Louis, Louis, oh no, Me gotta go, Aye-yi-yi-yi

To buy or not to buy? That is the question.

EMBARRASSING CONFESSION: For some reason or another, I have decided I want a Louis Vuitton purse. I've shocked many people by this...especially Eleanor Campbell :)

So, I wanna buy one in Paris as the perfect souvenir from France. This is the one I want...The Noé:

Problem #1- Expensive
Problem # 2- Will I feel like a total TOOL wearing this? Answer- Most likely

But, my Dad is encouraging me to buy it, and last night we were Skyping and looking on the Louis Vuitton website together when he stumbled upon these lunettes de soleil :

Then he said over and over, "Sarah, you HAVE to get these! I don't care if you have to come home by boat." And then...the classic Dad quote of all time,  

"If Jesus made you a pair of sunglasses,

that's what they'd look like."

HAR HAR HAR HAR!

Norman Parkinson

I've been storing these photos for a while. It's time to free them from their cage. FLY! Norman Parkinson, fashion photographer. His photos seem apropos to travel.

  If I could look like this playing golf, then I might consider the sport.

 

 

I, I, Me, Me, MINE!

So, today was a beautiful day in Sarrebourg (something rare). Sunny and 55 degrees (I know, okay. I'm talking about the weather, but, from an anthropological perspective, it's very important. It influences the people and their culture!) I almost exposed my pasty white legs for the first time with a mini dress, but decided against it, knowing that the French can be weird about that stuff.

For instance, one is much more likely to see boobies on a commercial or on a magazine cover than to see a girl showing cleavage. Revealing clothing is not their style, whereas in the USA it's the exact opposite (no nudity, but a lot of cleavage).


Okay, so I digressed. Back to the sun, it was the first day like this after a snowy winter, and when this happens after every winter, I am reminded of "Here Comes the Sun" by The Beatles.

  Senior year in high school, I had a crappy winter full of stress and other things I don't want to discuss.

On the first bright day of Spring, I was searching for Abbey Road, but couldn't find it. So my Dad and I went to buy another one. On the way home, we listened to "Here Comes the Sun" and I almost cried. I definitely teared up. It gave me hope:

Little darling
It's been a long, cold, lonely winter
Little darling
It feels like years since it's been here

Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun, and I say
It's alright

Little darling

The smiles returning to the faces
Little darling
It seems like years since it's been here

So, it felt like George Harrison was singing to me.

Plus my love affair with The Beatles goes way back. The first CD I asked for for Christmas when I was 9 was a Beatles album. In addition, I have a shared love for the band with my mother, with whom I used to sing the lyrics of Abbey Road, Revolver or The Beatles for Sale.

The Beatles even inspired a painting of mine. Hmmm....guess what song it was?

And I acknowledge the fact that saying you love The Beatles is like saying you love puppies...but still...

After smell, music is the greatest trigger of memories. You associate albums with a certain period in your life, or with a certain relationship. Sometimes, that can ruin a certain group, because it brings up painful memories. But The Beatles ain't like that. Nick Hornby puts it best in his book High Fidelity:

"I’ll be playing the Beatles when I get home…The Beatles were bubblegum cards and Help at the Saturday morning cinema and toy plastic guitars and singing ‘Yellow Submarine’ at the top of my voice in the back row of the coach on school trips. They belonged to me, not to me and Laura, or me and Charlie…and though they’ll make me feel something, they won’t make me feel anything bad."

 

 So there you have it. The Beatles are MINE and always will be. "I, I, ME, ME, MINE!!"

GRRRRROWL like a Lyon!

I couchsurfed again in Lyon, and what a delight it was chez Hélène and Chloé.
They have an Anthropologie-esque apartment (except nothing was actually from Anthropologie, but instead, everything  was unique)

 There, they offered us delicious dishes with tastes of Morocco...

 Chez elle, I also heard Karen O and the Kid's soundtrack for 

Where the Wild Things Are.

 

And they introduced us to Les Chansons d'Amour, a bizarre French musical. But I like the music.

 There were also beautiful promenades and tours through Lyon.

 

Plus, I got some adorable talons from Chloé:

And, to top it all off, I had what turned out to be one of the best nights of my life...one of those experiences where everything just falls into place magically. Coming from Nashville, I have a strong craving for live music, but, in recent years, I have had a severe lack of concerts. I think my last purchased ticket was The Kills @ the Mercy Lounge in 2008--can that really be true? Maybe it was 2009. Anyway, in Lyon, I got to see the Tune Yards for PRIX-LIBRE @ Grrrnd Zero and the beer was on 2 euros! 

A band called The Blondettes opened for The Tune Yards. It was their first concert, so I was impressed. They were wild and fun...kind of reminded me of Deerhoof.

Also, there was Ludivine Cypher

 

who did the best cover of "Hit Me Baby One More Time" that I've ever heard.

 And then, we had the main act who kicked ass:

 

 

I can't even express how refreshing it was to see kickass live good music. It was energizing and restorative. 

In conclusion, I didn't want to leave Lyon, because...

It was nice to see a French big city other than Paris. Maybe I can return again for a sejour longer than 2 days. On verra...

Les Chouettes a Dijon! Hoot hoot.

 

 

For some time now, I have been a semi-collector of owl stuff 

But reading the Harry Potter books while in France (in French!) has really made me want an owl!

And then I went to Dijon for vacation. They have a self-guided tour called le parcours de la chouette (the course of the owl), where they have little arrows (les flèches),
pointing you to the right direction all throughout the city:

 

And then you arrive at a certain number @ a tourist landmark in the city.

One of the landmarks is this owl encarved in a church building. Poor owl. 

It's face was chopped off in recent years.

 

But, you are supposed to put your left hand on it and make a wish.

So, le parcours was cute and cheap. Only downside, the weather was horrible! Rainy and cold.

So, we took a breather and got some food @ Caffe Cosi.

 

One of the best salads I have ever had.

       Unfortunately, the main course wasn't as good. The meat was impossible to chew or cut.

         Also, to hide from the rain, we went to the  Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon.

Tomb of John the Fearless and Margaret of Bavaria (above)