vide dressing

This morning, my phone woke me up to remind me that there was a "vide dressing"* on Avenue Berthelot beginning at 10 AM. So I went. 3 avenue Berthelot is a bar. At 10 AM, it's a bit strange to walk ... into a bar. But indeed, two women were hanging clothes in the back where the chairs and tables had been removed. I found a navy blue tee-shirt for two euros. And now I have an outfit that is almost entirely made of recycled clothing. The scarf comes from Testaccio, Rome, and is made from recycled fabric. The jacket is from the flea market held every Sunday in Rome, just beyond the Piazza del Popolo if you're heading north. The shoes are Camper, from "Des Habits et Vous" in Lyon. The skirt is from Housing Works in New York City.

*an empty your closet, literally. These are advertised in cities in France, and held in all kinds of spaces including sometimes, private homes and... bars. 

Bags from recycled materials

My friend Ioana just came for a quick visit to Lyon. I took her to an aforementioned store in the pentes (slopes) of the Croix-Rousse that sells bags made out of a variety of recycled materials. After examining the ones made from fire hoses, she found this one made from bicycle inner tubes. The subtle purple line gives it an added touch of color and brightens a dreary rainy Saturday...

To Milan and then Rome and then back to Milan by train

One of the many piazzas in Rome                                                           poster in Testaccio, the hipster up and coming neighborhood 
                                                                                                                                                   "Rome is not for sale" 

I had a few days of vacation in mid April during which I decided to go visit a friend who is living in Rome this spring. I decided to take the train from Lyon rather than fly, first to Milan where one has to change train stations in order to go on to Rome. It's a long day of travel, but the four hours in Milan in both directions gave me a chance to discover a city that I didn't know. And what a lovely surprise that was.

But first, the train journey. What a pleasure to take in the scenery from the comfort of one's seat, indulge in a long novel and arrive in the center of town rather than at an outlying airport where one has to find one's way to ground transportation. With security taking longer and longer these days, sadly, airplane travel is becoming a bit of a hassle, and train travel remains fast, clean and convenient. 

The view of the Alps was so beautiful, I spent much of the first leg of the trip staring out the window.

                                                                                                    The speed in the train from Rome to Milan: 290 km/hour

The view of the Alps, Lyon-Milan

When I arrived in Milan in the middle of the day, at the Garibaldi Station, I didn't realize that I was about to walk into the annual interior decoration trade show which attracts people from all over the world. And, of course, they dress elegantly but in an original way. This woman for instance: 

The first thing you notice of course is her bag. But I loved that she had a shirt (a sweater wrapped around her waist?) hanging slightly down below her jacket. I also loved that she was wearing FLAT shoes. Yes! But these people walk a lot, you are foolish to attempt walking the city in heels. I was also happy to see that she was bare legged. There is so much discussion right now about women's need to be free to wear what they like, but in reality, women - I mean western women - have a tendency to conform to certain dress codes. For instance, in Lyon, women are still wearing tights with their skirts, even on a warm day. Apparently, a local friend said that it's because once the tights come off, it's very difficult psychologically to put them back on. I understand that one wants to be sure that the cold weather has passed for good, and the warm days are here to stay. Italy has a warmer climate, so the legs go bare sooner. I don't know, it's all so confusing and complicated. 

But let's get back to the Milanese spottings. At the piazza of the Duomo

I spotted this  woman, whose outfit was so understated yet elegant. She is even wearing leggings! I only noticed that little detail when I was uploading the photos. It's such a relief to see somebody else wear them, and with such an elegant outfit! (I prefer leggings to tights because they're so much easier to put on and you can roll them up a bit if you're feeling hot). She is also wearing a colorful bangle on her left wrist, showing that just a little touch of color pulls together a whole outfit. And again, the flat shoes. 

           Rome shoe shop

                                                                                                                                       Vintage store in the canal area in Milan

Italy is famous for its shoes, and they combine elegance with comfort in a way that you don't see anywhere else. 

Italy is also famous for its jewelry. All around Campo dei Fiori in Rome, there are small family owned goldsmith shops. The earrings that were shown to me in Francesca's shop on the Via di Monserrato were made from an old necklace. 

One more Milano spotting:  this elderly gentleman for instance, whose bike has a leather saddle, leather satchels, and he is wearing subtly striped orange pants with a red jacket. I also love the absence of fear of wearing bold colors.

Finally, again, uploading the photos, I realized that the colors of the bikes in the bikeshare system (known as "BikeMi") matched the trams. It doesn't get more elegant than that!

Ultimately, I sensed a freedom of style in Milan and Rome, an attempt at expressing one's inner self without torturing one's body with clothing and shoes that are too tight, too short, and very uncomfortable. This shop name sums it up for me: 

(I don't give a fuck)(in French) (the use of foreign words is a whole other story)

Santa Maria delli angeli delli Martyrs (near Termini, Roma) (talking about things that endure!)

Lyon in the spring

After a four year hiatus, I am back in Lyon, France, where it is spring with a vengeance. I've never had allergies quite like what I am experiencing at the moment, and whenever somebody sneezes in the street or in a store, I give them a quick look of sympathy.

I arrived around the time of the Brussels bombing, thus with some apprehension. It's amazing how the media can distort the everyday reality. As awful as it is to fear public places packed with people (excuse the alliteration), I agree with somebody who posted somewhere (the blogosphere can become one big blur) that the world is too big and beautiful to miss. I paraphrase.

That is certainly the case for Lyon. I've been in this city many times before, so I know it pretty well. This time, when the free time opens up, I know where I want to go. First stop is the neighborhood known as the "pentes de la Croix-Rousse," a neighborhood that consists of narrow streets lined with nineteenth-century buildings whose big windows were meant to let in the natural light for the silk weavers working inside them.

 Now the weavers are all gone and have been replaced with hipsters, musicians, artists, and the bobo. Of course. Plenty of well meaning stores selling environmentally correct wares such as this store which had bags made out of old firehoses, inner tubes from car and bike tires, and discarded leather from luxury brands.

The traditional vintage stores abound in the pentes, like this one  located on rue Romarin with the cute name "Carrie Bradshop."

(In French, "brader" means to sell something at a very low price.)

                                   At 94 rue Vendôme, in the more bourgeois 6th arrondissement of Lyon, a consignment shop that has friendly staff a good variety of shoes and bags in addition to clothes

Markets are a must, and Lyon has plenty of them. This morning I went to the one at the top of the pentes, on the boulevard de la Croix-Rousse, where, on one side the stalls sell food, while on the other, they sell books and records. I bought a bit of both!

I now have quite a line up of reading to keep me busy until early June when I head home.

*****

Back at the apartment, I read about this blogger whose images of older Russian people are wonderful.
My senses may be a bit overwhelmed, but indeed the world is too beautiful to miss. Here's to beautiful reality!