The Perfect Picture Book

The perfect picture book, I think we'd all agree, is one about a trip to Paris - because isn't that why we're all sharing this space in blogland, because we love going to Paris and experiencing all of its wonders? The perfect picture book would depict all of the delights in the City of Light, by day and night ... the liveliness and romance, the history and now-ness, from Bonaparte to Techno, and everything in between. The perfect picture book would preferably be all about YOUR own personal trip to Paris. Well, here is my perfect picture book. If you recall, the photo on the cover is the first macaron I ever had in Paris. And inside are pages filled with photos from my trip - where we went to dinner the first night I was there ... me standing in front of the hotel's large, green door ...

 ... at the market, a view to the Eiffel Tower ...

 ... enjoying gelato in the Latin Quarter ...

 ... taking a walking tour along the Champs-Elysees ...

And it dawns on me that I have so many more memories and photos to share with YOU from my trip. And that is why this blog continues. So I need to hop on that! But for now, just wanted to share with you this neat picture book I put together in iPhoto, which arrived earlier this week.

Remember all the complaining I did about not having time to shop for suitable souvenirs? Well, this makes up for that, big time! It cost a little over $35 and is well worth it. The Apple Store/iPhoto folks do a great job with the production of this "print on demand" book. Imagine what you can do with one! I wanted to put more writing into my book, but instead kept it to just photos and a little wordage here and there. What spurred it on was a little computer mishap where I was worried about losing my photos which I haven't yet transferred to a back up storage unit/disk. What if I lost my Paris photos? I think this is a better way to "back up" my Paris photos - in a book. A good old fashioned book, made a new way via my Mac and iPhoto. Isn't that just perfect?

PS The perfect picture book would not have a typo - and mine does! I was showing the book to my brother and he pointed out "Lourve" was misspelled. I could just kick myself in the butt!!!

Buy "Made in France"

When I was sixteen, I had a pen pal in England, and when I went to visit her and her family, my mother sent me off with a specially selected gift. According to my mother, who is the consummate gift-giver, it had to be something wonderful, beautiful, for my pen pal's family's home (as a house guest never goes empty-handed), and it had to be "made in the U.S." She chose a hand painted mantel style clock, which was purchased from local artisans in an artsy-fartsy section of Bucks County, PA. Likewise, when my pen pal came to stay with my family, she came bearing a wonderful silver gift, "made in England."

Fast-forward 34 years. I am in Paris, and one of the hardest things to do is shop for gifts to take home.

You may be wondering, "How could that be? Paris is full of wonderful shops ..."

Visiting those shops was, I am sad to say, not part of our 8-day itinerary. Because I stuck so squarely to the group itinerary, I never ventured off on my own to get to the really really wonderful boutiques or flagship shops of the great French designers and crafts people. Instead, my shopping experiences were relegated to:

1) Chintzy souvenir shops where everything is made in China (no offense, China - but I am in France ...)

2) Shops of questionable quality goods within the Latin Quarter, which was close to my hotel. For instance, one shop had Vivienne Westwood boots - but which season or YEAR were they from? And again, she's a British designer. I'm looking for something made in France. Another shop had the type of stuff you'd find on sale at an outdoor flea market in the US. I'm not a big fan of flea markets.

3) Gift shops at the many points of interest we visited as part of the group itinerary.

While others in my group were happily buying sequined change purses that screamed "Paris" and polyester boxer briefs emblazoned with Eiffel Tower graphics at the souvenir stands, I seemed to be walking around in circles.

But all was not lost.

One place where I WAS able to find the coveted made in France label was in Giverny, at Monet's House & Garden gift shop. I found this lovely barrette. There were an assortment of barrettes depicting different designs taken from Monet's artwork. The price - extremely reasonable.

Another great item I found at the Giverny gift shop was a made in France mouse pad - also with a scene from a Monet painting.

These made wonderful gifts to take back home!

And then there were the pastry shops. I did buy a box of mini macarons to take home. I wish I had bought more! I remember setting the macacrons out and Mark ate them like gumdrops, popping one after the other in his mouth. "These are awesome! What are they again?"

"Like $2.00 a cookie! Save a few for when my parents come over, I'd like them to try them too!" was my reply.

On the last night of my trip, at the last minute, sort of desperate but not senselessly so, I did get myself a silver-toned, modern style charm bracelet, with pretty pink mother-of-pearl shells and pink and gray (Austrian?!) crystals - supposedly made by a French designer who lives near the ocean - at least, that's what the shop owner at the far end of the Latin Quarter told me. It wasn't cheap. I showed it to one of the ladies in my tour group who sported a Prada handbag and HAD gone to the flagship shops on her own. She said it was lovely and worth what I paid. I'll show you that in another post.

And I broke down and did get my neighbor a sequined Paris keychain and Eiffel Tower charmed zipper pulls from a Latin Quarter souvenir shop that possibly sensed my desperation and possibly overcharged me ...

Hermes? Louis Vutton? Chanel? For now, I'll have to buy that online. Or in NYC. But oh, how wonderful it WOULD HAVE BEEN to have bought them in Paris. At least I have something I must do when I go to Paris again. Shop!

Stamp Art With French Stamps

http://www.marthastewart.com/how-to/how-to-make-stamp-art

This photo is from the Martha Stewart online tutorial, which you can view here. If you have any stamps from France, you can make the charming Eiffel Tower collage pictured above.

Until Paris ...