Europe,  France,  Paris,  TDM,  Travel Journal

A Summer in France (2024): DIY, Gifts, and Luxury

September 14, 2024 /

It’s becoming almost a habit: every summer, we look after my sister’s cat(s) while she’s on vacation. We make the most of our time in France to:

When I came back from Vietnam, I brought back a ton of leatherworking tools. Honestly, as I was storing these tools in my sister’s basement, I wondered what had come over me to buy so much. But then, when I started making my second and third leather bags, these tools made my work so much easier that I no longer regretted buying them. Since we had to go to Paris three days a week for the Olympics, I worked on my leatherworking projects in the evenings, at night, and whenever I could.

Luckily, I had thought through the process so much (what to do first, what dimensions, how to do it) that the actual making was very quick, but the upfront planning took months. I managed to make:

My hands hurt so much from the saddle stitching that I stopped leatherworking for several weeks to recover.

Massage

That’s when I read a post on Facebook by a Vietnamese woman named T., explaining how she went from being a cleaner to a massage therapist and the strategy she used to find clients in her small countryside town. And surprise, her massage teacher was a therapist I knew well (Mrs. H.) but hadn’t seen in two years because I couldn’t be bothered to go to the 13th arrondissement.

By chance, my friend M. mentioned her health issues again, and I remembered Mrs. H. Since H. only spoke Vietnamese, I went along with M. to translate, and her pain, which had been lingering for 8 years, was cured in just 3 sessions. 

Her technique is very “simple” because it’s holistic: instead of directly massaging the painful area, she touches you and looks for areas with the most tension. She looks for the cause of the pain, which sometimes is very far from the painful area. For example, you might have jaw pain and she’ll massage your chest instead… However, once she releases those tensions, when she gets to the painful area, miraculously, it no longer hurts. This technique requires excellent knowledge of muscles, joints, and the meridian points system of traditional Asian medicine. It has advantages over acupuncture: it’s faster and can release tensions that acupuncture can’t handle. Sometimes, tension is such that it presses on a nerve and causes pain, but the nerve itself is fine. However, it requires a lot of intuition and experience, and this masseuse is the only one who knows it. After the massage, you absolutely must spend 10 to 20 minutes in the sauna, otherwise the massage loses its effectiveness. I only know of one other masseuse like her, Dieu Hong, who lives in Hanoi though.
I offered to take close friends to this masseuse (sacrificing hours of my time), but they’d rather suffer, so I sincerely think that knowing such practices exist is one thing, but being lucky enough (the Vietnamese call it phu’c) to be treated is another. Only two friends accepted and they don’t regret it.

Unfortunately, I can’t share this masseuse’s contact details because I have to personally accompany each person to her. Otherwise, go to Lanqi Spa, in the 7th arrondissement; their massages are excellent too.

I also took the opportunity to get a massage myself. The first session was very painful, and I came out completely broken, but the last two sessions were much more pleasant, especially for my jaw which was suffering a lot due to teeth grinding. H. had treated me 2 years ago for a facial asymmetry, and in just 3 sessions she fixed the problem. I can clearly see in photos that my face asymmetry was well corrected.

But the craziest thing is that I saw T. at my masseuse’s. I really liked her Facebook post, and it made me so happy to see her in person, by sheer chance, because she doesn’t go to Paris that often.

The friends

I revisited my childhood friend Vân, who runs an exceptional tea house near République (Tra Art). She only sells organic Vietnamese tea. There’s a white tea that I can’t seem to brew properly at home, and she showed me how to do it. The temperature and steeping time completely change the taste. Vân also cooks really well, and she made us an absolutely delicious chicken Pho. It was also the first time JB met her and her husband. I don’t know why we always seem to see each other just the two of us, without our families, but this time we all got together, spouses and kids included. Every time I see Vân, I give chocolates to her kids, and now they associate me with chocolates. I can’t bring anything else anymore hahaha. 

We also saw M., his wife E., and their daughter E. again, and we crashed at their place for a night to get to the Olympics early.  M. and JB even went to the Olympics together. It always makes me so happy to see E., to watch her grow up each year, and especially to see that despite our few meetings, she remembers us.

