By Monday morning, reality and end-of-trip panic were beginning to set in. Since I only had two more days in Paris, it was now painfully obvious that I was not going to be there long enough to see everything I wanted to see. I still hadn’t been to the Musée d’Orsay (the temple of Impressionism filled with paintings by Manet, Monet, Renoir, Degas, Van Gogh, Cézanne, Gauguin, etc.), the Eiffel Tower, Napoleon’s tomb, the Arc de Triomphe, the Cathédrale Notre-Dame, the Rodin museum, the Centre Pompidou (said to contain Europe’s best collection of modern art), the Musée Carnavalet (a museum of French history housed in two Marais mansions), or the famous Père Lachaise cemetery, where the tombstones read like a Who’s Who of the Hereafter (Oscar Wilde, Frédéric Chopin, Molière, painters Jacques-Louis David, Eugène Delacroix, Georges Seurat, and even Jim Morrison from The Doors are buried here). And although I had zipped through one wing of the Louvre on that first night in Paris, I knew that I had barely scratched the surface there, as well. I hadn’t even seen the apartments of Napoleon III, which is kind of a must-see for those of us in the interior design industry. I briefly considered racing through Paris like a madwoman, trying to fit in as much as possible, but in the end I decided to head back to the Louvre with Karyn and play it by ear. I’ll just have to come back to Paris again next year to see the rest!
One of my favorite things about Paris is the variety of wrought iron grillwork on the buildings. Look at these unusual brackets holding up the balconies on this building, which we passed on our way from our hotel to the Pont des Arts (the pedestrian-only bridge that leads to the Louvre):
Those brackets could be scaled down and reinterpreted as really cool double rod brackets for iron drapery hardware, don’t you think? Hmm… who do we know who could do that for us?? Maybe someday Helser Brothers will come out with the Parisian Balcony Collection of drapery hardware. J
Passing under an archway just before entering the courtyard of the Louvre, I passed this interesting iron grate. I just have ironwork on the brain lately, but this would be a pretty design for the Tableaux faux iron product – I like the leafy vines in the center of the cloverleaf, but I think I’d skip the padlock:
Okay, so now that I’m done taking pictures along the way, I finally made it back to the Louvre itself. Ta da! For those of you who don’t know, right behind me is the main entrance to the museum, a glass pyramid designed by I.M. Pei and added to the Louvre in 1989. Critics complained that the pyramid was ugly, too modern, and would ruin the classical architecture of the Louvre (ironically, the very same complaints were made about the Eiffel Tower when it was built for the 1889 World’s Fair).
Once I got inside and checked my coat, I was determined not to get sidetracked. Today was going to be different; today I had a plan of what I wanted to see; today I had a map in hand marked with the location of the Napoleon III apartments and the Vermeer paintings… But I had to go through a 17th and 18th century French sculpture garden to get there, and I was so intrigued by the differences between these statues and the Greek and Roman statues I’d seen on my previous visit that I had to stop and check them out.
That’s a statue of Perseus and Andromeda taken from the Garden of Versailles, made by a French artist in 1684. This next one is called L’Amour embrassant l’Amitié, or Love Embracing Friendship, made in 1758 by sculptor Jean-Baptiste Pigalle:
Once I tore myself away from the sculptures and got my bearings again, Karyn and I finally made our way towards the Apartments of Napoleon III. Just to be clear, we are not talking about THE Napoleon — these are the rooms of Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, the Great One’s nephew who ruled France as President of the Second Republic and then as Emperor of the Second French Empire from 1848-1870. It was during Napoleon III’s time in power that Baron von Haussmann got the green light to clear out many of the medieval slums of Paris and create the broad streets lined with uniform Belle Époque buildings that we associate with Paris today (think Champs-Élysées).
