Paris: 5/15, Part 1 - Le Marais & the Bastille area

So a couple of things have become readily apparent as I sort through and share these experiences.  One, the title is getting hella complicated.  Please bear with me as I stumble through that.  Two, herding us through the trip chronologically is like being led down a winding road that constantly detours and doubles back.  Granted, this pretty much replicates our actual path, as we discovered different things with each new step...  What a pretty building...  Oh look, what a great purse...  I'm hungry...  Check out the graffiti on the-wait, I want to stop into this store...  It's like ADHD times five and in a foreign language.

With that, I've decided to cover our first full day on the town by theme.  A little less random and crazy for us all (I hope).  If I like it, I'll stick with this format for the remaining posts.

First up, some of the overall city scenes that caught our eyes.  We hopped on the Metro and headed over to Le Marais, known for its shopping.  Our meandering took us over to the Bastille area, home to artier folk and stores (and apparently the Paris version of the NYC High Line, the former which we unfortunately didn't get to see), and whatever sat in between the two neighborhoods.

Without further ado, here's Day Two - City Snippets:

I loved peering into stairwells that led up to some hidden dwelling.  It was fun to pretend I lived there.

Cute play park.

Paris is filled with tiny streets, no bigger than alleys it felt, but bursting with all sorts of activity.

Did I just run well over the 5 picture limit I tried to impose upon myself?  Yeah.  But I like it better.  It's hard to edit when you're in such a photogenic city.  Especially when we walked (and photographed) so much of it.

These are glimpses of the many streets we walked along.  Next up, a sampling of the retail impressions from the day's adventure.


Images:  my own

Paris 1.2 (AKA, Monday the 14th, Part Deux)

After a whopping 4-hour slumber, I awoke around 8PM Paris time.  My husband was fretting that I'd end up sleeping through the prime walkabout hours, so he was relieved to see me up and ready to wander out in time for dinner.  Yes, my ability to motivate really does revolve around meals, sometimes.  That and shopping.  Of the few phrases I learned in French, one was, "Je voudrais acheter ces chaussures, s'il vous plait! Je voudrais encore un verre de vin, s'il vous plait!"  As a friend remarked upon reading this, "Hey, shoes and wine, what more could you want?"  True dat.  Well, maybe some macarons, too.

Since our bodies were still ruled by Midwestern time, it wasn't a late night.  We headed over to the Rue Cler in the 7th Arrondissement, admiring the idyllic café scenes that played out on either side of the street.  Although the markets that make this area lively and well-known had already closed for the day, many people were still out and about, congregated at little tables.  Chatting, drinking, sharing a bite.  And smoking (more on that later).  Even as we stood surrounded by what you'd see in a tourist brochure, it was hard to believe we were truly in Paris.  These are a few of the photos we took on that crisp Spring eve:

Look who's peeking over the lane of grey concrete to say hello.  Reminds me of the constant photobombing committed by the Empire State Building in my NYC posts.  Awww...

After my dinner of salad and a glass of rosé, we ended up stopping into Carrefour, a French hypermarket (or general retailer) akin to Target or Tesco.  Actually, this particular store was scaled down for its urban surroundings (again, similar to what Target is doing in select large cities).  Browsing the aisles, we came across - why, American Sauce!  I'm guessing it tastes like Thousand Island dressing.  Someone needs to let me know if that's the case.

We hit the hay around midnight or so, in keeping with our new local time.  As most international travelers will advise, it's best to adjust the body clock as soon as possible.  With so much to see and do (and eat, drink, and shop), we needed to be well-rested for tomorrow's adventures.

Images:  my own

Back! (AKA, Paris 1.1)

The whirlwind known as early Spring is finally winding down.  I hope.  April and May felt more like half a year than a couple of months.  And I'd have sworn our trip to Paris lasted at least 3 weeks, instead of the 7 days spent wandering, shopping, eating, and drinking.

Now that I'm back on the radar, it's time to share some of my favorite images!  For both your and my sanity, it will not be like the overwhelming posts of trips past (what, your eyeballs can't deal with 100 photos in a row?).  While in Paris, I was able to get free Wi-Fi in the evening and spent that small window of internet access posting 3 pictures per night.

