Day 348 - Things

Had a useful meeting with two male friends. One of them was wearing this t-shirt and I liked a lot the print. Then we argued about Angelina Jolie perfume: LOVE IN WHITE made by CREED. And NO, she made a mistake, this is not the perfume - millesime - that suits her.

Among many other things, she is a SULTRY woman. "Love In White" is NOT for a sultry woman in general, and moreover, not for Angelina. It is much more suited for Brad, if you ask me. Then I left and I went to met another friend - fashion-designer - in a fancy cafe. He asked me - among other things - why I do not allow comments on my blog. I told him is the same reason he would not like people making written comments on his personal diary. If somebody wants to comment regarding my blog, there is e-mail available. He told me about his new friend - a female dog. Then this sophisticated, distinguished, smart and beautiful young lady named Catrinel - (portraits below) - joined us. And she proposed me a special project. Then I felt obliged to propose her a project too, MY personal project. No, it was not a trade and my project is not about fucking.
I am bored already about this opinion that I fuck all the women that I shoot. If I fuck them, I am a pig. If I don't fuck them, then I am a sucker. There seems to be no way out. So, everybody is free to think whatever. Catrinel was wearing "Jean-Paul Gaultier II" perfume and it was ok, very suited with her teen-ager look. She was smelling very... edible.
And she was smoking same cigarettes like me, but the slim version - Davidoff Gold. We will meet again very soon to start at least one of the projects agreed.
Then I left the city heading to my house in the outskirts near the forest. And now I am waiting for the rain. The autumn wind is already here. Tomorrow is the first of September...

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Day 348 - Catrinel

One very fine young Lady...

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Day 347 - KORE

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Day 347 - Views from Paris

Modern art gallery - Rue De Faubourg Saint-Honore

Young lovers at Madeleine Church

OLD ENGLAND, fantastic shop! Classic British lifestyle universe - from perfumery, toiletries to leisure and sport clothes. Best classic fashion, English style, impecabbly tailored. Wonderful suits, shirts, waistcoats, ties, cardigans, hats, trench-coats, shoes and boots - menswear and womenswear, as well. If you buy a suit, they are taking you outside to see yourself in the huge front mirrors at natural light... Highly trained, very kind and polite and helpful personnel, dressed impeccably... CREED perfumery selling point inside.
Old England, 12 Bd. Des Capucines (few steps away from L'Opera Square).

L'Opera Square - busy crossing point

Jardin Des Tuileries

Jardin Des Tuileries: floating... morning news

Textures. Niel - nice, cozy, quiet, comfortable classic 3 stars hotel, recently refurbished...
We were extremely pleased to sleep with windows open while raining - there are no flies, mosquitoes, bugs, spiders, butterflies or any other insects in Paris. Not to mention that there are no vagabond dogs and cats. They have a lot of birds though, that are shitting everywhere all the time - but this is something quite different, isn't it?
Hotel Niel, rue Saussier Leroy 11

Marriott Hotel entrance on Champs Elyssees

My wife. Early French breakfast at Cafe Lateral. Excellent coffee shop, in every aspects, very kind and polite personnel. They have only one waitress that happened to be also very beautiful... I regret that I didn't take a snap of her...
Beautiful French women are very, very rare... to be seen.
Cafe Lateral - avenue Mac Mahon

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Day 347 - Fragments

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Day 346 - Vintage Father

Found some photographs with my father in his youth. I am not posting them because it's about my father, but because I think he was a very handsome young man. And most of all I think he looked like an young Italian man - a character from a Cinecitta movie from 50'. That style...

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Day 346 - Magazines

CODE D'ACCES - excelent French lifestyle mag. Check-out their website:
www.code-acces.com

"S" magazine: remarkable image story - self-portraits -
made by Camilla Isene

Photographer Chris Lane - model Olivia at STORM

Another wonderful issue of "S" magazine.
Here, the cover (made by Marcus Ohlsson - model Leona at MIKAs Stockholm)
and one image made by Chris Lane (above).

