Strasbourg Christmas, an Augmented Reality

Posted on December 19, 2016 by Michele

Strasbourgers in the Alsace region of France claim that they are the “Christmas Capital” of Europe so as a good muslim I went there to check.

Well, they keep saying it everywhere:

It was a very cold day but thousands of poeple were swarming the streets of this beautiful Alsatian city:

walking up and down narrow streets,

They have no pity for their babies fighting the cold,

maybe because they drink this mulled wine called “Vin Chaud” (hot wine) or “Gluehwein” (in german): a concoction usually prepared from red wine, heated and spiced with cinnamon sticks, vanilla pods, cloves, citrus and sugar. They sell it in every other stand on the big Christmas market in Strasbourg:

I saw my first chocolate covered “strawberry kababs”:

Strasbourg is home to one of the most beautiful cathedrals in Europe:

where Jesus’ birth will be celebrated this year with pomp and thousands of little ornaments made in Alsace (read China):

The market is not close to the big church but right at its feet with Santa Claus himself selling some of the stuff:

Here is Alsace in all its glory (albeit in miniature):

and colors,

with little chefs baking for the big birthday (Jesus’, remember?)

and big chefs of course making macaroons:

but for people with a weakness for great pastry I have a better treat:

The above are Christmas Buches but Christian Patisserie—that I discovered a couple of years ago on my first trip to Alsace—is known for its chocolate:

and anything related to it:

Chocolate not being on my repertoire much, I opted for the fabulous chestnut cream “Mont Blanc”:

I went to the cathedral where a thousand Santas were busy clicking away on their cameras,

and a thousand candles promised to fulfill wishes…

By the end of the day, I was one of the few without a red hat,

Alsace’s emblem is a stork—you see them everywhere:

I couldn’t resist buying my first real mistletoe:

and looking at the holly,

I went to see the Fine Arts Museum:

where I revisited “the beautiful woman from Strasbourg”:

and the fabulous dutch still life paintings and my favorite Kessel insects of course:

By the time I got out it was getting dark but the market was still hustling and bustling,

This whole trip almost made me forget Copenhagen’s climate summit, the American Health Bill disaster and the Swiss minarets…

Have a golden Christmas everybody!

Santa’s visiting The Last Bookstore

Posted on December 23, 2013 by Michele

I went to “The Last Bookstore” in downtown L.A. and came out happy after seeing thousands of books in this quirky place!

Last time I was in Los Angeles I bought a bunch of used books about wine and took them back to Paris; the books were great and I like the bookstore’s sense of humor:

Even funnier are their section of “books by color”!

They have taken this idiocy to the max:

Only people who love books can laugh at them like this by arranging them by color!

Some people play chess,

some chat,

but they mainly read…

They have a little art gallery :

There is a Borg section,

that I liked a lot:

I was even able to find one of my favorite issues of National Geographic magazine about Suleiman the Magnificent from 1987!

Just some snow outside and it would have been a perfect christmas scene…

No snow but they have this amazing labyrinth made out of books that starts with a funny tunnel:

with a soldier standing guard outside…

If you don’t like what you read, you know what to do:

But when you get over your anger, you can sit down quietly and read again,

A nice book about Christmas,

before these ladies get angry at you…

And throw you out of…

Merry Christmas everybody!

See my 2007 Christmas in Beverly hills here.

See my 2009 Christmas in Strasbourg here.

Kashan, a symphony in gold and turquoise

Posted on August 27, 2013 by Michele

Kashan…A jewel of a city in the semi-arid center of Iran. I went back to Iran after 20 years. I visited several historical houses in Kashan and enjoyed my first visit to this region. This is one of them, built around 1880 with exquisite mirror and stained-glass work:

A much smaller example is the hotel we stayed in; this amazing boutique hotel (below), the “Manouchehri House“, revived from its ruin by the good taste of its owner, Saba Manouchehri, her super talented designer, Shanhnaz Nader Esphanahi, and Akbar Helli the traditional architect and master repairer of historic houses. Going from this (picture not mine):

to this:

and this:

This is the view from my room:

A first floor room with three beds for my parents and myself. Even the bed covers (designed by Shahnaz Nader Esfahani) are custom made for the hotel and purely Iranian:

Still jet-lagged, I could’t sleep well the first night and I saw the sun rise after having stared in delight for a couple of hours at the moonlit garden:

We had to take advantage of our short trip and a knowledgeable guide so we hurried to the breakfast area,

and tried to remember to take a look at these cute garden sculptures upon our return to the hotel!

