Paris: Day Seven, Saturday

On Saturday, we hopped aboard a 9:00 a.m. TGV train (record-holding high-speed train that goes about 200 mph!) from Paris to Reims (pronounced "Ronse"), which is in the Champagne region of France.We first hit up the Notre-Dame de Reims. Kings of France used to be coronated here.

J. taking a snapshot of Notre-Dame de Reims:

A pretty cathedral window:

The view from the floor under a candle chandelier:

Down the hallway to the back of the cathedral:

Han, me, and J.

Ken and Han photoshoot:

We walked about 1.5 miles to get to the Pommery Champagne house, where we did a Champagne cave tour and tasing. J. outside of the entrance:

Pommery was founded in 1858.

Pommery's caves are something like eleven miles long; this is where all the magic happens in producing the Champagne. We, of course, did not tour all eleven miles of the caves, but just a small portion of them. The flight of what felt like a million steps you have to walk down to go into the caves:

This room held lots of super old Pommery Champagne, and honestly, I forget what was so important about them. I'll supplement with some other interesting information...One cool thing about the Pommery Champagne house is that they produced the first Brut Champagne, which is the driest (lease sweet) of sparkling wines. According to our tour guide, Brut Champagne is the healthiest wine because it has the lease amount of sugar in it (about 9-10 grams of sugar per bottle) Hip hip hooray!

Okay, this sommelier in the picture below was a pivotal character in my life (dramatic, much?) because he poured me my first legitimate glass of Champagne ever. I mean, I've had my fair share of Cava and Prosecco (friends and I affectionately call it Champ), but "Champagne" is a legally protected name reserved for only certain sparkling wines from the Champagne region produced to meet specific requirements.

And here we go with a photo shoot. J. with her Champ:

We each sampled two: plain (?) and a rose:

Ken and Han sampling theirs:

On the way back to town, we bought pastries from this place. I got a raspberry tart.

Some fun graffiti on the way back into town: a girl with a pet rabbit on a leash, eeek, so cute.

Our waitress at lunch:

Our train wasn't departing for a couple of hours, and we were tired of walking around, so we plopped down in a park to eat our yummies and indulge in some more Champagne:

Once back in Paris, we hit up a cafe for J. to get some escargot. It was at this brasserie where I drank what I declared to be the worst glass of wine in all of France. Lame. Ken and J. at the brasserie:

Han at the brasserie:

We needed a midnight snack, so we ordered shaved lamb sandwiches with tzatziki sauce, which were out of this world. It was in this little sandwich shop where a man told J. and I that his father told him to marry an American woman. This is the only picture I have of all four of us from the entire trip:

Paris: Day Six, Friday

On Friday, J. and I found ourselves wandering through Le Marais over in the 3rd and 4th arrondissements. We went in a cool vintage store, where I bought a blue floral vintage shirt dress. J. got a couple of dresses as well. Then we found a little gem of a shop: Margo Milin (4, rue Malher). Being in Margo Milin was my favorite shopping experience in Paris, and I will tell you why. The boutique was adorable and very carefully curated, and at first I wondered if the young woman in the shop was Margo. My suspicion was confirmed when an article of clothing parachuted to the floor from its hanger and she immediately ran over to gently collect it and carefully hang it back up. Instantly, I knew that she was Margo and that all the contents in the boutique were her babies. It made me very happy to see her taking care of something she had labored over. Margo told me that she buys haute couture designer fabrics (such as Hermes) in small quantities (20-30 meter pieces) so it's affordable, but in return, her inventory is made of very fine textiles. Everything in the shop was beautiful and felt so good on my bod; I wish I could have gotten one of everything. Alas, I had to choose one thing: a cotton sateen-lyrca bright periwinkle blue dress.

Inside Margo Milin (that's my dress hanging left-center):

Margo herself:

We walked around some other stores in the area (Cos, Fragonard, to name a couple) and had a snack at a little cafe before going back to the 8th arrond. where we were staying.

Snacking in Le Marais:

 This is the menu from a place that we walked by called Cafe America. I'm dying to know what is in their Obama shake:

 

 

After this day of shopping, we were so exhausted. In fact, I lost sleep every day on this trip. My downfall is that I like to stay up late and get up early, especially while traveling, but friends, that is a short-lived venture for me (and perhaps any normal person). Han and Ken were doing dinner on their own, so J. and I went back to Le Relais de l'Entrecote, except this time at a location right off the Champs-Elysees. We sat outside, ordered a bottle of red wine, ate steak frite and dessert (I got profiteroles with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce), and had such nice conversation, all with the Eiffel Tower sparkling at us. I'd probably rank this at the top of my favorite dining experiences in Paris.

