Friday, I went to work and it was a little hectic because Marion had left for the day and I was like the fill in tailor for this client that came from Turkey. She bought this Jenny Packham dress that I needed to fix before I left for the night because she was coming back to pick it up the next day. I had to do a whole bunch of hand beading on the dress and there were like a gazillion beads I needed to fix so I was a little stressed especially since I had like an hour to do it! This isn't the exact dress, but it's pretty similar.
After work, Michel came to meet me for dinner near my area. I wanted to treat him out to a nice dinner for everything he's done for me. Without him, my experience here would not be what it is and I am soooo grateful to him! I let him pick the place and he wanted to go to this South Western French influenced restaurant that specialized in duck. He noticed that I hadn't really had real French food so Friday night I finally did! And it was AMAZING!!!! We went to Lintillac and got some foie gras, duck and for dessert this really yummy walnut cake and vanilla ice cream dish! Oh we also got this really yummy sweet white wine that tasted like moscato. Each table had a toaster oven to toast the bread for the foie gras..it was so cute!
I was kind of disappointed I couldn't go to London this weekend to visit friends since it was so expensive, but David told me that I should enjoy Paris because it's so beautiful during the summer. He wrote down a list of places for me to check out and funny enough that night, Michel and I went to a few of the places he mentioned. After dinner, Michel and I decided to go see a movie. We went to see "Hangover 2", which in French it's called "Very Bad Trip 2" haha. The theatre we saw the movie at was at UGC Bercy, which is one of the biggest theatres in Paris and it's near the Bercy Village David told me about at Cour Saint Emilion.
Saturday, I went shopping finally! It was sooo crazy because the SOLDES (SALES) had just started on Wednesday and EVERYONE was out shopping! It was kind of annoying, but I did get some great deals! Oh and by the way, what I don't like about summer in Paris is the BO in the metro!!! Ugh I am armpit height and it appears that not a lot of people use deodorant here and it KILLS me! I wish they would use it cuz it would save a life...mainly mine! haha One lil' whiff of it could knock you out! I can only hold my breath for so long and also most of the metros don't have AC! :( Anyways, so I went to the Opera House first and it was realllly beautiful inside. I kinda wish I could go and see a nice show. Maybe one day.
Then I went to shop around Opera and went to some of my favorite shops in Paris, well the cheap places that I can afford haha. I got sooo many goodies! I was so excited!!! Can't wait to wear them! I needed some rejuvenation so I went to the Starbucks by Opera that Michel told me about. He said it was really fancy and nice so I was curious and went to check it out. It was really nice!
After resting for a lil' bit, I headed to the Marais district where there are lots of trendy and cute boutiques, as well as lots of cool restaurants and bars. I did some more shopping there and got some dessert at MyBerry, which is like our Pinkberry, Red Mango, etc. I was just thinking the other day that this kind of frozen yogurt thing must not be popular in France, but I guess I was wrong! There was such a long line at the place!
My favorite streets in the Marais District to shop at are Rue des Rosiers and Rue Vielle du Temple. Great stuff!!!
It was also Gay Pride Day and there were soooo many people celebrating and dressed up in drag. They were parading in Bastille and Marais so I got to experience a bit of the craziness too. It was funny, as I was sitting at a bench eating my fro-yo, there were these 2 drag queens resting their feet from their super high heeled shoes. And if you've ever visited Paris you know how difficult it is to walk in heels on these streets! They are not smoothly paved and mostly cobble stones! But I got a kick out of it because they were dressed up in drag and kept changing their shoes to see which one they liked better on, all the while I was just busy chowing down my frozen yogurt.
Miina and I had planned on hanging out Saturday night for Gay Pride parties so I met up with her, Simona and other new friends at Bastille (Anne, Joshua and Curtley). Miina dressed up as Lady Gaga and definitely got lots of attention with everyone staring at her and wanting to take her picture! We had soooo much fun bar hopping in the area. They even got me to drink tequila shots, which I HATE..but for some reason I was able to do it and not just 1, but many shots of it without getting sick!
