Friday, March 29, 2013

Easter In Paris, Part I

As readers of this blog and Reggie's friends on FaceBook will know, I have just returned from a delightful holiday in Paris.  While I was there I was enchanted by the decorations of the city's store windows, dressed in anticipation of Easter.  I took a number of photographs of my favorites while I was there, Dear Reader, along with snaps of other things that caught my fancy.  Today's post, the first in a two-part series, features a selection of those images.  I hope you like it.


I was rather taken by this charming display of chocolate eggs, bunnies, chicks, and bonbons in the window of a confiseur.  (Please note adorable, evil little child in green jacket . . .)


Paris is justifiably famous for its flower stores.  I was thrilled by these beautiful lavender roses.


As I was amused by this carton of white, milk, and dark chocolate eggs.  So clever!


The windows of Meert, in the Marais, featured a lovely selection of foil-covered chocolate eggs.  So pretty!


I loved this "mod" Easter display in one window.  The white metal stand is at least two feet tall!


What little girl wouldn't love a present of this pretty dress-up frock?


The windows of Les Marquise de Ladurée on the Place Vendôme featured enormous chocolate eggs, topped with chocolate ribbons.  The insides of each include a tower of macarons.  I was wild about them.


Of course seeing all those chocolate eggs made one long for the real thing, too.  Fortunately, one was able to do have them at breakfast at Les Ambassadeurs at the Hôtel de Crillon one morning.


Another window at Les Marquise de Ladurée.  I think the French really do the most marvelous store displays imaginable.


Although the weather was relatively balmy when we were in Paris, there were one or two evenings when any lady visiting the city would have appreciated slipping into this elegant cream mink coat that we saw in a window on the Rue de Faubourg Saint-Honoré.  Perfect for spring, non?


These topiary trees laden with oranges seen on the sidewalk one day made me long to have an orangery at Darlington House!


There were many temptations at La Grand Epicerie de Paris at le Bon Marché Rive Gauche, including this table of cellophane-wrapped chocolates.


This little lamb is actually a powder sugar-dusted cake.  What will they think of next?


Perhaps "they" will think of coating these chocolate eggs with butter cream candy decorations, as this chocolatier did?


Or why not blow out the yolks of real eggs and fill the shells with chocolate ganache?  I almost fainted when I saw these!


The Easter flower display in the lobby of the Hotel George V was suitably restrained.  So chic.


Can you believe the crazy whimsy of these stuffed bunnies and lamb at Deyrolle?  I loved them!


After all that visual excitement, I thought I might need a piece of this Tarte Cocktail to calm my nerves.


Better yet, I think I shall sit down in this elegant fauteuil, collect myself, and plot out where I shall go next.  Champagne is definitely in order . . .

Next: Easter in Paris, Part II

All photographs by Reggie Darling




17 comments:

  1. How could one not be happy seeing such visual treats in a shop window? I think the roses are a hybrid called "Lavender Lady," and that coat...very Audrey Hepburn in "How To Steal A Million." I shouldn't even be typing this, but the eggs look as though they were cooked to perfection. But of course they were.

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  2. Europeans do win the prize for gorgeous window displays. I'll take one of each of these lovely Easter chocolates! My favorite would be the Laduree exhibits. Thanks for sharing.

    best,
    teaorwine

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  3. Just so inspiring. My Mother made that lamb cake every Easter with white icing and white coconut - jellybeans for the eyes n nose. Thank-you for sharing such beauty!
    pve

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  4. How utterly and completely fabulous! AND my mom had that mink coat in black in the 1960's- (white was considered a bit ...well something a "girlfriend" would recieve as a gift)

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  5. Reggie I am also a huge fan of Paris shop windows and you captured them beautifully. I definitely want that cream mink coat, gorgeous!
    Happy Easter to you. xo

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  6. Ooh la la, magnifique! Thank you for sharing your beautiful and inspiring photographs with us. The French are masters at presentation, and their window displays are faultless, no matter what time of year you view them (I was last there a couple of years ago in June and all the displays we saw managed to convey that summer had arrived).

    Ladurée has the most enticing displays of macarons (it seems these little delights inspire endless combinations of displays). I recall the Ladurée shop on the Rue Bonaparte was a jewel-box of a space, and I'm sure it was equally as beautiful as the one you had visited (the worst outpost I've been to is the one in London, close to Piccadilly - it looks like something from Las Vegas, done up to look like a golden grotto!).

    I love to tell the story of the time I was in the delicious Grand Epicerie de Paris. While perusing the phenomenal cheese selection at the counter, my daughter spotted a mouse scurrying about the place, and eventually disappearing beneath the counter. She was convinced it was Remy, from the film Ratatouille,looking for the best cheese in all of Paris. You should have seen the look of horror on the face of the woman working behind the counter. No sooner had we spotted Remy, that a call went out on the loud speaker for assistance. Poor Remy, he was doomed.

    Ah, now you've made me all nostalgic to visit Paris again. So glad you and Boy got the opportunity to visit in the spring.


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  7. I am glad you had a fabulous time! My next trip to Paris is this coming October. Due to your lovely photographs, I am ever so impatient!

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  8. Dear Reggie,

    At the risk of making a bad pun, your photographs are mouth watering!

    April

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  9. All I can think is that Paris with Reggie and the Mr. must be a wonderful experience.

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  10. I did finally see the adorable, evil girl in the green jacket and as long as she remains in the window and doesn't change into a red hooded duffel coat and materialise in Venice all is right this Easter.

    Oh that cream mink ..alot of mixed emotions there... but the fauteuil,the frollicking bunnies and lambs and of course all the eggs and the tarte cocktail .. superbe

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  11. Mercier beau coup Monsieur pour les photos magnifiques! Ce sont magnifiques.

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  12. the sweets are neat
    but i'll take the mink
    :)
    happy easter!

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  13. Reggie,
    Amazing pictures, Paris truly knows how to put on an eggstravaganza!!!
    The only problem? It made me want to eat more chocolate- thanks alot!
    xo,
    ~R

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  14. What a charming tour or vitrines dahhling Reggie! if you asked me I could not pick a favorite...

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  15. Happy Easter Reggie, Boy and Pompey.
    Regards, David & Peter.

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  16. leaving for Paris in the morning. Can't wait to explore the sweet side of the city!

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  17. Please won't you take me with you next time. I can hold your camera when you aren't using it:)
    Maude

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