The draperies of Napoleon’s apartments were a bit of a let-down. The architectural detail is unbelievably ornate in these rooms but the window treatments are just plain tied-back drapery panels with soft cornice valances or simple swags. But man, oh man – you have to see the CEILINGS! I had a stiff neck when I got out of there! Apparently “the ceiling as the fifth wall” is not such a novel concept after all. Here are my favorite ceilings from Napoleon’s apartments at the Louvre:
One more thing I need to show you is dry rotting silk draperies from the Louvre. Some of you may know that I use more silk in my drapery designs than any other fabric, and I encourage clients to have a nearly-invisible UV film installed on their windows before the draperies get installed as an added protection from sun exposure. True, the linings and interlinings we use for fine draperies protect the valuable face fabric to some extent, but look at what has happened to the hems along the lead edges of these beautiful silk drapery panels where the silk fabric wraps around to the back. The silk fabric has just disintegrated! Such a shame!
And I had to laugh (and my family and friends will all have to laugh AT me, I’m sure) when I discovered a Starbucks in the Louvre, just next to the gift shops. Yes, I stopped in for a latte like the American tourist that I am…
It was dark outside by the time we left the Louvre (and they nearly locked us in again. We stayed all day and I still never found the Girl With the Pearl Earring painting by Vermeer). Isn’t the Louvre beautiful, all lit up at nighttime?
That evening, I went out for dinner with Beth Hodges, a workroom owner, teacher, speaker, and writer – a real authority on the window treatment industry. We ate at Le Procope, a famous restaurant on the rue de l’Ancienne Comédie that was opened in 1686 and is said to be the oldest operating restaurant in France. This is the café where the Enlightenment was conceived, and it was frequented by the likes of Jean de la Fontaine, Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Denis Diderot, Benjamin Franklin, Maximilien Robespierre, Napoleon Bonaparte (the Napoleon you’ve heard of), Victor Hugo, Jean Paul Marat, George Sand, and now by Rebecca Deming Rumpf and Beth Hodges.
I was feeling very adventurous, and I was heady with the history of the place, so I went out on a limb and ordered the “Tête de veau en cocotte comme 1686” because it was one of the original menu items (maybe this is what Voltaire used to eat??) Let’s be very clear that I ordered this myself, of my own free will, full in the knowledge that it was calf’s head stew, because I was convinced that there was no such thing as bad French food. Well, I’m not saying it was bad, but it definitely wasn’t my favorite and I don’t recommend it. Thank goodness I was able to fill up on the oysters and prawns in my fruits de mer appetizer or I would have starved – next time, I’m getting the Coq au vin! Here’s Beth and her beautiful ice cream dessert at Le Procope:
Well, that’s pretty much it, folks. Tuesday we did a lot of souvenir shopping (I spent most of the day in search of the perfect Eiffel Tower souvenir), then had a wrap-up meeting in the hotel lobby to go over departure details and say our formal goodbyes. Here’s California designer Doreen Yun, my roommate Maria Vila, me, and the fabulous Jackie Von Tobel of Las Vegas mugging for the camera after the meeting broke up:
After that we had one last, fabulous dinner in Paris, this time at Les Bouquinistes, where I ordered safe grilled scallops with risotto and thoroughly enjoyed every bite.
This has been such a wonderful opportunity for me, and I’m so grateful to Helser Brothers for sending me to Paris and for allowing me to share the experience with all of you on their blog. THANK YOU!!!
Category Archives: Paris 2010
Rebecca In Paris – Days Six & Seven
Rebecca In Paris – Day Five
On Sunday I headed back to Maison et Objet for another full day at the show, but this time I was decorated with the Orange Necklace of Press Privileges – what a difference that made! There were still a few vendors who didn’t permit photos, but most were very accommodating “pour la presse.” Sit back, put your feet up, and enjoy a vicarious whirlwind tour through Maison et Objet 2010!
I loved this whimsical mismatched table grouping at the BMG Creations booth:
Mixing the chair finishes and upholstery fabrics was so fresh and fun – and a perfect solution for those times when clients just can’t narrow down fabric choices! You can learn more about BMG Creations’ line of tableware at www.bmghomedesign.fr.
