Foreign Parts

À Détester: Ralph Lauren and His Car Collection

Ralph Lauren's 1929 Bentley Blower.

You start to hate American designer Ralph Lauren the minute you buy your ticket for l'Art de l'Automobile exhibit at la Musée des Arts Décoratifs (the Museum of Decorative Arts, which is actually attached to the enormous Musée du Louvre).  

First, it is the slow-moving line that irks you.  Next, it is the officious guard, who glares at your ticket stub as if he worked at Charles de Gaulle airport and you just handed him an obviously forged passport.  But what really pushes you over the edge are the cars — seventeen 20th-century automobiles that are so exquisite, so lovingly crafted and so outrageously expensive that you find yourself calculating the prices of all of the Ralph Lauren towels, sheets, pillowcases and sox you have bought over the years and wondering just how much you have contributed to the designer's fortune.  

If, after reading this post, you still wish to see Ralph's toys, do so quickly — the show closes August 28th.

À AIMER: The Light in Paris, right NOW

A rainstorm approaches the Eiffel Tower, Friday, August 5, 2011, 5:45 p.m.

Right now, if you are a tourist walking around Paris anywhere near "La Tour," as it is affectionately known, you are about to get soaked.  So this gorgeous threatening sky is something à détester.  But if you happen to be sitting under the awning of a particularly winsome café, sipping a lightly chilled kir or a glass of pastis, you are probably very happy indeed.

*Update: As predicted, it rained buckets on Friday, minutes after the above photo was taken.  Click to see la pluie on the steps outside the Lamarck métro station!