Le Musee de la Poupee

 The dogs of Paris fascinate me endlessly and even moreso les petits chiens de Le Musee de la Poupee

This little musee is one of Paris' many well hidden secrets.

True it is hidden in a little cul de sac,

Impasse Berthaud

quartier Beaubourg

75003 PARIS

Metro - Rambuteau

It's closed/ferme on Sundays and Mondays

I went back 2 times before I hit it lucky but well worth the trouble.

Look! A Parisien chien in dire need of pup beauty salon.

These two tres elegante hounds have just returned.

A French boy and his dog.

A petit French girl and her dog.

A rather unhappy bebe with his/her teddies.

Did he miss his train for vacance?

These French bebes did not miss their TGV.

Pas de tout.

It's holiday time in Paris and lots of patisseries are closing their shutters to go au plage. 

Me, I'm going to the piscine soon as I finish this post. I've been remiss this trip, skipping the pool visits and it shows :(

Please don't skip Musee de la Poupee.
It's adorable and no lines!

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Le Bonbon au Palais

 When in Paris, do not miss a visit to
Le Bonbon au Palais

19 rue Monge 75005

Open Tuesday - Saturday, 11am - 7:30pm

 Step inside and you'll wonder where you are? Back in a gradeschool classroom?

 Under banks of apothecary jars full of French regional candies, old-fashioned school desks are waiting...

 Take your places children!
But this schoolroom is a barrel of fun with no homework required.

 Look carefully in the candy cases and you'll find inside old school things of shop owner Georges.

 Georges was born in Brazil and came to France at age 4, and like most French, he is deeply attached to the souvenirs of his childhood. Especially the candies!

 The walls of Le Bonbon au Palais are covered with old posters from schooldays...

 Georges is happy to give you a petit lecon in geographie. Where to find the best regional French candies in France.

 The glass jars call to you with

 La creme de la creme of France's best bonbons.

 Georges offers goodie bags and boxes with a melange of tastes for all pocketbooks plus a few surprise free samples!

 Coussin de Lyon is noted for their marzipan blue pillows of sweetness.

 Le Bonbon au Palais offers so many paintable still life opportunities. I'll do more when I get home.

 Though the shop only opened 3 years ago, it's level of excellence was noted in Alain Ducasses' J'Aime Paris.

 Across the street is a children's playground.

 Creating Le Bonbon au Palais has been Georges' lifelong dream.

Step inside and share his reve

You won't be disappointed!

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La Cuisine Paris

 When you paint someone's cat in Paris you never know where it will lead...

 What good luck to have painted Canadian food blogger, Mardi of Eat-live-travel-write darling cat, Cleo a few years ago...

 Mardi spends many summers in France and was teaching cooking classes at La Cuisine Paris this year.

 Mardi kindly invited me to attend a recipe testing class making classic French tarte tatin and quiche Lorraine.

Your favorite baking flop

 Was happy to be surrounded

 By far more experienced bakers.

 I volunteered to peel the pommes/apples for the tarte and grate the Gruyere for the quiche.

 Enhale the carmelizing apple slices (my handiwork!).

 Who knew nutmeg/muscade and cayenne were essential ingredients in a quiche Lorraine?

 Mardi successfully turns out the tarte tatin from it's pan - quite an accomplishment.

 The aromas are to-die-for.



And the taste of the quiches - absolutement authentique!



 The following weekend K. at Chateau du Petit Thouars made a perfect quiche Lorraine exactly like Mardi's (which I somehow forgot to shoot. Unforgivable!).

 Today L. emailed me a picture of her gorgeous cat, Corky to send to Paris. At least I can paint cats if not bake...

I'm also now an expert at eating tarte tatin thanks to Mardi and La Cuisine Paris!

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Paris Bouleverse

 Sometimes in Paris things go completement bouleverse/upside down or do a complete reversal on you like the weather. It was gris gris gris/Paris grey skies yesterday.

 Yesterday sand was dumped on the banks of the Seine at Pont Marie. Today you can swim at Paris Plage and the sun is out.
WOW

 By 7PM yesterday the Paris soleil/sun decided to come out

 In full blast.

 It lasted till 10 PM!

 A very welcome reversal indeed.
THE COLOR OF CITIES is a fav book because it explains why we love Paris or any extraordinary city. For reasons often overlooked like longitude, angles of light, shadow shapes.
Paris' low-contrast light is softer, more atmospheric, more moody  the best for still life painting thanks to overcast grey skies. Author Lois Swirnoff conveys a powerful message about the angle-of-light's impact upon regional colors, design and materials.

 The #70 bus dropped me at Hotel de Ville, last stop.
The square was completement plein/full of people picnicing, drinking beer, waiting for a pop concert to begin.

Who knew?

 Yesterday I bought this pretty green dessert with plans to paint it.

When I got home I found my pretty dessert had gone completement bouleverse on me.

c'est la vie.

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