Diamonds are Forever

If you're a bit of a magpie like me, you'll know how easy all that glitters is on the eyes. Imagine the shiniest tiara you can. Now picture a display cabinet of them, lit up in the dark and slowly revolving so that each diadem spins and catches the light. Expand your vision of the perfect treasure trove to a haul that can fill a whole building - and not just any building but the huge Grand Palais. Now you have some kind of idea of the appeal of the Cartier Exhibition I went to last Wednesday!

The exhibition closed yesterday, which might have been part of the reason for the outrageous queues snaking in front of the building when I went just a week from the closing date. However, I've been told that the exhibition has been as popular from day one. We had to queue for two hours and were only let in about 50 minutes from closing time. Although it's too late to visit now, you can relive the sights and sparkles through the photos taken on my trusty iPhone (sorry for the quality!).

 

  

Aside from the tiaras, my favourite thing was to see how the fashion of jewellery evolved over time...you can really see the geometric, unapologetic influence of the 20s, the Art Deco movement, and the most beautifully inspired flashes of carnivalesque colour, inspired by Colonial India. 

These time-pieces were also really beautifully made - and apparently took 8 years of innovation and design to perfect the 'mystery': how the hands could rotate without any visible mechanics or dials. Apparently the trick is to do with rotating glass disks inside the clock into which the hands are inlaid. Clever! 

There were also displays with information on some of Cartier's most famous customers, notably Grace Kelly, Wallis Simpson, Elizabeth Taylor, and HRH Elizabeth II. One thing I'd have liked to learn more about was Louis-François Cartier as a man, and the company's personality as it has grown over the years. What information there was was printed white on black in large chunks of small text. In a dimly lit room, no one stopped to take in anything other than most eye-catching jewels.

 

Even if the exhibition has closed, I hope you enjoyed this internet tour!

À Bientôt !

x

London By Night

At night in London, there is nothing better you can do on a warm evening than to stroll along by the Thames, on the South Bank of the river.

La nuit à Londres, il n'y a rien de mieux à faire pendant une soirée agréable que de faire une promenade au bord de la Tamise, surtout sur la rive dit "Sud" du fleuve. 

My favourite stretch is from Waterloo station to London Bridge station - which takes in the imposing Brutalist architecture exemplified in the great concrete slabs which form the Hayward Gallery and The British Film Institute, as well as the Undercroft skate-park, where you can watch youngsters performing impressive tricks on their skateboards and BMX bikes.

Ma portion du  promenade préférée se trouve entre la gare de Waterloo et celle de London Bridge, où on peut voir l'architecture fameuse "Brutaliste": des grand blocs en béton  qui forment les murs de "The Hayward Gallery" et "The British Film Institute", aussi que le skate où on peut regarder les jeunes qui font des figures de skate impressionnantes.  

There are a couple of really nice restaurants, and break-taking views of St. Paul's and some of London's most iconic bridges. On warm nights, expect your senses to be pricked by the sound of buskers, and the smell wafting from street-vendors' trucks who sell delicious fast-food to be eaten messily from a napkin - perfect fuel for your meandering.

Il y a plusieurs restos très sympas, et des panoramas à couper le souffle de St. Paul et quelques ponts les plus iconiques à Londres. Pendant les soirées estivales, on peut attendre les sons des musiciens des rues et les odeurs délicieux de la nourriture vendue dans la rue à manger en marchant. 

But do not be fooled into thinking that that is all there is to see at night. Some monuments are most beautiful when lit up in the dark, like Buckingham Palace  which we saw just after twilight.

Ne pensez-vous pas que le rive "sud" est la seule chose à voir pendant le soir ! Plusieurs monuments sont plus beaux quand ils sont illuminés pendant la nuit, comme Buckingham Palace.

For a romantic stroll in a part of London little spoken about, take the tube to Maida Vale and explore 'Little Venice', so-called because of its famous canals.

Pour une promenade plutôt romantique, il y a un quartier moins touristique qui est surnommé "Le Petit Venise" à l'arrêt de Maida Vale sur "the tube", ainsi-nommée par Lord Byron (d'après une histoire) à cause des canaux. 

Boats glitter on the water: either house-boats or restaurants on the water and beautiful grand old houses line the canal-side. 