More ribbon details caught my eye today, this time with a more contemporary feel — brown velvet ribbons on creamy ivory fabric from the innovative Italian fabric house of Siola Alois. Wouldn’t this make fabulous drapery panels in a contemporary living room with sleek, brown velvet upholstery? You can find Siola Alois online at www.siola-alois.it.
Next, drapery trims got a Space Age treatment at Passementeries Ile de France. Look how they trimmed out the stools in their booth with rope cord, rosettes and tassels:
Passementeries Ile de France had a broad range of mostly traditional trimmings in a rainbow of delicious colorways. You can find them online at www.pidf.fr.
While we’re on the subject of passementerie, I have to show you this dainty tieback from Tessitura di Rovezzano, a fabric and trim company from Florence, Italy. It’s like a dainty double-strand choker necklace made of blossoms: www.tessituradirovezzano.it.
We saw some beautiful tooled leathers displayed by the Parisian company Cuirs Tassin:
I love the birds!! Cuirs Tassin can do custom colors and indicated that they are willing to work directly with designers from the States. You can find them at www.tassin-cuir.com.
Donati is an Italian fabric company we saw at M&O that is not yet represented in the States. I loved their detailed cactus-embroidered fabric , shown here upholstered to the back wall of their booth:
Donati also has sumptuous wool fabrics, including a line of readymade throws and this reversible ivory and gray snowflake fabric. www.donatispa.com.
Another fabric line that stole my heart at M&O was this flirty, lighthearted array of French prints from Lalie. I had the opportunity to chat with the designer at this booth and was delighted to learn that Lalie will be represented in the States in the near future by Grizzel & Mann in Atlanta. www.laliedesignertextile.fr
Moving on, I have to show you some of the coolest non-traditional wallcoverings from Tracy Kendall. The three-dimensional paper on the left is made of torn and folded white paper. The one in the middle is embroidered with lines from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and the one on the right is comprised of thousands of individual jigsaw puzzle pieces attached with a tag gun. www.tracykendall.com.
At the Fabricut booth, I got to preview the new Barry Dixon line even before the U.S. sales reps have had a chance to see it (eat your hearts out!). Aisle after aisle, the exhibit halls were packed with so many visual feasts that we began to get sensory overload after a few hours. We saw some playful contemporary light fixtures from the German company anthologie QUARTETT, like this upside-down umbrella fixture: www.anthologiequartett.de.
Volevatch Paris had a large booth displaying their sleek, elegant bath fixtures. My favorite was this prototype for a vanity faucet with bird handles in an unusual blackened silver finish. The attention to detail is amazing. www.volevatch.com.
As far as overall color trends go, purple was everywhere at Maison et Objet 2010, especially smoky plums and deep eggplants in combination with taupe and gray. I predict that, within a few years, purple will become the New Orange in the U.S. – the color no one wanted that suddenly we can’t get enough of.
Here’s more purple at the James Brindley booth, www.jamesbrindley.com:
…and still more purple at Stepevi, a luxe contemporary carpet-maker from Istanbul (available in NYC and in Delray Beach, Florida). www.stepevi.com.
Later on Sunday evening, just in case we hadn’t seen enough at the show, Susan and Deb arranged for our group to enjoy a private presentation of the new fabrics and wallcoverings from Jakob Schlaepfer at their showroom in the Marais. Jakob Schlaepfer is a Swiss company that is best known for supplying “industrial hand-made” fabrics to edgy couturiers such as Marc Jacobs, Blanc de Chine and Jean Paul Gaultier, but they’ve only been in the interiors market for two years. We were honored and privileged that Creative Director Martin Leuthold himself took the time to show us his favorite new fabrics, such as this one comprised of two layers of different colored polyester chiffon sandwiched with an inner layer of aluminum foil and bonded together. The result is a fabric unlike any other I’ve ever seen, that can be scrunched and sculpted by hand over and over again. www.jakobschlaepfer.com.
