May 27, 2013

Fête des mères



Yesterday was Mother's Day in France. My four host sisters spent a whole morning preparing this Mother's Day Gala. I was impressed by these girls because those food are not only good-looking but also super delicious! Why would any mother prefer to celebrate her festival in a Michelin restaurant when she has such wonderful daughters?

The menu is as followed (from left to right):
salmon roll with cow cheese
strawberry smoothie
fresh orange juice
homemade pancake
"Maman" shape pancake
green lemon stuffed with some mysterious white sauce (made from at least four different things) (it was soooo good that I did not hear a word when my host mom told me what was in it.. pardon me!)
roast bacon with egg salad (on the right)
and...
rose shape pastry (full of love! )

Oh we also had some champagne :)

C'était un déjeuner INCROYABLE!

Bonne fête à toutes les mamans :)

May 20, 2013

Paris en mai, Paris en hiver

Paris is going through Minnesota craziness - cold, rainy, comme fou! I pulled out my winter cape from my wadrobe and couldn't remember how many times I've said to myself: ok, this is the last time you wear this coat, and forced to put it on again a week later.

After staying at home for two days I finally find two excuses to go out - A. it's my turn to buy the baguette for my host family. B. I just charged the battery of my camera which I have not used since I came to Paris. Pfff.. another human-being spoiled by iphone. I decided to visit Shakespeare and Co. and le Marais before la boulangerie.

I love Shakespeare and Co. because this is the only place in Paris where I would not feel guilty not speaking French. The default language here is English, more precisely British English. I love this place also because spending half a day reading sounds like a more meaningful way to kill time (as I mentioned in my previous post).

 An old lady sitting outside Shakespeare and Co., on her iphone


Ladies walking in the rain

Hey, it's the end of may right? Where is the summer?

May 19, 2013

Weekend discovery

This weekend, Paris is rainy, cold and somewhat depressing. I went out yesterday for La Nuit du Musée and end up going back early because all I could see was people, people and more people. Well, people do love free things.
I did not regret joining the museum crowd because otherwise I would not have shot this photo.
Discovery 1: Paris in rain

Before checking the museums, I went to Cos store for the first time and surprisingly found that it was completely MY wardrobe! I love the clean cut of the tops, the simple but edgy designs and the stunningly beautiful accessories! I couldn't help hopping around the store and brought as many clothes as possible to the fitting room. It's hard to find a brand with such a good price-quality ratio - jewelries around €10-30, tops €40-60, dresses €60-90, heels €150. After spending un hour in the store, I got some accessories since they are at the top of my desire list.


 Discovery 2: Cos store

Now is my biggest weekend discovery -the creative, inspiring, hard-woking and adorable couple Garance Doré and Scott Shuman! I spent the whole afternoon yesterday reading The Sartorialist, and then the whole day today checking Garance Doré's blog as well as her videos. I enjoyed the book a lot not only because of the nicely shot photos, but also the stories and philosophical thoughts, such as...

Taking the time to find a fashion role model based more on body type than number of Oscar nominations will put you on right track. 
and
It's always funny that we buy pre-washed, pre-ripped and pre-faded clothes. Yet we can achieve that look ourselves... If you want your clothes to age with that kind of grace then wear the clothes you have and stop always buying new ones.

These seemingly straightforward facts really take time for us to realize. And I hope to keep them in mind!

Discovery 3: Garance Doré and the Sartorialist

May 13, 2013

Aix-en-Provence



The journey starts at CDG. After arriving in Paris, I took the TGV from Gare du Lyon to Gare Aix-en-Provence. Since it takes only three hours, why would anyone prefer to take a plane to Aix? The cattles, the sky, the grass.. This is the whole point of taking a train!

 Je suis tellement contente avec cette jolie chambre dans une maison à la compaigne! This is a typical countryside house with a large garden and a swimming pool. Sitting in a lawn chair and reading, I feel like I'm in the movie Lolita where the little girl often reads by the swimming pool or on the grass.


 The room is quite different to what I expected, in a good way though. It is well decorated, modern and chic, contrasting with the exterior of the house. It looks extremely lovely in the morning light, so does the breakfast :)

The city of Aix is 10mins away by bus. As you may have heard, Aix-en-Provence is the city of fountains. You can find fountains everywhere in the city - in the street corner, in the carrefour, enven in between two buildings. The most famous one is Fountaine de la Rontonde that situates at Place de Gaulle. The three statues on top of the fountain facing towards different directions represent respectively the Justice, the Agriculture and the Fine Arts. The one representing the Justice leads you to the famous Cours Mirabeau.

 Le Cours Mirabeau is the main street in Aix. It brings fountains, cafés and restaurants together.

