Europe Archives

Celebrating Bastille Day

Brittany

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July 6, 2021

What’s Bastille Day?

Much like our Fourth of July, Bastille Day celebrates France’s independence every year on July 14th. The Bastille was a structure originally built to protect Paris from English attacks; later, it became a prison for wealthy citizens and spies. On July 14, 1789, revolutionaries swarmed the prison to take the gunpowder housed inside, signaling the beginning of the French Revolution. Today, France marks the occasion with a military parade, fireworks, and spending time with friends and family. Check out our roundup for our best Bastille Day inspiration!

Let them Eat Cake

The French are known for their bakeries: cream puffs, fresh bread, and macarons are a thing of beauty in a shop window or neatly lined up in a glass counter, so why not start with a cake. Best for a backyard party or picnic, a cake is a simple crowd-pleasing dessert—especially when it has a Parisenne topper. Designed by illustrator Jessie Kenelos Weiner, author of Paris in Stride, this will be a perfect addition to your Bastille festivities to make you feel like you’re in the heart of the city (and you can download it here for free)!

Need something to place your food on? I love these French placemats for my Bastille festivities. Figures like Marie Antoinette and Napoleon Bonaparte can guard the dessert table or be a great coloring craft for the kids. In this picture, I’ve paired it with a red gingham tablecloth and blue and red plates to match the French flag.

Fit for a King

Rather focus on your guests attire? How about these Bastille Day crowns that celebrate the city where it all took place? Featuring notable landmarks like the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe, kids and adults will not only look festive for the party, but also great in the pictures you’ll have to look back on.

While I love a good paper crown, if you’re looking for something less literal, may I suggest our red, white, and blue floral crowns. They’ll still mimic the colors of the french flag and will never be considered a fashion faux pas!

Bastille Day Decoration Inspo

Now you may be thinking how do I decorate for Bastille Day? There are two great things about this French holiday: 1. The American flag and the French flag share the same three colors and 2. Bastille Day comes after the Fourth of July. Taking these two things into account, it has never been easier to reuse decorations from one holiday to another! Or in this case, you can leave them up an extra couple weeks without feeling guilty. I’m looking at you, outdoor Christmas lights! 😉

This patriotic bunting can liven up your home’s exterior while this American flag weaving could easily be transformed to more accurately represent the french flag.

No matter how you choose to celebrate Bastille Day, I’d love to hear your plans in the comments, and if you decide to make any crafts, tag me with #Lars Parties!

In the Mood For: Monet inspired Interior Design

Brittany

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July 1, 2020

1

In the Mood For: Monet inspired Interior Design

First, a special announcement!

I’m writing about Monet for a few reasons – the first you know, the second is kind of a secret… This summer we are launching an online summer camp to teach kids all about some master artists, including Monet! It will include daily projects (with videos!) to help kids dive deep into new mediums, art styles, and the lives of great artists of myriad colors, genders, and time periods. Stay tuned for more details!!! Sign up for our newsletter here for early access and a huge discount on this course when it is released! Now onto tips for interior design inspired by Monet:

1 – It’s all about lighting.

Much of Monet’s passion as a painter was driven by a desire to capture light! He would paint the same scene over and over again at different times of day to capture the shadow play and different colors created. Within the walls of your home, you are somewhat limited with regard to natural light. When choosing a place to live, consider how natural light will affect your space! Select fun curtains or shutters (tres French) and outfit the windows accordingly.

You may not be able to control the sun, but a lovely invention called electricity does give you the ability to control light! It is amazing how a simple lamp or light shade can transform any space. An old apartment of mine felt dingy and small. The walls were a funny yellowish color that I thought was terrible, but I couldn’t change it! Eventually I got a floor lamp with a bright, white light. Suddenly, I realized the color wasn’t as bad as it had looked before. With just a lightbulb, I achieved the same effect a can of paint would have had. While lighting might not be the first thing you think of when you hear “interior design,” it should be when the phrase is followed by “inspired by Monet.”

Continue

Roussillon, France

Brittany

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April 23, 2013

8

I’m getting through my pictures from last year’s trip to Provence slowly but surely. A couple of weeks ago I talked about Gordes, and just 10 km away the landscape dramatically transforms into iron-rich soil and you come across Roussillon. It’s such a noticeable change in the appearance of the red cliffs and consequently, the colors of the town. Whereas Gordes feels blindingly white because of the limestone, Roussillon feels much more Mediterranean. Like a clay pot. The houses are saturated in bright, earthy colors. It’s a bit less formidable and a bit more reachable. Mom and I walked the town and discovered, like many other towns in Provence, the haphazard arrangement of the town plan, which is conducive to lots of nooks and crannies and, thus, lots of fun unexpected doors and windows. It’s a door-lover’s paradise!

