London, Oxford and a little bit of Avignon

I begin with a reassuring sign: the timeless London underground logo. I don't know why I love it so much. There is something about the shape of the circle with the name of the station centered over it with a tiny bit sticking out of both ends, and the three simple primary colors (is white a primary color?).

"Mind the gap." She (it's a female voice) still says it! In exactly the same way.

I've been traveling a lot these last few weeks, mainly because there have been long holiday weekends here in France. First there was the trip to Avignon and Provence where I spotted a woman in a striped dress at a wine tasting event on the square just outside the Palais des Papes; and another very elegantly dressed woman in Fontaine de Vaucluse - a tourist I assume because she was speaking Russian and taking photographs. Why not be a little dressed up while touring around? I wonder if she travels with a small backpack as her only luggage...

Then last weekend I went to London to hang out with some friends, and then to Oxford to stay with a fellow bande dessinée enthusiast. 

What I continuously love about England is its ability to absorb a diverse population from all over the world while (whilst, I love that word) still remaining so English. The double decker buses, the pubs, the Boots pharmacies, the long rows of white houses and red brick houses, the boxy taxis, although now they have logos all over them, which makes me a bit sad because they are a visual reminder of the  corporation snake slithering about absolutely everywhere. 

And then, as I was finding my way along Gloucester Road in London to an Indian restaurant I had located on line, I found heaven: three charity shops (as thrift stores are called in England) on the same street! 

In the first one, I found a blue silk skirt for 4 pounds. In the second one I found a green duster for 22 pounds. It was too good to be true. 

In Oxford, there was another Oxfam shop (they're everywhere in England) where my friend Ann who herself finds many of her clothes on ebay (including the Agnes B. "mac" she's wearing in the photograph) was intrigued by a striped dress.

East Oxford is more of a hipster town, with its fair share of vintage shops. Sadly, these sunglasses displayed in the window of a vintage shop on Cowley Road, were too late for the Milan trip and besides, it was Sunday and the store was closed.

 

The timeless beauty of England. The craftsmanship of a bygone era maintained for all of us to share, if one bothers to notice, for example, the steps of the Earl's Court Tube station. 

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!

Everything is political

Back in New York City in mid March. Bernie Sanders just lost a whole bunch of primaries. The id of too many people is being let out by the superego of Donald Trump.  I walk the streets of Lower Manhattan. The weather feels normal for this time of the year.  Although, who knows what normal or hot or cold weather is anymore. We didn't really have a winter. Rich people, spoiled people everywhere.   Shops selling sweet things like cupcakes and candy seem to have popped up all over the place since my last visit. Along with plenty of coffee and animal care. People need soothing, and energy. So they eat a lot of candy, get a pet, and drink lots of coffee. The thrift stores and consignment shops are still providing me with a much needed feeling of escape: there at least I can focus on the colors, the patterns, the feel of the fabric, the cut, and maybe try some stuff on, just for the fun of it. No obligation (I went into Barney's out of curiosity: that was a mistake. "Hello how are you doing today? Fine thank you. Anything I can help you with? No thanks, not for the moment." There was nothing exciting in there. What happened to the old Barney's? Wasn't it edgier?) So back out into the street I go. I do find a cheap Thai place where I can sit for a moment, eat some healthy spicy food, and just chill. Back out I go, and head to Beacon's Closet, where I spend a good amount of time looking for summer tops. I end up with a nicely cut black tee-shirt. To add to the tee-shirt with a map of New York state inside of which there is a bear (?). I found that one at a thrift shop on Columbus Avenue the day before. The Housing Works also on Columbus Ave was filled with gorgeous stuff that felt like it had been cleaned out of old people's apartments. Young people want new stuff I guess. Out with the old, in with the new they say. So after Beacon's Closet, I pop into the Film Forum (thank goodness that's still around) to see an Iranian film. The story is pretty old hat: a maid watches a husband cheat on his wife (spoiler alert, sorry). But those women had such beautiful faces, and their headscarves only made their faces look even more beautiful. The innocence of that young, soon to be married housekeeper, who still clings to the ideal of love, the wife who is miserable because she thinks that her husband is cheating on her, these straightforward emotions made me long to be with people who are not (yet?) cynical, jaded and spoiled. Maybe I should go to Iran?

Skirt from the Goodwill in South Burlington, Vt, suede coat from the Pink Alligator in Hanover, NH

Sherry Levine installation, Chelsea Gallery, Manhattan. The refrigerators are manufactured new in Italy to look retro.

Goodwill, South Burlington Vermont (top and bottom)

Housing Works, Columbus Avenue, NYC

everything is political