Speaking of children, my niece is growing up every day and not knowing what a child is capable of, I am always impressed by every word she manages to pronounce correctly in Vietnamese or French, or by every gesture she performs with dexterity. We have very little time to create memories with her, but fortunately she remembers us very well too. My sister gave me, for my birthday, photos in the style of “bookmarks” of us and my niece. That’s good because I brought back from Vietnam a lot of paper books to read and bookmarks are welcome, especially when they’re as full of love as these are.

I saw my friends O. and J. again and I have to see my friend Lauriane again, whom I met in Nicaragua. I also have to go to Amiens with my friend M. because we promised each other to visit the most beautiful cathedrals in France together (we’ll be at 3 this year). The hotel in Amiens is also paid for with our miles American Express KLM, handy! We’ll be right in the city center.

Birthday

My birthday fell on a day when JB was still trekking in Corsica (he spent 2 weeks doing the GR20) so I got birthday gifts here and there… all year long to make up for his absence. All excuses are good to treat ourselves, aren’t they?

For example: A lipstick Rouge G by Guerlain, simply because I love its mirror case by a very famous jeweler.
I wasn’t supposed to get this platinum ring either, but to apologize for not being there for my birthday, he gave it to me 😀 It was the first time I created a ring with 3D technology, so I was super excited.

JB booked us a hotel in Paris called “Paradiso“, a “cinema hotel” dedicated to cinema with a very nice rooftop terrace. We had a projector + access to 6 streaming platforms. There are even suites like in a real movie theater, with the option to privatize the MK2 next door. You can also rent a room for 3 hours. Unfortunately, the visual quality was mediocre, it was a bit pixelated for streaming (maybe due to the connection or the subscription?). JB had prepared Blu-ray quality movies on his computer and it was better than the streaming. It was a great surprise. The sound was superb, I loved watching the battle scenes of “300”!!

Then, early September, before leaving for GR20, he gave me the trip of my dreams (one of my many dreams): at the Grand Hôtel de Cabourg, where Marcel Proust spent several summers. This hotel is at the center of the plot of Volume 2 of In Search of Lost Time: In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower, which won the Prix Goncourt. I went there with my NRF bag and my Pléiade volume 2. As JB had indicated to the hotel that it was to celebrate my birthday (and that he was incidentally Gold Member), the hotel upgraded us and gave us a room with sea view !!!! Marcel Proust’s room was 418, and mine was 416! I could see almost the same thing as Proust when he stayed here.  This hotel was largely financed by miles accumulated with American Express KLM. The hotel also gave us two tickets to the Villa du temps perdu (not great) and two absolutely delicious madeleines.

It’s only in Normandy that you get this kind of hotel 3 meters from the beach. Now, modern hotels always put a huge pool and lots of palm trees between the hotel and the beach; you only find this proximity to the beach in Normandy, I feel.  

So from my room, I have the sky blue as far as the eye can see and it’s just too beautiful! I hear the waves, I hear the birds; if I could, I would spend my whole summer here. I prefer this room on the top floor, smaller, and without a balcony, but quiet. Like Proust, there’s no one walking above my head. When Proust stayed here, he wanted a room on the top floor; he blocked the two adjacent rooms to be peaceful and avoid noise. I read in the book “Proust voyant” that his hypersensitivity may have been linked to his clairvoyance. It’s so logical.  

The elevator, renovated, has remained exactly in the same place as in Proust’s time. And numerous madeleines enjoyed in the morning, afternoon, evening, constantly remind us of Proust’s madeleine. We deliberately had breakfast at the hotel restaurant, compared to an “aquarium” by Proust in the evening. Unfortunately, we couldn’t dine there because the restaurant, aptly named “Le Balbec”, was closed at the beginning of the week.

But we dined very well elsewhere in Cabourg. At the beginning of September, the oysters from Veules les Roses are already quite tasty; I enjoyed them a bit too much. On the way to Cabourg, we spent 30 minutes in Rouen, still one of my favorite cities in the world.

JB took advantage of the Fine Dining offer fromAmerican Express to book us a lunch at theOiseau Blanc, the 2-star Michelin restaurant of the Palace The Peninsula in Paris.
With American Express, we also got access to the Garden for VIPs at Rock en Seine + drinks on tap at the American Express stand.