So, I'll do the same here, expanding to no more than 5 images per post.  We'll start chronologically for the first few rounds and see how that goes.  While this blog is typically shopping-focused, it feels impossible to convey my time in the City of Light without including the full array of activities, so you'll see some food, architecture, and general street scenes.  And yes, I did snap pics of various stores (when I could, with Colette being the exception - boy, were they on top of shutting down the shutterbugs, security men lining the floors and all).

Feel free to comment on what you see - maybe you walked along the same quai, sipped a glass of rosé in that very comptoir, or just like the darn photo.


Let our edited journey begin...  :)

We have a tradition of kicking off each vacation with a nice cocktail from Surdyk's Flights, oh so conveniently located at MSP airport.

It's amazing how the architecture alone can tell you that you're in a different country.  Here, we're fresh out of the airport and in line for a weeklong Metro pass (as in the Paris subway system, which we used countless times and enjoyed immensely).  I had to snap the apartment that towered above us like a big concrete linebacker.

After navigating through the RER and Metro, pulling our luggage up and down escalators and stairs (note to my architecture pals, Paris - and I suspect most of Europe - is an ADA nightmare), we popped out of our subway stop to be enveloped in brilliant sunshine, blue skies, and the new, melodic trill of the French language.  This is the view from our apartment.  J'aime!

Another view down the street.  

We were fairly jetlagged by the time we reached our destination, a very lovely apartment shared with my parents in the 7th arrondissement (district).  After a decidedly heavy lunch of boeuf and red wine at a nearby restaurant, I needed a rare nap, thanks to my failure in getting any sleep on the plane and a body clock that had been catapulted from the middle of the night to noon.

Nap time is a good place to stop for now.  I'll be back shortly with some images from our first evening in Paris.

Au revoir!

Images:  my own

A Tale of Two Parises

Hello, all!

I'm back from the dead.  OK, not really.  But I am back from a 4-day trip to Vegas, and there were a couple of times when I thought all the blinky lights, bloopy carnival sounds from the casinos, and the sheer amount of food and drink consumed might indeed kill me.  While I did not step inside the Strip's version of Paris, I did walk by the looming replica of the Eiffel Tower, looking awkward as most of the overblown architecture does there.

Alas - I survived.  And, yep, I shopped.  My friend Ana, who patiently waited for me as I chatted up salespeople and tried on all sorts of goodies, can attest to that (thank you, lady!).

I'll post excerpts from the trip in the next week.  Upon getting welcome feedback from friends regarding how much I covered on past trips (see my NYC and Denver posts for reference), I've decided to skip the blow-by-blow account of each and every detail.  Instead, I'll focus on the shopping and a couple other random morsels.

For now, I'll cap this post with a few images to whet your retail appetite.

But before I sign off...  as if Vegas wasn't a great enough mini-vacay, I'm off to Paris (France, not Texas) shortly.  I lived in Germany back in college, and I've been fortunate enough to hit such great cities as London, Madrid, Avignon, Budapest, Prague, and Antwerp.  But Paris - save for traveling by Metro from one train station to another - has eluded me.  Til now.

If you know Paris well, I would LOVE some recommendations for restaurants, bars, bistros...  and shopping!  I already intend to stop by Colette.  Please, please feel free to share your favorites with me!

Til the next post (think Tory Burch, DVF, and...  Chloé, yeeeee!), enjoy these few photos and share the Paris amour, s'il vous plaît!  (And if someone knows whether there is a grammatically correct way to express 2 of Paris, let me know that, too ;)

Abientôt!
Maggie



Images:  my own

Bad Timing. Good Timing.

Just coming up for a short breath of air to let you know that this latest absence is due to crazy (but good) life changes (no, I'm not preggers!).  Said change has been taking up pretty much every waking hour for the last couple of weeks.  That's the bad timing.

The *good* timing has to do with the last post (btw, the 1989 throwback just happens to be my 89th post on here - it's hard to contain your excitement, I know).  My parents recently sent me a big ol' package (more like a bunch of boxes) of my high school and college junk.  Oh, and what glorious garbage it is!  J. Crew magazines from 1995!  Mirabella magazines (I totally forgot about that one)!  And...  Seventeen magazines - including one with Cameron Diaz's youthful face gracing its cover, and for sure some Bonne Bell and Unisa ads within.

