Paris Trip#2 - Day 5 - Last Day!!!

We got off to a decent start on Sunday morning, ate breakfast at the apartment and headed back to the exact same area we had been for dinner the night before to check out an outdoor art market that I had researched on the Internet. I was determined to invest a bit of money and bring home something to put on the wall as a souvenir of our Paris experience. I had seen some nice paintings of Paris landmarks outside of Musée D'Orsay on my last trip that were quite reasonably priced, but not only did I find the art very 'touristy', but the artist was a little too pushy for my taste. I had really wanted to buy one of the abstract African paintings we saw outside of Centre Pompidou, but Shawn didn't like any of them. I felt that we would be able to find something to both of our likings at this art market, within our budget, for sure. We had quite a walk by the time we reached it, and it was overcast & chilly that morning, so the walk was not all that enjoyable.

We saw many beautiful and interesting pieces, paintings, carvings, unique statues, etc. but the prices of everything were so high - much higher than we expected! It reminded me a lot of the Salon d'arts et métiers Montreal has right before the Christmas holidays at Centre Bonaventure - gorgeous stuff, but really unaffordable for us. Most of the artists were really friendly and so proud of their work. Our favourite by far was an older man who had absolutely stunning watercolors and oil paintings of outdoor scenery - his signature technique used in most of the nicest ones was reflections of the scenery in bodies of water - they looked almost like actual photographs they were so realistic! He showed us every single work he had for sale in his stack! I so wanted to bring home one of his paintings, even just a small watercolor, but Shawn pointed out that spending 60-80 EUR on a postcard sized painting that will barely show on the wall was not such a smart investment. I reluctantly had to agree. His larger paintings ran from 200 - 300 EUR and higher. Shawn is very 'go big or go home' and reminded me that our salaries cannot yet permit us to start collecting art as a hobby. I left there so disappointed, knowing we could not put up a painting we bought in Paris next to our 2 that we bargained for in Jamaica.


On our way out, at one of the last stalls, I was admiring some ceramics & the woman who was selling them, who was away from her stall talking to someone at another one, came rushing over, screaming about how I should watch my handbag or I could break something! I was of course being ultra careful, and my purse on my shoulder was more than clearing what was behind me. I didn't say a word, mumbled 'screw her' under my breath, and walked away, not wanting to waste another moment looking at her stuff. Shawn was apologetic and said something like 'pas de soucis' (no worries) with a smile, which I felt she didn't even deserve!!!

It was time to head back, eat lunch, pack up & leave so I could be at the airport for my 5-ish flight. I served up some of the previous night's wine to get rid of it, and it wasn't so bad paired with the Knorr packaged vegetable potage, roasted eggplant & pita we were having. I had packed much lighter this time for this shorter trip, so we had less trouble lugging my suitcase there. I was thrilled to climb those killer stairs in Shawn's apartment building for the last time!!

Upon checking in at the airport, a staff member advised me once I got to the front of the line that my flight was overbooked, and that they were offering $300 to passengers willing to stay an extra night to cover hotel accomodations and meals. Shawn's face lit up at the prospect of having me with him another night & staying in an aiport hotel for free! The possibility crossed my mind only a brief milisecond & I had to decline the offer right away, knowing I was expected back at work the next day! I knew my boss would absolutely FREAK if I called in & said I was only coming in Tuesday! The owner of the company I work for had already given me 3 paid days off as a favour, as this trip was his idea as he felt bad that I couldn't take more time off to stay longer the first trip, so I really didn't want to push my luck with them! Shawn joked & said we should take the $300 and spend it on electronics & just go back to the apartment to stay! I don't think it works that way!

Saying our goodbyes was easier this time, as I knew I'd have my hubby back home for good in 3 short weeks. I watched Mr. Bean's Vacation on the flight home, which had some really funny parts - like when he gets served a raw seafood platter in a restaurant (like we'd seen at Chez Clément)...the premise of the film is really quite silly, but it was a perfect in-flight movie that you don't have pay too much attention to, that keeps you entertained at a base level! We had left Shawn's car at his parent's place & gotten a lift from his Mom to the airport, so his Dad was meeting me at the airport that night to take me to my car. Customs & luggage took a really long time, but he had timed arriving well and had not waited too long for me - we were both relieved to see each other. I made a brief stop-in to see my Mother-in-law & then made the drive home. I was surprised I made it safely, as I was driving tired and in the dark - not something I want to do again anytime soon!

