Paris Street Scenes

Bon Jour, Mon Amis!

Hope you all are having a great weekend!

Paris is so full of amazing monuments, cathedrals, gardens, and more, that it is easy to become overwhelmed by its' beauty (in a good way!).  So when we visit, I love to try and soak up as much as I possibly can, including all of the little details that could easily go unnoticed.

Hubby and I were walking in the St. Germain area, and came upon this adorable little cafe.  I just had to snap a photo of the pretty bistro chairs, and those super cool benches!  Doesn't get more French than that!

Speaking of cafes, just about every bistro, boulangerie, and restaurant all post their menus outside on large chalkboards (love, love, love!).  I especially loved the huge chalkboards at the cafe below.

I was super excited when I saw this chalkboard menu, as it really looks like something I would make!

This is a lunch menu, and for 15 Euros, you get your choice of one main dish, and one dessert.  Pretty much all of the cafes and restaurants thru out France have what they call "formulas", or "fixed price" menus, which is almost always cheaper than ordering ala carte.  The menu below is offering, among other things: duck with sauteed potatoes, grilled salmon with vegetables, chocolate mousse (I think!) with whipped cream, and crepes of the day.  Yum!

On just about every street you will find an amazing flower shop.  Note the little chalkboard markers in the pots?  Love!

The French take their cheese seriously!  Just look at all of the varieties here, at  street market we stopped at!

I loved this sweet window, below!  The red and white gingham scalloped curtains and pretty white shutters are oh so French!

Another pretty flower shop!

I took this photo of the bikes outside of our hotel.  You can rent these bikes all over the city, and return them at any location thru out Paris. Lots of people make good use of them. They even have headlights and tail lights!  Rental for the first 1/2 hour is free!

A simple little cafe.  I thought the tables & chairs were so cute.

And look what was hanging out there, a sweet little tiger kitty (chat). She even let me pet her!

Moi soaking up all of the beauty at a street market!  Notice the gorgeous hydrangeas?

On every street you will find at least one (often more!) fancy patisseries, where you can drool over their amazing sweet little masterpieces!.  Just look at this tower of macaroons!

And these giant meringues!  I've never seen any this large before, they must have been twice as big as my hand!

Are you drooling yet?  I sure am!

I just had to get a shot of this pretty bright blue door!  Even their address number is ornate!

Not only can you rent bikes in Paris, but electric cars as well! 

I didn't realize when I took the photo of these amazing desserts, above, that my feet were being reflected in the window!  So funny, it looks to me as if that fancy torte is wearing tennis shoes!

That's it for now, hope you have a great day!

Au Revoir!
Linking up with Shabbilicious Friday

Cherubs

Bon Jour Mon Amis!

Hope you all are having a great week!

Just a quick little post today, sharing with you a recent angelic makeover!  I sure wish that I'd take a before shot of these beauties, but I was in such a hurry to cover their original gaudy gold that I forgot to!

I found a pair of these amazing vintage angels holding urns at the end of summer, and couldn't scoop them up fast enough!  I'd never seen any like them before, and just knew that with a little paint and tlc, they would go from gaudy to glam!

 They have the sweetest faces, I think!

 The details are just amazing.  I distressed them a bit, after painting them my favorite creamy color, to add to their aged over time look.

 I've placed them in my Etsy shop if you care to take a peek!

Be sure to stay tuned, as I'll be posting more photos of our trips to Paris this weekend!

Au Revoir!
Linking up with Common Ground for Vintage Inspiration Friday.
Shabby Art Boutique Shabbilicious Friday
Be sure to visit for tons of inspiring ideas!

Cathedrals of Paris Tour

Bon jour!

One of our favorite things to do when we go to Paris is visit some of the many amazing cathedrals.  So today I thought I'd share with you the ones that hubby and I visited there last week.

Perched atop the highest point in all of Paris is Sacre Coeur (or, "Church of the Sacred Heart").

It is an amazing cathedral, and looks totally different that the churches typically found in Paris.

 Inside, there was a "No Photographs" sign, but I just couldn't resist sneaking a few quick shots!  

Shhhhh!  Don't tell!

