Catching up 2: A weekend in France!

Today a week ago I was in France! I was invited by friends to spend a long weekend at their house about 70 kilomets from Paris. So nice to get away for a few days, really needed that. I decided for a no internet policy so I would not end up checking my phone all the time, how very very relaxing. Should do that more often.

We left on Friday. Above is my travel look. I figured brushing out my pincurls before an 8 hour drive by car would be no use, so I left them in. Covered them up with a scarf. And looked a little like an easter egg ;).

On Saturday we went to Paris to see the Lanvin exhibition at Musee Galliera, the reason I was actually there in the first place. My friend Martine had a special guided tour there and when she heard how badly I wanted to see the exhibition she invited me to come along! So great!

The exhibition was as stunning as expected, lovely pieces, sketches and swatches of embroidery. The tour was interesting with a very well informed guide. Also listeneing to 1,5 hour in French is very good for me ;).  The only thing that did not agree with me were the too tall and too thin mannequins that were used, this spoiled the historical accuracy of some of the silhouettes. Photography was not allowed unfortunately, so no pictures of the exhib :(

We did take some pictures outside the building:

After the tour we had a hot lunch (rabbit) and went for a bit of shopping. I didn't buy anything though. Later on we went to Claire a friend of my friend and had tea in the beautiful garden, of course some pictures were taken:

Claire was wearing a skirt made form a 30's pattern.

Martine was wearing an early to mid 1930's navy blue dress with a large bow collar of dotted starched muslin. I actually spotted this dress for her at a vintage market during the Rotterdam Tweedride last September. She borrowed a navy blue straw hat from her friend.

I was wearing a suit consisting of a bolero jacket and a finely pleated skirt, dating from the late 30's to mid 40's. I wore my favorite blue beret hat that is very handy: it fits into your normal luggage so you do not need a hatbox. My flat canvas shoes are actually from H&M. Very comfortably worn with white socks. Heels would have been more elegant but a no go for an entire day of walking in Paris.

In the evening we went back and had dinner in the garden. So lovely, real holiday feeling.

The next day we planned to go on a bikeride. The drizzly weather made that less attractive so we drove around by car to see some sights in the Fontainebleau forest.

First stop was at the artist village Bourron-Marlotte. There were many adorable little streets and lots of flowers.

It was a casual Sunday so I wore a comfy cotton dress (1940's). Because of the weather we decided to wear tweed caps.

My hosts: Loic & Martine

During another stop we had a little walk. The broom was in bloom and very yellow indeed.

On Monday the weather was better so before I left we did have that bikeride. We cycled through the fields on roads that consisted mainly of grass. Quite an adventure ;)

Here I am with the bike I borrowed in a field with the village in the background. I wore another floral cotton I recently bought. More on that in a next post.

And then it was off to Amsterdam with me. I took the train home.

The train to Amsterdam on the departures at Gare du Nord...I was sad to leave.

So that was all for now and all for catching up. There are some untold stories but they might still pop up somewhere during the coming months.

This easter egg says goodbye &

A very big thank you to Martine & Loic for inviting me and being such wonderful hosts!!