 The fame of the city owns credit partly to Monsieur Paul Cézanne. You can find him everywhere in the city just like the fountains. I know it sounds a bit scary but this is the truth. The metal sign on the ground leads you to Cézanne related places such as atelier de Cézanne and sculpture of Cézanne.

A tip: when you are traveling in Aix-en-Provence, be aware that Monsieur Cézanne is keeping an eye on you!

This is the market at the Place de Verdun. You can find different kinds of jewelries, soaps, olive oil and even sweets. Walking here makes you happy because not only the goods are beautiful, the market itself smells good thanks to the lavender vendors and soap vendors.

Although Aix is a small city, it has some museums with great collections. I first went to the Musée Granet. It has a great collection of artworks from 14th to 20th century, including those of Rembrandt, Ingres and Cézanne. Walking in the museum, I thought that if these paintings were in the Louvre, they would have been surrounded by hundreds of visitors at a time. There's no description on most of the paintings so it's a challenge to visit without the help of video guide. But the good thing is you can have your own interpretation of the painting. On the second floor, there was one red wall full of paintings. It was so full that there was no space left for wall labels, which reminds me of Le Salon at the Louvre in 17th century. 
Then I went to the Muséum d'histoire naturelle. It has been ten years since last time I saw the skeleton of dinasours! 

Late in the afternoon, I came to the Pavillon de Vendôme. It was built in 1655 and then turned to a park. The pavillon itself is a storybook.


 The last day I went to the Fondation Vasarely, an art center in suburban Aix. Constructed in 1973, the building consists of 16 hexagonal volumes that inspired by honeycomb cells. Inside the building are 42 large works by Victor Vasarely, who uses geometry, shapes and colors to give the impression of space, volume and movement.


 Montagne Saint Victoire

So this is my three-day trip to Aix-en-Provence. You might ask how about lavender? Well first of all, it's not the lavender season yet; secondly, Provence offers you way more than LAVENDER! What matters to me is the experience of la vie à la compagne.

May 10, 2013

再不写就忘了

很久没有更新,怕再不写就忘了。

好像做了个梦,醒来就到马德里了。虽然语言不通,对这个城市的历史没有半点了解,甚至连模糊的印象都没有,但是仍然感到自在,丝毫没有游客的拘束感。马德里的自在是存在空气里的,走在路上整个人都很轻。城市边缘宽大的街道、市中心和巴黎相似的不规则小路、露天咖啡店、热情的店主...无一不让人心旷神怡,尤其相比与巴黎。
或许是因为心境不一样吧。在巴黎的时候有语言的束缚,于是不断强迫自己说法语,保持和住家的良好关系。还有对自己的身份感到模糊,如果游客和居民在一把标尺的两端,那我应该在靠近居民的那一端。这种居住感体现在平凡的日常活动中,比如说两点一线的学生生活,时不时的光顾boulangerie,在街上漫无目的的闲逛...但是每当和当地人交流的时候,我又强烈的感到自己是游客,因为巴黎人对异乡人似乎有种与生俱来的排斥感。我于是在身份尺上挪来挪去,找不到平衡。在马德里就完全不一样了。百分之百的游客,毫不含糊。

因为马德里之行是项目的一部分,所以大多数时间都和一组人呆在一起,行走,说话,大笑,发呆。也许太习惯一个人跑来跑去了,小组活动这件事上次发生还是在初中,所以偶尔感到浑身上下不舒服,只想扭头跑掉。关于小组活动我有很多事不明白。比如说在大巴上的时候,为什么邻座两人之间的交谈会那么大声,恨不得整车人都听见;为什么有几个姑娘可以一路笑到终点站,每次开始一段新的谈话的时候都是笑着进行的;为什么大家能不停说话,难道不累么?想着想着就自觉无趣了。Oh Miss misfit.

白天的违和感到了晚上就烟消云散。到这儿第一天晚上在Youtube上发现了Tom Ford采访视频,看完以后耳边全是他磁性无比的声音,这绝对是我听到的最最性感的男人声音!之后幸运得找到了他拍的电影A Single Man的完整版。他说这部电影就是他。主人公George(Colin Firth, 同样是我很欣赏的男演员!)处处都有Tom Ford的影子:衣着、举止、谈吐、眼神。这部电影精致得像一幅画。

之后每天看一集Le jour d'avant,一个三年前拍摄的系列,记录了时装周走秀前一天内每个大牌(Versace, Fendi, Jean Paul Gautier)的准备工作。与其他同类的视频比,这个系列角度很不一样,更贴近各个品牌的掌门人。他们不再是报刊杂志上的“被访者”,而是个性鲜活的传奇人物。