Supercherie

Que dire de plus sur ce livre qui avait créé une énorme polémique l'année dernière?

Survivre avec le loups est le récit censé être autobiographique de Misha Defonseca de sa survie pendant la seconde guerre mondiale.

L'ayant lu en sachant que le témoignage était faux, mon opinion est forcément plus dure que les lecteurs qui l'ont découvert en tant que témoignage réel. Cependant le plus incroyable est que ce récit soit passé pour véridique. En effet Mishke, petite fille juive de 6 ans, est censée avoir parcouru à pied toute l'Europe, en partant de la Belgique, jusqu'en Ukraine, puis retour par la Yougoslavie, la Roumanie, l'Italie.

Certains ont évidemment réussi à survivre en se cachant et en fuyant dans les bois, mais Misha Defonseca semble avoir vécu toutes les pires horreurs de la guerre. On peut aisément croire qu'elle ait fui la Belgique et atteint l'Allemagne. Cependant elle est aussi rentrée dans le ghetto de Varsovie, a réussi à en sortir deux jours plus tard -exploit que peu de gens ont réussi à faire-, a longé -littéralement- un camp de concentration/travail en Allemagne, croisé des partisans polonais, des résistants russes, vu un Allemand violer une paysanne devant ses yeux, mais a pu ensuite le tuer. Et sur le chemin du retour, elle a pu traversé la Roumanie et trouvé comme par magie un bateau clandestin qui est miraculeusement arrivé sans problème à destination (combien de clandestins arrivent à bon port aujourd'hui?).

Certains ont vécu le pire pendant la guerre, mais assez peu ont cumulé le best-off de toute les horreurs de cette période. Il est donc assez incroyable que la véracité du récit n'ait pas été mise en cause plus tôt. On peut comprendre que l'auteur est voulu réinventer sa vie, mais il est regrettable parce qu'un témoignage inventé permet aux négationnises de renforcer leur thèse.

Du vent

La planète va mal, tout le monde le sait. Et comme je suis une pessimiste née, il y a bien longtemps que je m'en préoccupe. Nicolas Hulot aussi, et il est beaucoup plus actif que moi.

Appartenant à l'espèce en voie d'extinction de ceux qui n'ont pas de télévision, je n'ai donc jamais regardé Ushuaïa. Il était donc temps de me pencher sur la question, d'autant qu'un film tiré de son livre Le syndrome du Titanic, sort sur nos écrans.

L'écologie étant un sujet actuel, et l'auteur ayant eu une plus intéressante que la plupart des mortels, il y a de quoi dire. Malheureusement, son livre n'en est pas le reflet. On passe outre l'écriture vraiment scolaire (mais Nicolas Hulot n'a jamais prétendu être Hugo), on regrette en revanche le contenu sans subtance. A force de vouloir ouvrir les yeux de ses lecteurs sur la destruction de la planète, l'auteur en oublie d'apporter de l'eau à son moulin. Il ne parle donc ni de ses voyages à proprement parler, n'apporte aucun chiffre pour prouver ses affirmations, et ressasse les mêmes idées.

En inculte qui ne lis jamais un journal, je suis ressortie de cette lecture sans avoir rien appris de plus que je ne savais déjà. Comme le public qui achète le livre de Nicolas Hulot est à priori un public intéressé par des questions d'écologie, reste à savoir quel était le but recherché par l'auteur.....

Je vais donc me passer du film, c'est au moins deux heures (et 6 euros) de gagné!

My favorite Brocante

It is not the first time that I’ve written about the Bastille Antiquites Brocante. I think it might have even been one of my first posts for the blog. (How time flies!) But because I love going to these sort of markets and I know people who love them too (special mention to P!) I thought I would do another post on this year’s brocante. Strictly speaking, the bi-annual Bastille brocante is not really a flea market. Yes, there are a few whimsical bric a brac items that look that they came from someone’s attic, but it’s really more of a antique market with the corresponding prices. There are always beautiful and interesting things to see at this particular antique market. While I haven’t always been the most interested in home furnishings and the like, its funny how this year, they were all I could look at! My nesting instincts are belatedly kicking in!

With over 350 professional antiquaires at the fair, you are certainly spoiled for choice. And its not at all excessive to go three or four times to make sure you’ve seen everything there is to see. I can’t tell you how many stands carried furniture from all over the country (sometimes even over the borders as a few stands carried Japanese and Chinese furniture at extremely exorbitant prices!) and from different epochs. After awhile you become very good at distinguishing the Napoleon III armchairs in the style of Louis XV and authentic Louis XV chairs. Funny how a couple hundred of years make a huge difference in price! And who knew that a rocking chair, yes a simple rocking chair, can be absolutely gorgeous when done in the style of Emperor Charles X?

Isn't this rocking chair really pretty?

If that weren’t enough, there were a number of commodes that I would’ve loved to cart home if it were possible! One beauty dated from 1940 and came from Venice and I can just see it decorating the house. Yet another comes from Japan and has these wonderful little drawers where you can store all your trinkets. One adorable feature of this beauty from Japan is that it has a locked compartment where you can store your most important things!

A Venetian style commode from the 40s....

