MERCI Paris

The owners are the same peeps behind Bonpoint, an exclusive children clothing brand from Paris that has art-like window displays and most of their shops in the seventh arrondissement.

On the way back home, I had kept a note to visit this newly-opened giant boutique, Merci that has been getting loads of favorable attention from blogger and french people as well. The warehouse-like building with high ceilings, combining lots of black steel and aluminium is a very cool shop indeed. At first I was very sceptical because a lot of french has been saying that the clothes are way to expensive and all just 'for show' but you know what, I loved it. Just the way I would imagine it if one day I have my own place. They have vintage furniture, french-designers clothes, perfumery by Anick Goutal and homewares in the top floor. The concept is anything but new, but they did it well and I would recommend it for anyone visiting Paris.

An old fiat, if I'm correct? Stuffed with plants and flowers. A cool display of spontaneous art.

Au Revoir Paris

Yes, malheuresement, my time's up and I'm returning to Melbourne, not anticipating it obviously but I know I will be back soon, not exactly sure as I don't want to jinx it, but I think I've develop a fine relationship with this city. I'm actually surprising my parents back in Australia, they don't know I'm coming back on Monday night. Honestly I'm not too sure how they'll react, shock...and probably wondering why I'm back so soon. But I came here with or without the intention of staying for 90 days, I thought I'd cruise in, see how it goes etc...But it's been pretty intense this couple of days. My landlady didn't take it so well, I'm sad too, she's très gentille, beautiful, elegant and oh she's just a great person. I have a habit of vanishing without telling so I guess I gotta work on that...

Anyway, every blogger on Paris does it...so perhaps I should do it to, no actually I've always wanted to do it...So here it goes

10 Things Why I Love Paris

1. The L'Air. Often I would close my eyes for a moment while I'm walking, it's usually when I feel so at ease with mysefl, in with that particular moment. Everything seem to be in perfect motion, the air of Paris.

2. The Boulangeries, yes not just the bread, but the facade, the beautiful handiwork, the actual place with old ceramic tiles, little cherubs flying over the ceilings of bygone era, and the anticipation of getting your bread, the aroma, the taste and the funny french ladies behind the counter who always says "Bonne Journée" truthfully.

3, The French Women. They walk with an expression of anticipation, like as if they are searching for something, always in the look out for suspension. Their natural l'air de la mode, très naturel, fashion so understatedly elegant.

4. Rue de Buci, Rue Bonaparte, Rue de L'Université Three of my favourite streets in Paris around Saint-Germain that I passed every single day. The cool galleries in Rue de L'Université, the bistro cafés in Rue de Buci, where Picasso used to do his food shopping, and of course the Laduree in Rue Bonaparte with its playful-trademark green walls, a soft candy palette of boxes arrayed on the shelves. I smile whenever I pass it.

5. The Latin Quartier: from the end of Boulevard Saint-Germain on the 6eme arr to the start of Rue Cardinal Lemoine, The Pantheon, Rue Mouffetard, the little old cinemas with just one or two viewing rooms inside, Rue Monge that stretches endlessly with the most authentic boulangeries, the calm feeling I get when I am walking around there opposite to the Institute du Monde Arabe. Yes everything in Paris seem to evoke a sense, a feeling...

6. My room: my polly-pocket room I call it, with the pink toiles de jouy bedspread, tablecloth and a little rack that holds my clothes. The antique green dresser, the high window with red curtain and of course, the violet sky, the night that never turns into a night that sleeps with me every night.

7. The Yogurt: If you never tasted french yogurt, then you don't know what real yogurt taste like! thick, condesed, milky, fresh, it's like having it straight from the cow! I especially love the Caillé brand. Oh how I will miss it.

8. The Brocantes: The fleamarkets, Yes they are actually the same as the ones in Australia, but it's so celebrated here they have themes that go with each event, or they set it up for a week and when you go visit one it's like being in a entirely different world.

9. The Food Market: Each arrondissement has one or two fresh market that's open every couple of days a week, my best-pick so far is the Bastille Market however I passed the Raspail Market on the way to school on most days. I especially love the chocolat chaud à l'ancienne there on a cold Sunday morning. Perfect!

