Paris: It's Just So Freaking Parisian

The Pantheon

Paris is my geographical soulmate. Everyone smokes and drinks too much and their main priority is that everything look good and taste even better.

Also it turns pretty colors at sunrise and sunset. It's inspired more artists in its history than Pattie Boyd and as I sat in a cafe with a cappuchino, a croissant and a Moleskine notebook I couldn't help thinking, "Good Christ, do I feel Parisian. Someone come hit me over the head with a baguette before I start spouting prose."

They don't know it, but they feel pretty Parisian too.

 We were there for only 24 hours, so I was determined to cram in as much le crap as was le possible. Luckily, our hotel room was tiny, had a weird bathtub and a balcony that looked out onto a creperie, a patisserie and a wine cafe, so even waking up felt French.

Luxembourg Gardens

The Boy Contemplates Rue's Distant Cousin

Good God, I love this city.

The Crypt at the Pantheon

Clothing Purchased: None. I had wine to drink and cheese to eat, man. Priorities, people.

Brussels: A Grande Old Dame

Brussels reminded me of a grand older lady, with fine but worn clothes and lipstick on her teeth. The type with a fantastic rent controlled apartment filled with old photographs of her in her prime atop dusty antique furniture and priceless paintings carelessly leaning against the walls. Who has fine perfume and lipstick that she uses every last drop of. Ok, I'm getting carried away with this metaphor/glimpse of my future.

Since we were only in Belgium for one day, we naturally tried to see as much of the city as we could. Or, rather, to cram as much Belgian food into our mouths as we could.... Crepes, chocolate (there is an entire street dedicated to chocolateries), fries and, most importantly, waffles.

I cannot stress this enough: the waffles are all you could dream of and more.

Aside from the waffles, three things stood out to me in Brussels.

1) There is a deep love of graphic art in all forms. There are more comic book stores than I've seen in any U.S. city, Tin Tin is a national hero, and even the graffiti is beautiful and character driven. If I'd had more time there, I would have loved to check out the Brussels underground scene. Something tells me it would be spectacular.

2) The city was nearly destroyed during WWII, and in many ways it's still recovering. There are memorials everywhere, and both the buildings and the population still feel the loss very deeply. Perhaps as a result, there is a sentimental attachment to the style and aesthetic of the 40s and it shows in cafes, hotels and even in the way people dress.

3) Their relationship to France is very complicated. On the one hand, Belgian pride runs deep and most Brussels citizens feel their city is vastly superior to Paris. On the other hand, their histories are inextricably linked, and everywhere things are advertized as being "Parisian" or "Direct from France". It's something I'd love to learn more about.

All of this comes together to create a surreal vibe throughout the city. I felt as though I walked into a graphic novel, and at any moment a man in a fedora would impart devastating information. Definitely a place I hope to return to.

Clothing Purchased: a fantastic vintage dress, bought in a store run by a woman who embodied all things Belgium.

It reminded me of the dresses from the Miu Miu and Prada resort collections, but only cost 10 Euros.

Win.

Craptastic Sandwich of a Situation

So, I thought my first post this week would
       A) be made on Monday
       B) be about the lovely engagement brunch that The Boy's parents were going to throw us on Sunday

but, so very unfortunately, I ended up in the hospital on Sunday morning and stayed there well into Monday. Why I was there is a long, boring and kind of gross story so I'll keep it short: we thought it was appendicitis, and it wasn't. We don't know what it was, but it was awful.

So, in light of that craptastic sandwich of a situation, I thought I'd post a few things that I think are just lovely.

I love this picture:

Image courtesy of Oh Joy

I love this outfit:

Image courtesy of The Sartorialist

I love that this happened:



I love this computer case:

Image courtesy of See Me Everywhere

I love this place:

Image courtesy of This is Glamorous

I love The Boy. 
I promised myself that even though we were engaged I would keep the blog from becoming a sappy love fest* but he was really lovely while I was in the hospital. Held my hand, fed me juice, slept by my hospital bed, filmed me while I was on morphine (a video is worth 4 words: "blinking is like...whoa"). If I eventually post the video of me doped up, will you forgive this momentary girly moment?

*because, to be honest, I hate that kind of shit.