We had our Persian tea and out the door:

Our first stop was at the Tabatabaei House. This splendid house was built in the 1840s for the affluent Tabatabaei family. It was designed by Master Ali Maryam. It has 40 rooms and more than 200 doors:

It is the same house that you see at the beginning of the blog post. I was amazed at this majestic balcony and its ceiling that looks like a traditional Persian rug (below).

Kashan is world famous for its beautiful rug weaving tradition,

and I can very well imagine Mr. Tabatabaei asking his architect to create a rug on his ceiling like the rug he must have had at his feet:

It doesn’t happen often for me to be overwhelmed by what I see and hesitate about what to shoot but I was taking pictures left and right and no time to take notes… 😉

But I remembered to take a picture of myself!

The colors on these pictures have not been processed — the golden glow that you see everywhere is real:

The intricate stucco work on the walls is even more beautiful in the midday golden light:

The persians are historically known in the art of plastering:

The stained glass is omnipresent in all of these old houses,

Some are exquisite!

We decided to go to the bazaar for lunch. Iran, the pistachio capital of the world is a heaven for nut lovers:

I found this guy’s expression in front of the sheep’s heads hilarious! The local Chelo-Kabab, the only thing that Shahs and Mullahs equally love and agree upon, didn’t disappoint us. Chelo-Kabab is the national dish of Iran consisting of steamed basmati rice and lamb kabab.

After lunch we headed to the Fin Garden. A Unesco world heritage site, it is a historical Persian Garden that symbolizes the earthly paradise. Designed for Shah Abbas I and completed in 1590, it is the oldest garden in Iran still in existence.

Water runs through it (it houses Kashan’s Fin Bath) and beautiful trees and flowers and water sources everywhere have a heavenly effect on people.

Flowers are everywhere on the ceilings and walls (above) and outside like the omnipresent pomegranate and roses:

Kashan is like Grasse in France, the capital of rose essence, Gol-Aab:

and some more ceilings:

and more gorgeous frescos:

I loved this image of this tired chador clad lady:

The next day took us to a famous bath or hammam: Sultan Amir Ahmad Bathhouse. I want to take you first to the roof—very typical of the ones in this region, it lets the sunlight in. You will see these roof domes again from inside.

Thes multiple domes contain convex glasses to provide sufficient lighting to the bathhouse while concealing it from the outside:

The bathhouse is a traditional Iranian bathhouse from the 16th century. It has two main parts: Sarbineh (the dressing hall) and Garmkhaneh (the hot bathing hall). The following image is of Sarbineh with its octagonal pool and its 8 columns.

The interior of the bathhouse is decorated with turquoise and gold tile work, brickwork and amazing plasterwork:

A symphony in gold and turquoise…

Me being a Roohani (religious in Persian and a common last name like Smith) and the new president being a Roohani, you would think this dude could be my dad or an uncle:

My dad—Morteza Rouhani— a retired pediatrician and not a mollah (here with our kind guide, Abbas Ghamkhar), was tired of following my mother and me around . Everybody asks me but my father has no connection to the Iranian President!

Another great tea (I call it paradise in a glass) and we were ready to head to another historical house.

The same person who built the Tabatabaei’s House later built this one, the Boroujerdis House for Mr. Tabatabaei’s newly married daughter. It is considered a true masterpiece of Persian traditional residential architecture. It has a funny story:

The groom not being from Kashan, was not accepted first as a good suitor (he was in the tea making business) and to show his wealth in spite of not being one of the Kashan nobility, he asks the same architect to build his home with samovars and teapots in the exterior wall carvings! I was laughing taking these pictures:

There are great plaster and stucco works of fruits and flowers and wall paintings by the royal painter Kamal-ol-molk, and three 40 meter tall windcatchers which help cool the house to unusually cool temperatures.

A windcatcher (below) is a traditional Persian architectural element to create natural ventilation in buildings:

and this is what’s happening inside the dome, magnificent ceiling,

after magnificent ceiling…

I wished I could have made a better travel log about this mystical place:

One last image from the other side of Tabatabaei House—after all we started the blog with it:

Ok one more:

We went back to Tehran, tired but happy. Guess what we drank the minute we got home?