There are a couple of really cool looking pubs to check out, especially 'The Bridge House'.

If mysteries, fog, shady-dealings and darkened passage-ways sound like your idea of fun, head either to The Clink Museum or The London Dungeons at London Bridge for grisly tales, or if that sounds a little too scary - to the home of everyone's favourite detective and his trusty companion: Mr. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.

Si vous aimez les mystères, le brouillard, les affaires louches et les ruelles sombres, vous aimerez "The Clink Museum" ou "The London Dungeons" à London Bridge pour découvrir des macabres histoires de Londres, ou, si cela vous semblez un peu effrayant, allez chez M. Sherlock Holmes et Dr. Watson, le fameux détective Victorien. 

We were so intrigued that we decided to come back to the Museum at 221b Baker Street the next day! 

 But that's for another time...

À Bientôt !

x

It's beginning to feel too much like Christmas!

Yesterday, my best decision of the day was to walk home from university instead of taking the metro during rush hour. It's pretty much a straight line from Malesherbes to home, flanked by shop windows one after the other, winking at me with Christmas lights newly strung up and inviting festive displays. It made for a nicer journey home, but does anyone else think it's still too soon to be getting into the Christmas spirit?

Christmas market on the Champs-Elysees

Walk home from Malesherbes

Paris Wheel outside the Tuileries Gardens.

Be prepared to fork out - I checked for you guys & it's €10.00 a ticket.

I'll definitely be headed to the market soon, so I'll let you know if it's worth a visit. 

Sorry for the photo quality recently - they're just taken on my iPhone but I will try & take my camera out more often!

À Bientôt !

x

Toussaint Goals

It's now the holidays, and high time I looked forward to what next term is going to be like. It's nearly two months since I arrived in Paris and I've had a brilliant time - but I've got so much more to learn! Here are my new goals:

After trying macarons, loving them, and nearly spitting them back out on seeing the ridiculous price tag, I think I'd like to give this notoriously difficult recipe a go myself! Crossed off the list is finding a gem of a local shop, which I've happily discovered in 'Da Rocco', an Italian deli in the 7th. Apart from their delicious take away foods such as pizzas and focaccia, they do the cannoli that I waxed lyrical about in this post, back in Rome. The icing sugar on the cannoli (haw haw) are the cheerful owners who wave at me as I walk by. It was made to be!




Crossed off my list are the visit to Les Deux Magots (see my post here, and a concert (remember Olly Murs here?)  

Added are a visit to the Île St. Louis - one of two remaining natural islands perched in the Seine (the other being the famous Île de la Cite, home to Nôtre Dame, and Disney Land - a bit of a pipe dream but a girl can dream!

I've gone far past answering simple questions in class (although this is still terrifying!), and have now taken my first test. Over the holidays I face the task of writing a commentaire – certainly a big challenge! Eek – wish me luck.

À Bientôt !

x

Saturday Fun

We left off outside Angelina, where the short queue to get in only serves to build anticipation. There was a table waiting for 3 so we cheekily bypassed the waiting couples and were seated in the slightly quieter area at the back of the salon. The atmosphere is very luxurious with muted colours, thick creamy table cloths and soft pink lighting. Thinking about it makes me want to snuggle up and go to sleep!

Angelina is an experience - sickeningly decadent and very chocolatey. Like roller-coasters and scary movies, you start to wonder what you've let yourself in for, and yet immediately afterwards you'll be wanting to go again.

Despite having been once before and unable to finish either my hot chocolate 'à l'ancienne dit Africain ' or my cake, I of course nonetheless believed that ordering a chocolate pâtisserie alongside my drink was a good idea.  

The result was a serious chocolate overload as I chose the 'Choc Africain' chocolate mousse-y gâteau to go with the molten chocolate drink. Tom more sensibly plumped for a kind of vanilla choux pastry - the "Paris-New York", whilst Sarah got the Tarte au chocolat praline. Find the menu to see them here! The waitress kindly told us that all the chocolate was good for our health due to all the magnesium!

We wandered back through the Tuileries and headed to the Musee des Arts Decoratifs - which I'll have to write about another day.

Sadly, my university books have arrived which means I may have to begin reading them (!)

À Bientôt !

x