An Eventful Trip (Part 3): Paris

Day 6:  22,366 steps around Paris

Woke up and made breakfast. Took the train to Trocadero Square to see the Eiffel Tower. Didn't even realize that I had been there before - only when we arrived did I start to recall the familiar marble stone wall around the square and how I had taken a photo there with my classmates from my school trip back the year 2000. I thought we had taken that photo on Montmartre, but no it was here, and it's always been one of my favourite photos from the trip.

Seeing all these school groups and young children reminded of my trip with my classmates in 2000

After taking a zillion photos of the Eiffel Tower from all angles, I walked along the Seine to Avenue  Montaigne where all the luxury brands have their shops. The street is actually very quiet, not at all like the scenes you hear about of long lines of Asians (mostly Mainland Chinese tourists) outside shops and inside stores they go crazy and buy everything. Here it feels like really only the top 1% shop. Some of the brands are so discrete that I don't notice how big the store/area is.

I didn't take many photos because it was hard to take photos of all the brands on the street, and just taking a photo of one shop/brand doesn't really show how many brands are on this street.

above right: this reminds me of Korea -

where they also help move furniture and large home appliances into/out of a home by using these electric ladders

From there I took the train to Galleries Lafayette, but I didn't go into there. Instead I went to Printemps which is kind of next to Galleries Lafayette. I went there because I had heard that there's a great view of the city from the top. In Printemps, I looked for a lift but it was quite difficult to find, I think I ended up taking the escalators for quite a few floors.

above: a bit hard to see, one of the many food "counters" with a spectacular view of the city

On the top 2 floors there are several restaurants and food "counters". The restaurants have menus created by 4 top Parisian chefs and the food counters sell specialty foods - such as a counter for cheese, a counter for coffee, a counter for sandwiches etc.

I wanted to try some french cheese and meat platters but didn't know what to choose. As I walked around there was also one food counter that was interesting, they had carts of fresh vegetables and fruits. I thought it looked like a high end supermarket. But I think you can actually pick the fruits you like and make a cheese, meat and fruit platter to have with bread.

In the end I walked up to the guy at the cheese counter and told him I wanted to try some, he recommended some things but I didn't want a whole block of cheese and wanted to eat some vegetables, so I ordered a salad with a mild cheese (photo on right)..... mmmmm it was good! And I got to choose a place to sit, where I had a view of the roof of another part of Printemps and it reminded me of the movie Moulin Rouge with Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor.

reminds me of Moulin Rouge the movie for some reason

my view out the window while enjoying a charcuterie platter

After I finished my salad, although it was very good, I still felt like I didn't really have that "cheese and meat platter" I wanted, so I walked around again and came to another counter where they were selling foie gras. They had little share plates, so I ordered a serving of foie gras, a cheese platter and a meat platter, and it came with unlimited bread and a view of the city with the Eiffel Tower in the distance. I spent lots of time there slowly eating the food and planning the rest of my day.


Once I was ready to leave, I made my way over to Notre Dame. I wasn't there to see the Cathedral, instead I was there because I wanted to find Point Zero. There is a marking on the ground in front of the Cathedral that symbolizes Point Zero (photo on right) - this is the point from which all roads/distances in France are measured from Pari - this is considered the official centre of Paris.

After I saw that, I went over to a little cafe next to the Cathedral, ordered an espresso and a bottle of Evian and began to write my postcards to friends and family. This little break was nice as it was a very sunny day (although it was cloudy and gloomy in the morning), sitting in the shade and do a bit of people watching.

Afterwards I walked over to the Le Marais area. This is supposedly the area that Parisians shop in. There are lots of little independent shops. What's great about this area is that you can wander and wander - some places you will just find no shops, but I saw a van that looked like it was prepping models for a photo shoot, and then you will find streets that have lots of little unique stores selling things to decorate your home with, or a fabric store that has lots of finished goods for babies (that I wanted to buy for my friend who's pregnant with her first child).

In the end I bought some ribbons and fabric for my mom who wanted some good quality material from France, and a little box of eclairs to eat after dinner. Eclairs always look like they will taste really good, and these ones weren't bad. I love how pretty they look.

Filming in process -
and then this summer I watched Mission Impossible: Fallout, and I think this exact location was also in the film!!!!

Day 7: From Paris to Dubrovnik, Croatia

We had a quick breakfast to finish all the fresh food we had left, packed up and tidied up the place then left for Gare du Nord. We stored our luggage in a locker and then made our way up to Montmartre.

Day 7 turned out to be a day of eating.... we arrived at Montmarte and had reservations for lunch at a restaurant that is opened by a former chef from the Ritz, and his lunch sets are a pretty good deal about 20-30 euros. When we got there they showed us to our table and then brought over two blackboards with the day's menu. It's funny, because the hostess kept moving these around to different tables as guests arrived.

Although it was the lunch menu prices and the chef's stellar reviews and experience that caught my eye, we ended up ordering dishes separately. The cool thing was that we could also just order a dish from the lunch menu - didn't have to get all the dishes.

The dishes were beautifully presented and the taste was good too! All the food was quite light which was good because we had had breakfast and were going to eat more later as well! hahahaha!

After lunch, we continued up Montmartre by bus to reach Sacre Coeur (Sacred Heart Cathedral). This place is quite special too because it has a great view overlooking the whole of Paris, and it's also where I had my first French crepe many, many years ago when I visited on a class trip.

We had so much fun during that trip and although I don't remember all the details, there are some things that stood out for me. Having a crepe on Montmartre and having our caricature drawn by one of the artists is what I remember of this place.

After finishing my crepe (which was a Banana and Nutella crepe, and I couldn't finish the bottom of it as all the nutella had melted to the bottom and it was way to sweet), I walked down Montmartre which (according to Google Maps) takes 25-30 mins, I think I gave myself an hour and made some stops along the way - but still felt rushed, you could easily spend 2 hours wandering around.

*Side note, Phebe, decided to take the tram/cable car down and discovered that our Navigo card works on that as well! - you can ride "for free"

Along my walk down Montmartre, I passed by a street full of vine covered homes, Paris' last remaining vineyard in the city, Picasso's Paris home/studio, the wall of "I love you", and lastly quick visits into some discount fabric stores in the area for my mom.

It's funny how at the bottom of Montmartre/Sacre Coeur there are so many of these shops selling fabric. I went into them trying to look for French lace for my mom. I would go in and ask them if they have lace MADE IN FRANCE, and I was almost about to give up because all the shops I went into sold "lace" fabric that looks like stuff I could find in China/Hong Kong. Then I walked into a store that I wasn't planning to go to, and luckily, they had quite a selection of French Lace. I even learned that there are different styles of French Lace - chantilly and .... (another one that I can't remember the name of). Should do more research for next time when I'm back in Paris to get more.

The price of the lace was expensive, but when you consider the quality it's worth it. The cheapest one I saw was around 48 euros/meter! I selected 3 lace patterns for my mom, hopefully she will make something beautiful with the lace.

Then we made our way back to Gare du Nord and boarded the train for Charles de Gulle Airport for our flight to Dubrovnik, Croatia!