I will keep a great memory of this beautiful city—home to my favorite poet, Sohrab Sepehri. This swallow kept us company at our hotel, the Manouchehri House:

A poem of Sepehri in English:

“I am a native of Kashan
Time is not so bad to me
I own a loaf of bread, a bit of intelligence, a tiny amount of taste!
I possess a mother better than the leaf
Friends, better than the running brook

I am a Muslim
The rose is my Mecca
The spring my prayer-carpet
The light, my prayer stone
The field my prostrate place
I take ablution with the heartbeat of windows…”

in French:

“Je viens de la contrée de Kashan.
Ma vie somme toute n’est pas trop difficile.
J’ai de quoi vivre, un brin d’intelligence, un minuscule talent.
J’ai une mère plus douce que les feuilles de l’arbre.
Des amis plus limpides que l’eau courante.

Et un Dieu présent quelque part, tout proche:
Parmi les feuilles de giroflées,
Au pied de ce pin élevé,
Sur la face consciente des eaux,
Dans les lois du monde végétal.
Je suis musulman.
J’ai comme direction de la Mecque une rose.
Comme napperon de prière une source.
Comme sceau de prière la lumière.
La plaine est le tapis de ma prière.
Je fais mes ablutions aux vibrantes fenêtres de la lumière.”

and in Persian:

اهل كاشانم
روزگارم بد نيست.
تكه ناني دارم ، خرده هوشي، سر سوزن ذوقي.
مادري دارم ، بهتر از برگ درخت.
دوستاني ، بهتر از آب روان.

من مسلمانم.
قبله ام يك گل سرخ.
جانمازم چشمه، مهرم نور.
دشت سجاده من.
من وضو با تپش پنجره ها مي گيرم.

Paris under snow, what a magical sight…

Posted on January 21, 2013 by Michele

It’s been snowing in Paris and amazingly the snow is staying so the whole city is white white white!

I had to meet a friend for lunch in Montparnasse; no bus was running in Paris yesterday so I had to take the metro which was deserted:

it was me and the live statue of a king…

The famous cafés of Montparnasse, like Le Select (once the haunt of Hemingway, Picasso and Henry Miller) were kind of empty,

La Coupole was not much better,

so we settled on some mean steak and frites and Entrecôte:

Who can say no to that?

I said goodbye to my friend and decided to go and take some pictures of the city under snow.

It snowed on bikes,

and on flowers,

and the café tables:

The bouquinistes (booksellers of used and antiquarian books) had stayed home but the Notre Dame cathedral was open to me and others.

Still majestic after 800 winters!

It was glorious inside; I particularly love its three large rosettes. These examples of technical and artistic genius were constructed in the 13^th century. The largest two measure 13 metres in diameter:

I was giddy by the time I left – snow makes most people like that. It reminds me of my childhood in Tehran and cancelled school days! I took a picture of myself with the Saint Michel bridge behind me.

I would have been happier if it wasn’t for the stupid love padlocks! They have invaded the Pont des Arts (Art Bridge) and now it’s all the other bridges’ turn…

The Conciergerie (where the notorious Marie Antoinette was held before being decapitated in 1793) looked beautiful in spite of the recent Disneyesque cleaning of its façade. I liked it better when it had some of its original grime…

I took the metro again to go to Trocadero:

You see many things when taking the Parisian metro – some are very nice like this poster advertising an exhibition about Shahrzad and her ” Thousand and One Nights” at the World Arabe Institute:

and some more realistic ones like these homeless men sleeping…

By the time I got out it had stopped snowing,

and the beautiful Eiffel tower was on time for her rendez-vous with me:

These gilded statues each had a live bird on them:

but the only one close enough for me to take a picture of was this little sparrow:

And of course everybody could take their own tower home:

I didn’t buy any but I started writing this blog to share it with you looking out from time to time to the melting snow.

Fa la la la la la la la la

Posted on December 23, 2012 by Michele

I took the train from Paris to Zurich a couple of weeks ago and here are the things I saw; the ride is fabulous especially when it snows:

I arrived at the main Bahnhof,

And thinking about my dad who loves the famous veal sausages (Bratwurst), I had one before heading to my hotel:

The view from my hotel room was magic at dusk thanks to the snow:

I had a huge smile staring out the window the next day:

After two days I headed back to Paris but not before relishing the site of the divine Sprungli cakes; you gain weight just looking at them!

