Poisson sans boisson- c'est poison.

Melodies Graphiques

Deyrolle's Taxidermy Emporium

Brocanté

Angelina's

Tombees du Camion at the Marche aux Puces.

Café des Deux Moulins

Here are the best bits from my recent adventures in Paris. On the first day we swanned down the Rue de Rivoli and it's back streets visiting gorgeous chocolates from Josephine Vannier, lovely design items from Astier de Villatte and Colette, and then to Angelina's for a well deserved macaroon and apparently the best hot chocolate in Paris (a bold statement I thought). It certainly was the best I have tasted, and despite being fairly touristy you could not fail to enjoy the beautiful setting of the high ceilinged decadent tea room, and despite the stroppy Parisienne waitress, I loved it. Once feeling feverishly full, we went to hunt out Deyrolle's taxidermy exhibition, which was definitely the highlight of the trip. I have never been so disturbed and amazed...ever. I saw a polar bear, a grizzly bear penguins, a giraffe and all the other safari animals and many other beasts all proudly posing against the wood panelled walls and antique cabinets. A fabulous collection.

We also sniffed out the Rue du Pont Louis-Phillippe to visit the paper and stationery shops, Melodies Graphiques, being the finest. I had a lovely chat with the owner who helped me pick nibs and a practice book to practice my penmanship.

To finish the day off we dined at the Café des Deux Moulins to lounge about pretending to be in Amelie and drink lots of red wine. I was pleasantly surprised at how similar it still is to the film, although the Tabac has been removed...

The following days were more relaxed (mostly due to sore heads), a picnic at the Champs de Mars to pose with the Tour Eiffel and a fabulous wander down the Canal St Martin for more Amelie reenactments and to visit the marvellous Artazart, a Magma-esque design book shop (better, in my opinion) finished off with a stroll around the beautiful cemetery Pere Lachaise where I went to visit Edith Piaf's grave.

The final day featured a strut around the Marche aux Puces, which was filled with over 2000 antiques stalls- heaven- with more vintage textiles than I have ever seen. Sadly it was bitter sweet as the prices were sky high *weep*. To distract from this sad discovery we visited the endless parks and lakes of the Bois de Vincennes, and finished with more wandering around lovely Abbesses in Montmartre where we stayed. It's been a year since I last stayed there and now every other shop is a stylish boutique with the occasional vintage treat. I highly recommend.

A marvellous weekend away.

Paper Heaven.

February saw the arrival of the Ephemera Society bringing their finest paper collections to Bloomsbury. Now, I make it my business to spend many an hour seeking out these 'ephemera' stuffs, but blimey do these chaps know their stuff. I spent many a shilling on beautifully typeset penmanship posters and advertising from the 1880's to 1930's, and picked up a hearty selection of books about the history of letter writing, paper folding and the type point system. The most lovely thing about the event was that the stall holders just loved talking about paper and printing, I was there for hours chatting about my purchases...a magnificent outing.

I also found some little treats for my stall at Broadway, including some original Edwardian embossed notecards, come and have a look if you get as excited about old paper as I do.

Check here for the Ephemera Society's up and coming events all over the country.