Sweetly Smelling Friends
More moments from my recent sojourn across la Manche.
And the aromas to match.
Empty Streets, Vivid With Colour
Gold and Bright : Caron / Montaigne
Surprisingly Modern Gothic
Smoke From The South : Comme des Garcons / Avignon
Open Mouthed, Green Door
Drumbeat Knocker : Guerlain / Chamade
Flowers On A Window…
Are They Geraniums? : Creations Monsieur Dior by Dior / Dioressence
Chandeliers, Balconies, Boudoirs and Love Affairs
Consummative Kisses : Jul et Mad / Amour de Palazzo
The Gate To The Archives
Key To The Past : Jardins d’Ecrivains / George
Pink Parisian Roses
Pale, Almost Without Smelling : Fragonard / Emilie
Palace Garden
Brought From The Chateau : Sisley / Eau de Campagne
Modern Maghreb
Marrakech Leather Souk : LT Piver / Cuir
Left Bank Child In A Labyrinth
Juvenile Intellectual : Byredo / Baudelaire
Art Deco Temple
Angular Aromaticals : Guerlain / Vega
The Opera In Bronze
Music, Sculpture, Scent : Lanvin / Arpege
Too much to divert one.
Yet all paths seemed to lead to the same place.
Where? We shall find out in a flight of three scented letters this week.
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy.
The Perfumed Dandy. 
Dear Mr Dandy,
If we send anyone to Paris with a camera it should be The Dandy. Your illustrations make London an almost mythical ethereal place and now you have done the same to Paris- one of my favourite cities in the world.
I felt immediately at home in Paris and found that the myth of rude waiters was untrue. It was like coming home. In fact, it was where Mr IScent proposed and we plan to go back for our tenth anniversary in 2016. (With a perfumery map. Poor Mr IScent!)
You have done a beautiful city justice.
Your friend
IScent
Dearest Iscent
You are, as always, too kind.
Proposed to in Paris,,, now that’s exquisite, and to return for your anniversary, well nothing could be more appropriate, The only problem with perfume shopping there is that it could take over the whole time, take the Marais, parts of it seem to be one endless parfumerie!
As for all those myths, I’ve never ever understood them I find the French generally (except on the Metro) alarmingly polite and helpful, Parisians exceptionally so for big City dwellers.
They deserve their beautiful town.
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
Dearest Mr Dandy,
Thank you for your lovely reply. I actually find French waiters on the flirty side, except for one exception in Montparnasse who appeared to be running a jam packed restaurant single handed.
I’m sure Mr IScent owes me a few days of being dragged round perfumeries. I did it in Poitiers (Sephora, Marionnaud) and after this endless, tedious, irritating World Cup then he definitely owes me one.
Your friend
IScent
I love your postcards. “All paths lead to the same place”. I can’t wait to find out. 🙂
Dearest Lily
Tomorrow all will be revealed…
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
Cannot but agree with IScent — you are painting such an elegant vision of Paris, an image that looks modern and bygone at the same time. It’s painfully beautiful, like the second when we realise that a moment of beauty and happiness we are still enjoying in fact just has come to its end, forever.
I wonder what picture you’d paint of Berlin or Moscow…
Quite selfish of me, the wish to see my two “hometowns” through the lens of a perfume bottle 😀 But well, forgive me 🙂 Enjoyed your “postcards” just too much.
Dearest Calypse
I was in Berlin a couple of winters ago… I wonder if I can find the photographs. It was a city that left a profound mark on my consciousness, I felt the absence of something much of the time I was there and only towards the end of my visit when visiting the remains did I realise it was The Wall.
The way in which the KulturForum and Philharmonic Hall seem pressed up against an invisible boundary, how the great park at the centre of the city seems like an empty heart,quite and still, unlike London’s bustling green spaces. The slither of new buildings running either side of the river.
Silently like scars covering over a wound they are seeking the heal the city, but have not quite made it whole yet.
A mesmerizing place, I cannot wait to return to..oh, and the art!
Moscow, I’ve never been, but must. Except in literature.
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
That’s a very precise description of what Berlin feels like. The deeper part of this vibe is also that the city still remains a cluster of villages that don’t feel they belong together. The “Kiez” principle is really strong here, as is the DNA-level, harldy noticeable, traceable or understandable disapproval of other hoods. There are people who wear tattoos depicting their hood’s crest.
Moscow is… something. I must say, however I dislike what my hometown has made of herself, it feels different from all other places in the world. If you *ever* go, let me know, so you can avoid the worst tourist traps and the boring razzle dazzle “hot spots” new-moscovites like to show their guests.
I looooove the green door (and Chamade) and that fabulous angelic guardian door knocker. I love all colorful doors, but green ones especially, and that one is perfect.
Dearest Lily
The green door belongs to the museum of Jewish Culture and History at the heart of the Marais, the area traditionally associated with that community where bar mitzvahs are still celebrated at the synagogue a street away from the Place des Vosges and amazing pastries are for sale in the rue de Rosiers,
I can almost taste the ‘Danische Fromage’ a sort of cross between a Danish pastry and a cheesecake… perfect in calorific form!
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
Wonderful! 🙂