Of course it wouldn’t be a brocante if you don’t have all these weird and wonderful things that can only be for collectors or for those with very special tastes. One thing that really stood out was this box of thread. Now you might ask what’s so special about a box of thread, but just look at it…each spool of thread is decorated with different headdresses that women used to wear all over France. Despite its great age, the colors remain as vibrant as the day it came out of the factory and sad to say, they don’t make threads like this anymore. It’s a veritable collectors item. Price tag? A cool 390Euros!

Many of the brocanteurs (those keeping the stands) don't have permanent stores. They participate in these annual markets and frequently their stands are a veritable cavern of things. This one below had all manner of things--bolts of cloth from the 19th century, vintage hat boxes, strips of lace, bags from the 50s....I didn't quite know where to look given the number of things crammed into her stall.

Speaking of bags, the lady who keeps this particular stand had a good number of pretty vintage bags and purses. Delicate needlepoint bags side by side with croco skin bags from the 40s and 50s. Given the latest demand for croco skin bags (seems all the major houses from Prada to Bottega had their own version of it for A/W2010 with each costing at least 1000Euros), her asking price of 120 didn't seem all that much. Of course, you would have to be happy with a bag that was older than you!

A nice man from Germany kept this stand that had all these old fashioned powder compacts from the 50s.. they were really pretty and surprisingly clean for its age and I could just imagine them lined up in my dresser.

I loved this stand where he had a whole collection of what looked like jugs and in fact they used to be what each lady of the castle had in her room for washing! I guess before bathrooms became de rigueur, you had to make do with a washbasin and pitcher to clean yourself. I thought they were really nice though I would take the running water and a shower anyday!
All sorts of bottles for the kitchen?

And the old fashioned way of storing your kitchen essentials..
I have no idea what these iron wrought frames are for but they sure are pretty!

Only a day left to enjoy the brocante then the next time they come around will be in May. Who knows what treasures will be found then?

Away we go

Away we go constitue (selon les critiques, je ne suis pas assez intelligente pour trouver cela seule) le dernier acte de la trilogie de Sam Mendès concernant les relations amoureuses (après American Beauty et Revolutionary Road). Si les relations humaines me fascinent certes, j'y suis allée davantage parce que c'était un film de Sam Mendès, dont les films ne m'ont jamais déçus.

Dans la même veine que ces deux film en effet, on retrouve la caractéristique commune que les personnages principaux cherchent à échapper au quotidien et à la routine qui peu à peu étouffent les rêves qu'ils ont pu avoir. Away we go m'a également beaucoup fait pensé à 500 days of summer, film d'auteur récemment salué par les critiques sur une histoire d'amour comme il en existe tant.

Un couple, attendant un enfant, décide de prendre son destin en main, et choisir là où ils veulent habiter. S'ensuit alors un road trip (aéien et ferroviaire notamment) pour rendre visite à leurs proches et voir alors s'ils peuvent faire leur nid près d'eux.

La prestation de Maggie Gyllenhaal avait unaniment saluée. Me méfiant des critiques, j'avais encore tort, et l'actrice crève en effet l'écran, et sa prestation est excellente.

Le film est drôle, mais surtout il est très tendre. On est loin de ces couples glamours, qui ont tout, argent, gloire et beauté. Ce couple est banal, n'est ni beau, ni glamour, et définitivement pas riche, et se pose même la question de savoir s'ils sont des losers... C'est rafraîchissant, mais surtout le film est fait avec beaucoup d'intelligence.

The village market

I think this weekend was the weekend for antiques and other bric a brac.. I don’t know what it was but there were at least three flea markets running this weekend. One is pretty major and it’s the bi-annual Bastille Antiquities Market (a separate post is coming up on this!), another was more of a neighborhood flea market in the 12^th arrondissement and the third was held at the Village St. Paul.

I love the village St. Paul so it made sense that I check it out first. The village St. Paul is exactly that—a small self- contained little village in the heart of the Marais. It is just a few tiny pedestrian streets that wind in and around the Church of the St. Paul but what it lacks in size, it more than makes up in terms of charm and history. It is here that you can see remnants of the old fortifications that used to ring the old city. In those early early days of Paris, the city was a fraction of its size now and everything was enclosed in strong walls, designed to keep out ruffians and other criminals. Another site to note is the Hotel de Sens, which lies close to the Seine River. It used to be the residence of the Archbishop of the City of Sens (hence the name) but nowadays it is a public library that houses a few temporary exhibitions.

Here's a photo of the medieval wall..

The Hotel de Sens which won't look out of place among the different castles of the Loire Valley...

The Village's lovely lay out of small streets that enclose little courtyards made it the perfect place for antique dealers. Ten years ago, it was renowned for its weekend antique fairs. The dealers would set out their wares onto the courtyard of the Village and people would come from everywhere to browse and shop. Unfortunately such fairs created nightmare parking and traffic issues so the Mayor was obliged to prohibit such fairs. It was a real shame and in fact it was widely criticized. As a result of such prohibition, number of the antique dealers were obliged to move away. That said, there are still a few stalwarts who open during the weekend and its at this time that the village is at its liveliest. But I have to say that during the week, the calm courtyards of the village serve as a delightful place to have a simple lunch!