 Isn't the dome amazing?

 This is one of the most popular attractions in all of Paris, and the area is usually quite crowded, especially on the weekends.  Slipping inside a cathedral for a few minutes is not only good for the soul, but a nice and quiet retreat from busyness of the city.

 This is the view you are treated to from the front steps of Sacre Coeur.  What an amazing sight!

 Notre Dame is our very favorite cathedral in all of Paris. It is only a few blocks away from our hotel, and in fact, we can see the towers from our room.  Hearing the bells toll in our room is always exciting!!

 We didn't go inside this time, as the line to get in was always so long!

 Ooh, la, la!

 This next cathedral is just as amazing!  St. Sulpice was started in 1646 (!) and took over a century to build.  I've never seen a church with twin towers before, and this one is quite impressive!

 The interior was stunning, to say the least.

 I really love this view of Madonna and the Christ Child.  I love the play of shadows and light.

 And just look at this massive organ!  It is huge!!

 Last but not least on our tour is St. Etienne du Mont.  We didn't venture inside of this cathedral, our feet were getting tired of all that walking, and dejeuner (lunch) was calling our name!

 Ok, since I'm linking up with Kathleen over at Faded Charm for White Wednesday, I thought I'd share with you some of my latest "whites" that I've just added to my Etsy shop!

 I really love this pair of vintage milk glass compotes.  They are even prettier in person than my photos can capture!  I also have a larger one, too, below.

I had fun collecting this set of vintage milk glass vases. I thought my end of summer blooms looked so pretty in them!

 I also added this compote with matching bowls, in a lovely quilted pattern.  You can check them out here if you wish!

Thanks so much for visiting me today, and for joining me on my little tour!  Stay tuned, as I'll be posted lots more photos of our trip to France in the upcoming weeks!

Au Revoir!

A Visit to the French Countryside

Bon Jour Mon Amis!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Today I thought I'd share with you more photos of our trip to the Alsace region of France.
The city of Colmar was full of amazing half timber buildings, and like much of the region, was heavily influenced by nearby Germany.  As a matter of fact, a large portion of the area had once belonged to Germany, and Austria at one time, too.

I was ooohing and aaahing over all of the flowers, and pretty shutters, too!  Especially the blue and turquoise ones!

Aren't the flowers amazing?

A river ran right thru Colmar, making it even more picturesque!  I called all of these towns and villages "fairy tale villages", as it felt like we were walking right thru a story book!

The next shots were taken in the quaint little medieval walled village of Bergheim.  Isn't this painted shutter just adorable?!!  It even has their initials on it!

I was having so much fun just soaking up the details, such as this sweet little shuttered window filled with pots of succulents.

I thought of all of you when I saw this neat old mannequin in a winery.  Sure wish that I could have taken her home!  Speaking of wineries, the Alsace region is known for their many vineyards.  We followed the "Route des Vins" (wine route), and visited a bunch of wineries and had fun doing lots of wine tasting!

We didn't have any hotel reservations til we got to Paris, so we just played it by ear each day as to where we would spend the night.  Like many of the other pretty little villages that we visited, most of them we just happened to stumble upon, including Bergheim, which was one of our favorites!  We managed to get the very last room available in the hotel below for one night.  It was amazing!  The building was once a farm, and they've kept much of the original features, such as the old stone walls and interior beams.  We loved it so much, I could have spent an entire week here!

Our room was on the 2nd level, and this interior open air courtyard was right outside our door.

We had the best dinner that night at their restaurant, below!  Notice the old fashioned pumpkin?

Love!

I was interested to learn that family who owns the hotel (and also a winery), has been making wine in this same little village since 1737!

The lower level had the most amazing pool (piscine) that we took a dip in.  Notice the old stone walls and beams?  It's hard to tell from the picture, but the sides of the pool are old wine barrels.  How neat is that?

Here's hubby at the entrance to the village.

And yours truly (having a bad hair day, I might add!  What on earth happened to my usual bangs?!), enjoying the sunshine and flowers.
That's it for now.  I'll be sharing lots of photos of our trip to Paris in upcoming posts.
Hope you all have a tres magnifique week!