Happy Christmas!

It's Christmas time in London & my family went full out on the festivities, with  my Mum's marzipan covered Christmas cake filling the room with the scent of boozy brandy soaked berries, the crackle of the open fire as the cheerful background accompaniment to 'Carols at King's' on the telly and our home grown Christmas tree Tom Cruise (because he's 'small but perfectly formed') twinkling merrily in the corner.

C'est Noël à Londres et ma famille ont fait le maximum d'effort pour fêter, avec un gâteau traditionnel anglais, couvert de pâte d'amandes cuisiné par ma mère qui a rempli la cuisine avec l'odeur de fruits rouges marinés dans le brandy. Le crépitement des flammes dans la cheminée était quasiment comme un accompagnement aux chants de Noël au télé dans l'émission 'Carols at Kings', avec notre sapin de Noël cultivé nous-mêmes qui scintille dans le coin... 

Here are some photos to keep the Christmas spirit alive even though we're moving headlong into the new year. 

Voici quelques photos pour revigorer l'esprit de Noël, bien que le temps s'écoule vite et bientôt il sera le réveillon !

Decorating the Christmas tree!

 

 

As good as the reputation for fine dining is in France, I don't think anything beats a Christmas dinner with all the trimmings: we had a three bird roast of chicken, turkey and duck with apricot stuffing, with roast potatoes, carrots, broccoli, stuffing, parsnips, Yorkshire puddings, white sauce, gravy and red cabbage. Mmm mmm!

Bien que la France est très bien connue pour sa grande cuisine, je ne pense pas qu'il existe un repas plus délicieux  que le repas de Noël anglais avec toute sa garniture: mon père a cuisiné le poulet, le dinde et le canard avec de la farce abricot, les pommes de terres rôtis, les carottes, le brocoli, la farce, les panais, les 'yorkshire puddings', la sauce blanche, la sauce brune et le chou rouge. Miam miam !

 

 

After Christmas dinner: I'm wearing a jumper which was knitted by my friend. We're wearing silly hats from Christmas crackers, which I know are a bit particular to the UK.

Après le repas de Noël: Je porte un pull qui a été tricoté par un ami. Nous portons des couronnes en papier des 'crackers', qui je sais sont un peu particulier à l'Angleterre. Ils sont des petites papillotes cartonnées arborant des couleurs et motifs de noël. Présent dans les assiettes de chaque convive, ils contiennent un petit chapeau en papier de noël, une blague ou une devinette ainsi petit cadeau. Une fois à table, chaque convive provoque l'explosion des pétards en le tirant vers soi, libérant ainsi son contenu.

I'll let you unwrap the Christmas presents with the family tomorrow!

Je vous parlerai des cadeaux de Noël demain :)

À Bientôt !

x

Joyeux Noël Paris !

Just a couple of sparkly, magical photos from my last nights in Paris before coming home to London for Christmas!

J'ai voulu te montrer des photos un peu magiques et festives de mes dernières nuits avant de rentrer chez moi à Londres pour fêter Noël avec ma famille. 

I took a short walk from home to The American Church in Paris, as I was curious to see the building that I'd heard so much about, and more pragmatically because a friend is searching for accommodation here and the church advertise up to date offers of rooms and flats for a reasonable price all across Paris. If you're desperately seeking somewhere to live, give this a try! It's worth seeing this towering gothic building too which looks so out of place by the Seine, like something whirled away from a bleak English heath and accidentally landed in the country of Haussmann apartments and white stone.

En promenant près de chez moi, j'ai suivi un petit détour pour voir "The American Church in Paris", car j'étais curieuse de voir un bâtiment dont beaucoup de monde m'a parlé, et pour des raisons plus pratiques à cause de leur affichage où ils mettent des annonces pour du logement pas cher à Paris. Si vous êtes à la recherche d'une chambre ou un appartement, je le recommande. Ça vaut le détour aussi de voir ce bâtiment imposant gothique qui semble de n'être pas à sa place au bord de la Seine, comme il devrait être dans une lande désolée en Angleterre et pas dans un pays des grands boulevards Haussmann bâtis de pierre blanc.   

