I’ve come home to a city that feels like a jungle. Everything is so green and flowers are blossoming like crazy. Here are some lovely yellow ones from around town.
All photographs by Sophia Kaplan.
Archives for category: Photos by Sophia
For our final weekend in France for the year we went to a friend’s house in Morzine. I learnt (not very gracefully but nonetheless) to ski backwards and we had a great two days on the pistes. Compared to summer (check my other alps post here) when the insects and birds and water fill your ears it was so very quiet in winter. When we stopped yabbering to one another there was a beautiful peacefulness.
It was good to be surrounded by nature once again. We made a wreath for the maison and enjoyed breathing the clean air in the sun that shone all day long.
Thank you all for a lovely weekend x
All photographs by Sophia Kaplan
Just found these pictures on my sisters camera of some wildflowers I picked in the alps a few months back. They make my heart ache with happiness.
Photographs by Olivia & Sophia Kaplan.
This is the last of the summer travel posts. I can’t wait until next years adventures.
In September I did a roadtrip with some friends from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. We stayed in the Majave Desert before heading to Death Valley. Even though it was the end of summer Death Valley was still incredibly hot – mid 40s almost all day and not dropping much at night. It was interesting to see what nature survived and thrived in this brutal climate.
Driving through the Joshua tree plains was like being on another planet. Going off road we stumbled upon abandoned mines and cattle yards, eery when we felt so alone.
The Badwater Basin is a salt pan 86 metres below sea level. It was so very, very hot.
We slept in some curious places and met a lot of weird and wonderful people. It was a good crew to road trip with.
All photographs by Sophia Kaplan, Emily Morrison, Max Rapley & Sam Reid.
My courtyard at home is super sweet. Being greeted by a chicken as you enter is a rarity in Paris.
All photographs by Sophia Kaplan.
The Jardin des Plantes is one of my favourite gardens in Paris. We visited on the weekend and caught the end of the dahlias and some beautiful autumn scenes. In the grounds is the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle. The main hall with huge whale skeletons and taxidermy is reminiscent of the American Museum of Natural History, New York. Very Night at the Museum. We also checked out Alchimies by Sarah Moon – a photographic exploration of the museum and surrounding garden. Well worth a look. Afterwards we headed across the road to la Grande Mosquée de Paris for pastries and mint tea. All in all a pretty excellent day.
Final photograph by Sarah Moon, the rest by Sophia Kaplan.
Jardin des Plants: 57 Rue Cuvier, 75005 Paris
Alchimies runs until 24th November in the Grande Galerie de l’Évolution.
Following on from my last travel post… after our week in Tuscany we headed across to Corse with a few new friends. Initially we followed the same route my sister and I took when we were on the island last year, Bastia – Calvi – Ajaccio, but this time we continued on to Bonifacio and Porto-Vecchio. This is really one of my favourite places. The landscape is so stunning and the water constantly inviting, and my lord the sunsets.
Here the crew parted ways with some heading to Spain while we got the ferry across to Monaco to visit (the much featured on this blog) Tiffany. On our ferry we passed a pod of whales. It couldn’t have been more beautiful.
In Monaco we spent a very chilled day at Plage Mala before climbing the giant mountain behind to have dinner in the ancient Èze village.
All photographs by Sophia Kaplan.
These pics are not super heavy on the gardens and flowers but I wanted to share them nonetheless as Italy was another highlight of our summer adventure. From Mont Blanc to San Vincenzo, Portofino to Pisa we drove we ate and we drank a lot of spritz.
We also spent a week at a friends place in Tuscany for the Palio horserace of Sienna. Grazie mille to Lodo and his family for taking such good care of us.
Next stop Corse and Monaco!
Photographs by Sophia & Olivia Kaplan and Pierre Voirin.
My friend Ama asked me to demonstrate how to make a flower crown for her blog L’Effrontée. We had a fun evening putting this together for you.
You will need:
1. Floral tape
2. Thin wire
3. Flowers (consider colour combinations and flowers that will happily last without water for a day)
4. Foliage (ivy is great, or whatever you can forage)
STEP 1.
Measure the wire around your head. Keep some length to create a hook to secure as below
STEP 2.
Wrap the floral tape around the wire
STEP 3.
Prepare flowers and foliage – cut to size and work out what you want to go where
STEP 4.
Begin to place flowers and foliage two at a time, securing with more floral tape
Then it’s as easy as continuing to place two pieces at a time and keep securing with floral tape. Try to place flowers thickly so the wire isn’t seen. Once finished you can store the flower crown in the fridge to keep it fresh.
And here they are!
Check out Ama’s blogpost here.
All photographs by Amandine Maugy and Sophia Kaplan.
I apologise for the lack of posting lately, but it’s because of good news! I have started an apprenticeship with a florist in Paris. A really good one at that! I cannot believe that my dream of working with plants and flowers in Paris has come true. I feel so incredibly happy. Along with the new job I have also moved into a new apartment which has kept me busy and away from my laptop. Hoping to get back into the rhythm starting now…
This past weekend we went to a friends place in the countryside a couple of hours south of Paris. We cooked yummy food, made a bonfire and just relaxed. As usual I spent a lot of time in the garden – picking flowers, cutting herbs for dinner and collecting walnuts to take back to town. It’s beautiful and calm and just what we needed.
All photographs by Sophia Kaplan.
The Secret Garden 