Gimmemar

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Somewhere in my 2 month Europe voyage I enjoyed 3 days in Paris. I was successful enough to consume a lot of site seeing.

I experienced the drive entering Paris around the Arc de Triomphe and through the city straight to our hotel (Hotel F1 in Porte du Saint Ouen). Very affordable hotel, but not luxurious at all (actually pretty filthy), we all know that just means more money for shopping ;). As I did my research before my trip on what to see and where to shop , I immediately stopped by the flea market in Saint Ouen (every saturday). There were interesting items, but you really needed to dig through, and the day I was there it was scorching hot, muggy and I was not in my best digging mood.

After dinner, I met with a friend who has was studying in Paris and we shared wine (many bottles), cheese, baguette, and tomatoes on a blanket among many people in front of the Eiffel Tower. It was extremely busy out this evening since it was a Saturday and very warm out, so the atmosphere was incredible as you could imagine. .Let me give you a taste: people playing guitars, singing, clapping, laughing, drinking(people selling wine),speaking french + many other languages, and the Eiffel tower is flashing ahead of you. This, I recommend doing any time while in Paris. No need for expensive restaurants, grab a baguette and a cheap bottle and you are good to go!

One thing you should keep your eyes open for while in Paris, is museum exhibitions. There are always very cool temporary exhibitions at various museums and are usually advertised around the city. I was very fortunate one day to attend the Yves Saint Laurent exhibition at Petit Palais. I just about cried of excitement, and happiness while seeing all of his beautiful collections throughout the years. That man truly understood the way women should dress!

I find that every time one is in Paris or any city for that matter, you gain a new perspective each time. This is gratefully my second time visiting and it definitely gave me a new-found respect for the city and its charisma. One particular feature which I noticed on this trip was the attitude these fashionable people have! We all have heard or know about Europeans being very fashion forward, and the capital city for fashion definitely flaunts out loud what its made of. I was tempted to pull a “The Sartorialist”‘ every step I took, but I was too caught up in appreciating the moment.

Shopping…

Although I didn’t take too many pictures of the french people’s fashion sense, I did take photos of the chic and glamorous boutiques in the most luxurious shopping areas. I died a thousand times then came back to life while entering these stores. “Wow. Wow. Wow.” Is all I could say… A must do or all the fashion lovers. Take the #8 metro to “Madeleine”, and walk through this area. Particular streets are: Rue Saint-Honore (Jimmy Choo, Roberto Cavalli, John Galliano, Maje, Lanvin…to name a few), Rue Cambon (Chanel, Herve Leger, Yogi Yamamoto..) Boulevard Haussmann, Boulevard Malesherbes (Dior, Gucci, Chanel…+ more) and of course Avenue Des Champs Elysees a little further away is Paris’s famous street that runs through the Arc de Triomphe and holds boutiques such as Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Escada, ….

While visiting and window shopping through these stores, I felt like I was in dreamland.

I have to tell you about my meet at the Chanel store on Rue Cambon. I walked in casually, thinking I could go for a tour in Coco Chanel’s apartment. However, little did I know, that you kind of have to “be somebody” or have an “appointment” to enter the fabulous home of Coco. The french woman looked me up and down laughed, and said (in her fabulous french accent) : “bahaha it does not come that easy!” and walked away from me. Ouch. Burn. I still browsed through the store and watched rich people spend thousands of dollars, oh well.

Other good shopping areas:

- Centre du Pompidou area (really good vintage stores, market-type stores with affordable cool trendy things)

- Boulevard Saint Michel (main stream stores such as Naf Naf, H&M, a lot of shoe stores, very affordable used book stores)

Shopping tires you out and it was time for a snack! I ran into a cute little bakery featuring the most amazing Quiche ever! (screw dieting while on vacay, indulge!) I enjoyed a salmon, egg & cheese Quiche. Then it was off to the Louvre. The Louvre is not as exciting as I thought it would be. It is huge, so I wasn’t able to see the entire museum in one day. Packed with tourists, and if you don’t have something in particular you are looking to see, you might get bored quickly with so many pieces displayed. I did get to see the overly famous Mona Lisa by Da Vinci, it was great, but again packed as hell with people snapping pics.

All in all, Paris was a great experience. Next time you’re in Paris make sure you explore and go to as many angles of the city as possible, because there is just so much and they are all very different!