I had planned to spend my last day alone checking out the famous Galeries Lafayette & Le Printemps stores that Shawn had told me about. After leaving early every day all week, I decided to take it easy and laze about the apartment a bit and headed out late morning. After taking the long way there (thanks to the RATP interactive site that told me to get out at a certain exit at Opera station, when I could have exited right in front of the stores!), I checked out Les Galeries first, floor by floor. This has the beautiful stained glass dome in it that’s “too pretty for a shopping mall”. I was amazed at the store set up, like a department store, but within the store are independent departments for each designer down each side – picture boutiques in a mall, within a big department store. After checking out a few of the price tags, it was more of a quick browse through each floor. I tried on a couple of somewhat affordable pieces on sale (Point Zero type stuff), but nothing really appealed to me. I spent some time in the souvenir department and finally found a little something for my 4 yr old nephew. After a quick rest stop & devouring my packed lunch, I went up to the top floor and checked out the view on top of the building. I had read on the Net that fashion shows were held on Fridays at 3pm, but the auditorium room where I think they’re held was all closed up – I guess maybe this wasn’t the season for them? I headed over to Le Printemps next door, checking out some of the kiosks outside of the mall. I spotted some cute sweaters & dresses in the last stall that seemed not too pricey & made a mental note to stop by there again on the way back. Printemps was more of the same designer stuff in an even fancier setting – they have a Duree in there (gourmet shop/resto) & a DeBeers counter. I got bored of that pretty fast, so I left & checked out H&M (mobbed with people for sales!), tried on a couple of things at Mango, but decided not to buy anything. I stopped at the little kiosk & tried on a cute sweater with a blouse sewn into it over my clothes & bought it, deciding not to get one of the cute little sundresses there as well (wasn’t too fond of the polka dots!).We had decided to meet at Shawn’s office & I expectedly had a hell of a time finding it – it’s located at the end of the Pont de Lavallois-Beacon metro line in an industrial park that is really weirdly set up. I finally found his building, but the receptionist didn’t know who he was, even after I explained to her that he’s an outside consultant from Montreal working there. A woman leaving there was nice enough to help me & after asking a couple of people having a cigarette outside who happened to know him, she showed me to his desk.
We headed out to the sushi restaurant we had planned to go to that we researched when he first got there, called Koba, located near metro Quatre Septembre. We arrived at opening time (7pm) & it was as described in the reviews we had read : Small place, grungy with strange decor, but extremely kind & eager to please staff & chef (Koba). They seemed to speak English much better than French as well. We were confused by the menu offerings so we ordered sashimi & sushi chef's choice per his suggestion. We got like 16 pcs of sashimi, 12 pcs of sushi & 8 huge pcs of maki - freshest fish we've ever had! And all for only 15 EUR each! We couldn't believe it & were wondering what the catch was the whole time (there wasn't any!) Plus they gave us a whole bunch of complimentary hors d'oeuvres. We split a large can of Japanese beer which was only 6EUR & delicious! As many of you may know, you typically do not tip in Paris as it is included, but we didn't hesitate to give our waiter 5 EUR for the amazing service we got! He was so cute, he wanted to tell us come back soon but he said ‘maybe you come tomorrow?’.
The night was still young after our dinner, so we headed out to see the Seine (& try to find les plages, which we never found!). We were amazed to see the foot bridges packed with groups people having late evening picnics on the ground, complete with blankets spread out, premade salads, cheeses & of course many bottles of wine (at least one per person, it seemed!). Soft guitar music from the occasional group could be heard. We watched the many tour boat/cruises on the water, took pics of parliament buildings & churches, strolled along the water’s edge (& witnessed a woman taking a squat behind a pole – ewww!), saw some hip hop street performers & enjoyed the mild, pleasant weather.
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