Bonjour. this post is in homage to my recent trip to Paris, which was travelled before this brand new year came upon us. But aswel as that little escapade, there are a few other wintery mentions i would like to make.
For me, the realisation that christmas is approaching cannot be missed or misheard, as the excited beginnings of the season colourfully explode in the air right before my eyes on fireworks night. This year I pushed my way into the London crowds to meet the girls at Clapham Common for their free annual display, this was our first time and we hadn't put a second thought to the city's population, but oh my, how naive we were! I've never seen crowds like it, i managed to find Amy, but the others...no sign, mobile networks were jammed, we cut our losses and headed for the display. After 30minutes of constant beauty, it was quite obvious why it was such a popular display. pyrotechnical genius! After, we nudged our way into a pub, finally found the others who had been stuck on the Tube in the commotion and got festive with Früli Strawberry beer & Hummingbird bakery firework cupcakes. and then i let myself get excited about christmas for the first time.
This season I went to an expo at the V&A called 'Shadow Catchers: Camera-less Photography'. This features images of five contemporary artists who have been capturing photography without the use of a camera. Using the effects of light and science they have managed to create some imagery which I looked at and thought, no way, surely they used a camera? really? no camera? no? wow. Some amazing stuff, but other parts of the exhibition are pretty surreal & abstract so if you don't like that kind of thing then maybe not as impressive. It mainly reminded me nicely of the Pin-hole photography days back at college.
http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/photography/shadow-catchers-camera-less-photography/exhibition/index.html
Mes amis, Julianne Bell, who I worked (basically partied) with in Melbourne is currently at the university of SciencesPo. in Paris for a study year and lives centrally in the parisian city. This was my que to jump on the eurostar... I was met the other end of the channel at Paris Nord station, a short walk from her apartment & after much catching up, discovered we were going out for Les Nuits Capitals that night, which translates as the capital clubbing festival! Firstly we went to Claire's apartment in another part of town, where I found myself making friends whilst hiding on the floor for a surprise birthday entrance that was about to happen (two people smacked their heads on the sloped ceiling for the actual 'surprise', i tried not to laugh). Of corse we were drinking Vino, then later metro'd to the Moulin Rouge, followed by Club Chez Moune on Rue Pigalle. We were with a band by then called Jolie Cherie who were not shy with their Vodka, so free shots & great music shaped the rest of the evening.
The following afternoon, we went to one of my favourite film's famous sets, Amelie's Café des Deux Moulins for late lunch, with her picture hung behind the coffee bar. We also went to Montmartre hill, home of the artists & the wall of love, which has 'I Love You' scratched and written in every language from around the world into its pretty blue tiles. Later we passed through a photography exhibition, hired out a film, 'Je Vais Bien Ne T'en Fais Pas' (carefully making sure it had english subtitles) and had a night in with a feast of french bread & cheese.
Monday, I went shopping! when in rome and all that. On the way through though i managed to be educational by going to the oldest church in Paris followed by a service in the Notre Dame, then scaled the shops in the trendy part of Le Marais. I had to go to the Centre Pompidou, Museum of National Modern Art too, I literally saw all the original arts that I idolised and studied when I was younger, probably good I was on my own as I was a little speechless. By nightfall i went to see Jules at her Uni, we searched the mac's for an address for a recommended restaurant and once found, met friends for the best meal of my life. Good company, aperitifs, snails, steak beouf, creme brulee, wine, cheese, wow. Jules & I had to walk it all off later and decided on the Champs Elysées as they had just turned on the holiday lights and it was lined in markets, another chic hot day.
The following day we got freshly cooked nutella and banana crepe's for breakfast and did some vintage shopping in the backstreets. I ended up with a handsome pair of little boots to set me up for winter and a Longchamp bag & Jules went all out on her student loan! Coffee & goodbyes left me heading back to the train station, but what a great weekend break, i only hope i can offer the same service in London when Julianne pop's this way, merci mademoiselle!
The weekend after Pairs, I had a long hard challenge to face at work with Fresh Academy. I had organised the Clothes Show Live event, and suddenly it was here, 6 days of fashion, photography, media, modelling and from my memory, running around on your feet for hours on end. It was actually really good fun, but very tiring, thankfully we were staying at the Hilton hotel next to the NEC in Birmingham so room service got abused many times after a long day! Gok Wan was at our hotel, so Claire kept making us change outfits for his gok-proval, personally I don't think he cared much, but the dresses got us into a charity ball one night so that was a good fashion blag! I worked with Miss & Mr England for parts of the event, a lovely pair & kept sending them off to obtain free stuff! finishing off a week à la mode, I watched the main Fashion Show, which was a collaboration of dance, film, catwalk & fashion, and all cleverly themed within movie genres. my Olympus PEN E-P1 also loved it.
(after this i got the english flu, bah humbug) Upon recovery I met up with the girls again in the city, this time for Somerset House Ice Skating, hello winter. picture a romantically set rink, with four girls in a row clinging onto eachother, breaking couples as we slipped & skimmed across the frozen pool below our feet. Well actually im not going to lie, im not a bad skater, so we had a little support, and everyone got their skate leg's in the end, but most importantly, i bloody loved it!! and to finish...bailey's hot chocolates :) Not long after this, we spent another evening together at Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. This is London's biggest German Market & Winter Cirque. http://www.hydeparkwinterwonderland.com There is stall upon stall of delicious foods such as classic bratwurst sausage, churos, roasted chestnuts & freshly cooked crepes, washed down with warm mulled wine or spiced apple cider. The park is dotted with fairy lights & festive attractions, live music & bustling bars, we even went reindeer riding! I think it's fair to say we were pretty hyped for santa by this point.
Now, in my last post i said at the very end that i was dreaming of a white christmas, and they do say a girl always gets what she wants; along came what the news dubbed 'the big freeze'. six inches of snow, and utter chaos all over england, but no matter how much people protested, i could not keep the smile off of my face. It stayed until all the presents were exchanged and all the turkey had been eaten. a lovely christmas was had back with my family after two years away in australia & a merry toast made to the new year ahead, cheers to twenty eleven.
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