Then, back in Paris, while JB was away, more gifts arrived:

  1. Gilded title pieces for JB’s childhood book that I carefully bound. They’re made by a craftsman in Tours, whom I found by chance on Le Bon Coin.
  2. A miniature of Rihanna’s perfume: Love, don’t be shy by Killian (people said Rihanna smelled like ” heaven “)
  3. The red notebook, about William Morris’s childhood, a beautifully illustrated book by Agata Kawa
  4. A refill for my Hermès lipstick (shade 85 satin), I grabbed the last one in store, had to check two shops for it

And on my birthday, my sister and I went for lunch at George V. I love their beef tartare and hot chocolate, that’s why. Then we did some window shopping at Louis Vuitton (I love the trunks), Longchamp, Guerlain, Hermès, Goyard… to scope out the leather goods styles, design, etc. that I like. I also discovered trunks at Pinel and Pinel, a brand whose quality comes close to Hermès but at a quarter of the price.

I celebrated a ” double birthday ” with my friend H. who came from Vietnam. We hit the trendiest shops with her so she could get inspired for her store’s decor back in Vietnam. We tried lots of restaurants, hidden bars with great design, but I was mostly disappointed by the food quality. There was only one restaurant I really liked, but the portions are tiny, and that’s BLUEBERRY, a great Japanese spot in the 6th arrondissement.

Craftsmanship

I don’t know if you can imagine the freedom and joy you feel when you see an object you desire, that you might not be able to own, but that you can clearly make yourself and even improve!!! 

For example, when I looked at beautiful bindings of the Silmarillion, Lord of the Rings… I was almost desperate because they were limited editions, impossible to find and very expensive. But now, I can totally make the binding myself, with better quality leather.
I read the book “Stoned” by Aja Raden (Amazon link) which explained that we desire an object, not necessarily because it’s beautiful, but because it’s rare, and we know others want it too, and can afford it. 

Being able to make almost any bag, any book, any piece of jewelry myself… gives the desired object its true value: now I desire it for its true beauty, not for the marketing around it.

I seriously considered, one after the other, a CAP in bookbinding, then a CAP in leatherworking. French CAPs are very demanding when it comes to craftsmanship, but I crossed bookbinding off my list. The bookbinding CAP teaches you all existing types of binding, but I asked professionals and realized that:

  1. I only like one type of binding: passé carton, full leather
  2. Customers will always ask for the cheapest binding, i.e. bradel

So by taking the CAP, I risk learning things I’ll never use in my life. And as a professional binder, I might end up making bindings I don’t like for the rest of my life. I went to see the art bindings at a prestigious binding competition “Biennales Mondiales de la reliure d’Art” and the quality disappointed me. 1/3 are professional binders and still make mistakes that even a beginner like me can spot. If professionals make such poorly bound books, it’s because the craft is dying and true experts are becoming rare.

As for the leatherworking CAP, it makes more sense. I asked an former Hermès artisan (if you go through Hermès, the training is covered by Hermès and the employment agency). I need to dig deeper into the career prospects because I wouldn’t enjoy working on the same bag model over and over, 5 days a week for 10 years.

I visited many leather suppliers in Paris and I must say I miss the exceptional Vietnamese service. Here I have to run around for skiving, paring, tools, accessories. In Vietnam, I just send a message on Facebook and everything is delivered by courier in less than 2 hours to my hotel.

Being in the suburbs, each trip to Paris took 2 to 3 hours of my time. I got sick because I wore fall clothes while winter had already arrived in September. Luckily, with the sauna at the masseuse’s and lots of Vietnamese soups, I recovered.

I’m very happy with my stay in Paris but once again, I did way too many things and wasted my precious energy. Every time I take the metro, the surrounding negativity seeps into me and weakens me day by day. I think you don’t realize it when you live there, but as soon as I set foot in France, I was struck by this negativity and victim mentality floating in the air. I wasted my energy trying to help some people (at their request) but I realize that my help won’t do any good if those people don’t get off their a**, want to rely entirely on me; that opportunities have always been plentiful for each of us, but you have to know how to seize them.

I’m going to take my books and rest quietly in Sofia in October, see no one, drink plenty of matcha tea, hoping the heating in Sofia is effective.

Related posts:

  1. Visiting the Sainte-Chapelle and the Little Prince shop in Paris (France)
  2. 2023 Rare Book and Graphic Arts Fair in Paris
  3. Attending the Paris 2024 Olympic Games
  4. Review of my (free!) lunch at Mallory Gabsi’s in Paris
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