Sunday, January 17, 2010

Heaven is a Parisian Apartment


Some people like to watch naked people doing things to themselves and others. My porn is this photo right here. My porn involves luxury real estate sites especially those located in Paris, France. What turns me on, so to speak, is an apartment with a view like this that has enough bedrooms to have my family and friends visit. Having a study and having a nice dining room to have lovely dinners makes me flush with desire.

This photo is of an apartment in the 16th District on the Right Bank of the Seine. This the view from its rotunda dining room. The living room and entrance faces the Trocadero Gardens.

I would never tire of waking up and taking coffee with a view of Eiffel Tower. Wouldn't this be a way to retire? Wouldn't it be grand if my obituary read how at age 95 I passed away in my Paris apartment?

This apartment is a freestone building that dates from 1929, it is about 2347 sq feet has 4 bedrooms, a study room, 3 bathrooms, kitchen, a cellar, staff bedroom, and parking. It is all mine for anywhere between 2.3 million to 5 million. It is on the Seine River, facing the Eiffel Tower and Trocadero Gardens. Looking at this photo I can teleport myself there sitting there with this window open in the summer and sit there with champagne or wine. I could watch the barges pass by and marvel at the Eiffel tower lit up at night. After dinner we could pull up high backed chairs with cognac and talk all night.

At first I thought the address was 62 Avenue de New York, Paris France. Now I am convinced it is 1 Rue Le Nôtre, Paris, France due to the fact the building entrance faces Trocadero Park. The reason I know the address is because from the above picture I was able to figure its relation to the Eiffel Tower. Then, using satellite view in google maps I was able to see a building that faces both Trocadero Park and Eiffel Tower with a rotunda feature. Then in street view I was able to match the wrought iron design in the balcony. I can also verify what floor it was by the shape of the windows. In a picture below in the study facing the dining room, you see a window shaped like the window up on the floor I marked with a black box. It is an arched window. It is possible it may be on the top floor since I was unable to see the top floor.

It would be sweet to have a mailing address: 1 Rue Le Nôtre, Paris, France. Sitting at my desk, in my study I could pull out stationary embossed with the return address DKC, 1 Rue Le Nôtre, Paris, France. My black pug, Mitsouko, could lounge on the leather sofa in the study as we listen to classical music on Radio Classique. It is now winter and there is a roaring fire in the study fireplace. All the bookcases would be full of books to read. I would have a larger desk and a more brown or tan leather couch. What better place to cozy up to the fire reading a novel? I want to smell the ink from the bronze inkwell and feel the sensation of an ink quill on fine weighted stationary paper.

Being built in 1929 means that it was built in an era that has captured my interest -- the era between world wars. This means this place must have seen the invasion of Paris and survived the war.

One of the bedrooms would be where our flat screen television, couch, washer and dryer, and exercise equipment would be as the living room would not have television, but be reserved to having guests. The other two bedrooms would be for guests to stay and I would have the master bedroom. The main rooms of this place should not have mundane things like televisions, exercise machines, and washing machines. My fantasy places need to be magical.

For the dining rotunda, I would have to have a large round dining table with white linens, and white floral centerpiece with candles. The table would have to have spaces for up to 14 to 16 ppl. Right here is an antique regency revival mahogany table. The chairs would all be wrapped in sumptuous chair covers, of course.

I wish they had pictures of the kitchen and bedrooms. Does it really matter though? They give enough material about this place that I can escape to this happy place. Where I can have my perfumes on a vanity and take walks by the Seine. Wear Chanel. Have a bob of henna'd hair.

Back in 1984, I loved walking in Paris and it would be such a joy to be able to go to museums, cafes, and various gardens again. If I want to go to the Champs-Elysees to Guerlain or Chanel Boutiques, I could walk to the Passy or Trocadero Metro. Basically, it is mind boggling how many places I could get to on the metro. Using street view on Google, I was able to experience walking from this apartment to the Musee de l'Art Moderne de la ville de Paris , then the Chanel boutique, and then the Guerlain Boutique on the Champs-Elysees. Also using street view, I was able to walk to Soleil de Franklin where I can walk to get produce. OMG! Imagining that I could be walking distance to Chanel and Guerlain gets me hot and bothered in the very best way.

Being in Paris would put me in the position to take trains to Istanbul, Venice, Vienna, Dresden, and Bern.

For me heaven is a Parisian apartment.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010


Amouage Epic was a sublime accident thinking I ordered Amouage Lyric. The first time I got the vial I put a tiny droplet on the top of my hand, as I had another fragrance on my wrist from earlier. It was impressive that even though I was wearing Coco, I could from this one droplet detect its character. There is this soft sweetness I remember from that quick sniff of Lyric, it is never cloying because it is perfectly balanced with spices. There is pink pepper and tea in there. That droplet had so much going on I knew this would be the perfect scent for the New Year. The scent makes you want to recline and think of being strewn on silken sheets with incense around you in a palace.

I shopped to find the perfect top and jewelry for the perfume and found a ruffled, gauzy shirt with dark red and pinkish rose poppies with green leaves and a black background. I also found gold jewelry that suggested Central Asia.

I waited until I was fully showered, dressed, and made up to put the full application of Epic. Listening to the New York Philharmonic play Gershwin fit this sublime sweetness beginning -- that beautiful peppery rose opening lasts for a couple of hours where we decide where we want to go, drive, walk on street lit up with glorious holiday lights, and wait for a table and our food with a perfect straight up martini. Then at the start of dinner the fragrance just opens up and gives an "epic" performance of roses, spices...everything it got. It shocks and awes in a lovely way. Having pillowy, garlicy naked clams and in the halo of Epic was just perfect. My only sticking point was I picked an Italian white, which didn't quite work. Maybe I should have gone with a Fume Blanc. Oh well.

Then as we started driving home the fragrance danced one last time to the fusion live jazz on the radio and then it adjusts itself again and centers itself into a low flame of incense with a hint of the sweetness that was there all along. When I say "centered" I mean that this incense was the type for meditation - there was nothing distracting -- just this resinous low flame.

Overall, we all ate well and hubby was able to share in the perfume's various stages. The sillage was 6-12 inches according to hubby. The experience was so touching and wonderful, I was eager to recapture it. I went over to share Epic with a perfumista friend. While it was lovely, Epic should never be worn when just watching Bowl games. It just didn't work. My suspicions about this perfume was correct, it needs to be worn for special events where the tempo is slower and everything glows and is romantic or dear. Epic is not a casual perfume. Lesson learned. Yet, one last little spritz today as I relax at home. Then I promise to put it away til some special occasion.