I wanted to go iceskating with a friend at Trocadero, but it was closed for the evening to celebrate some kind of cultural event called Trocadero On Ice. Instead, we saw a magical ice-show and the mayor of the 16th arrondissement being filmed with the famous Bogdanoff brothers for TV1. 

J'ai voulu faire un peu de patinage à glace mais en fait, avec une amie, nous sommes tombées sur une soirée à Trocadero organsié à l'initiative du Comité des Fêtes et des Oeuvres sociales 16ème arrondissement et son Maire. Il y avait un spectacle sur glace impressionnant et le soirée a été présenté par les célèbes Frères Igor et Grichka Bogdanoff.

Christmas chez Dior. 

Christmas trees in my building and at Malesherbes.

Finally, Blogger created some magical snowy pictures out of some of my blog photos!

Keep following my blog for some Christmas adventures in London!

Continuez-vous à suivre le blog pour des aventures à Noël à Londres!

À Bientôt !

x

Sebastião Salgado

On Wednesday evening, we headed to 'La Maison de la Photographie' for Sebastiao Salgado's 'Genesis' exhibition. For me, it was the second time I'd been able to delve into Salgado's magical monochrome world via his awesome depictions of nature from the four corners of our planet.

If you don't have wonderlust before this exhibition, I guarantee that after it you'll presume yourself an old-world explorer, ready to embark on his next mission to discover and learn from people groups who have existed, survived, thrived and blossomed in Europe, Asia, Africa and South America. Breath-taking, too, are his animal photographs and landscapes, my favourites being the deep-south rolling prairies where you can just imagine the silhouette of a cowboy tipping his 10 gallon hat, clicking his spurs and trotting off into the sunset. 

At first the lack of colour bothered me, but I quickly learned to appreciate Salgado's brave employment of his artistic licence. It throws the faces, textures and shadows into  sharp contrast, inviting you to focus more on the content, and brings all the photographs onto an equal plane, reminding us that each nation is as rich and varied as another, whether it be depicted by a sandstorm in Utah, elephants drinking from an oasis in Africa or members of the Sami people herding reindeer.

The exhibition is on until January 2014 and I would SO recommend it. If you go between 17:00 and 20:00 on Wednesdays all exhibitions appear to be entirely free! 

After a happy two hours or so in the exhibition, we walked the short way to my favourite crepe house - Crepe Suzette in Le Marais. I got the crepe of the day which was an amazing melty goat's cheese filling, drizzled with honey and sprinkled with nuts, and my sister got an equally delicious and slightly cheaper ham, egg and cheese crepe. Gorgeous! 

     

Sadly this was my sister's last night in Paris, so it was up bright & early to take her back to the Gare du Nord, before enjoying my last few Christmassy evenings before coming back to London to see my family :)

À Bientôt ! 

x

Musée d'Orsay & The Marais

My sister and I were up bright and early for breakfast at Besnier's, which you might recognise from me raving about it in previous blog-posts. There were more delights to discover in the local area, with the promise of a restful morning in the Musee d'Orsay.

We weren't meant to take photographs, but I satisfied myself with the idea that we didn't take any of the art, and that we spent our due money on postcards of our favourites from Vallotton, Odilon Redon and François Pompon!

View from the roof!

My sister's absolute favourite is the bear statue in the Cafe du Ours. Coming to see it has become a bit of an annual tradition, and I love this photo!

Some of my favourites from Redon, Monet and Caillebotte.

After a lovely, free, calm and very cultured evening in the 7th, we headed over to The Marais to 'Le Loir dans La Theiere', another favourite of mine. If you're planning on experiencing the dreamy slices of cake in this cosy, bobo tea-room then make sure you turn up at around 3pm. It gets so busy that there is a strict lunch-service followed by afternoon tea, and we were turned away to wander around Le Marais until the sweet treats were brought out. But, oh boy, was it worth the wait!

 

Time to get cultural again in my next blog tomorrow at La Maison de la Photographie!

 À Bientôt ! 

x