10. Lastly, it's Paris, the city itself. Everything, when my teacher, the lovely Linda asked everyone to express our dislikes of Paris, I could not think of anything. I just love everything about it, it's so strange for a lot of friends I'm sure, they've had some bad experiences I'm sure, but since the day I've arrived, on that cold Sunday morning, coming out of the Eurostar at Gare de L'Est, I knew right there in that moment, that this city is in favour with me, and I am here to enjoy it!

Au revoir Paris, je n'oublierai pas, et je vous voir bientôt!

As requested...

For *Lady Jicky* A photo of the Kenzo satchel/slig bag I got from the Brocante de Printemps du 3eme, with my unsuccessful attempt at bargaining the price down.

I could not resist the logo. Sometimes I wonder why I wasn't born Japanese...I am always assumed a Japanese...I think it runs somewhere along my bloodline...and why can't I be french..?

Comité des Fêtes fleamarket

So this morning I went to one of the biggest event in Paris, that's on twice a year! That is....The antiques & vide greniers in the 3rd arrondissement of Paris. The second biggest fleamarket after Porte de Clignancourt in the 18th. Called the Brocante de Printemps, the venue is a step away from Le Marais and Bastille. By the time all the vendeur spilled their stuff into the table, the whole area looks like a treasure box flipped inside out. Literally. I know my brother who loves vintage and antiques will go crazy if he was here, it's like a little kid who was lost in a giant toy store. He would spend hours and hours for sure.

You can find absolutely anything here, name it and I'm sure you will find it. There is a guy who sells vintage luggages, from Louis Vuitton to nameless brands in immaculate conditions. Not that I'd go for those stuff, but my brother would....I didn't particularly want to get anything in particular, because we have the exact market but in a quarter of the size in Melbourne with almost the same kinds of antiques (a quarter of the price tags too) but I thought if I did found anything I reaaaallllllyyyy like, then I'll get it. And that was just the story with me the whole time I was there. I was kinda subconsciously looking for a nice leather bag, and well I found a nice seaweed (more like very dark muted army green) leather Kenzo satchel that this french lady was selling. I've always been a fan of Kenzo, his collection are very understated yet each are very well thought of, elegantly chic, which is why the French lovveeeess his stuff. So all the time I kept circling the area, then after a few hours of rotating the whole place....in the end I thought, oh well, it's such a bargain and this is Paris after all. So I bought it! Happy, no regrets!

Le Cinema à Paris

At the moment, I'm in that stage where I'm feeling very nostalgic about this place they called The City of Light. By the way, it is originally called city of light not because there is many lights that brightens up this city, although that is also very true, but it started as a city with many poets, writers, artists, philosophers etc that it was nicknamed the city with many smart people, hence where the word light appears. Anyway, back to feeling nostalgic, probably the mood that best describe me at the moment is très relaxé, I don't make a strict plan-ahead schedule I usually made up in my head at the start of the day anymore. If I want to catch a movie, I'll go and see one in the many cinemas around around the Latin quartier, hidden in tiny little rooms where you would probably will not recognise it as a cinema without looking up the address first in the Internet. Little neon lights, an empty booth, the light is usually switch off and there are hardly a living soul in le salle. But so far, I've had great experiences!

Paris Je T'aime, is a great movie, recommended by a cousin who lived in London, who lived in Sydney and came from Indonesia. I think this film represent not just the idea about Paris, but about different culture mixing together and for a foreigner coming to Paris or to another foreign land, there is a lot to absorb and this film transcends all ethnicity and background, that no matter if you're Chinese, Americans, English, Arabs or Japanese, I think everyone can enjoy it, as long as they watch it with the subtitles. It comprises of 17scenes directed by more than 12 directors, each with different actors.

Often I go to a café, read my book for awhile, eat my sandwich and do my french homework in between. I am enjoying my days here very much, although a tiny (or growing increasingly bigger by the day) part of me is always reminding me of future plans, how I can't wait to start a small jersey collections, silky cardigans de soie, soft flowy materials...of my drawings, of watercolours...