After wrapping up at the Jakob Schlaepfer showroom, we headed down the street to a little restaurant called Robert et Louise for dinner, where we crowded around a family-style table in the cellar and savored the plat du jour, a bœuf bourguignon stew that just melted in my mouth. I liked the funky iron sconces on the stone cellar walls of this restaurant:
Well, I know it’s a long shot since I’ve been so long-winded, but just in case any of you are still reading this, au revoir et bonne nuit!
Rebecca In Paris – Day Three
I must admit; after two wonderful days of sightseeing in Paris, I was not entirely thrilled about going to the Maison et Objet trade show yesterday even though that was the whole point of this trip. The devil kept whispering things in my ear like, “Get lost on the Metro and ‘accidentally’ end up at Versailles or at the Musee d’Orsay instead of at the show!” With so much still to do and see in Paris, the last thing I felt up to was traipsing around a trade show looking at the same vendors and lines I’ve seen before a hundred times in the U.S. But I could not have been more wrong. I’m glad I went with the group to M&O, and I wholeheartedly recommend the experience to all of you designers, shop owners, and style makers out there if you ever have the opportunity to be in Paris for the show.
So, what IS this Maison et Objet business anyway, you may be asking? Well, the only thing I have to compare it with is the High Point Furniture Market in the U.S. Imagine what the High Point Market would be like if all those different exhibition spaces were adjacent to one another so you didn’t have to schlep all over the place, and then multiply the size and number of exhibitors by four or five. There are exhibitors showing everything from home furnishings to accessories, linens, fabrics, trims, small accessories and gift items, home fragrance, outdoor, etc. Now envision every vendor’s booth looking as though the space was professionally designed and styled for an advertising photo shoot, so you feel like you’re walking through the beautiful ads in Veranda and Architectural Digest. It’s an alternate universe from the shows in the U.S.! All those resources that have eluded you, the truly unique, must-have product lines you’ve been searching for that your competition isn’t offering because they can’t find them either – they’re all here at Maison et Objet, the premier European trade show for the interior design industry. According to the show management, over 90% of the exhibitors at Maison et Objet do not participate in any of the U.S. shows. And even though this show is much larger and more comprehensive than what we have in the U.S., I found it to be a less stressful and more enjoyable experience overall. The entire show is infused with French hospitality. At High Point, I couldn’t even get a decent cup of coffee inside the exhibition buildings. At Maison et Objet, they have gourmet food stands, sit down restaurants, and a Ladurée macaroon stand shaped like a carriage from the ancien regime – and that’s just in the one hall I was able to visit today. Here’s a photo of designer Octive Healey from our group, getting her macaroon fix at the Ladurée stand:
Susan and Deb arranged for our group to get access to Le Club at M&O (the VIP lounge) and all sorts of other perks and privileges. I was expecting Le Club to be something like the Frequent Flyer lounge at the airport, but it blew away all my expectations. Have you ever seen on E! TV when they take you backstage at the Oscars to show you the “Green Room” where all the stars hang out before they go on stage? That’s what Le Club was like. Here I am, savoring one of several free cappuccinos I enjoyed at Le Club:
This next photo, from left to right, shows my roommate Maria Vila, Tammi Le Nair, and Karyn Caldwell (the Karyn from yesterday’s post), enjoying free refreshments at the bar inside Le Club:
…and in this photo we have product designer and book author Jackie Von Tobel and designer Octive Healey relaxing at Le Club before heading out to the exhibit floor:
Photography was not allowed at the show, and Karyn even got chased out of one booth just for sketching, so I’m going to have to do my best to describe some of the treasures I discovered. I fell head over heels in love with Zuber, a high end fabric and wallcovering company that has been manufacturing in France since 1797, and their factory is actually classified as a national historic monument. They are still using over 100,000 original woodblocks from the 18th and 19th century, which gives their line a unique character and authenticity. I drooled all over their embossed velvet damask wallcoverings, and I could barely tear myself away from their exquisite hand embroidered and appliquéd fabrics. I didn’t even think fabrics like this existed anymore! I know you’re thinking “Damask, velvet, embroidery, I can get those anywhere,” but these fabrics and wallcoverings are on a completely different level. This was my favorite exhibitor yesterday by far, so please take a look at Zuber’s web site to learn more, even though the photos there do not do the line justice: http://www.zuber.fr/default_zone/gb/html/page-23.html Zuber has a showroom in New York City, and their line is also represented at Stark Carpet in the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles.