We unfortunately did not get to take any pictures during our short last day together, so pix in this post are some of our others from this trip.

Paris Trip#2 - Day 4 - Saturday - Sightseeing & Romance in Montmartre, Drinks after Dark in the Bastille

We got off to a later start than I had planned to on Saturday (surprise, surprise!) - I basically woke up a few times, each time looking over at Shawn who was still asleep, then drift off to sleep once again - I really hate sleeping on any vacation, but when the body needs sleep, my reasoning is to listen to it every so often! We hadn't really planned where we were going, but we knew we wanted to go to one of the Cathedrals, and Shawn suggested Sacré Coeur.

We headed out to the Montmartre, and I got really excited as we approached Sacré Coeur - you could see the huge building through the alleyways wherever you looked. We went through an area full of shops - mainly costume jewlery & loads of fabric stores with their wares out on display. On the corner was a huge thrift shop and tons of people were digging for clothes & shoes in huge square bins outside. It was a sunny, very warm day. After just climbing the stairs on the huge hill that the cathedral sits upon, I was hot in my all black attire and a little breathless.

We started out touring the church part of the cathedral downstairs. We saw many people praying and admired the beautiful stained glass and sprial staircases scattered everywhere. There were tons of places where you could pay to light a candle. We used our spare change to pay 5 EUR each to get into the upper part, and the climb to the top involves many, many stairs in a spiral formation, almost exactly like the stairs up to l'Arc de Triomphe. Thank goodness there were a few levels that you could stop at to admire the view from different vantage points. Shawn viewed these as great photo ops, I welcomed the time on level ground to catch my breath & rest a little! Some of the stairs took you right outside and the view of the city is spectacular! You can of course see the Tour Eiffel off in the distance.
Down below in the church courtyard, we even noticed a wedding going on. Shawn zoomed in & caught this shot of the bride greeting a guest.

On the way up, in some dark parts of the stairwells, I saw quite a few dead birds, which was really creepy. We took our time, in awe of the view and taking many pictures. It was much easier going down all of the stairs.

By the time we completed this strenous tour, I was starving, having only eaten breakfast when we got up, and it was now late afternoon. We had passed a cafe on the corner on the way to the cathedral and I had remembered seeing some tasty looking giant hotdogs in the window. Up close, they turned out to be not so appetizing. They were made from really big sausages, resembling a knockwurst, so I figured I could probably only eat a half of one. Shawn was not into the idea of splitting one with me, so I convinced him to try a crocque-monsieur, we each ordered our own & I think they were only about 4-5 EUR. By the time we made our way back to the hill & chose a spot to enjoy our lunch, I was near exhausted & famished, and the sandwiches weren't so hot anymore, but still thoroughly enjoyable. The outsides of the bread were covered in golden brown melted shredded cheeses and the inside was tasty lean ham. As we relaxed on the grass & digested, we noticed an eccentric looking lady leading a group of young kids in a dance routine - they were on a landing in front of us a few hundred feet away. She was wearing a lei of silk flowers around her neck & was singing "Brasil....la la la la la, lahhh!". We had noticed her when we arrived as well, but with a different bunch of older looking teens, doing the same routine. We had wondered what she was doing - the scene resembled a performance practice run when I had participated in the guest night shows at Club Med. The current group she had looked a lot less participative. After awhile, she was just hanging out with this group on the grass, and we spotted her many times speaking very loudly to them, as if making speeches, and gesturing in an animated fashion, hands or arms up to the sky, or blowing kisses to them. The kids looked unresponsive. At one point, one of the young girls was wearing the woman's lei. It seemed like such a bizarre scene to see this lady imposing herself on this group of young kids (they looked no older than 13, and all of them were smoking cigarettes & looked stoned), it looked like they were tolerating her but not annoyed at all. We figured she must do this all day long and just hang out here. When she bid them goodbye, she hugged them all amourously. It was too funny to watch.
We decided to head back home to get ready to go out for dinner. I cracked open one of the cheaper bottles of red wine I had bought earlier in the week to drink while we were getting ready, but after about 1/2 glass, we determined it would be much better with food. We arrived at La Coupole, which was only 2 doors down from metro Vavin. The first restaurant we saw was called Chez Clément, and we glanced inside and were intrigued by the nautical decor, the huge seafood platters we saw diners enjoying, and the menu displayed. We figured if we decided against La Coupole that we could come back here. So, we checked out the menu on the window next door & asked ourselves if we really wanted to pay that much for dinner (prices were higher than we expected!). We had planned to splurge that night as it was our 1st wedding anniversary dinner, but being the sensible couple that we are, decided to go back to Clément to enjoy a meal that was probably equally good at more reasonable prices.