Colors of sorbet, non?

I loved the iron-work detailing throughout the town. These metalsmiths had a good time.

Watermelon house? Please and thank you.

The view.

Isn’t this a fantastic covering for a balcony? I note it here so that someone can use the idea for their own backyard.

And we left at sunset. Sigh.

I dream about this place. Where do you dream about?

More pictures from Provence: Gordes, our entry, the town we stayed in Apt, walking around Apt

Provence–Gordes

Brittany

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April 10, 2013

10

I’ve been lucky to see what I consider some of the most beautiful places in the world. However, rarely has a place made such an impression as Provence. I’ve been having dreams about it. It’s a place that I would love to return to again and again and again. Which means that I need to get rich and buy a villa there, bien sur. When my mom came to visit me in Copenhagen in September we took a side trip (after MUCH drama including missing our flight–my fault–and thinking we could compensate by driving–nope!) to the south of France. I’ve talked about parts of the trip here, here, and here. Gordes was one of the most beautiful towns we visited. It felt more like a museum town in that it was quite pristine and glowing as the town is built of limestone. I wouldn’t say that you need to stay here if you’re visiting unless you use your holidays to lounge, swim, and walk around. My mom and I just loved soaking in all the architecture and as she said, her favorite part was looking at all the building materials. Nerd alert! But, alas, it WAS the best part. Look at the lovely shades of shutter colors! I mean, come on!

Some of the photos might seem a bit repetitive, but it’s because the details were so lovely. There are complicated details in the ironwork on the windows and handrails. Some I just took pictures of because I wanted to remember details for my future villa. You know.

I must also mention the kindness of the people. The French in the South of France are kind, warm, and open. That, combined with the sun was the perfect escape from cold Denmark.

I love what this person did. The town attracts loads of tourists and I’m sure they made braids on their doors to keep peeping toms like me out of their house.

A functioning water fountain! Yes, I stopped on the side of the road to quickly get this shot.

Leading into the town of Gordes is the Lavender Museum or Le Musee de la Lavande. Provence is the lavender capital and sadly we missed it all by a month or two. BIG SAD FACE. So we had to hit the lavender museum. I’d say it’s worth it if you like factory tours and such, like Mama and me. It shows the processes of how they make it and the history. We found it quite fascinating. At the end they lead you to a boutique where you can find all sorts of lavender products including an ointment that helps alleviate aches and pains. Sign me up!

And, of course, it wouldn’t be a trip without pictures of doors and windows.

Majestic, non?

Complete with bistro lights. Sigh.

Here are the iron-work details. See what I mean?!

Oh, and just a laundry rack. Covered with IVY!

Too much for me.

Swimming anyone?

Have you ever been to Provence? What were your favorite places? In other words, where should I buy my villa?

The Sound of Music tour

Brittany

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April 1, 2013

19

Preface: April Fool’s day is possibly my favorite holiday. But I’ve got nothin this year. FAIL! No need to read with caution.

Melinda came to visit me in Copenhagen in August (only 8 months ago. I’m way on top of life) and she asked, “where do you want to go while I’m there?” I had only one suggestion: THE SOUND OF MUSIC TOUR in Austria. Melinda knows Vienna (here’s the Vienna review) quite well and hadn’t been to Salzburg, so she, too, was all about it. Of course, we knew we had to wear outfits appropriate for the tour, but I didn’t have time to make outfits from cut-out curtains so I had to make due with a floral skirt. Melinda had found this divine yellow two-piece ensemble at FN92, a vintage shop in Copenhagen, that reads “mixed pickles” so, obviously, that was a given.

I grew up on The Sound of Music and I suspect a lot of you did too. I mean, did you imagine yourself running through fields singing “The hills are alive” or putting on puppet shows yodeling? I bet so. In other words, this was a dream come true.

Fun fact: my uncle was originally cast in the film role of Frederick, the oldest boy. Sadly, they found a boy at the lats minute who had a real British accent. Blast you authenticity!

I had been dead set on doing the Sound of Music bus tour, but after reading the Yelp reviews, we weren’t so certain anymore. They were so across the board. We looked into the walking tour with The Sound of Trudy, but she was all sold out for the day we were there. We decided to gamble on the bus situation and ended up on Panorama bus tour, the original. The tours are frequent and down to a science. I forget the name of our tour guide, but you can tell had had done led the tour millions of time joked after calculated joke. But I LOVED it. I ate it up. The bus takes you to the two houses that are used as the front and back facades, the gazebo of 16 going on 17, the chapel where Maria and the Captain are married, past the Red Bull headquarters (highlight!), and winding through the Alps with great views of the lake and flower-boxed houses (remember this post?). Oh, and a gladiola farm. HEAVEN (minus the Red Bull, that’s all the April Fool’s jokes you’ll get today from me).