My favorite is this Vermicelles cake. “In Switzerland, chestnuts are used in a variety of desserts, most commonly in a dessert called Vermicelles where the chestnuts are sweetened in a purée and then pushed through a ricer or similar instrument to produce delicious “noodles” which can be eaten as is or as a decoration on top of cakes. Vermicelles are most commonly served atop some whipped cream with some crushed meringues for added sweetness and texture, a dessert sometimes referred to as Mont Blanc outside of Switzerland”:

The train ride back was as beautiful:

I came back and guess who was waiting for me in Paris?

Happy Holidays Everybody!

Villandry, green and violet poetry in the garden

Posted on August 18, 2012 by Michele

I’ve been to the Loire Valley in France a few times but never seen anything like the Château de Villandry’s magnificent gardens!

I would like to share this with my friends so let’s start: the Loire region is a few hours from Paris and the roads are bordered by poppies in May/June:

I love poppies and I got spoiled!

I had a reservation to stay at this “château/hotel”, Château de Ternay, that much to my delight turned out to be a gem:

Affordable château living for a couple of days and catered by a genuine Count and Countess! The hallway leading to my room reminded me of my childhood school, Jeanne d’Arc:

My room was right out of a fairy tale,

I was so inpired, I kept taking pictures like this one which is my favorite:

The next morning, a copious breakfast was prepared for my friends and I:

What a great way to start the day:

I can tell you that with all the good coffee that I drank that morning, I had a long night ahead of me!

So let’s go to our enchanting gardens now in Château de Villandry which is the last of the great chateaux of the Loire built during the Renaissance. The charm of its outstanding gardens make this one of the jewels of the region.

A sea of Lavender greeted me and it kept going, wave after wave,

after wave,

after wave…

After this first Ornamental Garden, it was time to delight in the Kitchen Garden:

herbs and vegetables and of course fruits:

This is actually how it looks like:

This is the village of Villandry and its 12th century church from the vantage point of an antique petunia vase:

And now the second of ornamental gardens, Love Garden:

These gorgeous parterres were forming hearts, masks which were worn at balls, blades of daggers and swords used in duels caused by amorous rivalry. In summer, the flowers are red to symbolise the blood shed in these combats! Breathtaking…

If I was riding a balloon, I would have taken this picture (from their site) – the Château is quite elegant but the gardens are otherworldly:

It was impossible to overdose on this much beauty but my legs were complaining so one more look to the Water Garden,

and one last stop at wisterias:

and one coffee for the road:

and I went back to the hotel; this is the view outside,

that became little by little like this:

and of course Snoopy is waiting for me in the room,

Tomorrow will be another full day visiting Loire!

Visit Villandry here

My hotel, Château Ternay, here

Spring in Tennessee, an omnivore’s paradise…

Posted on April 6, 2012 by Michele

I just came back from a short trip to Tennessee and in spite of the beautiful nature and great inexpensive american shopping, the food is what I would like to remember! The state is known for its BBQ ribs:

I was surprised to see how “light” this meal can be and how delicious it can taste…

After the day’s work, I was left to myself to indulge in a few un-french dinners like the great dish of american cuisine, the unassuming simple red steak that comes to your table looking like this:

but it changes quickly to this— I like my red meat, rare…

It was of course preceded by the house salad with ranch dressing:

I was so happy to have free wi-fi everywhere I went in this trip, from airports to hotels and restaurants; I was chatting with friends and family on my phone during dinner and sending them pictures of my food especially the “pièce de resistance”, the strawberry shortcake…I don’t even like strawberries but this was too big a temptation to resist:

Everything was so clean/cheap/abundant in the U.S. that even the mediocre P.F. Chang looked and tasted good! I couldn’t resist having their shrimp,

and garlic noodles:

After living in California and Europe, I can’t imagine living in the humid/hot/cold state with two N’s, two S’ and four E’s but I have to admit that the beauty and hospitality of Tennessee surprised me. Just look at these gorgeous red azaleas (nothing photoshopped here):

Knoxville was floating in a sea of white and pink dogwoods:

I fell in love with these dogwood trees:

Whatever wasn’t pink or white, was green…lots of green…

And more green.