We had to wait in line for a little while, but things moved fast as two parties ahead of us were impatient & gave up to go somewhere else. We got a quaint table for 2, and there was a couple next to us that appeared to be on their 1st date. What was funny was the girl was on her cell phone all night & when she wasn't, spent a lot of time talking about herself. The guy looked very unimpressed. We (well, I!) had so much trouble deciding what to order from the extensive amount of choices on the menu. We considered getting one of the raw seafood platters that came served on crushed ice, but then decided against it as we didn't feel like struggling with shelling langoustines, crab legs, etc. Shawn noticed there was a section on the menu where you could mix and match main dishes with entrees & desserts & do different combinations, all for under 20 EUR each. We both chose a plate that had your choice of 3 different meats - mine was duck (which turned out to be a lean, rare duck steak, which I'd never had before!), pork & chicken. Shawn's choice was similar but he replaced the duck with salmon. Both plates came with a generous portion of mashed potatoes - a staple side dish in Paris, versus the fries or baked potatoes Quebecors eat. Although we are not potato eaters, we made the exception here, as when made right, they are extremely creamy and smooth (no lumps!) and served with a delicious brown gravy. The waitresses' wine suggestion was a rosée, to match all of the variety of meats we were both having. We hesitated, as Shawn normally doesn't drink rosée, and we ended up being happy with our choice, it was delicious and crisp, kept chilled in an ice-bucket beside us. We leisurely enjoyed our meal and I went for my favourite French dessert, crème brûlée, & Shawn substituted his dessert with his fave (mi-cuit au chocolat, again!) for a little extra money.

It was of course quite late when we finished & we still had to go home & change to go out for our drink. We ended up heading out to the Bastille area at 1:30 AM! Only in Paris! We chose Bar Bat to go into, as it had a lounge-type atmosphere, with no cover charge.

I HAD to have mojito as everyone I know who's been to Paris raves about them here. All of the drinks on the menu were 8 EUR & up. Shawn chose a blonde beer on tap. We leisurely sipped our drinks & took a few photos, but after such a long day, I was getting sleepy. After about an hour, we headed back home - which was quite a long walk since we had taken the last metro into town! I was thankful to crawl under the covers that night (or morning!) and drift off to sleep.