But fortunately for you, after awhile I got brazen and began interpreting the “NO PHOTOGRAPHY” signs as “NO PHOTOGRAPHY EXCEPT FOR REBECCA IF SHE CAN’T HELP IT AND NO ONE’S LOOKING,” so I do have a couple of interesting photos to share with you. I loved this whimsical scrolled iron chandelier featuring wooden tassel beads instead of the expected glass or crystal accents:
The heading on this readymade drapery panel caught my eye as well with its tidy horizontal pleating and simple grosgrain ribbon intertwined as though it was braided:
I saw a lot of ribbon embroidery at the show, with rosettes and floral ribbon embroidery (like what you’d see in vintage millinery) made to feel fresh and modern in tone-on-tone colorways of taupey lavender, gray and neutrals. I’ve got a couple of books on ribbon embroidery stashed away at home, so I know this is something I’m going to experiment with when I get home.
At one point Karyn sat down in the middle of this fun exhibit where retro “flower power” prints were shown with deep, muted plums, and I just had to take her picture because I loved how her blouse fabric blended into the display like she was part of the vignette:
In the afternoon, the high end Italian textile company Dedar conducted a special presentation of their new product offerings just for our group. Here’s the Dedar rep showing us an interesting unevenly flocked velvet damask that is flocked in some places, but not in others – in person, this technique creates a magical 3-D illusion as though parts of the pattern are floating freely in the air just in front of the fabric:
What I loved most at Dedar were their overscaled patterns with enormous repeats, several of which could fill an entire standard length drapery panel with one repeat, and the soft, luxurious hand of all of their fabrics, even the polyester fabrics that were rated for commercial applications. Look how beautifully Dedar merchandised their passementerie collection for the show, as though their trimmings were delicious candy treats:
Back at Le Club later in the day, Philippe Bazin held a show overview and trend presentation on behalf of M&O management just for our group of designers and bloggers. The show organizers were very interested in our feedback and asked for suggestions on how to encourage more Americans to attend Maison et Objet in the future. That’s our Beth Hodges to the right of the girl presenting for M&O, and Sue and Jackie on the left. The back of designer Sarah Youngblood’s head is in the foreground at left, and Philippe Bazin is on the far right:
I want to leave you with one thought tonight: Out of all the registered show attendees at Maison et Objet 2010, only 2300 came from the U.S., and many of those 2300 were teams of buyers sent to M&O by big companies like Williams Sonoma or Pottery Barn. Only 6% of the attendees at this international show hail from the U.S.! Your competition isn’t here, and your clients haven’t seen these products yet – but it’s what they will all be wanting a year or two from now. If you want to position yourself as an expert on what’s hot in design, you need to be able to anticipate the next big trend before it hits and be the first in your area share these offerings with your clients. Going to this show will give you a huge competitive advantage in your market, and the fact that it’s in Paris is just the icing on the macaroon!
Rebecca In Paris – Day Two
Okay, second day in Paris, full speed ahead! My Blackberry is having an attitude problem – I set the alarm on my phone for 8 AM because we were all supposed to meet up at 9 AM for breakfast, but it didn’t go off (can electronics be spiteful??). If it wasn’t for my amazing roommate Maria, I would be writing a lousy post about how I slept all day with photos of rumpled sheets or something. So the morning began a bit frantically with arriving late to breakfast, but I got over it and moved on. It was so nice to finally meet Susan Schultz and Deb Barrett in person – for those who don’t know, these women are the industry insiders who organized this trip, both incredibly knowledgeable and so generous in their willingness to share with others. At breakfast, Susan recommended that we check out a couture fashion exhibit currently on display at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs near the Louvre, then head back to the Louvre to see Napoleon’s apartments, and then to the Musée Carnavalet afterwards.