Photos forthcoming.  In the meantime, is there anything from your high school or college years that you still cling to?  Why can't you bear to part with these things?  Bonus points if it's anything as ridiculous as my aging subscriptions.

Alrighty.  Time to slip below the surface again.  See you soon!

No Foolin'

4.1.2012.

That's right, it's the first of April.  Also known as April Fool's Day.  Lucky for you, I'm too lazy to come up with some witty joke to play on you guys.  But I did enjoy Refinery 29's homepage "har har" today!  Take a look at who's on their "cover":

Experience more flashbacks, including news and celebrity shots, here.  Or just be glad you're too young to recall that decade.

This is perfect timing, really, because when I checked the Swatch watch Facebook page today, they were showing off their newest pics, submitted by their loyal fans.  I am so tempted to send them this:

Look, ma, it's a Swatch cast!  I jest, I jest.  Minus a couple watches that are hiding from me at the moment, this is my beloved Swatch collection, none later than 1987 (I think).  Some have been in my possession since the days of dodgeball, pre-algebra, and listening to Prince's Purple Rain cassette.  And a few are eBay acquisitions.  Love 'em all!  I promise I'm not about to torch them (or my arm) - that would be a very bad April Fool's prank, for multiple reasons.

Did you collect the 80's Swatches, too?  Still have any?  Was there one you were "just dying for" but your silly parents wouldn't budge?  Maybe you, um, wore your Swatches around your ankles in high school (like I did)?  Or stuck one of the Pop-Swatches into your Ocean Pacific tee?

Let me know!  In the meantime, I'm going to pull out my old Electric Blue perfume and give it a couple good spritzes :)

Kidding!

Images:

#1 - Refinery29.com

#2 - my own

Wednesday Musings

Ah, the middle of the week.  Thursday is just around the corner, and not far behind that is my favorite time of the week:  5:00 PM on Friday :)

To help tide you over til happy hour commences, here are a few tidbits (of the non-boozy kind):

First up - this email I got from warehouse discount retailer Chickdowntown (which used to be a boutique and has since morphed into something I'm just not that interested in):

I don't know about you, but when in tarnation did size 10 become a plus size?  Our whole battle with body image already has enough arsenal without this numeric reclassification.  Also, given the completely weird sizing that exists today in fashion, I could be a 10.  And I usually wear a 4.  What the heck does that make someone who's a true 10?  As someone who is admittedly not well-versed in the topic, I still don't even think of a size 12 as plus.  And then we could all raise the "What defines a plus-size" flag, anyway.  Mmmmppfff...  not impressed, Chickdowntown.  Not impressed.  Are you as underwhelmed as I am?




Need something to counter the annoying ad above?  Nothing distracts like sparkly stuff, right?  If you live in the Twin Cities, like to shop, and like deals even better...  well, have I got the enabling event for you!  My friend Karin, whose amazing jewelry I drooled over in this post, is having her sample sale this very weekend!  That's right, come on by and check out her gorgeous designs.  Like these:

Here's some serious bling - recycled diamonds.  Sustainable sparkle on sale!  What's not to love here??  (Besides my poor attempt at alliteration):

You know you can't resist!  The sale will be this Saturday and Sunday, 3/31 & 4/1, from noon-5:00 PM.  And, if you're into destination shopping, there will be other lovely artists on the 4th floor of the building, including the gorgeous red purse on my profile pic here, created by BC Designs.  You can find more info here.

**Hey, let's try something:  If you come to the sale after reading this, would you be so awesome as to mention to Karin that you heard about her sale from my blog?  While this does not score you any freebies (hey, her stuff is already marked down ;), it would be fabulous for us to know this post contributed to your visit - many thanks! **



And, to wrap things up, I'll close with ridiculous cuteness.    I like to call it:

"NEIGHBORHOOD KITTEH WELCOMING COMMITTEH!" 

Also known as, random neighbor's super affectionate cat, who was on my doorstep to greet me when I got home from work.  It was somewhat difficult to photograph her, as she kept rubbing up against my legs.  Had she not had tags, I'm pretty sure my husband would be coming home to find a new addition to the family.

Happy Wednesday!  And, if you live in the TC, hope to see you Saturday at Karin's sale!




Images:
Chickdowntown from the Chickdowntown.com email
Karin Jacobson Design courtesy of Karin Jacobson
Welcoming Committee courtesy of my iPhone