Rain, rain, go away !!..

Hello ! It has been raining all day today (so, what's new ?) and as you can see from this beautiful Gustave CAILLEBOTTE's painting, Paris in the rain is rather grey.. Of course, to add insult to injury, today is also a Bank Holiday, but who wants to out in such dreary weather ? Even walking the dog is an unpleasant affair, especially when all you get afterwards is a smelly drenched animal. At least, we humans can carry an umbrella, which apparently goes back to 21 A.D. in its collapsible form, although that was used to protect on's face against the sun. Personally, I find them dreary,

nowhere as colorful as in Thailand    sdschultz.com

They're also cumbersome to carry, except of course when you're a President giving a speech...

or the Queen going out for her daily stroll (note how the umbrella matches her plain little frock !).

hopeinalostworld.com  thinks she got the idea of the transparent cover from Jessica Stamm at the Victoria's Secret show. I say good on you, Lilibet !

you're really

As for me, maybe as a frog, I should get this

but as I said, I am NOT a happy frog !

anthOnyc.xanga.com

And I AIN'T no Rihanna either ....

Besides, I've lost so many of them

vintag.es

or upturned them and rendered them useless ...

writersmelon.com

Perhaps I should get this handy little device .. (trendsnow.com) though that baguette is gonna be very mushy indeed from all that dripping at the side !

Another useful invention (from Japan) : browsing the Internet while you're walking. Hmmm, no thanks, I already have an unfortunate habit of falling over when I'm looking in front of me ... 

No, I'd rather be in Cherbourg and look like Catherine Deneuve

Please please, send us some sun if you've got some to spare,

We are drowning out here !!

XXXXXX S.B.

Cinéma, cinéma, cinéma ....

Hello !  The mythical Festival de Cannes' 66th edition opened on May 15th and will close on the 26th. I love this year's poster, which show Paul Newman and his wife Joanne Woodward. The photo was taken in 1963, during  the shooting of the film :"A New Kind of Love". 

Like last year, it is a photo in black and white and that was the combination of colours chosen by some of the stars on the red carpet.

 Lana del Rey,

 Diane Kruger,

Zhang Ziyi in Carolina Herrera,

 and Emma Stone who was there to represent "the Bling Ring", directed by Sophia Coppola, above right, who wore black,

just like Cara Delevingne in Burberry

and Nicole Kidman, in Mac Queen, posing here with Steven Spielberg, President of the Jury.

 White was favoured by Cindy Crawford, in Roberto Cavalli

and Isla Fisher, in  Dolce and Gabbana at the photo call.

This is Fan Bing Bing arriving at the screening of "The Young and Beautiful". She certainly fits the bill !

Pastel dress too for Audrey Tautou, who is Master of Ceremonies, at the opening of the Festival,

 and for the always very glamorous Eva Longoria, in a delightful sparkly number.

 Nicole Kidman looked extremely beautiful.

 This is Solange Knowles, who seems to always wear outfits slightly different from the rest of the crowds.

There were bright colours too : Zhang Yuqi

Claudia Galanti

 Freida Pinto in Gucci

and Inès de la Fressange in Giambattista Valli ; not bad for 55, no ?

But I think one of my favourite was this little Dolce and Gabbana number on Sonam Kapoor.

Reminded me of a bedspread and curtains I had in my room when I was a child ....

She wore matching shoes too ; just too cute !

Everybody talked about Carey Mulligan's new hair style. She was stunning and had the best accessories :

Leonardo di Caprio and Tobey Maguire ! 

I saw "Gatsby" yesterday (in Paris, unfortunately !) and adored it. The modern music (Jay Z" is one of the producers and Solange Knowles sings in the film) fits perfectly in the story and the actors are exactly suited to the characters they play. I want to see it in 3D next time, I think it  is really the way it's meant to be seen, as the car chases and the great big houses must then reveal all their over-the-top quality. This surprised me at first, I wasn't expecting the cartoon aspect of the pictures. But I managed to "let go" and just be transported in the depiction of the twenties, when people, as we say, danced on a volcano, and which bear such great resemblance to our own epoch.

Of course, I drooled over di Caprio 

who looked so fit and healthy in the film. His acting is superb, picturing in turn the flamboyant, mysterious adventurer then the moving lover desperate to recreate in the present a past that never really existed. You must go and see "Gatsby" and tell me what you think !

In real life, though, there is also a lot of drama. Today, we learnt that Chopard, the official jeweller of the event, who make the famous "Palme", made in gold and given to the winner in the Best Film category,

has just lost 1,400,000 dollars worth of jewels, which have been stolen from a safe in an hotel room in Cannes. They  always bring a whole collection of precious gems to the festival, as they lend them to the stars who wear them on the red carpet. The ones that got away had been brought by a member of the prestigious firm's staff and when she came back from a party at 5 a.m.last night, the safe had been ripped from the wall of her bedroom and taken away. I think I wouldn't even have slept if I'd been in her place, let alone leave the precious booty to go out !