Going home was kind of interesting...I had barely made it before the metro closed, but I still missed the connection to my line. So this guy and his friends that were also waiting for the metro told me that the train wasn't coming so I had to figure out how to get home, but he told me the bus number to take. I was a bit skeptical at first and I think he could tell, so he assured me and showed me the map and the bus map and sure enough he was telling me the truth hehe So we were all heading in the same direction and met these nice girls that were getting off at the same stop as me. So the guy introduced me to them and again assured me that I was going the right way. So I was again relieved, but it was funny cuz the girls gave me a lecture to be careful regardless and that those guys probably wanted one thing and I'm sure they are right, but lucky for me they were harmless and actually pretty helpful.
Sunday, I had planned to go to the floating pool on top of the Seine River, but Simona told me it was packed and that there would be a super long wait and in 90 degree weather, I didn't feel like waiting in the sun. So I decided to go to another recommendation from David and went to Bois de Bologne. He said it was a really chic park and it was! There was quite a bit of a walk from the metro to the lake there, but it was well worth it! It was so relaxing! There were people lying in the sun or under the trees having picnics and playing games or riding bikes. There were also people canoeing in the water. I felt like I was watching a live Monet painting in action. It was so picturesque!
The swans and ducks reminded me of Boston Commons! They were so cute and beautiful especially the little ducklings!!!
The day wasn't over yet..I went to meet up with Simona and Sorin near Sacre Couer. First we walked around the Red Light District of Paris and saw where Moulin Rouge was. Boulevard de Rochechouart has all these sex shops and strip joints all over the place and Rue de Clichy I think is where most of the prostitutes hang out and get picked up!
Sorin is a big history buff so he was telling me all these interesting facts about the area. We passed by this popular theatre too that got burnt down recently and a lot of precious things were lost. Also, he told me about this infamous cafe/bar that people used to hang out at the Red Light District.
Then we went to the Wall of Love near Abbesses, which was really cool! I feel like lots of countries have some sort of place where Love is dedicated. I took a picture in Florence near Ponte Vechio where people would put locks on all these other locks and it symbolized eternal love. :)
As we were heading to Sacre Couer, we saw a street performer that drew a crowd. It was really nice to watch and with the sun shining down on her it was so angelic!
And then I finally got to see Sacre Couer! The church was so beautiful inside and out! There is this daredevil guy that will be jumping off Sacre Couer on Saturday so they were setting up a platform up for him. Last year he jumped off the Eiffel Tower. We also sat on the steps to take in the view of Paris from above. There was also another awesome street performer that was balancing a ball while climbing up the light post and doing all these crazy moves!
Before heading home after a long, HOT day we walked around Montmartre and Simona and Sorin were showing me some historical sites where famous artists like Picasso, Van Gogh, Diaz, Monet, etc. would hang out back in the day. It was like the movie Midnight in Paris, traveling back in time! This area is soooo charming with all the lil' cafes and galleries. No wonder they would hang out here! It's just soooo beautiful and alluring! They also showed me where Woody Allen filmed one of his movies about Paris in 1997. It was at Ambassade de Savoie, again where the artists used to hang out. Next to it was this bar Le Tire Bouchon that had letters stuck all over the ceilings and walls for people who have been there. I thought that was so cool and reminded me of the movie Letters to Juliet. And of course Simona and I had to get ice cream, while walking around...it was a nice summer day after all!
Miina and Michel had messaged to meet up, but I was sooo tired after walking around all day in the heat so I decided to go home. I wanted to meet up with Miina to hear about the rest of Saturday night and also with Michel because there was a free concert by La Defence where Keziah Jones was performing at. Would have been nice, but next time I guess!
And since it's day time here now...Bonne journée and Bisous Bisous!!! oxox :)
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