Pierre Cardin in Paris

Less than 1 year ago, Italian born designer, Pierre Cardin, at the age of 92 opened his new museum in Paris' Marais neighborhood in a former tie factory.  The museum is named, Passé-Présent-Futur (Past-Present-Future) and offers a comprehensive look at the designer's lengthy and sometimes shocking career.

We had a private tour of the museum with Renée Taponier, who has been Pierre's personal assistant for more than 50 years and saw 200 of Cardin's most memorable haute-couture collections including a metallic mini-dress and elegantly draped evening wear.  The metallic mini-dress was recreated by Cardin(something he almost never does) and worn at Obama's 1st Inaugural Ball!

Amazing Athens

We returned recently from Athens, Greece where we were amazed by the resilience of the people and the beauty of the monuments, especially the Acropolis and the Parthenon.

 We also spent a day visiting the Peloponnese peninsula and the fabulous archaeological site of Mycenae, with the intact tomb of Agamemnon which had the most incredibly beautiful gold jewelry and cups dating from 1550-1500 B.C.

And as you saw on Instagram, the food at the restaurant, Athiri, in Athens was outstanding, including the best octopus I have ever had with sundried tomatoes & capers.  For desert I couldn't resist the 3 sublime creme brûlées, caramel, coffee, & orange cardamon.