#France life

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London architecture.

There is definitely a London Architecture.

You could drop someone in a street in London and you would know instantly you are in London.

[furlantravelfashionblogger]

📍 Cathédrale d'Amiens ,France❤🇲🇫

📷:@polduto (Ig

[png04cwdy]

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Cairo from the top of Cairo Tower.

Since I was by myself (hubby doesn’t like heights) I wasn’t allowed to the open top floor only the floor below with the windows.

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Friday False Advertising.

Walking around South Kensington and Chelsea on my way back to the hotel I noticed the former Michelin House which now host the Michelin 2-Star restaurant Claude Bosi at Bibendum and thought what a great addition to my False Advertising around the World collection.

Michelin House at 81 Fulham Road, Chelsea, London, was constructed as the first permanent UK headquarters and tyre depot for the Michelin Tyre Company Ltd. The building opened for business on 20 January 1911. In 1987 the building was converted to mixed-use, with a store, restaurant, bar and office space.

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If there is a metro (or even public transportation) in town we’ll try it.

The best 6 Egyptian Pounds ($/€0.12) per person spent.

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How many of those Pastéis de Nata did we eat… that wouldn’t have been nice to count.

Plus we needed to sample the different recipes to make a fair assessment.

Pastéis de nata were created before the 18th century by Catholic monks at the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos. At the time, convents and monasteries used large quantities of egg whites for starching clothes such as friars and nuns’ religious habits. It was quite common for monasteries and convents to use the leftover egg yolks to make cakes and pastries, resulting in the proliferation of sweet pastry recipes throughout the country.

In the aftermath of the Liberal Revolution of 1820, following the dissolution of religious orders and in the face of the impending closure of many convents and monasteries, the monks started selling pastéis de nata at a nearby sugar refinery to bring in revenue. In 1834, the monastery was closed and the recipe sold to the sugar refinery, whose owners in 1837 opened the Fábrica de Pastéis de Belém. The descendants own the business to this day. Since the opening of Fábrica de Pastéis de Belém, the original recipe of the pastel de nata is kept in a secret room. The Fábrica de Pastéis de Belém sells over 20,000 pastéis de nata a day.

In 2009 The Guardian listed pastéis de Belém as one of the 50 "best things to eat" in the world.  In 2011, following the result of a public vote, the pastry was announced as one of Portugal's Seven Wonders of Gastronomy, further cementing it as one of the country's most popular national dishes.

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Sunday Black & White - taking a moment to appreciate art.

I always offer to take picture for people when I'm out and about in town, especially when I see them struggle taking a selfie and having the background in the photo. People always appreciate it.

It's interesting how people were more inclined to ask passerby to take their photos before mobile phone and "selfies". You would give your camera and hope that they would take an in-focus photo of you and the background and you would only find out the outcome once you have developed the film.

I also like to take candid pictures of people (often from their back) and show them. I have airdropped a lot of those photos to the subject.

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From a small crowd the first night we went to see the “Vasque Olympique” take off into the Paris night sky at sunset (which ended up not going up that day due to inclement weather) to thousands of people coming to witness it in person (mostly due to seeing amazing pictures online) most nights during the 2 week of the Olympic Games.

The Olympic Cauldron has always remained on the ground in one position for the entirety of a Games, however Mathieu Lehanneur, the Cauldron’s designer, had other plans for Paris 2024. In a tribute to French pioneers Joseph-Michel Montgolfier and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier, who invented the Montgolfier-style hot air balloon, the Cauldron was designed as part of a hot air balloon. The Olympic cauldron reflects the organizers' desire to place the Games and their symbols at the center of life in the capital, making the Olympic flame visible to all and contributing to the Olympic fervor in Paris. The golden balloon and cauldron sits in the Tuileries Gardens and it is sent a hundred feet up in the air every day at sunset. In 1783, the Mongolfier balloon took off from the Tuileries in front of 400,000 rapt spectators and in the 1790s, the first-ever aerostiers brigade, the French Air Force’s hot air balloon corps, did its earliest hydrogen experiments in the Tuileries next to the Louvre. Hot air ballooning was also an Olympic sport at the 1900 Paris Olympics, with two world records set by French balloonist Henry de la Vaulx who flew all the way to Kyiv, Ukraine, traversing almost 769 miles over the course of 36 hours.