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Day 346 - Habanita

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Day 346 - Sexta Hora

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Day 345 - The Danube

Most shocking view in town: SIDEX, the huge steel factory, one of the biggest in the Europe, a town in itself - an industrial citadel flanking the city...

Last week-end in Galatzi, the Danube port and city. Best place to stay: Belvedere Villa on the shore of the river. Very good breakfast to be taken in their wonderful garden. Ask for the room 03, first floor, in the main building. From the nice terrace you can see the Danube. Best Coffee in town: Coffee Time. The owner is a wonderful woman, the only one in the whole country using the famous fragrance "Habanita" by Molinard. Best restaurant in town: Horse Shoe.

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Day 345 - Afternoon

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Day 344 - Closer

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Day 341 - Summer look

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Day 340 - The Dancer

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Day 339 - The Will Of The Wind

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Day 338 - Views from Paris

It was about fashion, perfumes and food. All of them masterly living in Paris. But for now, some images. More words in a few days, after I will consult my daily notebook.

Montmartre, between Place du Tertre and Sacre-Coeur, intersection of Rue du Mont Cenis with Rue du Chevalier de la Barre. A small souvenir shop. Paris within Paris.

View of Eiffel Tower from Pont de L'Alma.

Cafe Very - Jardin Des Tuileries. The beautiful waitress...

Montmartre, Sacre-Coueur seen from Rue du Chevalier de la Barre

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Day 333 - About Paris and perfume addiction

Today I go to Paris for a short vacation until Monday. For me it is the fourth time there. This town have a very interesting way of working inside you. When you first see Paris, you are not so impressed. This is because there is a gap between the prefabricated image you came with - made by media, books, stories, movies, artworks etc. But once you are there, a mysterious virus is slowly infecting you, minute by minute, day by day. Back home, after a couple of months, you start missing Paris, like out of nowhere - it is a very intriguing feeling... And one day you just want to take the first plane to Paris, with nothing precise in your head - just to be there. This happened to me, to my wife and many other peoples that I know.
I remember that once (in 2000, I think) an old French Lady, (very conservative and very "burgeoisie") asked me like she already knew the answer: "Wouldn't you like to live here forever?". My answer disappointed her deeply: "Well, Madame", I told her, "I'd rather not live here. It is very beautiful, but it is like a Museum. Who would like to live in a Museum? You came, you visit, but then go back home..."
I am still not convinced that I would like to live in Paris. To stay longer - several months, a year - maybe, but not an entire life... But not because Paris (also) feels like a Museum, but because it's charms works like this: you must go away for a while in order to desperately want to come back... Once in Paris, it's virus goes into sleep. Once anywhere in the world but Paris, the virus is awake and working. It is like a Siren song. It is like a fascinating mistress. And you don't live with you mistress, but you go and visit her from time to time...
What do I really like about Paris apart from it's vast historical spaces, old architecture, that "art du vivre" and a certain lifestyle? The big and mortal charm of this town lies above all that, well beyond all these... And it is a mystery you don't want to solve...
And it is also like a perfume you are in love with. You cannot have it in you, on you, every second. Wearing a perfume also means a fine dosage between having it and not. The pauses in wearing a scent are making you to miss it deeply. In the morning, once out from the shower, when your skin is fresh and clean, you suddenly need your perfume on your skin - you need the physical contact. You need that unique combination between your skin scent and the fragrance. Inside the bottle, a fragrance is nothing but an chemical abstraction, an enigma. Once you put it on you, it becomes a mystery you know so well but you cannot put into words. It is like a dream you cannot spell without ruining it's magic. And when you are not wearing it, it's image in your head is so alluring and elusive - it is like the most fascinating and beautiful woman you want to make love with. You can have her but only for a period of time designed to raise your desire more and more, create addiction, only to escape from you again...
Well, maybe this is it: Paris is like a perfume... Because, after all, a perfume is about the image it creates in your head, about the feelings it raises in your soul...

I did this image last time I visited Paris - early this year, in March... I know that one might say it is a cliche - Tour Eiffel... But a true lover of Paris knows: the photographs with your beautiful and beloved mistress are never the same and never enough...

So, back to Paris again... Next week you will see the images...

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