France, the French, Paria

Fashion shoot in Paris

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What a fun afternoon!  I was enjoying a guided tour through a private garden in the center of old Paris and, all of a sudden, I noticed a fashion model and photographer.  There were working hard and took lots of photos.  The model was beautiful, as you would expect!

And oh, p.s., I saw the same model in the New York Times today, modeling for Valentino.

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Oh, and I might add, it was cold today!  About 20 degrees Fahrenheit.  The model was not dressed in warm clothes, but rather a top and mini skirt, tights and boots and a pretty, but not warm, coat.

 

You can well imagine how beautiful the architecture of this small square is! Obviously its a perfect backdrop for selling fashion!

Gâteau Opéra = Opera cake. Surely the food of angels!

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Oh la la!  Do you like layers of a lighter-than-air sponge cake soaked in coffee syrup;  chocolate mousse that tastes like what angels must eat in heaven; and a thin layer of chocolate ganache mirror glaze with just a touch of edible gold leaf?!

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The you would love this Opera cake or Gâteau Opéra in French.

Nobody can say with certainty when or where (although it is well-known as a French invention) opera cake was first made, but it is composed of layers of sponge cake (known as joconde in French) soaked in coffee syrup, layered with mousse or buttercream and covered with ganache.

The cake was popularized by the French pâtisserie house Dalloyau, but its origin is unclear. One creator-claimant, at la maison Dalloyau in 1955, is Cyriaque Gavillon. He was grandfather to Christelle Bernardé, the current manager of the prestigious French company Dalloyau Bastille, and named by his wife Andrée Gavillon after the Parisian Opéra House Garnier.

Gaston Lenôtre (1920 – 2009) also claimed the honor of inventing the dessert in 1960.  However, complicating the mystery is the fact that an advertisement in Le Gaulois in 1899 offered a “gâteau opéra.”

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I can tell you this much: when you have tasted this confection, you won’t care who/what/when/where or why this cake was invented. You’ll just be glad you got to try it!

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You’re just too good to be true, can’t take my eyes off of you

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Paris.  Do I really need to say anything more?

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My feet were not on the ground today; I spent part of the afternoon walking at rooftop level, admiring the view.  It was almost sunny, very cold, and pretty near perfect.

And then, there it is; the iconic tower.  That tower simply cannot take a bad picture!

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I think the traces of jet airplanes makes the sky more interesting.  I must admit, I can’t help comparing France with Italy.  In Italy, the blue skies are usually filled with the most interesting cumulus clouds.  I never tire of that sky.  France is different.  The clouds are more diffused.

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It becomes an addiction, trying to capture the tower in a photograph:

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So, finally, I must turn away.  Other parts of the Parisian skyline are beautiful too:

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And, even looking down, from the fancy perch I was on, is also interesting:

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fullsizeoutput_9f8The perch itself is gorgeous!

 

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Far away is the mighty Sacré-Cœur; the misty atmosphere hiding its outlines.

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And the Paris Opera house is nearby.  So interesting to see it from on high and not ground level.  A temple (to the arts) in the sky.

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But then, like a magnet, my vision is drawn back to it:

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I look away:

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But go back:

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You’re just too good to be true, can’t take my eyes off of you.

Protesters in Paris, December 2018

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If you are reading this in 2018 you will know that Paris has been rocked recently by violence with protesters.  People wondered if it would be a safe idea to spend Christmas in this beautiful city, and I was one of them.  In the end, we kept our long-held plans and arrived in the French capitol, ready for Christmas.

I’ve witnessed the tail end of a march by the Gilets jaunes, the name given to the protesters. What I saw was peaceful.  Other than that, it’s been fine.

But, walking around in the Champs-Élysées, which is where the violent protests — complete with window smashing and car burning — were for the preceding 3 or 4 weekends, there were a few remnants of the damage done to the businesses and monuments.  I photographed them here:

 

On the Arc de Triomphe I saw a small splotch of the red paint that had been sprayed on this grand monument:

 

fullsizeoutput_94c  Here’s the cleaned arch.

IMG_4369 See the red paint above the cornice line?  Almost invisible.

 

The Louis Vuitton store had covered their lower windows with metal bracing.

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Another store’s windows were smashed and the store remains closed, with this light wood covering:

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The only other thing I noticed was the graffiti on the large advertisement with Julia Roberts for Lancome cosmetics. The graffiti, “ça pue le luxe” means, in English, “it stinks of luxury.”

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I sympathize with the protestors; at the heart of their complaints is that while Paris and the rich of France live high on the hog, the rest of the country struggles to maintain a basic living standard.