Partager Paris .... Josephine's Malmaison

Josephine's Malmaison
Musée National Du Chateau de Malmaison

The day couldn’t have been more lovely ... the sun was out, the clouds were painted onto a summer-time blue sky.  We arrived with our sandwiches and pastries from the market in Malmaison ...( nice market I would like to add!  plenty of everything and some of the best clothes I have found at a market).  We paid our pittance of an entry fee into Josephine's’ beloved Malmaison, ... and wandered to one of the rose gardens to spread our goodies out for a summer impromptu picnic.  Life can be so good some days it can scare you ...

Doing the tour backwards, as I am known to do .. we enjoyed the outside discovery garden, and then entered the beautiful 17th century mansion that Josephine bought (without Napoleon’s permission).  Slowly we discovered the three floors full of Josephine and Napoleon’s life together.  After appreciating the authentic character furnishings, reliving the atmosphere of these times, and trying to imagine the love shared between Napoleon and Josephine.  Why did it have to go so wrong?

The chateau had a difficult history, but Josephine changed these negative connotations of her new home by allowing her passions for decorating and furnishings to make it a real home for her and her family.   She showed her love for nature in the surrounding six hectare park by planting a cedar tree, known as Marengo, antique roses, and maintaining a naturally wild field for losing oneself amongst the statures, rivers and cascades.  

An idyllic day, stepping back into time ...  
highly recommended if you would like to slip away from Paris for the day.

Musée National du Château de Malmaison

Open every day except Tuesdays

+33 1 41 29 05 57

www.chateau-malmaison.fr

Enjoy your summer!

PPxx

Partager Paris and More ... Pleasure Grove

Dad's tomatoes

I'm back.  I've been back for a couple of weeks now.  

My time away was good, ... more like fullfilling, a bit too hot, but its good to sweat and feel the warmth of everything around you, too much to eat, never can get enough of my mom's cabbage and cornbread, canoeing with my Dad, beautiful sunsets, prayers for rain as we rock by the lake's shrinking edge,  the family of sandhill cranes that dance at sunset and cry you awake at dawn, rides in my father's pickup truck, sadness at the loss of our favorite grapefruit tree, hanging laundry out on the line, looking for slimy, nearly chartreuse treefrogs in the greenhouse,  screaming when spiders manage to surprise me,  watching my dad take naps, watching my mom as she sits and watches my dad,  the happiness of seeing my sisters walk thru the back door, reading "Out of Africa"  once again, seeing my presence even when I am so far away .....

Ohh, and eating my dad's tomatoes.  Truly delicious.  Just cut up with a sprinkle of salt.

So nice to see Mr. T again.  The next few weeks I will be reliving the last few weeks ... 

PPxx

View from my window ... back in Paris!