Paris in a pandemic

 

The decision to go to Paris during the pandemic went from a relatively simple one to one that became more complex, as a new variant decided to emerge. After many hours spent on the phone with friends and after reading through pages and pages of web sites, I decided to go, and see what happened. 

Paris turns out to be very open, and the reason for which the city can be so open, for the moment, is that people wear masks and are vaccinated. I have been relatively careful, always mindful of wearing my mask when indoors, and always ready to present my proof of vaccination when asked. 

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On this trip I found myself looking at new clothes rather than used ones. I think it's psychological, but it's also because I haven't been to the city in two years, and the fashions are amazing: the colors, the patterns and the styles are beautiful of course. 

                                              The Galleries Lafayette on the Champs-Elysées

I've been mostly obsessed with the coats. Winter coats now come in all kinds of tweedy and windowpane patterns, with all kinds of color combinations. I brought my trusted black boiled wool Geiger coat, thinking that black would be the dominant color, but I was wrong. Maybe people want to express themselves with color, as a way to fight back against the difficulty of living with COVID. The woman on the metro in the above photo was dressed so nicely, and the blue bag that she is holding added a touch of color to her overall look. I almost walked up to her to ask her where she had found that fantastic coat. 

On one of my many walks, I encountered "Le Village suisse" in the area that borders the 7th and the 15th arrondissements, where loads of galleries sell old art, furniture and bibelots. If I had a place in the city, this dresser would have to be a center piece. 

The quartier Saint-Paul in the 4th had some vintage stores. I found a brooch in a store that specialised in vintage jewelry. 

Finally, Paris means museums. After a visit to the Institut du Monde Arabe which had a really well documented exhibit on "Jews in the Arab world," I had lunch with my cousin in a brasserie across the street that had a classic fussball table. It stirred feelings of nostalgia for my childhood, parts of which I spent playing fussball on a beach in the south of France.   

second hand gifts

 I am simply copying this piece from "The Guardian."

Colors in Cambridge MA

 

                                                                  Outside Darwin Ltd

I just spent a mid-November night in Cambridge Massachusetts where the weather was still perfect for brisk walking between the Harvard end and the MIT end of the city. Thanks to Google maps, I headed to "The Garment District," a warehouse space filled with used clothes and costumes. 

I hoped to find a warm coat with lots of buttons and big pockets (mentioned in the previous blog entry) and/or an interesting cardigan sweater. I found neither, but I did find a Diane von Furstenberg silk dress (that I will photograph later) that fit perfectly. I don't need this dress, but I know that I can throw it in a suitcase because it weighs nothing, and I can layer it (it's rather sheer, so it will need something underneath it). 

My walk around the residential streets of Cambridge was delightful. I picked up a Macha latte, oh how hip, at one of the three Darwin Ltds (I looked it up). The coffee smelled so good as I approached the entrance. 

I loved the three color scheme in the bathroom. I like taking pictures of cool bathrooms. Cambridge is an expensive place to live, no doubt, but it remains a very liveable city, walkable and bikeable, with loads of front gardens, mature trees and colorful houses. 

Saturated in New York City

 

Costumes for sale at Buffalo Exchange on Broadway

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Glasgow, part II

As the Glasgow piece of my two week journey in the UK is about to come an end, I look forward and realise that I should probably think about the COVID rules for returning to the US, a week from now. 

Again, reading through reams of web pages about rules and regulations, trying to make sense of it all, chatting with my Manchester friend, who will be returning from France and has to schedule COVID tests too, and realising that COVID tests returning to the UK are different from COVID tests returning to the US. 

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What has happened to knowledge?  As we spend more and more time on the web, searching for stuff, are we becoming dumber and dumber? 

We spend more time checking off the right boxes, and less time letting our minds wander and imagine. 

I spent 1 £ on a book just the other day, as opposed to 39 £ for the returning COVID test. These are the times that we are living in. 

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On the positive side, I wandered into three used bookstores, all located in the vicinity of the university. Caledonia books, on Great Western Road, has a deep selection of Scottish literature. Thistle Books, in a little alley behind Otago Road, is actually two bookstores. One is specialised in music, including tons of sheet music, while the other has quite the detective novel selection. 