Fan Bingbing in Elie Saab at the Chopard lunch in Cannes.

Then at 7p.m. tonight, during the TV program broadcast live from Cannes, and which receives the cream of the actors present in town, a man fired several shots in the air and the set had to be evacuated.

Thankfully, nobody was hurt but nothing like that had ever happened on live French television before !

I leave you with a picture of the statuesque Angelina Jolie taken last year at Cannes.

Thierry Frémaux, who is the festival director, says he thought especially about her as he opened the festival.

She is one brave lady !

Will you be going to the cinema at the week-end or is your own life a wonderful movie ?

XXXXXX S.B.

Blowing hot and cold

Hello ! I came home 2 days before a spell of cold that supposedly happens every year in France, called "Les saints de glace", i.e : "the saints of ice". Each day in France bears the name of a saint and when Mamert, Pancras ans Servais come back, it is bad news ! For three days, there is a return of the frost in the morning and keen gardeners never practice their art in that period. I haven't felt the frost

but the weather is decidedly very cold, more's the pity ! Everybody is complaining and I can't disagree with them. Apparently the three days will turn into three weeks, the joy ! 

At least, during my time down South, it was nice and warm and I enjoyed seeing the sun and poppies growing along the train tracks, in place of the empty beer cans and dirty papers that litter the ones in the Paris metro.

Perpignan was sunny and hot and to a Northern girl, any town that can grow cacti with such gay abandon deserves a look-see. Worth stopping for is the beautiful palace (14th century) that used to be the dwelling of the kings of Majorca. It is still being restored and offers a great view of the Pyrenean moutains.

You'll notice that no effort is spared to keep in touch with the atmosphere !

If you go there by train, you'll enjoy the train ride from Narbonne. The landscape, unique in Europe, is made up of lagunas and guarrigue and is the home of a whole lot of different varieties of birds. We then crossed the mountains to get to the Spanish side of Catalogne.

Mont Canigou is visible from the whole of Catalogna, sometimes even from Marseille !

From there, we rallied Gerona, which you mustn't miss if you're in Northern Spain. The old part of town can be reached by crossing one of these bridges and it is a wonder to visit.

It has been inhabited since prehistoric times and successive settlers there included Iberians, Romans, Moors  and an important Jewish population. The kabbalistic school there was one of the most important in Europe ; the Jews were expelled in 1492 when king and queen Ferdinand and Isabella  decided that they should all leave Spain. Still, the ghetto in Gerona is one of the best preserved in Europe. 

Indeed, the whole town is intact and its architecture covers a span of a thousand years.

 You have to spend a whole day there, walking about the maze of quaint strees and visiting monuments such as the very impressive cathedral, which was built between the 14th and 17th centuries.

Catalans are very proud of their country and their language. Many of them would like to become independent, joigning forces with their counterparts in France.There were Catalan flags everywhere.

We walked the whole length of the old walls around the town, surrounded by the intoxicating perfume of white jasmine .... heaven !

Fortified by the sun that we hadn't seen for eons, we decided to leave for Barcelona, which is only 100kms away. Although my daughter is a frequent visitor there, I didn't know the place at all and I have made the pledge to go back because, let's face it, there are so many things to see that our rather short stay left me hungry for more. You all know the Sagrada Familia, so this very over-exposed shots will suffice to refresh your memory !

Gaudi started working on this incredible church in 1884 and when he met an untimely death, run over by a tramway, in 1926, that was the end of his 40 years spent on the site. To this day, the cathedral remains unfinished. There are many many other things to see, of course, and everywhere you look, the architecture is worth your attention. This is a bit if the Barri gotic : 

It has a very special atmosphere and the gargoyles are the most beautiful I have ever seen !

 Every time you look up, you see a beautiful building and even humble H and M looks quite grand !

Our very nice hotel was in the old part of town, near the Arc de Triomf, which was very handy for visiting the city and getting to the beach by the Metro. It boasted a swimming-pool (read footbath !) on the roof.

 Look, wearing sandals !

The view from the terrace rather evoked a North-African kasbah !

 When old meets new ... Behind all this capharnaum stands the sail-shaped W hotel, situated on the sea-front.

Our dog got the **** treatment too ! 

Of course, there are downsides to deciding to go on a trip on the spur of the moment. You spend quite a while on logistics when you arrive at your various destinations (think waiting  more than an hour to buy a simple train ticket in Barcelona's Sants station ... ) and the cost cannot be as cleverly reduced as when you planned in advance .. but you know what ? I think that even if it meant sleeping on that dog's cushion, I'd be glad to go back right now ! Sometimes being a little foolish can sustain you for weeks afterwards ..... hopefully !!.....

Have you ever decided to leave on a whim ?

Was it a success or did you regret it ?

One thing is sure anyway, we all need to let the sunshine in our lives from time to time !

Lots and lots of love,

S.B.XXXX
All photos : the Silver Bunny