America had a heart attack a few years ago. Excess of everything: food, gas, cars, homes, etc…This trip to Tennessee gives me hope that this country is on its way to recovery…

Ghost of Christmas past

Posted on December 24, 2011 by Michele

Happy Holidays everybody!

I have covered Christmas at length before – explore the links below and let me know which one you like best:

Christmas 2007 here.

Christmas 2008 here.

Christmas 2009 here.

Christmas 2010 here.

And my favorite Christmas post here.

Nicolas Bouvier, the Master Traveler

Posted on June 3, 2011 by Michele

This is my blog’s fourth Anniversary issue and what better subject than the amazing Nicolas Bouvier! He traveled from Geneva to the Khyber Pass in Afghanistan in 1953-1954 with his painter friend, Thierry Vernet.

I read his great book, The way of the world, last year; it started a bit slow but once that he got to Iran, I was hooked. This map traces their journey from Europe to Asia where Bouvier starts in Geneva and ends in Afghanistan:

His friend, Vernet, has kept a visual jounal by drawing what they see together and what Bouvier writes:

These images are my interpretation of their work and an homage to this delightful journal. “Ten years in the writing, The Way of the World is a masterpiece which elevates the mundane to the memorable and captures the thrill of two passionate and curious young men discovering both the world and themselves.”

They traveled with a small Fiat Topolino (above and below) that took them through hell and paradise!

What was striking about this little book was the fact that I didn’t have to lower my expectation of excellence: Bouvier writes with the ease of the poet that he is and the attention of an enthusiastic humanist…

He talks about “women buried in their floret tchador”: femmes ensevelies dans leur tchador à fleurettes.

He talks about how “Iran, the old aristocrat, who has experienced everything in life … and forgotten a lot, is allergic to ordinary remedies and needs special treatment. The gifts are not always easy to give when children are five thousand years older than Santa Claus.”

After finishing the book, I got curious about the writer and started the “research”! I compiled many images about this master Iconographer, I watched many of his interviews—from his youth until the last years of his life— and he sounds as fresh at the end as he did in the beginning.

The Swiss television has a great archive on the subject.

I have to admit that the year they spent in Iran was the most interesting to me— even though Serbia, Turkey, Pakistan and Afghanistan had their own exhilarating charm. He even talks about my old school, Jeanne D’Arc of Tehran, in the years before my birth. The next couple of pictures of Bouvier are from their time in Tehran; this one from a modest hotel’s balcony:

He’s typing in the nude in the heat of the Iranian summer:

Most of all I loved the winter they spend in North west of Iran, in Tabriz:

The way he describes the long quiet winter in that city transports the reader to the depth of our common humanity; I laughed when he talks about the smell of hot Persian breads, Sangak and Lavaash in the snow or when he describes the frozen mustaches and beards of men in the freezing cold, the boiling water of samovars and the fact that everybody thinks only about three words: tea, coal and vodka!

Speaking of Persian breads, Bouvier suggests that only a very old country can make luxuries out of most banal routines; this bread has been thirty generations and a few dynasties in the making…

I was overwhelmed with nostalgia reading his beautiful poem about the onset of winter (Zemestan in Persian) in Tabriz:

I couldn’t find it in English so I translated it myself; first the original in French:

Novembre
Les grenades ouvertes qui saignent
sous une mince et pure couche de neige
le bleu des mosquées sous la neige
les camions rouillés sous la neige
les pintades blanches plus blanches encore
les longs murs roux les voix perdues
qui cheminent sous la neige
et toute la ville jusqu’à l’énorme citadelle
s’envole dans le ciel moucheté
C’est Zemestan, l’hiver
Tabriz, 1953

November
Bleeding open pomegranates
under a thin layer of pure snow
the blue of the mosques in the snow
rusty trucks in the snow
white guinea fowl whiter still
long red walls lost voices
who walk in the snow
and the whole town to the huge citadel
flies in the mottled sky
It’s Zemestan, winter
Tabriz, 1953

These images are based on the following books:

Bleu Immortel and The way of the world.

I read the “The way of the world” in french (L’Usage du Monde) but it has been lovingly translated by Robyn Marsack; I recommend it to all of you.

Que votre ombre grandisse or May your shadow grow!

Hellooooooo Paris!

Posted on January 11, 2011 by Michele

I am finally in Paris—to stay. Looking for a job and an apartment and so happy that even the gray rainy days don’t make me homesick for my sunny California (yet)!