Paris Trip#2 - Day 3 - Friday - Shopping in Le Marais & Koba part deux

I had planned on starting my Friday out visiting a place that was on my first Paris trip to do list that I didn't get to go called Le Centre Culturel Suedois. I read about it on the Net and found out that it was known for it's quaint outdoor terrace surrounded by gardens. It was said that you could get a really great coffee & a selection of pastries there for only 3 EUR. Plus, they were supposed to have a couple of free art exhibits there. Only problem was, it was closed for the summer, so I couldn't go when I was there in July & August, so when I found out it was re-opening on Aug. 28, I wanted to make it there on my 2nd trip. When I looked online at their website when I arrived earlier that week, it didn't have any specific exhibits listed though. I figured I'd go anyways & that there must be some stuff there to look at - plus I could enjoy a good morning coffee on the terrace. I ended up leaving a little later than I had planned to, but I found the place without a problem. It turned out to be a much cooler day than I had hoped too, cooler than the previous day, and a little windy & gray. To my disappointment when I went into the centre, the woman at the counter told me that there were no exhibits until Sep. 14th - you couldn't even get in! There were a couple of people on the terrace at the time, having coffee, but since it was already close to lunch time, I figured I'd eat my packed lunch first & then get a coffee later on.
Across the street from the centre, I could see a beautiful garden with park benches. I crossed the street & walked a little further & there was another one. I went back to the 1st one, took some pics & sat on the bench & read for awhile. It got really overcast at one point & even with my jean jacket & light scarf, I was chilly - mind you, I had a skirt on with bare legs - wrong day for that!
I had my lunch then went to the garden next door & took a few more pics. Check out this flower closeup - it looks almost fake!
Even after a couple of hours of picture taking, reading & relaxing, I still wasn't in the mood to have a coffee yet. I got a bit of the wanderlust & decided to walk around for a half hour or so then get a coffee at the centre about a 1/2 hr before they were going to close. I fell upon a little gift store that had mostly linens, fancy dessert plates and high-end perfumes & bath stuff. I was looking around for a gift I could give Julie for her birthday. I then ended up in front of an O & CO store - I couldn't believe my good fortune! I recognized the logo as we shopped in one when we went to Vancouver. I remembered they had big square bars of olive oil soap there that Julie had bought herself that she adored.
The front of the store had tons of olive trees for sale, some spilling out onto to the sidewalk - they looked beautiful (& expensive - starting at 60 EUR, I think!). There was a huge chandelier hanging from the ceiling in the entrance made from round bottles of olive oil & strings of tiny Christmas lights. As you walk in, the first thing you see is a whole bunch of pottery - olive oil & vinegar cruets, containers to serve olives in...& there were different types of fleur de sel as well. Moving on were a bunch of different gift boxes - on the back wall, there were a variety of different products, including a white truffle spread - and samples of it on tiny baguette slices on the shelf! I then noticed on the tables running down the centre of the store had all kinds of samples set up of different tapenades & various types of crackers. Where to start?! I think I tried every single one!
I finally reached the beauty products section & found the soap, picking up a bar of it as part of Julie's bday gift. There was such a large choice of stuff, I couldn't believe how many things were packed into one tiny store! Back at the front of the store near the cash were 4 types of olive oils on special, all for about 11 EUR or more, so I figured I should buy one for home since we cook with it all of the time & really appreciate a good quality oil. I tasted & smelled them all, and all of them seemed to not really have a strong smell or taste to them. I asked the clerk for a recommendation & she recommended the 4th one, which was not in a bottle but in a large can & was more expensive. She did say all of them were similar in quality & taste, so I went with the Tunisian one, as it was the fruitiest smelling one (knowing Shawn would chastize me for not buying the one from his homeland Israel!). The cashier was having major technical problems with her cash, so thankfully I had cash on me to pay & she had to make me a receipt by hand.
I kept walking & ran into a tea shop - another slice of heaven for me! There were rows & rows of vaccuum sealed silver pouches of tea & on the shelf in front of each selection was a little cap you could slide off & inside a little cup built into the shelf was a sample you could see & smell. The 1st green tea I looked at was a vanilla one - something I'd never seen or tasted before. It had long leaves & smelled amazing - it has 2 types of vanilla, one of them being bourbon - the smell was truly decadent & it was relatively inexpensive, so I had to buy it! There was a huge urn of tea you could sample on the table with the 'special of the day' - I had a cup & it was another green tea, very mild - the taste reminded me of the green sencha we bought at grenouille dans une théière at Courtney's shower. It had tiny bits of popped corn & rice in it & I was torn on which one I should buy. Since the vanilla was my 1st love & was not similar to anything I had, I chose that one, as I didn't really want to spend the equivalent of almost $20 CDN on tea (at 6 EUR a bag...).