Once again I love all those French symbols/history pieces intertwined into the Olympic Games.

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Sunday Black & White - Bord de Seine

There’s walking along the Seine and there’s walking along the Quai.

You technically would see the same Paris landscape but being closer to the water there is something different. The people are different, the pace is different.

We have parks where we can gather on the grass and it would me more comfortable. But there is something about meeting along the Seine watching Péniches full of tourists passing by while talking about everything… or nothing.

I like walking along the Seine when I go places. I like walking along the Quai when I want to flâner (wander without a purpose)

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When you try to flex by saying you drove all the way to Germany to go check out a exhition in a former ironworks factory when in fact you only had to drive 15 km across the border.

The Völklingen Ironworks is a former blast-furnace complex located in the German town of Völklingen, Saarland. Pig iron production occurred at the site from 1882 through 1986. As one of the only intact ironworks surviving from the 19th and early-20th centuries in Europe and North America, it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994 because of its exceptional preservation and its testimony to ferrous metallurgy and the Industrial Revolution. In addition, the site is an anchor point of the European Route of Industrial Heritage (ERIH).

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Monday Murals Street Art… Art on the street.

In the footsteps of Ememem, the "flaker" not the rapper. I stumbled upon this one walking along the seine, the side I usually don’t walk; Cour La Reine near Pont Alexandre III.

***Flacking is a low-tech artistic technique that consists in repairing potholes and gashes in public space with mosaics, Lego and/or ceramic materials. The works thus created are called "flackings" or "sidewalk dressings" and are grafted to the ground. They have a random life span depending on the habits of passage and the type of use of the repaired space. Often associated with the practice of kintsugi, flacking aims to repair and beautify public space.

The word "flacking" was coined in 2016 by mosaic artist Ememem, to describe his "artistic mending" of the city of Lyon. It is derived from the French word "flaque" because the works created are similar to puddles of color. Initially a "wild" urban art practice, flacking has become a practice chosen by municipalities as a low-tech and artistic solution to repair pedestrian spaces in the medium term.***

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Monday Mosaic Murals - Vines

When Street Art and Street Name collide.

Vignes means Vines but I guess it easier to illustrate it with some grapes.

***MifaMosa is the pseudonym of a French urban artist. He defines himself as a "street illustrator". His pseudonym comes from Mifa, for family, as he began creating his works for his grandmother, and Mosa, for mosaic. He signs his works with three dots arranged in a triangle, representing his mother, his sister and himself. Since 2017, he has been illustrating street signs with mosaics related to their names…I collected them in Paris and now Bordeaux***

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I wonder who should I report him to for supporting the wrong passport? 🤭😉

The Olympic hospitality houses are sponsored and run by countries or run by Olympic sponsors. These hospitality houses operate throughout the games and thousands of fans spend time at them each day.

NB: Also not paying €485 to get in 😳 (Most houses are free or less then $/€30!)

The houses are meant to discover and learn about the culture of the country, enjoy the native and specialty foods that are popular in that country, gather for event ��watch-parties” and celebrations during competitive events, and in some cases, with athletes that medal make an appearance during the day or evening. Special opportunities to meet and greet current athletes and historic legends from previous Olympics. Experience and learn about the latest innovation and products from Olympic Sponsors. Retail stores for purchasing Olympic and national team gear and souvenirs.

Some hospitality houses are closed to the public. These houses only offer access exclusively to Olympic team members, their families & friends, and VIP guests. Other houses are open to the public, some are free and others have fees and may require reservations. (Source)

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Monday Mosaic Murals - Golden Apple

When Street Art and Street Name collide.

***MifaMosa is the pseudonym of a French urban artist. He defines himself as a "street illustrator". His pseudonym comes from Mifa, for family, as he began creating his works for his grandmother, and Mosa, for mosaic. He signs his works with three dots arranged in a triangle, representing his mother, his sister and himself. Since 2017, he has been illustrating street signs with mosaics related to their names…I collected them in Paris and now Bordeaux***

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The Soul Trembles* by Chiharu Shiota at Grand Palais.

Went on the opening day and it was already full of people and I’m sure it will get even busier. Seeing an exhibition without a crowd is becoming harder and harder.

This week will be known as “Random Posts from Things I Have Done In The Past Month or So and Haven’t Posted Yet”