July 1 - George Hobeika

Georges Hobeika

I could see every bead.

I could see every seam.

I could see every piece of netting.

I could see every hair on every eyebrow.

I could see that no one wears underwear.

That is how close we were.

And it was all MAGNIFIQUE!

Haute couture in Paris, it doesn't get much more chichi. Standing in line while waiting to get into the show with our standing room tickets, getting seats and then voila getting moved to the front row. Eyeing the crowd of press and designer wannabes and gawkers. The lights go down and then the lights go up and the show begins. The models are the tallest and thinnest there are, staunchly walking the runway, pale makeup and perfectly middle parted hair pulled into a knotted bun with just the exact amount of muss (ala Laurent Phillipon). One amazing dress or coat or gown after the other. Starting with deep roses, moving through peaches, pinks and yellows and ending, of course, with the bride in white. The lines were stunning, The beadwork unique and exquisite.

This was like watching the red carpet at the Oscars imagining Halle Berry leaning into the microphone and saying "I'm wearing Georges Hobeika, I simply adore his designs".

And as always the crowd is another variety of eye candy from the beautiful people to the avant garde and everything in between. Lights down, lights up....watch the show.

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July 31

Taking the Waters in Marianske Lazne There are three 'famous' spa towns in Czech, the most popular Karlovy Vary, but we choose to spend a couple days in the smaller spa kingdom of Marianske Lazne, or better known in German as Marienbad. Before we got on the road for the spa, we decided to head into Plzen town to visit the reputedly second largest in Europe and third largest in the world synagogue. It was impressive and big but we are not sold on the claims, it didn't seem much bigger than synagogues at home. But we also got in a little walk around the town square and saw interesting fountains and some wonderful sgrafito on buildings. Perhaps the funniest moment on the square was hearing a group of Czech children singing Heads Shoulders Knees and Toes in English, as a way to start learning the names of body parts. We were tempted to join in. In about an hour, we arrived at the Falkensteiner Spa right on time and checked into a beautiful room in a lovely hotel not really kn...

August 7 Last Day in Pest

Budapest-Strolling About and Rolling Out After our leisurely day of almost nothing but swimming, we had to cram in as much walking, seeing, drinking, eating and feeling Budapest as possible in one long day. Coffee, post office (yet another box and another $75 to send home more of our clothing we no longer needed and a few souvenirs), and then into St. Stephen's Cathedral to see another ornate interior of dark rose and dark gray marbles, detailed decorative painting in lieu of the usual bright mosaics and the shriveled blackened hand relic of St. Stephens. Planning and cramming the day was a bit difficult as the sites are more spread out than in other city centers with only three metro lines that connect at one station. So, we figured we would knock off the northern most site first, the huge and spectacular looking Parliament. It was already hot enough that we were walking only on the shady side of the street and I had even started copying the Japanese tourists and was using ...

#21 - Phu Quoc - The island part

AHHHHHH......Finally, the beach This trip has been go, go, go. Even on our leisurely Mekong boat, breakfast at 7:00, excursion at 8:30, out again after lunch for another interesting trip onshore. But finally we land in Phu Quoc, a small island off the southwest coast of Vietnam, only an hour flight from Saigon. This is Vietnam’s comer, hoping to be an answer to Thailand’s Phuket in another ten years. We have finally left behind guides and drivers and have simply a hotel shuttle to a beautiful resort on Long Beach with five star service. We are welcomed straight into the bar for a passion fruit martini.....none of that cheap champagne or ginger tea ( not that we haven’t enjoyed those also). And we have also finally arrived at our vision of Vietnam’s French Colonial past with green shuttered pale yellow buildings and wicker and palm trees. Steve has already asked if we could possibly never leave the resort for our stay but I will give h...

Marci and Steve Go Back to Europe

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