Poshdeluxe

[ok so i've just edited this post in order to actually place the photos
on my xanga (thank you photobucket). i am totally copying mark. i admit
it. but now i can tell more of the story behind each photo. which is
fun for me. and maybe fun for you]

picture pages, picture pages, lots of fun with picture pages!

ok so last night i scanned my favorite photos from le trip to paris
(yes i am low-tech and do not own a digital camera… i just can’t
stand the idea of not having paper photos that i can hold and touch and
frame and surround myself with… and i like the surprise of using
film, when a photo turns out to be so much better than you
thought…plus i like to imagine that perhaps they will outlive me).

this picture was taken as i drank my first cup of
coffee in paris!!! keep in mind that this was immediately following a
long flight at 7:30 AM arrival. ah a moment to be remembered. can you
tell i’m
excited about it?

oh strong espresso, i miss you already. sigh.

anyhoo moving on. during my first day, we wandered into notre dame. it
was just as inspiring as i imagined… you could just *feel* the
sacredness, the history of souls. i lit a candle for my grandmother.

we stopped for lunch and modern art at the tokoyo palace. i felt SO
artsy just sitting at the table under these huge pink bubble lights.
this is the location of the famous “dessert sushi” as pictured on
amber’s xanga.

i like this photo of amber with the seine behind her: happy!

amber took me on a
cliffnotes tour of the lourve, which i really appreciated. that place
is just too huge! it’s like the sam’s club of classic art. seriously. i
liked the d’orsay much better (it was nice to spend some quality time
with my favorite impressionists). so yeah i saw the mona lisa, venus de
milo, blah blah blah. here’s a photo from inside the pyramid:

i took this picture from the sacre coeur, and it’s one of my favorite
amber photos of all time. somehow the camera managed to capture the
feeling of
her life in paris, the wonder and contentment balanced with the
searching and struggling. beautiful.

here is the infamous mcdonald’s crew. i can’t bring myself to write
anything else about this horrifying and ridiculous experience.

this is the café where amelie works!!! we had espresso there!!!

as you may have already gathered from amber’s photos as well as my
previous post, we consumed many, many beverages in paris, ranging from
super classy red wine to guinness. however, a definite highlight was
the hot chocolate at this posh place called angelina. this picture
makes me smile (and not just from the recollection of a mega sugar
rush).

we stumbled across this little french band while shopping on sunday. talk about another “pinch me, i’m in paris!” moment:

i absolutely LURVE this photo of amber at our oscars party. scandalous!!

and here’s one of me with our tiny little hotel tv. did i mention that
the french commentators were extremely annoying and talked through
everything? oh well. at least they laughed at chris rock’s jokes.

i saw this super cool building during my last day. apparently it was
taken over by artists and is now filled with studios. hello, culturelux!

and, finally, i must conclude with a photo that says it all: SCANDALOUS!

by the way, i truly appreciate all of the lovely comments on my last
post. thanks for being excited for me. it means a lot. it really does.
oh and one more thing i didn’t get to mention yesterday: the music in
paris. the fact that the very first song that i heard in paris (as i
was exiting the train station with amber) was queen’s “bohemian
rhapsody” is extremely indicative of the musical theme of my trip (to
think of “wayne’s world” as you step out onto the streets of paris is,
well, odd. as amber taught me to say: c’est bizarre!!). it was like
“sarah’s life’s greatest hits” was playing all over paris. on the first
night, while we were at that super hip cafe, BRASS MONKEY came on. i am
serious. amber and i totally started busting moves while paul looked on
with more than a bit of amazement (or was it embarrassment?). sofia and
julie, we totally thought of you!! wish you could have been there to
kick out the jam with us.

other examples: justin timberlake’s “rock your body”, which i put on my
“sarah goes to paris” cd (for purely fun, indulgent reasons, of course)
seemed to follow us everywhere. also, michael jackson tunes kept
popping up– in fact, one day, we heard “thriller” played in two stores
in a row. in general, motown is extremely popular in paris (we heard
the jackson 5 and stevie wonder during the last night of my trip AND
the next morning). i’m sure there is french music somewhere but i don’t
know where they’re keeping it.

best music moment (ok, well, tied for best with brass monkey): amber
and sarah walking down the street with one set of earphones between
them, connected to amber’s ipod. we were, literally, inseparable as we
danced down the street with our very own paris soundscape. perfect.
just perfect.