View from my table at  Le Relais de l'Entrecote Friday night:

We walked straight home and went to sleep after dinner, as we had to be ready for a very early Saturday morning...

Paris: Day Five, Thursday

Alright, let's get back to it. On Thursday, I left Han's flat alone and had cafe au lait and a apricot tart for breakfast. The only reason I didn't eat pain au chocolat on this day was because it was my second consecutive breakfast stop at the same little cafe (it was such a convenient location to Han's flat). It is also right across the street from this cafe with a bright red awning whose name is written in white cursive: Cafe Chic. I spotted Cafe Chic on the first day when I went exploring around the neighborhood, and I really wanted to eat there because it seemed so stereotypically...French. It became a joke throughout the week that we were going to eat at Cafe Chic. It was such a cheesy-sounding cafe name, and we assumed that the food probably wasn't that good (judgmental of us, I know), but every time we walked by there at night, it was crowded, and the only comment we could muster about it was, "Everyone looks so chic!" And I'm not exaggerating. Unfortunately, we did not get to visit Cafe Chic on this trip, but the next time I go back to Paris, I plan to dine at Cafe Chic.

After breakfast, I rode the train down to Musee d'Orsay. Musee d'Orsay is kind of known for its extraordinary Impressionist masterpieces, and that was my reason for visiting.

Inside Musee d'Orsay:

A sweet clock at the top of Musee d'Orsay from which you can look out into the city:

So at 10:45 a.m., I found myself standing about ten inches away from Vincent van Gogh's 1889 self portrait (y'all, I know he's post-Impressionist, but they had a lot of his stuff too). The texture of this painting was amazing, and I love the colors of his eyes in it. I don't even know what else to say about it but, wow. Seeing it up close and in person was a wonderful experience.

I went up to the fifth floor to the Impressionist portion of the museum and I really enjoyed it. I loved seeing Claude Monet's "Bras de Seine pres de Giverny" (aka "Arm of the Seine at Giverny") painted in 1897). I am always finding myself attracted to blues and greens. They also had a handful of Camille Pisarro pasture paintings of grazing livestock. My favorite Monet painting was "Essai de figure en plein-aire: Femme a l'ombrelle tournee vers la detroite." I was especially struck by the movement in the painting; it's shown only in the blue-green wind-rustled scarf and her skirt. It's what gives her life. I'm no art critic, but I read that Impressionism in general captured the moment, or rather, the paintings did. I thought this was a good illustration of that.

My favorite painting I saw in Musee d'Orsay was Gustave Caillebotte's "Les raboteurs de parque" (aka "The Floor Scrapers") painted in 1875. I wonder how long it took him to paint this; I imagine it took a while. There's something about labor that I think is beautiful, and that's why I loved this painting. There is an art to labor.

Around 11:30, Musee d'Orsay started getting crowded, so I decided to peace out and do what was next on my list: go back to Montmartre and buy a piece of leather I'd found in a tissu shop two days prior. Perhaps I should have felt hesitant about doing this because I had gone to Montmartre with Han and J. and there was a slight chance I wouldn't be able to find this tissu shop by myself. However, I kept a very detailed account of everything we did on the trip (or I wouldn't be writing about it on here) and I have a pretty good sense of direction (as well as a trusty Paris map). I had the address of the shop from which I had purchased the cotton and linen fabrics, and the shop with the leather I wanted was just right down the street. Anyway, I got off the metro at the Anvers stop, which spits you out directly into what I'm calling the fabric district of Montmartre. I found the dusty pink imprinted Burmese leather I was looking for after all and snatched it up, and when I walked around the corner, I realized that Han, J. and I had missed the majority of the tissu shops one street over. 

I briefly went into this woman's shop; she was chatting away with her customers, telling them all about the textiles they were holding. It was all in French (obviously):

I went into one ribbon store called Doration Passementerie (24, rue d'Orsel), and it was exactly how I would imagine an old school ribbon shop. There were spools of purchase-by-the-meter ribbons from the floor to the ceiling, everything was perfectly organized, and the shopkeeper was a very elegant older French woman who was very friendly. Oh, and the grosgrain! I could have spent my entire life's savings in that place. This transaction was my third favorite shopping experience (my favorite will be on Friday with a local French fashion designer and my second favorite on my last day in Paris). I bought some beautiful grosgrain ribbons at this shop. This lady did not speak English, at all, and we kept getting tickled because I was trying really hard to say something comprehensible to her even though I don't speak French at all. I was giggling and apologizing in French every other breath, but she was so sweet about it. 