I attempted then making my way back to the Centre Culturel, knowing I probably would not make it back there by 2:30 PM, as it was already past 2:00 PM. As most people know, I have a terrible sense of direction, especially in foreign places, and even though I felt like I was retracing my exact steps, I started not recognizing streets & stores & knew I was getting way off track & was deep in Le Marais. Knowing that the Centre Culturel was not meant to be (even my pics of it didn't end up coming out because the camera was set wrong, unbeknownst to me at the time!), I started looking for a main street to situate myself to eventually find a metro station if I was stuck. All of a sudden, I recognized the building I could see in the distance - it was unmistakeably Le Centre Georges Pompidou - no other building in Paris or in the world could have such similar architecture, with pipes on the outside of the building! I was relieved. As I approached it, I noticed a side to this centre that Shawn & I had not seen when we visited it on my last trip - there was a huge fountain with really cool looking sculptures in it - my favourite was these lips with the water gushing through them :
I remembered the walk from the metro to Pompidou was a little tricky & you had to go through a few side streets, so I headed off & was proud of myself as I recognized some of the shops that had seen & that I was on the right track! And then, all of a sudden, I ran into a huge Zara store on a corner & I thought "Yes! Shopping!". I had originally planned to head over to the Galeries Lafeyette/Au Printemps area later in the day to return back to the little street stall I had bought my little black sweater at last trip. I was specifically looking for a couple of tops to go with this gorgeous, stylish belt that Shawn's Aunt Bella had recently given to me from Israel. It is a big chunky belt made of worn brown leather with lots of tarnished metal on it that you need to wear over a long top. I had seen some grey long tops that were going to be in style this Autumn at this stall, but was not looking forward to going all the way to that area again just for that. Now that I had fallen upon what looked like a great shopping district, and I was no longer lost, I didn't have to go anywhere & could spend my afternoon shopping here! After not finding anything to my liking in Zara, I found a huge H&M store & after long waits in the changing room lines, I purchased a short-sleeved brown cowl neck long sweater (with little sparkles woven in the wool) that will go really well with the belt, as well as two unique looking Fall/Spring scarves at excellent prices (that are so hard to find in Montreal for those in-between seasons!).

Happy with all of my purchases, I spotted a Starbucks & determined I needed a little pick-me-up. I selected an iced chai as I was too thirsty for a hot coffee. The prices are the same as here by the way, but only in Euros (i.e. a $4 drink here costs 4 EUR there, but multiply by 1.5 & you are really paying $6 CDN for a coffee or drink there!). I called La Coupole, a restaurant that had been recommended to me by a colleague, to make reservations for the next night, as we had decided to go out to a fancy French restaurant to celebrate our 1st wedding anniversary, as we had not had time the previous weekend when Shawn was visiting home. I was told that they do not make reservations and that if it is busy, we just will need to wait at the bar for a table - they recommended getting there early. I then decided to give Shawn a call at his office, since I had this prepaid phone card now with lots of money on it still. I gave him the news about the resto & he mentioned that he & Howie also had difficulty making reservations & that it must be that not many places in Paris take res's. I also wanted him to situate me to determine how to meet him at metro Quatre-Septembre after work so we could go for sushi again at Koba. He told me that I was only a few blocks away & to find le rue Sébastropol & I'd find my way to the metro.

So, I set & found a store called Christina along the way, a lot of their stuff was cheap (& looked it!) but I managed to find a long-sleeved grey top with a long vertical slit in the neckline that closes with a pretty button that could be worn with the belt too. Along my way, I also walked by a perfume shop that had a lot of their merchandise on display on the sidewalk - soaps, incense, etc. I decided to pick up a very large bar of Marseille soap that had chunks of fresh mint in it to go with Julie's present, and 10 incense sticks (all different scents), because I know she loves burning incense and they had some with really cool scents like Opium & Cannabis! The walk seemed much longer than Shawn had described it, I ended up having to walk through a huge semi-industrial sector that had tons of store fronts with gorgeous fashionable clothing & accessories in their windows but with signs posted stating that the sold wholesale only. Most were already closed, but I saw a few people making large purchase either by stuffing them in huge plastic bags or pushing clothes racks down the street. I had seen similar shops & shoppers in Le Marais earlier in the day when I was lost. I walked so much that I realized that I had already passed the metro & had walked too far, so I doubled back & waited for a bit & Shawn showed up.

There were a few more tables filled when we arrived at opening time at Koba than last time. Our waiter & chef Koba acknowledged us as we walked in - we got seated at the corner table near the door & we had a waitress this time. We ordered chef's choice again & 2 cans of Japanese beer, but this time we got all sushi & no sashimi. We made sure to mention no fatty tuna this time, we found it too chewy last time. With the extra rice, we (well, Shawn, since I am a bottomless pit when it comes to sushi!) got full faster. In the middle of our meal, we were brought this creation, compliments of the chef. Gosh, we love it here! The green roe actually tasted like very hot wasabi so I had to scrape mine off onto Shawn's (which he didn't mind a bit!). By the time we left, it was packed with regulars, without a free table in sight!