This weekend it was busier than usual thanks to the temporary weekend market. There was a good mix of stands selling handsome furniture and beautiful tableware as well as some selling beautiful French linens. There was even a bookseller selling antique leather bound books. The most interesting stands didn’t have a particular theme but featured a number of attractive and whimsical items. One was selling old- fashioned jewelry stands in the form of a miniature dress dummy while another had what she called a “repose-pied” or a little stool where one could rest one’s feet. Yet another had a set of beautifully mismatched glasses and pitchers. It was quite frustrating that the sellers more often than not refused to have their merchandise photographed! I did manage to take a few general looking pictures of the market as a whole to give you a flavor of how things were.

On non-market days, this is a particularly lovely spot to have lunch, just under the boughs of this old tree...

A view of another courtyard

One seller agreed to let me take a picture of here repose-pied

While another agreed to let me shoot her pretty glasses and pitchers..

After browsing the stands, I got the hankering for something sweet so I popped in Izrael, still within the confines of the Village but on its outer perimeter. This is a greet spice shop that stocks what seems like an enormous amount of spices from all over the world. You step in and its like Ali Baba's cavern of treasures except its spices that reigns here. They also make the best chocolate orangettes and mendiants that I've ever had. Each time I go, I cannot resist buying a bag of each. Often my bag of goodies don't even make it back home, as during the walk back, I don't stop at one piece!

Délivrance

Au bout de deux mois, j'ai enfin réussi à finir les 700 pages de London Fields, je crois n'avoir jamais mis longtemps à finir un livre .

London Fields relate l'histoire d'avance un meurtre dont on sait d'avance qu'il va se produire. Le récit sert donc à poser les jalons. Ce n'est ni ennuyeux, ni mal écrit, ni vulgaire (même si cela le frise parfois), cela se lit, mas je n'ai juste trouvé aucun intérêt au roman.

Selon les critiques Martin Amis jouit d'une excellente réputation comme écrivain. Certes... Mais un conseil, passez votre chemin. Les critiques sont sûrement moins élogieuses envers Stephanie Meyer, mais en tout cas cela se lit beaucoup mieux!

Going, going, gone

Stuck as I am at home, I have a few hours of “liberty” whereby I could carry out errands and other essentials. When I’m feeling well enough, it is also the perfect opportunity to walk around and see what’s happening around the city. Yesterday was one such perfect opportunity and I made the most of it by popping into Art Curial (picture above, the only one I could take), one of Paris’ venerable auction houses. And while I don’t make the habit of visiting auction houses, yesterday was special as it was one of the viewing days of the upcoming Hermes Vintage auction which will take place on the 10^th of November. I can’t tell you how excited I was when I read about this auction. Not so much for the idea of being able to acquire my own Hermes bag (the prices are completely out of this world) but just the idea of seeing the whole lot up close and personal.

And what a lot it was! Something like over 600 Hermes bags are up for grabs at the auction, one of which is a beautiful pale green croco skin Birkin offered by Naomi Campbell in celebration of her 25 years in the modeling industry. Just to digress a bit, Art Curial has been organizing auctions for the past 12 years of Hermes bags, and over the last three years, they have been fortunate enough to obtain celebrity bags (Jane Birkin and Princess Stephanie were the previous celebrity donors) to auction off for the benefit of certain charities. This year, the proceeds from Campbell’s bag will be for the White Ribbon Alliance, a non-profit group fighting against maternal and infant mortality. A pretty good cause I have to agree!

The Campbell Birkin aside, the other bags merit just as much attention. There are outstandingly beautiful ones (models included the Kelly, its precursor the Haut a Courroies, the Constance and the Bollide, to name a few) in different leathers and skins—croco of course, but also ostrich and suede and all of them beautifully preserved and shining with the well-loved patina of age. Its clear that these bags came from owners that truly loved them and took good care of them. It isn’t a big surprise then that the starting estimates are still a hefty price. Still and all, I suppose it beats having to go to an Hermes store and being told to wait for xxxx number of years unless your last name is Beckham or Mittal.

As Hermes is not only renowned for their bags, the auction is also featuring a good number of their silk scarves. I wish I could have taken a photo of the auction rooms to show you as even the scarves were beautifully presented, almost like museum pieces. Imagine if you will, a whole row of silk scarves of all colors and prints hanging from the ceiling and decorating the walls of the room like tapestries and you will get an idea of how Art Curial has presented them. If scarves are not your thing but you still want to come away with a little something, the auction will also feature several timepieces, some carefully selected beautiful bangles and for the less the menfolk feel a bit neglected, there are some nice shoes for them. And for the real Hermes obsessive, there are some vintage playing cards and notepads too!

As I wasn't allowed to take a photo of the actual rooms, I've had to content myself with this prepared photo...the Campbell Birkin is the one in the middle

Viewing of the Hermes lots for sale continues this weekend at the Hotel Marcel Dassault 7 Rond Point des Champs Elysees from 11 to 9 and by special appointment on Monday (9November). And the auction will be on Tuesday the 10th of November .