OHLALA Mag

CARNET DE VOYAGE: LA TOUR EIFFEL AND PARIS

In the past 10 years I must have taken 1000's of picture of the Eiffel Tower, every-time she pop up at a street corner I can't help but looking at it like if it was the first time.



We took those photos today, and wanted to share them with you.

CARNET DE VOYAGE: PATRICK DEMARCHELIER PARIS

A couple of days ago the fashion spotlights left the Parisian runaways for the VIP event. Patrick Demarchelier's exhibition at the Petit Palais du Musée des Beaux Arts.



More than 400 of Demarchelier's renowned portraits. The museum's director said Demarchelier initially resisted the idea of juxtaposing his pop culture icons with the Petit Palais' enduring artistic treasures "He's a modest guy and he was pretty embarrassed at first". But it is just fantastic and if you are or will be coming to Paris, this is a must see!









On top of the fantastic exhibition, you can enjoy the garden for a drink.

CARNET DE VOYAGE: LE CAFE MARLY AT THE LOUVRE

Today is gorgeous day so Alek and I went to Le Cafe Marly for lunch. On a beautiful sunny sunday you better have a reservation in order to get a table under the arcades overlooking the Louvre’s glass pyramid. We did not have a reservation but got lucky ... (thanx to the super sexy and friendly staff).



The food is like you would expect from any Costes Cafe, classic and delicious. I HAD to have the fresh raspberry Macaron filled with vanilla cream .... it's so good! If you come to Paris you will certainly go to the Louvre, so do not miss a visit to Le Cafe Marly.



I love this time of the year when Paris slowly slips into his fall coat. The colors are just fantastic especially on a day like today. We will be soon leaving for Los Angeles so we are enjoying the city to its fullest :-)

CARNET DE VOYAGE: MAMMAMIA PARISJACQUES VILLEGLE EXHIBITION + ENTRE LES MURS

The Centre Pompidou presents the first major French retrospective of the work of Jacques Villeglé, a genius artist who since 1949 has succeeded using one single material, torn posters from the streets. I am a HUGE fan of his work so we could not miss this while in Paris.



We then went for a drink at the George, where some of the waiters are probably trained to be so incompetent and arrogant, it can't be natural believe me! Besides the miserable service this place is such a great spot to relax. The music (today the live DJ was playing some old school Jackson Five remixes) and the view is just amazing. Even a simple reflection of the Eiffel Tower seems like piece of art!



We also finally went to see Mammamia the movie ... I know shame on us, we are such bad gays! The movie was great ... but that you probably know already! Usually we are not that bad when it comes to see movies, a couple of days ago we went to see the "last" avant-premiere of the Palme D'Or winner movie "Entre les Murs" (The Class). It is a documentary-style feature film shot in a real school using real pupils and teachers, will also represent France at next year's Oscars in the best foreign film category.



Cannes jury president Sean Penn described it as "an amazing, amazing film." All I have to say is that we agree with Sean Penn 200%. It was a strong and intense feeling for me (Steph) who went at some point of my life to such a school. It seems like another life today and looking back I would not change a thing. I know many are left aside in such a violent system but for some, and for me it just made me stronger! Watch Entre Les Murs Trailer

^{The cast and crew of Entre les Murs at the last Parisian avant-premiere Sept 23.}

Hope you are enjoying your weekend wherever you are.
XOXO Alek & Steph

OHLALA MEET LE FRENCH EQUUS: JULIEN ALLUGUETTE

While Daniel Radcliffe is riding Equus in New York, in Paris, France it is 28 year old Julien Alluguette. The play started on September 18th. So before we fly back home to Los Angeles I think Alek and I will go and see Equus in Paris, for the play bien sur and for Julien who is absolutely gorgeous ... and in order not to make Daniel Radcliffe feel bad we had to crop the picture above ;-)



After 20 days in previews at the Broadhurst Theatre in NYC, the US revival of Equus which stars Daniel Radcliffe had its official opening night performance last night. All the photos at Pink Is The New Blog

OHLALA MADONNA AT THE STADE DE FRANCE IN PARIS

It was our second time to see Madonna's Sticky & Sweet tour, after Nice on the French Riviera on Augusr 26, we went to the Stade de France in Paris last night. Having tickets for the 'Gold Circle' we arrived after the opening of the gates. The great thing about those tickets is that beside the people glued to the stage you can move and dance all around the stage without any problems.