Was it worth it, you ask? Definitely. Would I recommend it? YUP! Again, the reviews on Yelp were so mixed up that I can imagine a bad tour guide could happen, but who cares?! You’re in Salzburg with the Von Trapps? You’ll get caught up. Oh, and did I mention at the end of the tour while you’re cruising back to Salzburg, the guide puts on the soundtrack and you sing. I mean, I sang, I couldn’t really hear anyone else. But the girl from China came up afterwards and congratulated me on my voice. All I could say was, “I know it quite well”. This was only a day trip from Vienna, a lovely 3 hour train ride, and if I were to go back I might spend the night and do more Mozart stuff, because I also love him.

The End.

Two days in Austria

Brittany

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November 13, 2012

6

My travel posts are SO behind. I’m still catching up from August! At least it gives me the opportunity to remember what the sun felt like so long ago. *sigh*. My dear friend Melinda* hopped over to Copenhagen to spend her birthday with us and we were so so honored. She decided we also needed to hop countries and knowing that I’ve been dreaming up Austria for a long time now, we decided what better time?! Mostly, it was for the Sound of Music tour in Salzburg, but more on that later. For now, it’s Vienna. House Trip was kind enough to sponsor our stay while we were there and we had a terrific experience with them. It’s a site where you can rent out your apartment/house while you are away. We selected an all-white apartment along a canal next to the Kunsthaus Museum. A kind lady met us there to give us our keys and show us around.

I loved the view of the courtyard and looking onto the colorful tiled building in the back. And are you looking at that herringbone flooring? So lovely! Melinda knows Vienna pretty well so she took me around to some of her favorite spots. In particular she was excited to see the Klimt murals at the Kunsthistorisches Museum because for the first time they provided stairs up to the ceiling so you could take a close look.

Melinda took me to this wonderful confectioners, Demel (careful, music on their site!), where we loaded up on beautiful illustrated chocolate bars and of course a stop at their outside ice cream bar. Adorable right?

We passed by the Vienna Secession building. You know, I find it so odd how a bunch of artists at the turn of the century had so much money that they could build such a lovely building. Anyone know the history of it and how they could do that? That just doesn’t seem to happen these days.

When I travel to destinations that I’ve been dreaming about for ages I seem to forget that once upon a time they were not crawling with tourists. But crawling with tourists they are (see above).

Our stay in Vienna was sponsored by HouseTrip, but all content and opinions are my own. Thanks House Trip!

*Melinda’s dress is a good story. She found it here in Copenhagen at a delightful vintage dress shop, F.N.92. The pattern says “mixed pickles”. I don’t know what that means, but I love it. While she was shopping she thought she recognized Eva Mendes, but dismissed the idea because she was wearing flats and clearly Eva Mendes doesn’t wear practical sight-seeing shoes. Well, turns out she does! It WAS Eva Mendes.

Austrian flower boxes

Europe
Life

Brittany

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August 20, 2012

5

Last week my friend, Melinda, and I took a quick trip to Vienna and Salzburg. We’ve talked about doing the Sound of Music sing-along tour for awhile now and she made it happen! It. Was. Bliss. All of it. More soon, but first! I GAWKED at the flower boxes on the homes driving through the Alps in the tour. I mean, EACH home at gorgeous boxes with perfectly draped flowers. Some had just one flower while others mixed it up with colors and different flower choices. I was really hoping to stop in and ask someone their secret to creating the perfect box. Any Austrian flower box creators out there who want to divulge their secrets? Ok, are you gawking too?!

Golden Circle

Brittany

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June 19, 2012

5

Just two more Iceland posts to go. Isn’t this place unreal?! When you come to Iceland, the main tourist route is the Golden Circle, which consists of three main stops in a 300km loop. The first is the national park Þingvellir, which is important for two reasons. 1) it’s the site of the original parliament of Iceland established in 930 and 2) it’s also the site of a rift valley that marks the crest of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.

The second is the geothermal geysers consisting of Geysir and Strokkur, which are absolutely phenomenal, erupting every 10 minutes or so.

The last is the waterfall, Gulfoss, which, too, is pretty phenomenal.

More Iceland photos here.

Glacier Lagoon Part Deux

Brittany

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June 5, 2012

9

Remember when we went to the Glacier Lagoon? Well, right after we boated through the glaciers we hopped across this bridge

and traversed the black sands

then came across the beach.

But this is no normal beach. This is an ice block beach where instead of throwing a frisbee around…

…you throw chunks of ice.

…and rest on an ice berg

and find true love written in nature (see it?)

The End. Only a couple more Iceland sessions I promise!