So Karen and I (Karen, forgive me for spacing out on your last name!) headed out again on foot across the Pont Neuf to the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, and it was so amazing that we couldn’t bear to drag ourselves away until dinnertime. The first thing we saw was several darkened galleries full of the most exquisite fine jewelry collection I have ever seen. There were nineteenth century jewel-encrusted hairpins, jaw-dropping necklaces, and diamond headband-tiara-comb things like the women wore in the paintings I saw at the Louvre. My favorites were the Art Deco pieces from Cartier. I felt like we were snooping through the Queen of England’s jewelry box! Unfortunately, I couldn’t get any photos in those galleries, but I enjoyed the artistry of the antique settings even more than the dazzle and bling. Contemporary jewelry settings are sometimes so functional, just a strip of metal with prongs to secure a sparkly rock to a finger. Today I saw an Art Nouveau brooch that combined amethysts, diamonds, pearls, and fine enamelwork to create a delicate sprig of lily of the valley, and it changed the way I think about jewelry. For these artisans, the precious metals and stones were merely their medium, like the paints and canvases of Monet, and each piece has artistic value above and beyond its total carat weight.
At this same museum, we also saw a collection of medieval and renaissance tapestries and furnishings (including some spectacularly intricate inlaid chests), as well as furnishings and a few entire intact period rooms from the 17th and 18th centuries. Tomorrow is the beginning of Maison et Objet 2010, a show all about what’s hot in the here and now for interiors, so after strolling through the centuries of design evolution I’m looking forward to seeing where this year’s show éditeurs see that trajectory taking us in the near future. Design doesn’t happen in a vacuum, and I’m fascinated by the way creative people with a unique vision are able to make connections between old and new, synthesizing disparate elements across space and time as they reshape and redefine beauty for each new generation. As my Western Civilization teacher used to say, “Remember — everything is connected to everything else!”
Vionnet-gown-with-appliqued-lace-stars-from-the-Musee-des-Arts
The temporary exhibit Susan had told us about, the reason we even went to the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, was a collection of hundreds of gowns by the French couturier Madeleine Vionnet, a contemporary of Coco Chanel and a master of bias draping. Most of the gowns on exhibit dated from the ‘20s through the ‘40s. Think Old Hollywood glamour, from the silent films through Bette Davis. Sleek, sensual silhouettes, simple shapes with stunning hand beading and unusual handmade trimmings, and many of them so timeless that they could grace the cover of this month’s Vogue and seem fresh, new, and original all over again. I loved seeing this exhibit with Karen – she’s a workroom owner with couture standards and an appreciation of fine handwork, so the two of us were there with our noses pressed up against the glass, dissecting each garment visually and trying to determine how each was made. When I realized that the fringe on the flapper gown in front of me was individually hand stitched for each garment, my mouth fell open and I, Madame Motormouth, was completely (albeit temporarily) at a loss for words. Most of us who sew today know fringe as a readymade trim that comes with a bound header which gets sewn into a seam, and the other end of the fringe that hangs loose on the face of the garment or window treatment is either cut or looped. But for the fringe on these garments, the seamstress had a big spool of the fringe thread that was stitched onto each garment and individually knotted one strand at a time! I wish I had a picture of that fringe for you to see, but the guards had already reprimanded us for violating the no-photos rule by the time I came to that garment, and you can only play dumb blonde once and get away with it. But I’ll show you a different gown from that exhibit, a bias silk crepe dress with hand-appliquéd lace stars sprinkled down the bodice. You can see me in the background, furtively snapping illegal photos while the guard’s back is turned, secure in my faith that Mark and Jay will send someone to rescue me if I get thrown in jail…
Extra-friendly-resterateur-making-the-moves-on-Karen-at-dinner
It’s 4 AM and tomorrow is an early morning, or else I’d tell you all about the overly friendly restaurant owner who was kissing everyone at our table at dinner and taking pictures for us, and the fabulously chic hotel lobby where we all met up for drinks (across the street from Armani on the Rue St. Honoré). Maybe I’ll tell you about it tomorrow if it turns out to be a dull day, but meanwhile, perhaps a picture is worth a thousand words. Bon soir!