Thistle Books

And then there is Voltaire and Rousseau, also off of Otago. Be prepared for piles of books stacked high against bookcases also filled with books. The cat seems untroubled by the clutter. 

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I finally "connected" sections of Great Western, as I approached it from the West after having walked it from the East. That is how I discovered yet one more vintage store which had a really nice selection of all kinds of clothes including the classic plaid wool scarf. 

Glasgow has much to offer as cities go. It likes to preserve its old signs, and to a certain extent, an old way of life. Pubs have live music in the middle of the afternoon. There are still small specialised shops selling fish and records. And my flat has a drying rack on a pulley, quite handy, and those high ceilings make it possible to keep the drying laundry out of the way. 

Glasgow in September

 

After much preparation, my first trip outside the US borders has happened. To the UK to visit my daughter and her boyfriend who have been living in Glasgow for a few years. The city is enchanting, the people are extremely friendly and cheerful, this despite a rather intense series of lockdowns, not to mention the gloomy weather that is a permanent fixture. 

The West End has lots of leafy streets and a few alleyways that look like they could be in a village, not in the middle of a sprawling city. 

Naturally, charity shops pull me in like giant magnets. I haven't found anything that called out to me quite yet, mainly because it's still early in my visit. I am learning that there are charity shops (in very large numbers),  there are vintage stores (mainly focusing on the 1980s and 90s), and a few consignments stores (which I have yet to set foot in). 

Great Western Avenue. North of the University of Glasgow campus, lively on a Sunday. 

        Heading to the Barras Market on the subway, a circle line that is simplicity itself, with the Inner line and the Outer line, one going clockwise, the other, well, counterclockwise. On my ride to St Enoch, I couldn't help but notice that the car was filled with humans of all sizes wearing the exact same tee-shirt, the soccer jersey for the Celtic team, as there was a game on the south side of town. 

The Barras market was a bit disappointing. I had seen it on the tv series "Lovesick," and thought it was going to be rich with treasures. Instead it was mostly hodgepodge stacks of clothing and old housewares, displayed in unattractive ways. Glasgow is the city of designer and architect Charles Rennie Macintosh, and one does find a few of his designs at the market. I did pick up a couple of mismatched plates for my daughter. Not sure if she'll like them, but, as they say, it's the thought that counts. 

TV worth watching?

 I just finished watching the seven season, 13 episodes per season, 40 minutes per episode series titled "Offspring" (from Australia, on Netflix) followed by the much much shorter three episode series titled "The Pursuit of Love" on Amazon. The former features a main character named Nina Proudman, an obstetrician in Melbourne, Australia, and her large, chaotic family, set in the last decade. The latter features two friends' friendship, loosely based on the Mitford sisters, set in the first half of the twentieth century. Both paid close attention to the clothes worn by the various characters. 

I really liked what Dr. Proudman wore, especially because of the contrast between her profession and her bohemian, casual chic. It turns out that female viewers are excited enough about her outfits to search for them in stores and online. I wouldn't go that far. I would simply search in my closet. 

The series itself was exhausting. At times it felt like a telenovella, to the point where, while watching, I started sewing plastic bags into roses onto a prom dress I had found for $12 at the local thrift store as an art project. (Why I am sewing plastic bags on a dress will be explained later). The funky Proudman family is very open minded about relationships, but the series hardly explored alternative relationships. Neither did it introduce minorities as major characters, aside from one very assimilated midwife named Cherie, a native Australian who was adopted by white fundamentalist Christians. All and all, the series seemed very conventional in its depiction of life in Melbourne, with loads of scenes taking place in bars, cafes and upscale restaurants. I was entertained, I loved the characters, I was touched by the tragedies. But ultimately, the Australian world that was painted in that series seemed very conservative and white. 

As for the Mitford fictionalization, Emily Mortimer, who both wrote the series and stars in it, creates an English historical drama that sucks the viewer in with the fabulous acting, beautiful home interiors and of course, the elaborate costumes. I actually looked closely at my screen when certain patterns intrigued me. The plot wasn't bad either. I loved the musical score especially, a modern soundtrack that worked effectively with the historical setting because of the somewhat feminist messaging. 

As for the dress project, here it is in its middle stage. I hope to display a prom ghost in my front yard on Halloween. Same message: we consume too much plastic. When are we going to do something about it?