Paris

On Monasteries and Falafels…

Mont Saint-Michel – a Gothic-style Benedictine abbey surrounded by a small village at the foot of its walls – is really quite a technical feat considering it was built between the 11th and 16th centuries with granite that had to be floated across a kilometer of exceptionally powerful oceanic tides. Bordering Normandy and Brittany, the island has held strategic fortifications and since the eighth century AD, has been the seat of the monastery from which it draws its name.

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Interestingly, the structural composition of the town exemplifies the feudal society that constructed it. On top God, the abbey and monastery, below this the Great Halls, then stores and housing, and at the bottom, outside the walls, fishermen and farmers housing. Well you all know your place now don’t you! And that’s your history lesson for the day.20130525-161456.jpg
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Eight plus hours there and back plus three on the island making for a huge day with a very chilly wind factor but worth the effort just to see Fifi’s face when ever corner turned revealed yet another bunch of cobblestone steps. Then she discovered the art of hitching a ride on Pixi’s coat tails!

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Arrived back foot sore and weary and just managed to stagger to L’as du Fallafel on rue des Rosiers to share a Falafel. Purported to be the best in town (the Marais is the Jewish district after all) and substantiated by satisfied grins as we made our way around the corner to home and bed.

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Sacré-Cœur it’s cold!!

Worn the soles off shoes, the limited winter woolies off backs and the smile off Fifi. She needs a warmer jacket STAT. Pix is tiring of her black puffer, black knits, black jeans. She needs red jeans STAT! Shops first, but not before we share the last couple of days…

Proud to say we’ve totally mastered the Metro now! Jumped off at Père Lachaise to view Jim Morrison’s grave – a pile of curious tributes atop, and a sad chap weeping as he took photos, for him it appears the legend lives on. Climbed to the top of the Cemetery to view Edith Piaf’s too and a number of other noted individuals along the way.

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20130524-094636.jpgFollowed this with metro ride to the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur. Man that’s a lot of stairs! Discovered a Vernicular after we got to the top. Having admired the Basilique’s brilliant white from afar and now, four visits to Paris later, finally viewed at close quarters. Interior underwhelming but admit to being smitten by the modernity of the Sacre Familia back in Barcelona.

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Wrap the day by joining the two D’s for a wine bar rest stop followed by a nosh including Steak Tartare in a cute little eatery. Couldn’t stop grinning at the thought of Mr Bean skit where Bean realises its raw meat and proceeds to hide forks full under table settings rather than admit he doesn’t like it. I do, but not an entire side of cow worth, the meals are rather large here. Finished off with a Creme Brûlée which we all concluded was absolutely splendid.

Five am rise for Mont San Michel tomorrow…gak!

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Oh for the love of Hermes…

Each time I’ve had the good fortune to travel I’ve never indulged in shopping soirées other than to seek out a special little treat for family, friends and colleagues back home. My bliss lies in art galleries, book shops, local kitsch and people watching over the rim of a perfectly rounded out skinny flat white. Oh! and trawling the fabulous weekend food markets of course, an absolutely compulsory feast for the senses.

There is one exception though….shhhh! It’s my guilty little pleasure! Just one small enamel bracelet from the house of Hermes in Paris. A special treat, a nod to the city, a salute to one of the premier brands and a timeless reminder of the good times spent there.

If you happen to love those little orange boxes with brown ribbon and are well acquainted with the home of the Birkin and Kelly Bags, silk scarves and fine leather, created in what was once a saddlery, later morphing into a global fashion powerhouse, you will find these little known facts about Hermes rather fascinating…

1) The length of thread necessary to make 1,000 scarves is equal to the distance between earth and moon. One silk moth yields one scarf!

2) The Kelly bag is made with 36 pieces of leather and 680 hand stitches

3) A silk colourist works with a chart of 75,000 hues to create new colours each season

4) The leather ateliers receive more than 600,000 skins a year, each has a barcode to keep track of its origin and specific treatment

5) Hermes’s start in fine jewellery came from working with silver to trim saddles

Makes that tiny little enamel bracelet seem positively pedestrian by comparison doesn’t it?

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(Facts by Robert Murphy for Harpers Bazaar April 2013)

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