Climbing Mont Martre

Yesterday was sunny, 50 degrees. Gorgeous. I headed up to Montmartre. I don’t go enough. OMG the elevator at Metro Abbesses, ligne 12, wasn't working. Abbesses is the deepest station in the Paris Métro, at 36 metres (118 feet) below ground, and is located on the western side of the butte (hill) of Montmartre opened in 1913. I thought I wasn’t going to make it up those 144 steps 

Outside at last, I thought I must get to a patisserie toute suite for resuscitation. 

Taking the Passage de Abbesses was not a good idea.

Instead I ‘climbed’ up sloping rue Ravignan to patisserie Gilles Marchal. Why do I always forget how hilly Montmartre is. 

Immediately I wolfed down THREE madeleines (orange, citron, nature 2€ each. Instant relief 😅 

Did I say everyone was out enjoying the weekend weather?

Its the thing lately in Paris to load up cafes with tons of fleurs. I guess its the thing to shoot your friends in front of these ridiculous flowers 🌸 

Like a shot of lemon, a girl passed toute en jeune carrying a big bunch of matching mimosa! I gave chase but got mostly blur. 

Evidently its the season for mimosa. 

Have you been to the adorable mini patisserie, Les Petits Mitrons on 26 rue Lepic? 

One lovely slice of fruit tarte (sucre)is a mere 3.50€ Get a slice of quiche (savory/salé) + a boisson/drink. Et voila! Lunch. I think they have a formule.

I had to paint that facade!  Oh why did I gobble down those 3 madeleines!

Further down rue Lepic is the Moulin Rouge boutique. 

 

They are ready for Valentines day❤️

I

I felt brave and ventured in. Just what we all need now - a red feathered headdress 

I walked down to Metro Pigalle and made it home as the sun was setting.

🐻💋❤️Bon Dimanche PBers ❤️💋🐻

Le Nouvel An Chinois lunaire 2022

 

Looking for tigers 🐅(it’s the year of the tiger) in all the wrong places 😬

Yesterday I planned to see the annual Chinese New Year parade at Faubourg Saint Honoré.

I walked up and down rue Saint Honoré and saw quite some chic shop. Bottega Veneta is thinking Green. Aren’t we all dreaming of green…as many East coasters shovel snow ❄️ 

Bear 🐻 is fine by the way, thank you for asking…just hibernating, as bears tend to do in Winter. Not window browsing.

I saw Givenchy for kids, fantasie butterflies and Etro. 

But no Chinese dragon 🐉  or banging drums :((

I passed the impressive Élysées Palace at #55.

Something was going on, but not the Chinese New Year’s parade. And none of les flics had a clue 🕵️‍♂️ 

I did find a charming, well-hidden perfume shop, Rose Desgranges, in a passage at #70.

Have you been? They are definitely ready for Valentine’s ❤️ Day 👏👏

The kind gentleman invited me inside. Extract of Vanille from Madagascar. 

They’ve been making perfumes since 1962. 

Do pay them a visit for a fun look. 

Arriving back on rue Royal, Laduree has new Valentine macaron boxes.

And I put up another past Valentines❤️ on Etsy. Do take a look.

After la poste 📮 today, I’ll try my luck again🤞The real New Year’s dragon 🐉  is performing again at 97, rue Saint-Honoré in the 13th arrondissement (not the 8th where I went yesterday)🙏🤞🤸‍♂️ Bon Courage as the French say ❤️💋🐅

Valentines ❤️ Day ideas ?

This week I went out researching Valentine letter ideas but let’s face it, I’m too early.

Only the perfume companies are ready. They probably plan years in advance. Chanel has this lovely, light, delicate new red No. 1 L'eau Rouge Body Mist  made from red camellia water.

Kenzo has a rather suggestive poster out in bus stops for his três originally named, Flower.

My local corner flower shop is thinking Valentines maybe❤️ They have bevies of pink, red and white cyclamens. I bought a pink. They said it only needs water 1 X a week 🤞🙏

I went looking for reds in the Marais and bought this ❤️ Heart-shaped cookie, which isn’t red at Pain du Sucre.

They also had a raspberry and rose 🌹 pastry which I admired from afar.

Belgian Pierre Marcolini always has his caramel-filled little chocolate hearts❤️ every year. You can buy just one and try it❤️

Which put the mad idea in my head to run off to Brussels, home of Belgian chocolates, for ❤️letter ideas this week!

But…and a big but. All Thalys trains are canceled until 13 Feb 😬 Wouldn’t that have been fun 😊

Meanwhile Jenni did some research and asked me to put on Etsy a Valentine ❤️ from 2017. Voila!

I put up some other Valentines if you’d like to receive lovely early bird ❤️mail 💌📮 from Paris.

Meanwhile, Monoprix is ready for the year of the tiger 🐅 on Tuesday.

Meanwhile Prada has a popup if you want to wear Emily’s bucket😊

Meanwhile, yesterday I went to rue Montparnasse to do Chandeleur/pancake/crepe research. 

And meanwhile I painted some ‘bonus’ watercolors for new letter subscribers!

Stay warm dear PBers, those of you who are digging out from 2-4” of snow ⛄️  hourly ❤️💋🐻🌹

PS if you have any good ideas for a Valentines letter put em in the comments (as anonymous if Blogger is stubborn). You could win a letter from PARIS! ❤️💋

What To wear in Paris, Jan Letter

While chasing around Paris after black truffles, galette des rois and rue Cler, 

Icouldn’t help notice what Parisians were wearing. 

I kept seeing the message tote bags everyone is carrying, 

Instead of this year’s designer ‘it’ bag. Or in addition to.

Over and over, big white running shoes 👟 available in all price points. Some by Prada for a grand+

Are de rigueur this winter and with a flash of bare ankle showing. And the temp is in the 30’s-low 40’s.

Speaking of ankles, this year’s black leather ankle boots 🥾 have laces and buckles. Girl on the right with bare ankles and essential winter accessory - un petit chien 🐶 The print du jour (on the left) is léopard 🐆 in a fausse fourrure. Le Grande Epicerie pastry counter on Saturdays is a good place to people watch.

Another look- black pantalon de jogging tucked inside. 

The color palette 🎨 as usual is neutrals.

Which brings us to Netflix series, Emily In Paris. No Parisians dress like Emily. No one. Period. Checkout comments of youtuber Hautelemode.

To keep up with Parisian haute couture follow Loic Prigent with subtitles in multi-languages.

Or Sophie Fontanel for street style

With so much Paris fashion in my sight lines, drawing ✏️  a January fashion letter was a must-do. Its up on Etsy. One thing that never goes out of style in Paris is big fluffy bears 🐻 Stay warm PBers xxx ❤️💋😊