The Good Life

Paris, France With the exception of a few tough years, Paris has always been a place where one can enjoy the best of the best, whether to wear, eat, drink, or live.

After a lovely breakfast – details to follow – we began our tour of lifestyles of the rich and famous with a visit to the home/studio/museum of Yves Saint Laurent, which is now open to the public.

YSL came from the provinces and was fortunate enough to be taken on as an assistant to Christian Dior. When Dior died unexpectedly two years later, YSL took over the House of Dior as his named successor. His success there led to his eventual opening of his own house a few years later.

The current exhibit at the museum focuses on his love of flowers and their appearances in so many of his designs. (Note the unfortunate resemblance to Elvis in the sketch over the mantle.)

The dresses included here were all lovely, but the most interesting part was his actual studio.

For me, his most notable works date from the sixties, when he created the pea coat, the sexy tuxedo jacket, the Mondrian shifts, and the pantsuit looks. None of those were shown in this exhibit, so we have to come back for another tour.

We spent the afternoon at the Hotel de la Marine, at the end of the Place de la Concorde. It was originally built as a storehouse for the excess goods of Louis XV, including furniture, gifts, the royal jewels and armaments. It had a manager, Thierry de Ville d’ Avray, first valet of the King, who managed himself and his family into apartments more royal in parts than those of the king. A great deal of what is shown today is original to the apartments.

Fast forward, and this cozy posting collapsed when revolutionaries stormed the building and raided the arsenal.

The Revolution ensued and this building would have had an excellent view of the guillotine installed in the grounds in front of it, on which Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette perished.

The building eventually became the headquarters of the French Navy, which had the wisdom and foresight to preserve the incredible interior of this remnant of history, The building was just opened as a museum four years ago, and is jaw-dropping in its artistry and excess.

Don’s Food Corner

We got to the Yves St. Laurent museum a little early, so we stopped at an elegant café on the Place de l’ Alma for breakfast. This is the location of the reproduction of the flame from the Statue of Liberty that became a kind of shrine to Princess Diana because the fatal car accident happened on an underpass directly underneath it. (It was intended to showcase the special relationship between France and America. Who knows if it will be here next time we come?) The view of the Eiffel Tower comes for no extra charge.

Although we were having a petit dejeuner, there was nothing petit about it. I ordered an omelette “nature” — meaning without any additional ingredients like ham or cheese or herbs. Jo ordered scrambled eggs.

The omelette was perfect — soft, fluffy, and without a trace of color. Jo’s scrambled eggs were clearly made in a double boiler to keep them so soft and creamy without any rubbery or curdled bits. I would swear there was cream in those eggs, but having seen how to make eggs like that, I know that, if done properly — namely, slowly — no cream is needed. It takes a lot of practice to create eggs that perfect.

The portions seemed huge and I asked how many eggs were in each serving. Three. Three BIG eggs.

There was also some freshly squeezed orange juice, endless French bread and butter, and two nicely served teas. It was all on lovely china. A treat.

Later, after touring through the Yves St. Laurent museum, we stopped for a pick-me-up. Jo with a Coke Zero and me with a double espresso — that gave me the jitters for hours. Along with that we shared a poached pear with salted caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream. It was as decadent as it looks. The caramel sauce was heaven and the fruit was perfecting cooked.

Tonight, we’re going to finish off that wheel of camembert we got yesterday, along with a fresh baguette we picked up at the boulangerie across the street. We could get used to this.