Rebecca In Paris – Day One
As you may know, we held an essay competition to find a Helser Brothers field blogger to report from the Maison & Objet show in Paris. Rebecca charmed the judges with her witty submission and, well, now she is in Paris…..
Paris – Day One: You might as well forgive me up front – I’m a bit disoriented from a mixture of sleep deprivation, jet lag, and euphoric awe. I arrived at the Hotel D’Aubusson mid- morning Wednesday and scared the daylights out of my roommate, Maria Vila, who was just stepping out of the bathroom after her bath when the bellhop and I came charging through the door with my bags. Surprise!
Our hotel is fabulous, a converted 17th century mansion near the Pont Neuf on the left bank of the Seine, right in the heart of the Latin Quarter. Bundled up against the drizzling rain, we explored on foot the entire day, walking to a brasserie for lunch (soupe a l’oignon, better known as French onion soup in the United States) and then to the Sainte-Chapelle cathedral, a 13th century Gothic church that was originally built to safeguard the supposed Crown of Thorns relic that Louis IX brought back from the Crusades.
The walls and ceilings of Sainte-Chapelle feature elaborate decorative paintings, restored in the 19th century – absolutely magnificent, a juxtaposition of patterns, saturated color and gold fleurs-de-lis, the symbol of the monarchy. The combination of the decorative painting with the luminous stained glass is surreal and definitely medieval, but somehow contemporary at the same time. I was snapping photos of some of the decorative painting, thinking of how I could adapt some of the motifs and incorporate them into a client’s dining room ceiling design, but then the next minute I was squeezing up a narrow, spiral stone staircase with narrow slits for windows (all the better for shooting arrows at people) and feeling very much like Alice in Wonderland. At the top of the stairs, we stepped out into the upper level of Sainte-Chapelle, where royalty once worshipped apart from commoners. The raised altar is currently undergoing restoration and was hidden behind scaffolding, but we enjoyed the statues of the saints, the otherworldliness and intricate detail of the luminous stained glass windows – and oh, yeah – I was fascinated by the iron hinges on the massive church doors. I’d love to have custom swing arm rods made like these hinges, for linen rod pocket panels on French doors or sidelights.
After Sainte-Chapelle, we walked over to the Musée du Louvre, which is open late on Wednesday evenings. We stayed until they started locking doors and cutting off the lights, and we still barely scratched the surface of the vast treasures of the Louvre. 
We saw the Mona Lisa, of course – surprisingly diminutive and unassuming, behind her bullet-proof glass barrier. She seems even smaller because she’s hanging opposite the massive Paolo Veronese painting of “The Marriage of Cana.” Even more interesting than the Mona Lisa is watching all the people crowded around her, many of them having their picture taken “with” Mona Lisa to prove they were there. Maria and I gaped and drooled over paintings from the Italian Renaissance and French Neoclassicism (especially those by Jean Louis David), and I took hundreds of photos of the ornately detailed ceilings of the Louvre and the carved doors and again, the exquisitely detailed door hardware… I’m developing an obsession with hinges.
Finally, stumbling out into the purple-gray Paris evening around 10 PM, we strolled back along the Seine until we found a café still serving dinner. It was cramped and smoky, and although the girl singing at the bar sounded charming when she was singing in French, she was not so fabulous when she tried to sing Lionel Ritchie’s “Part Time Lover.” I kept expecting Simon to pop around the corner and tell her she had to go home. But my bœuf bourguignon was fabulous, the café was warm, and we were in Paris! Pinch me!!
Well, my body might think it’s only 8 PM EST, but in Paris it’s after 2 AM on Thursday and I haven’t slept since Tuesday. There’s so much I want to see and do tomorrow, and I’ll run out of steam quickly if I don’t get some sleep.
