm aware of it's train station past. You can almost see, hear  and smell the locomotives.

The first painting in the show is a stunning portrait of Tissot by his good friend Degas. They studied together at the Beaux Arts. Tissot is surrounded by his collection of Japanese screens, prints and fabrics, plus diagonal motifs. It demonstrates the Japonisme trend both artists were influenced by. Plus Mary Cassatt, Berthe Morisot, Manet, Monet and Whistler. All painting buddies.

For a quick dip into the art history of Japonisme, I like the Art d'Histoire videos.

Instructor Lise Martinot is speaking French only but the visuals are so strong, you'll get the picture.

Squint at the featured Tissot to notice the repeated diagonal framework for the figures. The background woman is silhouetted and flattened by the black shape behind her like in a Japanese woodblock print.

I was so taken sketching the buttons and satin bows, I didn't notice till I drew her how the foreground woman's profile is set off by a large Japanese fan. That's why doodling at exhibits even in the most casual way is useful. You'll see much more.

It was said Tissot that he kept Champagne in the waiting room off his studio. It's in his paintings too.

Many of Tissot's commissions are family group portraits and fashionable ladies. He's not one of the great painters of his time but that's just my opinion.

Clearly he  was a big influence on the making of Merchant-Ivory Victorian films.

Snippets are played as you exit the show: Portrait of a Lady, A Room with a View, etc. The FIRST 5 PBers TO IDENTIFY THE SONG HIDDEN IN THE LINKS WILL GET A FREE PARIS LETTER 💌 PLS. LEAVE RESPONSE IN COMMENTS ONLY. Stay well please ❤️🐻

Paris Train Station Letter, Gare de Lyon

Ta Da This brainstorm hit me on ligne 7 going to the POOL yesterday. We're in a week-long HEATWAVE/canicul. 90+ degrees. I bought another fan/ventilator only to discover I have to assemble it. The box is attractive.

I was going to do the GARE DE LYON facade for the letter and realized how boring that would be. Plus Bonelle said NO WAY! 

Btw there are many wonderful FRENCH TRAIN videos you must WATCH. Even classic French train NOISES. 

Dooo do dooo da.

Clearly I was subliminally influenced by New York City architectural historian, BARRY LEWIS' History of NYC's Grand Central Terminal. this view of the great train shed/verriaire seeped into the little brain cells. I took Barry's Cooper Union night classes over & over. Riveting and funny. He points out the influence of mid-1850s French Beaux Arts architecture on NYC design.

Like the former Orsay train station.

 Who knew the gorgeous plumes of romantic smoke and fog we love in films like Funny Face and Anna Karenina, actually stank and were abhorrent? 

Barry knows these important little things. You will be amused. BARRY LEWIS is a PBer too.

Way back when, I visited the ORSAY for a comic book convention.

Its still one of the great fabulous spaces in Paris, as are all the train stations.

But the Orsay has not been gutted and shopping mauled, Merci Dieu 🙏

You are not supposed to call it the 'D'Orsay'? I didn't know till recently...its a snob thing. Now we know. Call it the ORSAY. Drop the d'. Professor Deb says so.

Here's a divine Van Gogh from the Orsay Impressionist collection. Big merci Caillebotte brothers. And a cool matching view of the Seine. 

Please share PB with your friends. 

The PARIS LETTER is shipping out 📮Monday (perhaps with a tip sheet so you can cut/fold yours to look like mine). Xxx 💋from Bear 🐻 & Carolg❤️

Paris Train Station Map

Parisians are rushing to Paris' train stations if they've not already left town.

Everyone has a wheelie suitcase + baby buggy in tow.

And a pup or two in their arms. I went last weekend to Gare de Lyon in the 12th arrondissement. It seemed a good idea for the July Summer map.

And nice to be a calm observer rather than a harried traveler. There are 6 major train stations in Paris, all built around 1860s to 1900s with art nouveau details.

Inside they've been mostly gutted to become complete shopping malls. Gare de Lyon has the most posh shops from Alain Ducasse chocolates and Pierre Hermé macarons in the Provence Hall 2.

Each train station goes to a specific region exclusively. Gare du Nord heads towards Amsterdam, Brussels, the UK (the Eurostar), along with LILLE, Calais. And so on. As a Paris tourist, unless you're taking a trip you don't give much thought to train stations, but they're wonderful microcosms of French regions.

Yesterday I went to Gare St. Lazare in the 8th looking for train schedules as envelope fillers. They are no longer available because of the virus.

Still you can practically can smell the Normandy briny Coast. The enticing video slide shows make you want to buy a ticket instantly. TER local trains are much cheaper and of course take longer than TGV trains headed south. Still they are very comfortable.

The interior train shed or verriere is pretty much as it was

Back when Monet decided to paint his first ever series of 10 paintings.

I miss traveling around France as much as you do. There are many places right here in Paris I haven't seen in 5 months! I hope to travel by the end of the month or September fingers crossed 🤞What's your favorite Paris train station? Meanwhile the pool 🏊🏼‍♀️ And parks are very nice. And I have clouds to work on. The July map is 💌 in the the poste 📮. Stay well dear PBers🐻 ❤️