Iceland: off the Golden Circle

Brittany

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May 24, 2012

20

The Golden Circle consists of a three major tourist sites: the waterfall Gullfoss, the geothermal geysers including Geysir, and the national park and site of the first parliament, Pingvellir. These are all awesome, but you know what’s even more awesome? Going off the beaten track. Well, most things in Iceland are of the beaten track so that’s not very hard. Paul had remembered a crater he had visited the last time he was there so we went on a crater hunt. First, we ran into this red rock mine, which was located next to a mountain. After climbing the mountain we found out that the it was in fact a crater.

THEN, we drove to another site where Bjork had what I think must be the best music venue of all time. She performed on a raft on the water of this crater:

Darn that automatic timer.

Are you getting the sense that Iceland is just amazing? (As if I haven’t talked about it enough) I do have to thank a few people for giving me some really awesome travel tips. Jenna was an absolute sweetheart for giving a huge itinerary including a Google map that we used. She wrote about her adventures in several parts starting here. Michelle, Marlou, Linda, Kurt, Brenda, Gnomie and Anne also gave me some really awesome advice. Thank you so much for taking the time to let us know!

Iceland Part 2: Look Pa, I’m outdoorsy!

Brittany

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May 1, 2012

14

Sadly, words like “an hour and a half hike to hot springs” aren’t super tempting. Had they never said it would take only 35 minutes I probably wouldn’t have gone. BUT, I’m SO glad we went. Really, this was one of the most terrific things I’ve ever done. Let me tell you how it all started. You’re going to want to read it all, I promise, so click at the bottom for the rest of the story and an overabundance of pictures. I’ll be putting the rest of the pics on Facebook soon.

Our plan for the day was to go to the Vestmannaeyjar Islands (after seeing this picture, we just HAD to go, you know?) So we drove to the ferry only to find out that we could get there, but we probably couldn’t get a ferry ride back due to the weather. Rats! So, we drove around a bit and then our host thought we might like to visit the hot springs. Hmmm, sure. I’m not an enthused swimwear user in the freezing cold, you see. Well, we drove out only to find that the road was blocked by ice and rocks like this:

Not good. So, the Icelanders explain the infamous 35 min. hike and we get going. We set off with these adorable little one. (Notice the use of Icelandic sweaters–they really do wear them!)

We pass scenes like this, which keeps me a happy camper.

Then I feel like we’re going through that scene in Elf when he explains his magical trip Candy Cane forest. We keep going and going and going when and hour and half later…

…we land on THIS. Wha?!?! Are you kidding me?

I shed my coat because we’d worked up some heat and it was surprisingly mild outside and reveal that I, too, had become Icelandic and was sporting a newly purchased sweater. Surprise!

We see a whole valley of steaming hot water, much too hot to actually touch so we keep on traveling down the valley to hopefully tamer temperatures when…

…when we spot this…you know, a sheep’s skeleton. Cuz that’s what happens in Iceland.

Oh, hey Paul!

We traverse the waters. Everyone does it with ease, but I’m a little frightened at the thought that this could potentially be boiling water and I could die. But, I do it without a hitch and I feel like I could conquer the world.

We finally find a moderate temperature and take a dip and soak for a bit. It was heavenly.

Afterwards we must document our moment with the waters. We get out the automatic timer because the only thing around here are us the sheep’s skeletons.

Now we must decide to go back up the way we came or head down the valley to the nearby village and call someone they know to take us back up to our car. We opt for the later. But we have a very tired boy on our hands who’s missed his nap time so people take turns carrying him. Minus me, I guess my only duty was taking pictures. Muhahaha.

Heading down the valley

We finally make it down to the base of the mountain a couple of hours later and have some friends save us. Was it worth it? You better believe it. It was nuts! So surreal.

Now, if this doesn’t make you want to schedule a trip, I don’t know what else will.

Iceland Part 1: Glacier Lagoon

Brittany

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April 26, 2012

30

Remember learning about glaciers in 4th grade and thinking, “cool” but you never really gave a second thought that you could actually see one because they ACTUALLY EXIST? Glacier Lagoon, or as the Icelanders call it, Jökulsárlón, is such glacier and the lagoon is oh so furreal. Yes, there are seals swimming around. Sometimes the icebergs turn upside down and then you can see the smooth ice patterns like the second pic from the bottom. The patterns Mother Earth creates are really out of this world. Ha. Punny. The boat rental handed us some really sexy onesy jumpsuits to wear, which really made my day because it made me a cozy happy camper.

You liking Iceland so far? Yeah, this is only the first of my batch of pictures so you’ve got to to bear with me.

I’ll be posting more to Facebook so I don’t overwhelm you with 300+ pics of each stop. You’re welcome.