I had originally planned on checking out a night club later that night, since we had planned to our anniversary dinner for Saturday night, which would probably be long & leisurely and end late, but Shawn was really tired from the travel & preferred we save our outing for the next night & we went back to the apt to rest & relax - after such a long day, I was beat too, admitedly! We caught up on some missed episodes of BB8 on his laptop then fell into a deeepp sleep......

Paris Trip #2 - Day 2 - Thursday - Last Official Museum Sprint, Tasty Thai & Canal St-Martin

Since I only had 2 days on my own this time, I decided to make Thursday Museum Day and Friday Shopping Day. There were a couple of museums that I didn't get to fit in last time, and I decided to start the day with Le Petit Palais (free admission) and then head over to Musée du Quai Branly. I was a little disoriented when I got out of the Champs-Elysees-Clemenceau metro - I really was not sure which way in the big circle of intersections to take - coincidentally, there was a tourist office booth set up across the street & I was able to enquire there & get my bearings.

The facade of the building is beautiful & the lobby and high painted ceilings in the hallway near the entrance were very impressive. This musuem had been described online as a mini 'scaled-down' Louvre - which I guess is accurate - but really scaled down! There were some nice objets d'art, including this work that I just loved, called La Femme au singe (1908) :

There were some marble sculptures, paintings of course (only 1 Monet), and Renaissance furniture. Nice stuff in general, but nothing super spectacular. I guess that nothing can really compare once you see the Louvre (which I saw 1st on my 1st trip!). The railings on the staircases in the buidling were of wrought-iron with elaborate designs of vines & flowers. On the lower floor, there was a piece called a ''meuble-rotonde à dôme'', created by Léon Alessandri, who patented a machine to flaten ivory and got a medal for this invention. He employed major specialists to complete this work - including Carrier-Belleuse to design the 4 relief sculptures in ivory (l'Architecture, la Sculpture, le Commerce, le Travail).

I was anxious to get out and see the circular courtyard/gardens in back of the building. Since it was in between seasons and a grey, cool day, it wasn't as bright as I had hoped it would look. A lot of my pictures didn't turn out so well, I tried out manually setting the aperature but ended up acheiving mostly slightly overexposed shots. Here's my best one :

I got asked to get down off of the little step leading up to an empty pool by security during my photo taking session, which was a little unnerving! There were a few people sitting on a terrace enjoying cafés.

I had my packed lunch on a bench in front of the palais and admired the vast gardens. I took quite a few flower closeups & was very happy with how some of them turned out (I'm getting almost as good as Shawn at this!)

I set off to the Musée Quai Branly - I already had an idea of where it was, as I had been in the quais area before & I knew that Quai Branly was right across from Quai d'Orsay. The outside of the grounds was really interesting to look at - many glass panels with writing on them and past that, gorgeous gardens and lots to look at (including a closeup view of the nearby Eiffel Tower). This museum is known for it's African, Asian and Native American art. It was a little difficult to figure out where to line up, quite a few other people were as unsure as I was - it turned out you could only line up to get in once you'd purchased a ticket at one of the wickets, but most were lining up in the ticketholders line without tickets. A woman security guard finally realized the confusion going on & closed off the lines properly so that we were all where we were supposed to be.

Walking into the exhibits, you must walk up these white ramps which have colored lights projecting words & images onto the floors & walls. When I walked in, I was told that picture taking was forbidden inside. I was quite surprised - this was the 1st museum that I was told this! After quite a long walk, you end up in a dim exhibit hall with wood carved totem pole-type structures as well as tools and weapons. Everything else was behind glass. There were head dresses, costumes, tools, weapons, masks, art....it seemed to go on forever. After only a few minutes, I was almost regretting coming here & felt like my 8 EUR I just spent on my admission may be wasted. I felt like this was all stuff I had seen previously, in some form or another. There were some interesting exhibits like booths were you could listen to natives speaking in tongues and little movie screens showing different aspects of different tribes & cultures, but all in all, with the dim lighting and the not so exiting exhibits, I was getting bored and sleepy. And with the remnants of jet lag hanging on in the late afternoon, I kept having to sit down on the built in benches along the walls to rest. I noticed I wasn't the only one doing this. I was decidedly officially tired of museums!

