paris in may

i promised a paris post, but we've had electrical issues. our power kept randomly going out, anyway, after two visits from both the town electric company and our electrician - all fixed!

this pretty much sums up my paris finds; a perfect green box from laduree, vintage pale blue ribbon 2E, rhinestone shoe clips 2E, a tiny glass jar 12E, and an easel back picture frame 15E, found at the vanves flea market. I do have a thing for tiny treasures, but i was hoping to come home with enough goodies to fill my small rolling suitcase i dragged around.


the sisters and hubby's finally made it to paris ~ which was not an easy thing to pull off. paris is captivating, i especially loved how old everything is; the cobblestone streets and intricately carved architecture ~ everything is over the top grand! the city was very different than i remember as a teen, noticably much cleaner ~ in fact there is a major effort to be enviornmentally conscience.

we took the train to vernon, and then rented bikes to get to giverney. there is a bike path for most of the way that leads directly there. we had lunch in the outdoor cafe at the famous hotel baudy. loved that even a trip to the toilette was magical! out back of the hotel is an old artist's studio set up with vintage paintings and glass jars filled with pigments, for nostalgia, and visitors still come and set up their easels to paint the beautiful gardens, so the legacy continues.


we decided to rent an apartment instead of separate hotel rooms, so we could spend more time together. the apartment was on rue des ecoles in the latin quarter, it was beautiful and in the perfect location. the pantheon, notre dame, isle st. louis, and luxembourg gardens were close, not to mention tons of wonderful little restraunts. right down the street was an open air marches (market) where we purchsed delicious patisseries, wine, cheese, bread, veggies, and flowers. dean bought me petite pink roses, how romantique. the maubert metro station was minutes away, which we took all over the city - it was very easy to navigate.

we did the l'open tour double decker bus a few days into our trip - touristy, yes, but who cares, we all loved it, and we were tourists! we wish we had done it the first day so we could really get a feel for all the different areas. we took the "grand avenues" route, the great thing is you can hop on and off all day to see the different sites, another bus comes along every 20 minutes.

i'm not much for french food, sorry. i do love all the cheese, bread, and pastries though. there wasn't a patisserie we passed that we didn't have to stop and get something or at least stop to admire the art of it all. fortunately even with these tiny indulgences we didn't gain an ounce, becasue we walked 12 hours a day. we went to laduree twice; the first time we got macaroons and waited in line for an hour - well worth it i'd have to say. the second time we sat down and let them pamper us with all kinds of goodies; marie antoinette tea, tiny macaroons, a beautiful rose infused confection that looked (almost) too good to eat, cafe creme, and chocolate chaud that was like a melted milk chocolate bar - it came with steamed milk to mix in. one of my sister's and her husband stayed a few days longer and had breakfast here - they said it was the BEST breakfast they have ever had, and believe me that is saying alot!

i could post hundreds of photos, but i'll spare you! all i can say is i can't wait to go back! just when we got our bearings, and felt comfy with the language (most everyone speaks english) it was time to head home. the french people were warm, friendly, and very accomodating. i don't think we've ever visited a more tourist friendly city.