A Brazilian friend d'un certain âge, just retired and is definitely enjoying his retiring days of traveling Paris and taking up intensive french class in between with his wife in the other class! bravo! and sat next to me in each class (we all sit at the same table each day, like an automatic habit) so we always partnered up whenever there are conversation role-plays. Anyway...He told me to watch Chéri and said it was very good. So off I went to this tiny little old cinema at Rue Mouffetard today and well well well...what a film. Shock and surprise ending, well that's obvious since it's french, they always leave the audience either feeling bewildered, speechless or just utterly shocked...a film written by one of the most celebrated french writer, Colette, who also wrote the classic GiGi, quelle surprise non? this movie is definitely not for everyone, I liked it but hey I'm a francophile...So beware, I've warned you!

There are over fifty cinemas around the 6eme and 5eme arrondissement of Paris, that starts from the Place St-Germain-des-Pres all the way from Boulevard Saint-Germain, passing Metro Odeon with three cinemas within eyesight just when you reach the top staircase of the metro, then all the hidden ones around the Panthéon, Sorbonne and a handful so small it takes a courage to enter. Good thing for me I live around this area, and I am loving it! An insightful blogger recommended me to watch Villa Amalia with no other than Isabelle Huppert, recently the head judge of Cannes Film Festival and is probably the most celebrated of French cinema second to Catherine Deneuve (who I passed in Melbored end of last year!).

May the cinema force be with you this week! Enjoy a movie or two and don't forget to use a SPF 30 sunblock when you go out to the Sun, don't want to start looking like an orange peel too soon... and I've seen a few around Paris... euh*

Comfort & Joy: a novel

Comfort & Joy by Kristin Hannah.

This book I picked up at Shakespeare & Co. yesterday afternoon simply because I liked the cover, the 3euro bargain price and thought to myself "Oh how bad can a book with a title of comfort and joy be thaaaat bad..." and you know what, I finished the book the same night!! It was so good I could not put it down...The story is truly mesmerizing and teared my eyes a handful of times. It is a story about a librarian who had previously been utterly dissapointed at how things happened between her ex husband and some family members of her, and one day she bought a ticket on impulse just to get away from her past and found herself in a plane accident in a town not far away from Seattle. She encountered a little cottage owned by this guy and his son who had experienced a similar tragedy. She tried to help them and in the process learnt many wonderful lessons from her friendship with the little boy. It is really not one of those romantic novels you'd think it's just about a woman falling in love etc and so on, the victim etc etc... It is about believing and finding faiths in unexpected places and the joy that comes with simple gestures...I love it so much! Now I'm desperate to read a new novel but has too much stacked in my side table...not too sure how I'm going to bring them back to Australia...perhaps I'll give some away... :(

Un Mariage de Rêve

or released as Easy Virtue in the United States.

One of the reason the French Language is utterly intricate and complicated is that some words when joined as sentences and translated, are not what you think they would mean in English or is not as easy to translate as you would think. Such as this. I thought un mariage de rêve is translated as a marriage of dream, a woman's vision of her dream wedding, a film about having a great wedding and all those things wonderful about a wedding. But pas du tout! Not at all, when I looked up the English title, it was Easy Virtue! Woaah, that is so totally different meaning that what I thought the movie is about but when you think harder and search the meaning of virtue and of course have watched the film, everything made sense. In definition, virtue means having goodness, righteousness, and moral excellence. Easy Virtue is something as near-impossible of quality to attain if you are...lets say, a human living in this kinda-world. The film is not what I had expected, but I enjoyed very much watching all the commotions and problems that arises between the character of Jessical Biel as an American newlywed, entering a wealthy 'proper' English family. The fits and fights reached to a peak at the end of the movie, and the ending is surprising and I recommend the movie to everyone, particularly women of all ages.

When you think about it, a marriage of a dream can also means a collections of dreams, hopeful things that one wishes to gain or expects to have, yet often are dissapointed as real life promises the opposites. I guess one must watch the film to really understand why Easy Virtue would be translated to Un Mariage de Rêve. The lead character of Jessica Biel is the centrepoint of the film, for a bit of summary and I hope I don't dissapoint you in telling this, is that she is what the meaning of the film is about, in the end, even though she has the darkest history from all the English aristocrats characters around her, she has the imperfect virtue of a character.

Anyway from French translations to all this definitions, I must stop or I will trail into other dimensions...Hope you get to see this film when it comes out in DVD :)