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paris - day 6

I'm almost done on my posts to Paris!!  I'll have some baking posts soon...

Day 6, my sister and cousin left for Italy so it was now just Anne and I.  After our goodbyes we headed over to the Marais District to eat lunch at Bofinger.  My co-worker recommended it. Before eating there, we still had time before our reservation so we stopped into a little boutique near by named Si Petit. I bought a little matching fleece top and hat for Ava. You will see pictures eventually. I also bought myself a fleece jacket that can be worn two ways, just by flipping it upside down.  We also stopped by le Notre to pick up more macarons to take home.  It was really a light day compared to what we did earlier in the week.  It did start to sprinkle/rain a bit but not too bad.  We did some more walking in the evening along Avenue Montaigne.  The shops were closed but I took some window pictures.  We stopped by a couple shops along the Champs Elysees.  I did buy a shirt for Jason - an adidas top where I had them embroider his name and the city and street of the store.  The guy asked where I was from because he was probably wondering why I wanted to do that - haha!  Then he nodded like ah, okay, that's why... 

The Opera House

Bofinger

Si Petit Shop

A flower shop

Candy sold on the sidewalk

 
le Notre

 

Chanel

The adidas store -Anne and I in the picture screen.

paris - day 5

Day 5: We went to Montmarte to climb the steps to the Sacre Coeur. After some light souvenir shopping we metroed down to the Pablo Picasso Museum.  It was kind of light sight seeing day but very tiring because of all the walking and metro riding.  After the museum, we stopped back at the hotel to drop some things off, freshend up a bit, and then did more walking to the Haussmann Boulevard district.  Though we didn't go into the department stores, I did find one shop I had on my list to visit.  It was the french soap store La Compagnie de Provence (marseille).  I bought some soaps and lotions for myself and for gifts.  The sales person at the store gave us some "local" recommendations of where to eat.  There was one place where he said not to tell anyone because if it ended up in a guide book it wouldn't be the same anymore.  I wish we did eat at the restaurant but because of time contraints, we couldn't.  It's on my list to do for the next time.

and a well deserved treat:

paris - day 4

So after a late night Wednesday night, we still managed to wake up early to catch the RER to tour the Palace of Versailles.  It's huge and there's so much to see. We did manage to see what we wanted: the gardens and rooms, and even Maris Antoinette's small estate.  We went to the Musee d'Orsay very late in the afternoon or maybe even early evening and it wasn't crowded so it was a good time.  We also did a little night walking around the neighborhood of our hotel before retiring.

**If you live in San Francisco, the de Young museum is having masterpieces from the Musee d'Orsay from May 22 to September 6th -"Birth of Impressionism". 

RER station

Outside the Musee d'Orsay

Clock in the Musee d'Orsay

Balenciaga Boutique

Evening around the neighborhood    

paris - day 3

I never did finish my posts on our 7 day trip to Paris which was last year so I do intend to finish...  Day 3: This is what we did: We woke up very early to go to the Louvre.  We were so early that we were able to take pictures of the courtyard with no one but us and maybe 1 or 2 people around.  By the time we left the museum it was unbelievably crowded with lines.  Those Paris museum passes are life savers when it comes to long lines. After the Louvre we went to the Musee de L'Orangerie to see Monet's Lily Pads. Small museum in comparison to the Louvre.  We walked around the Champs-Elysees for some quick shopping, rested a little before our boat dinner on the Seine River, then a show at the Moulin Rouge.  We were supposed to go up the Eiffel Tower to the 2nd floor after our dinner and before the show but the workers went on strike that night.  Just our luck but it was okay.  Maybe something to do when we go back again...

 

mother's day sewing

I hope everyone had a very Happy Mother's Day.  I did some sewing the night before our mother's day breakfast at Boulevard Cafe.  A place that's casual and that can hold 19 people with a reservation.  I made gift bags that were based off of the l'occitane  sachets. I think they turned out well.  A little awkward because I sewed the inside with french seams but had to tweak slightly to get the bow/knot part of the bag right. Here are the pictures:

 
...and a few drawstring bags:

I filled these with soaps and hand lotions from l'occitane and some mini journals from here.

A quick little picture of Ava that she let me take of her on mother's day.   

Next up...posts to finish on Paris.