I decided to locate the café and get something to revive me a little. It was a sitdown restaurant & I chose to sit inside and ordered a café crème. The waiter suggested many desserts to me which were all pretty pricey so I ordered the least expensive item : a 'cake' au bananes. It arrived on a pool of raspberry coulis and a little dollop of whipped cream. Both the cake & the coffee were fresh & delicious. I took my time and read a lot more of my Harry Potter book.

I headed out to look for a phone to call Shawn at work, as we had not established where we were meeting that night or what we were doing. I had been a little bit worried about using payphones in Paris, as I had not been successful in making a call when I arrived at the airport on my 1st trip - the phone wouldn't take my credit card & I couldn't get change anywhere - and the change bureau had told me that the phones don't take change. After trying my Visa card in several phones that afternoon, I figured out that the pay phones only take prepaid phone cards. After asking different newspaper stands and then the woman at the metro counter, I found out that you can only buy these cards at tabagies and post offices. Now, to find a tabagie aound there....cheapest card you could buy was 7 EUR (I think), so I had no choice but to buy it (I still have it in my purse, with money left on it, if I ever go back!).... it was a relief to finally get Shawn on the phone after all of that running around! He said he'd like to go the 10th arrondissement as there are a lot of restaurants to choose from and it is near the Canal St-Martin.

After meeting, we pretty much stopped at the 1st restaurant we came across, a small Thai place with the food choices displayed in window cases at the front of the restaurant, similar to a deli counter. The menu looked really good and the food looked really fresh. The woman behind the counter talked to us about what she had on hand, and we decided on a basil chicken (for Shawny) and a lemon grass chicken (for me), both with Thai rice that had tiny bits of sauteed veggies in it. Shawn chose a Thai beer to drink and I chose a small carafon of rosé wine. Everything was delicious, and once again, we had the restaurant to ourself - no other diners were there and only a couple of regulars who ordered take-out were served as we ate. We found out that the woman, who was the owner, had just returned from spending the summer in Thailand and was just reopening shop that week. The bill was pleasantly low in the end as well!

We walked around the Canal and Shawn took some absolutely beautiful shots of it and the surrounding areas (the ones of us didn't turn out, unfortunately!). Here are some of the best ones :

Paris Trip #2 - Arrival Day - Wednesday - Settling back into Paris life....

After Shawn's long anticipated, whirlwind 5-day visit back home (Aug. 28-Sep.5), which included hosting a bbq at our home for 16 people on the Saturday, a fun wedding that we had a blast at on Sunday (with Shawn being jetlagged a couple of those days) and a relaxing Labour Day to recoup, we were off again to Paris on Tuesday evening (I had to work that day). I had hyped up Air France to Shawn (as he had only flown Corsair there & back so far), but much to our dismay, we flew on a 2-tiered older jet without personal screens at our disposition! We got stuck with a woman beside us who was flying through Paris to Beyrouth & the whole time, she aggravated the stewardesses & all the passengers around us (including us!) by asking questions...the communication breakdown was horrible, as speaking French or English to her was useless - she was concerned about finding her connecting flight in CDG, but no amount of explaining the airport map to her could calm her down. There were not one, but two screaming babies on our flight (a few rows ahead of us!) but we were smart this time & used the earplugs provided & they actually did block out most of the sound & we both slept for nearly a couple of hrs.

After spending way too much time trying to locate where to buy the RER tickets to get on the train out of the aiport, we finally made it back to the apartment around noon. It was deja vu for me, as this was the time I had arrived last time! We were anxious to have lunch & decided on a restaurant called Norbulinga that we had had on our 'to try' list we had created earlier in the summer (on rue Amelot - Metro Filles du calvaire). It was described online as a Tibetan restaurant with many vegetarian options. We were suprised to arrive at a nearly empty restaurant. There was only one other woman dining there & she seemed to be working through her lunch on her cell phone with a bunch of paperwork on her table. We took quite awhile to go over the very extensive menu and decided against any of the lunch table d'hôte deals, cuz they were a little pricey & way too much food. Shawny finally decided on dumplings with beef in them & I chose a vegetarian dish on rice. The food was really great, I had enough for 2 plates but I sort of wished I had ordered something with protein in it, because the stir fried veggies & rice, although tasty, were not very filling. We both agreed that although the Tibetan chant music playing in the restaurant was interesting & different, it is not something that we could listen to for very long periods of time!