This first Parisian concert was way better than the one we saw in Nice, she had technical problems, was not looking very relaxed on stage and the crowd in Nice totally sucks ... but Paris was on fire last night !!!! We were standing next to some of her invites, Naomie Campbell, Jean-Paul Gaultier, John Galliano ... and for the frenchies ... Sophie Favier who did her best to stand next to them, and made sure she will be in every photo ... and she did a good job, lol! She even sneaked a picture with Naomie in the background as you can see on the picture I took below!



We did enjoy a lot, flamenco part of 'La Isla Bonita', the groovy 'Get Into The Groove' and the amazing 'Devil Wouldn't Recognize You' standing on the piano surrounded by incredible visual effects! Right after a remix of 'Here comes the rain again'.













We had a great time and we may even see her a 3rd and 4th time in the US ;-) It was also nice to finally meet Jerome after the concert!

THE GUENOT BROTHERS BACK IN THE METROPOLITAN

Yesterday I shot this ad in Paris. I am sure you do remember Steeve and Christophe Guenot, the two greco roman wrestlers. If they qre not bqck into their uniform yet their faces are all over the metropolitan. After the jump a closer look at this ad sent to us by a reader along with more images.

CARNET DE VOYAGE: EUROPE ... PLAN B

^{Le Marais Paris}

Between the administrative stuffs, the sale of our condo, family reunions, Madonna's Sticky & Sweet tour, new born (Alek's sister had a baby boy this morning :-) we didn't expect our European trip to last so long, we hope to have enough time to go to Belgrade and see the baby before we fly back to Los Angeles.

Not that we are not enjoying "la dolce vita" in Paris we though it would be even better if we go to Italy for a couple of days, there are many amazing cities in Italy, but we have decided stay in Rome, a city that we both love. Full report of our Roman getaway this weekend with lots of great shots!

^{Houseboat on the Seine river in the center of Paris}

KOONS BRINGS THE POP REVOLUTION TO VERSAILLES

This is not an hallucination, there is a "Lobster" hanging in Le Chateau de Versailles in Paris. It is a sculpture of US artist Jeff Koons. This exhibition is the first in France devoted to the 53-year-old New Yorker, 15 monumental sculptures by Koons go on display for free for the visitors of the Chateau de Versailles from September 10 till December 14.

Five of the Koons works are drawn from the private collections of Francois Pinault, the French business tycoon-turned-patron of the arts, who covered almost half of the 1.9 million-euro cost of the exhibition.



The French Heritage Foundation (where each member is probably old enough to be also named heritage of France) described it as an "intrusion" into "such a magical place". I think it is a fantastic location for this kind of exhibition. I really love the ballon series, we went to see the exhibition back in May at the LACMA it's in our Los Angeles category.

Last November his "Hanging Heart" that you can see above became the most expensive work by a living artist when it was snapped up for 23.4 million dollars at Sotheby's in New York. I know ridiculous for a heart ballon ... Yeah well all you had to do is think about it and create it ... but you didn't!

CARNET DE VOYAGE: LET'S GO FOR A WALK IN PARIS

Today was a perfect day in Paris to spend time outside. So that's exactly what we did. Besides walking, we went to the Westin Hotel at the corner of rue de Rivoli and rue de Castiglione, next to Place Vendome. The open air central garden is a great place for a drink.





Above, Place Vendome from Rue de la Paix, just 2 minutes away l'Opera National de Paris (below).



If you walk from the Opera towards the Louvre you will arrive Place Colette, another perfect place to enjoy the sun and a nice expresso.





Next to Place Colette, le Jardin du Palais Royal, and below the funny and very Parisian ad for Club Med Gym at Rivoli.



More of our photos from Paris here.