goodbye paris, i'll miss you!

our three day weekend in paris has come to and end. sunday is a sleepy day to spend in the city as most things are closed. we ended up with some rather cool and wet weather so our plans of sitting outside in the gardens were dashed. giovanni, whom we rented the apartment from, met us early to get the key and called us a taxi. we dropped our luggage off at a locker at the train station and headed back out to walk around ille saint louis. it was too cold and early for glaces at berthillon, which was sad, but next time.


after walking around a bit with only stohrer pastry in our bellies we ducked into a restaurant for some eggs, bacon, croissant and coffee. because most stores were closed, we snapped a few photos then walked over to notre dame for a peek.


it was very windy as we headed over to the louvre. we hadn't planned on going in, but instead wanted to walk around the outside and down the jardin des tuileries. the skies were gray and cloudy and we got some great shots of the louvre looking very ominous.



next we wove our way through the streets up to the arc de triomphe, trying to stay off the touristy champs-élysées as much as possible.


the rest of the day was spent walking through the streets trying to find something yummy for lunch. we ended up at a cute little cafe near the L'église de la Madeleine where we downed some onion soup with a peitit Mâche salad and delicious potatoes. We were so warm and cozy we decided we needed one more cafe creme and a gateau au chocolat before heading back out for the train station. i didn't take many photos yesterday, i think i was so tired and...well... cold.

paris, tired but a good tired

our apartment, the richelieu

it is our second day in paris and we've continued to walk non-stop as we have done in london. katie met us friday and we all walked up to rose bakery. katie thought it was funny that our first meal in paris was at a british establishment, but she had never been and we all loved it.

my lunch

cakes at rose bakery

after lunch we walked around the marais and got ourselves a bit more oriented.

the bibliotheque historic

bon bons

katie left to meet a friend for dinner and leigh and i came back to the apartment to rest for a few minutes before my birthday dinner at le fumoir. our dinner was delicious and we had secured a reservation in the "library," which turned out to be a dark and cozy room filled with books. we didn't want to leave but two hours later we were stuffed and so tired that we were happy to have a very short walk home.


i slept badly that night so it was 8am before we woke up, and we got off to a late start. on the advice of the apartment owners, we stopped in for pastries at stohrer's.

leigh got this shot of me looking at postcards before we went inside

next we walked a few short blocks to the bilbiotheque nationale. i was a bit overwhelmed and unfortunately hadn't really made a plan so we looked into some of the reading rooms and headed off to the centre pompidou. a few hours looking at braque's, picasso's, matise's, and léger's and we needed to eat again.



after eating, our next stop was pierre herme, which entailed a walk across the siene and down to st. germain. after snagging some confiture de framboises a la violette, which i had been dreaming about since katie brought me some two years ago, and some sablés citron, we were off to the have a glass of wine then stroll through jardin du luxembourg.

the wind kicked up and the rains came in so we hopped into a taxi to come home, warm up and plan our dinner outing. we're both very tired, but in a good way. the city is beautiful and inviting and it does feel like you are walking through a movie.

long days

i've been in london since early wednesday morning and seem to have avoided jet lag pretty well. leigh was sleepy the day i arrived from being up sick the entire night before, so after we strolled around her neighborhood a bit (and i bought a dress from emily and fin just hours after landing), we came back home to take a short nap. it's light here from around 5 am until close to 10 pm, so the days are really long.

thursday leigh took me out for a long day of shopping after she dropped lois at school for her first full day. we found a seat upstairs on a double decker bus and enjoyed the drive across town. our first stop was liberty and i managed to only purchase some post cards and an umbrella, which i really did need. then we hopped on the tube to lamb's conduit for lunch at cigala, then stopped in a few stores and persephone books.


after a stop at the espresso room, we popped into the top shop so i could get another pair of jeans (it's colder and rainier here than i expected) and then into office for some shoe shopping where i got some lace ups and these little flat converse.


last night we made a nice dinner and then had a few too many drinks. lois was in bed early after her long day at school, so this morning she was up bright and early at 5:30 am! we've all just finished a nap and we're getting ready to head out for a coffee and sweet. leigh is reading a list of things to do in paris from the the people who we're renting our apartment from. next week this time we'll be there!

gettin out of town

in about a month i'll be leaving for a month. i'm going to visit leigh in london after stopping in nc for a week to see my family. we've got two side trips planned, one is a few days in paris over my birthday weekend, and another few days in bath. work is crazy right now and i'm writing on my blog because i'm so tired that i don't want to write my paper or study for my first of three finals (which is tomorrow at 10am). i just want to dream about london, paris, leaving it all behind for a month - no work, no school, no nothing. i haven't even had time to think about where i want to go when i get there, but leigh has got a good list going for us and i can read and plan stuff on the plane right?

or maybe just sleep.