Outfit Post: Rainy Day

 

I’ve been frantically typing, typing, typing to finish last minute edits on Nightingale all week, which means I’ve been skipping all the fun afternoon activities (Paris Sewer Museum, anyone?) and only emerge from my apartment for meals. Bug is going to do a post for me later this week on Le Grand Metro Ride, the Sewer Museum, and the Notre Dame bell tower, but until then all I’ve got is an outfit post.

Today’s look was inspired by this pin on Pintrest:

This is what I pulled together from my closet. Pretty close, right?

The outfit:

Dress: Zara

Sweater: Zara

Belt: Banana Republic

Boots: Repetto

Necklace: Banana Republic

Bracelet: Dawali; Blue Rebel nail polish from Chanel.

Leggings: Wolford Velvet de Luxe 50 in Admiral

The Schedule:

8:30am – Roll out of bed

10am – Tidy up house, take a shower, mess around online after Bug and the boys leave for Notre Dame.

11am – Start trying to write the Nightingale dedication and acknowledgement pages.

11:30am – Stare out window, make new playlist, read the news.

12:15pm – Bug and the boys arrive home, frozen and hungry.

12:30pm – Head out to lunch. Tried a Japanese place near our apartment. Super good. Must find the name.

2pm- Drop boys off at home. Bug and I stroll down the street and do a little shopping.

3pm – Return home while Bug does the grocery shopping. Get the boys started on their Anne Frank reports. The Colonel decides he’s going to draw pictures of Napoleon getting “beat by the Russian Team,” followed shortly by, “Marie Antoinette being guillotined.” Consider if this means I’m raising a sociopath. Decide he’s just a fan of history.

4pm -5:30pm – Bug and I try to nail down where we’re going next week. The East Coast is becoming more and more likely, although London is still in the running.

6:30pm –  A home cooked dinner, prepared in our mini-kitchen by Bug. Steak haché for two boys, rostisserie chicken for the adults, and a falafel sandwich from the corner shop for Pudge.

8pm – Bedtime for the boys.

Rest of the evening – probably drinks across the street then a movie at home.

And just because I think he’s adorable, here’s The Colonel. He’s taken to dressing French and insists on wearing scarves, button-up shirts and “fancy” clothes.

The Colonel before our front door. Dapper, isn’t he?

Source: fashionworship.com via Dawn Rae on Pinterest

 

Paris Day 74: A Trip to Versailles

What do you do when you have a birthday boy who is obsessed with the movie Marie Antoinette by Sofia Coppola? You spend the day at Versailles.

Since finding out he’d be spending his birthday in Paris, Pudge has begged us to celebrate at Versailles and Bug and I couldn’t refuse. Part fun day out, part history lesson, it was the perfect type of home school experience.

The front of Versailles. Or as my boys informed me, where Marie Antoinette arrived from Austria.

The first thing The Fox did was run up and touch the “gold” gates. The entire train ride, he couldn’t stop telling us about all the gold and marble and “fancy” things he wanted to see. He was a little disappointed that the gold appeared painted and not real, but he still thought it was beautiful none-the-less.

The boys and I in the garden facing the Chateau

Honestly, the château itself isn’t really my type of thing – too gaudy (which is saying something since I love wearing feathers, sequins, and lots of jewelry). Add in the horde of people blocking all the rooms and it really isn’t all that great, in my opinion. But my kids loved it all: the colored marble, the soaring ceilings and over-sized fireplaces, the paintings, and the gold. Bug and I couldn’t get out of the château fast enough, but when you have a kid who looks like this:

Pudge in the Hall of Mirrors

You will linger forever if it makes them that happy.

While the Chateau didn’t wow me, the gardens, the Petit Trinon and Marie Antoinette’s Hamlet did. (Side note: there is a house in San Francisco that is a replica of the Petit Trinon, and Pudge and I walk by it all the time. He immediately recognized it and wanted to know why MA copied a house from San Francisco – lol).

The difference between the formal gardens of Versailles and what MA created just a few miles away at her private retreat is jarring. Having grown up in the relaxed Austrian court, Marie Antoinette wanted her children to have a similar experience and had lavish English-style gardens installed around the Petit Trinon. But she didn’t stop there, she also had a small village with thatched cottages, a menagerie, dairy, ponds, and meandering paths installed nearby. It couldn’t be more different from Versailles stuffy and regimented environment.

Compare this background:

Pudge in the formal Versailles Garden.

With this:

On the stairs of one of the thatched cottages.

Or this:

In the Hamlet.

After we finished at the Petit Trinon, we headed back to Versailles for the fountain show. To get around the vast property, you can walk, rent a golf cart, or take a train. We elected to take the train because heels – even stacked heels – are not cobblestone friendly and I lived in constant fear of twisting my ankle. Which begs the question of how the heck did the old courtiers walk around? Their shoes all had heels. It must have take forever to get anywhere.

The fountains are only turned on during certain times.

By the end of the day, we were all exhausted and still had an hour ride by train back home.

Taking a break on a sunny hill.

Finally, Happy Birthday, Pudge!!! I love you more than all the gold at Versailles 😀

The birthday boy, Bug, and me.