[trip style = urban]
With Paris Fashion Week in full strut, I'm reminded of the European city que j'adore. {My instagram feed is overflowing with runway shows, including Chanel's latest, which took place on a faux supermarket runway.} While I don't give enough TS lip service to the French capital's baguettes, joie de vivre, sailor stripes and late-night cafés, I'd fly to Paris at the drop of a chapeau.
In a joint project between the Expedia Viewfinder Travel Blog and DreamWorks Animation for the launch of the smart and adorbs time travel flick, Mr. Peabody & Sherman, I was recently asked: "If you could travel to any time, any place in the world, where would you go?"
While it's highly conceivable you haven't thought about crossing the space-time continuum since the 1989 film Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, I think about it often. As a curious cat, it's impossible for me to visit a retro hotel or a historic city without wondering how people lived 30, 300 or 3,000 years ago.
Given my obsession with France and my tendency to dabble in historic daydreaming, my dash to another dimension would take me to Paris in the Roaring Twenties. Why? The bohème lifestyle was in full force, prosperity was widespread and it was the transcontinental stopover for creatives like Hemingway, Degas and the Fitzgeralds who chinwagged and pontificated into the wee hours at soirées and in cafés along the Seine.
In vintage Paris, I’d grab a café au lait and a croissant with Hemingway in Montmartre to co-critique our penmanship. In the afternoon, I’d meet Degas in the Jardin du Luxembourg to nosh on tomato- and cheese-stuffed baguettes while painting miniature boats bobbing in the palace pond. In the evening, I’d dress in flapper fashion---the style du moment---and hit the party circuit with the Fitzgeralds. At midnight I'd rendezvous with all my pals for a tipple at Dingo Bar, a popular hangout for artsy night owls.
And here's the best part about Paris the 1920s and aujourd'hui: It looks as stunning now as it did then. The Eiffel Tower still commands the skyline, the Ritz Paris {currently under reno, set to reopen early 2015} still sets the bar for hotels, and ready-to-wear still graces the en vogue crowd.
Scenes from the City of Light
Pont Alexandre III
Strolling in Paris
Louvre
Notre Dame
National Music Academy
Arc De Triomphe
Trip Styler Tip: Mr. Peabody and Sherman {trailer} opens in early March. Go see it---France even makes an appearance. In the meantime, check the Expedia Viewfinder for more time travel tales and sweepstakes.
[photos by @tripstyler, video by Mr. Peabody & Sherman, presented at my own choosing---like everything on TS---due to my ongoing work with Expedia]