We set off to Monoprix to do the weekly grocery, as we wanted to avoid running errands on the weekend & wasting our Saturday like we did last time. I picked up 4 more bottles of wine to bring home - a Pouilly Fumé that I had my eye on since last visit, another rosé, & 2 reds - a Merlot & a Cabernet Sauvignon. We then headed back to the apartment to unpack & rest. As Shawn had recently joined facebook while he was back home, he spent a considerable amount of time online that afternoon - I actually had to beg him to use his laptop at one point so I could check my account! We took a walk over to Shawn's favourite Kosher supermarket close by to stock up on pita, hummus & eggplant in the late afternoon.

We decided to check out another restaurant on our list for an early dinner called Café du Marché on rue Cler (Metro Ecole Militaire). I had read about a raspberry codfish dish with egg fritatta at this place that I really wanted to try, but when we got there, it wasn't on the menu, so I am guessing that it was a daily special, as the special of the day that day was a white fish on a bed of lentils, which we both chose to order. It was absolutely delicious, with a slightly creamy red pepper sauce, and was quite light. We still had quite a bit of room for dessert & had a sweet tooth that night, so Shawn went for his favourite Parisian dessert - a 'mi-cuit au chocolat' which is a small chocolate cake with a melty chocolate sauce in the middle, served with real vanilla ice cream complete with tiny bits of vanilla beans in it. He had had it in a few restaurants during our last visit, but this time was definately the best. I chose the tarte tatin, it was made with pears & served with a pool of chocolate sauce (on the side - thankfully!). I normally cannot eat chocolate and cheat only on occaison when I am feeling ok & this sauce was heaven, it was similar to the sauce in Shawn's dessert & almost had a mild fruity taste to it. A young couple was seated next to us as we were ordering our desserts & we overhead them speaking English. I guessed that they had to be Canadian, as they had no trace of accent. I decided to ask where they were from & I was right - Torontonians! They were both really good looking & very nice & friendly - we found out that they had been travelling through Europe for the past few days & had been in Germany before arriving in Paris. They mentioned that they were starting back to school the following week, so they must have been in their very early 20's.

We turned in early to catch up on rest, satisfied with everything we did on our first day back.

A few of my fave Paris pix Shawn took before my 1st visit

Shawn really got into photography during his 4-month stay in Paris - it is currently his new obsession/hobby. We already had a pretty good camera that we bought for our honeymoon last year, that took a very long time to learn how to use (well for him, I still barely know how to use it!) - it's a Panasonic DMC-FZ50 bridge DSLR - it has all of the features of a DSLR except for the detachable lense. I call it the 'big' camera. Then he bought a Fuji Film Finepix F-31FD in Paris for a surprisingly good price, as we really needed a compact camera - I was glad he got it just in time for my 1st visit, because I didn't want to have to cart around a big bulky camera all of the time & look like a tourist (this of course became the 'small' camera!). This has automatic settings on it, but you can almost fully control it manually as well. I experimented using the Museum setting during my 1st trip but most of the pix turned out really grainy & shadowy, unfortunately (as you may have seen in my Louvre & other previous museum posts) .

I wanted to post a few of my fave shots Shawny took before my visit when his friend Howie visited him in July for Bastille Day on the 14th, so here you go...he was still learning how to use the 'big' camera, but I think he did a great job capturing the Eiffel Tower (above), l'Arc de Triomphe (below) :

and the Bastille Day fireworks on July 14th:



His work evolves from this point on and improves over the course of his stay there - he has sooo many shots that we are kind of overwhelmed with the sheer volume of good ones there are to chose from....we have no idea how we are going to share them all with everyone....I love the idea of doing a photo book of all the best ones - but to choose the best of so many....it will be a work in progress for quite awhile (judging by how slow we both are when it comes to completing photo projects!)...stay tuned & I'll post a few more of my faves of his.

Next posts will be Paris Trip #2 & most of the shots I'll post are mine that I took (I improved too, especially with my nature closeups!)...come back soon to see & read more!