It’s my second night in Paris and it’s feeling so surreal. The weather has been incredible so far which was totally unexpected! Everyone was in sundresses and sandals, while I’m clunking around in my boots and bags of luggage trying to find our way around town. Glad though that I brought the fall weather; the temperature drops drastically in the evening. Here are a few highlights of the trip so far …
Had a pleasant flight with Icelandair. Kinda wish I took the opportunity to stay over at Iceland after seeing all their marketing to boost tourism in Iceland with images of the hot springs in Blue Lagoon, and fun facts like how there’s 1 person per 3 square kilometres. Maybe next time!
Was welcomed into the cutest apartment ever – and in the best location! Just one street away from Louvre – just far away enough from the crowds but close enough to all the action. I came across it as one of the best apartment rental websites I saw in Paris – www.parisflatrent.com. Haven’t been spending a lot of money in Paris at all, talking about less than 50 euros a day and that’s including food and shopping, accommodation and flights aside. Staying in a central location is so key – it allows you to walk everywhere and it also helps that the weather has been so kick butt! If you do have to take the metro, it’s quite “cheap” at 1,20 euros a ride and you can get a carnet of 10 tickets which you can share among your friends.
Eating has been so awesome. No one else can make a baguette jambon et fromage like the Parisians do. Ahhhh breaks my heart thinking how I’m going to have to leave this again. Tried out some macaroons from Pierre Hermé – thanks @sabarehmani for the suggestion! Was soooo delish; it literally broke apart and melted in your mouth as you bite into it.
Mmmm.. checked out Bakery Gosselin as well. The owner, Philippe Gosselin apparently was the Grand Prix winner of the city’s Best Baguette in Paris award! Needless to say, tried everything out in the store from pain au chocolat, quiche du poulet aux poivrons, tartine pizza, and will be hitting up the baguettes early tomorrow morning. Their baguettes apparently only have a life span of 6 hours!
Went out and partied the first night at Showcase, the club underneath Pont Alexandre III. Place was paaacked – overall there are a ton of people EVERYWHERE whether it’s the metro, Champs Elysées or just on a random street. My interactions with the French have been quite interesting… sometimes they would have no problems understanding what I’m trying to say, while other times they know I’m completely foreign and they talk about me as if I’m not standing there and able to understand everything they are saying! True story.
Spent some time on Champs Elysées too! The streets were swarmed by people walking around. Super excited to see that we managed to catch the grand opening weekend of the gigantic H&M. It felt like it was Boxing Day with the amount of people that were flocking in and out of the store. Interesting to see that they have the concept of cabine collectives in Paris where, you guessed it – they have open change rooms for women to go in and change together which is great as it saves time for those who are comfortable with it!
And of course, I couldn’t go back to Paris without visiting my old hood. Walked past my old apartment, and my favourite spot in all of Paris – Mouffetard and had dinner at my all time fav restaurant – Sushiko! Brought back so many memories. Finished the night off with yummy dessert at Haagen Daaz in Place de la Contrescarpe while people watching. Loving the laid back lifestyle over here!
We’re off to Bratislava tomorrow morning, then to Vienna and Prague and finally back to Paris for one last day. I’m not quite sure what to expect once I’m there. I’m sure the experience is going to be much different than that of Paris – not much in Paris has changed in the last two years. Except one thing I’ve noticed is that Subway looks like it’s taken over Paris – I’ve seen at least 5 in the last two days! Hope I’ll have enough time to keep blogging throughout. Thanks for the well wishes everyone and see y’all when I get back!
Happy thanksgiving to those at home! Gobble gobble.