Another memorable experience I had in the tissu district was when I walked into an upholstery store owned by a married couple, er, I think they were married. I presume they were married because the woman was screaming and yelling at the man, and he in turn would bicker right back at her. In between he would come over and talk to me in broken English and she never stopped yelling at him. I  immediately thought about the "Bonjour" scene from Beauty and the Beast (yeah, the Disney movie) where the woman hits the guy over the head with a rolling pin when he helps a young lady at their produce stand. I didn't spend much time in there before I walked into a leather/fur shop, which had gorgeous pieces in it. The young woman in the shop wasn't interested in me because I didn't speak French. She wasn't directly rude, but she was so aloof that I felt kind of uncomfortable. Maybe that was me being self-conscious. I did buy some leather from her because I had touched everything in the shop (and it was really pretty). One shopping faux pas in France putting your paws on everything in the store. When it comes to textiles, though, I just can't help myself. I did get a 3-meter-cut of some beautiful padparadscha-colored silk in a different tissu shop before departing Montmartre for the last time.

I met J. outside of Galeries Lafayette, a French department store on Boulevard Haussman. I'd read a lot about this department store, and its 10-stories of shopping do not disappoint. They have various eateries throughout the store as well as a Dom Perignon bar where you can order a glass of champagne to drink if you need to cool your heels mid-shopping. I could've spent an entire day in this place. J. and I had a snack and then hit up three floors of women's clothing before going to the first floor which was filled with shoes, shoes and more shoes. I got my first piece of Parisian apparel here, which was a short-sleeved, cream lace dress that ties in the back. The lace is scalloped on the hem and the nude slip underneath hangs below the scallops. Be still my heart, I love that dress!

These are some photos I took while J. and I were cooling our heels (with complimentary cups full of water, not Dom Perignon):

For dinner that night, Han, Ken, J. and I went to a local pub called Bouclier de Bacchus in the 9th. This place was a gem. It's where a lot of locals go (according to our hostess Han), meaning there were no tourists. I'd go back there in a heartbeat! It's a small joint, and when you walk in the door, there is a small wall to the right with bottles of white wine from the floor to the ceiling, and on the left, a huge wall with bottles of red wine from the floor to the ceiling. We got a bottle of Grand vin de Bourgogne's Chorey-les-Beaune (a yum red wine) and a meat and cheese plate to share. Since the tables were all so close, we made friends (one of our goals while in France: to make French friends, check) with a couple who talked to us for a while. During the conversation, J. jokingly asked the man how to get a French man, and he said, "Go to L.A.," laughed (because he met his wife in L.A.) and then went on to say, "It's a choice. Open your eyes and your ears." Thank you, insightful Frenchman, we'll have another bottle of wine on that note! Later, the couple asked us if we wanted to try a dab of their wine, and J. had a touch of our wine left in her glass. When she consented to trying the new wine, he grabbed her glass and threw her Chateau de Valmer Vouvray onto the floor of the restaurant before pouring her a taste of their wine. It was a very entertaining experience. That's all I've got for today, folks.

Paris: Day Four, Wednesday

On Wednesday, J. and I headed toward le Musee des Arts Decoratifs (Fashion and Textiles museum, which is attached to the Louvre). It was our first metro ride without Han, and we were able to navigate it very well! I need to feel oriented in a place, and I knew that was starting to happen for me on Wednesday when Paris didn't seem so big to me anymore. In fact, it was starting to feel more and more like a quaint, small town. Anyway, back to the Fashion and Textiles museum.

It was in this museum where I saw my favorite exhibit: Louis Vuitton Marc Jacobs. As per the museum norm, photography was prohibited, but I really enjoyed just being in this exhibit. It was a two-story exhibit. The downstairs was about Louis Vuitton, and the upstairs housed Marc's world. Here are some images from the exhibit taken by Vogue UK. I learned so much about Louis Vuitton (both the man and his company). One such thing I learned was that he specialized in the packaging of haute couture. Maybe everyone else knew that except me, but whatever, R.'s rocking a new appreciation for LV. My favorite part of the exhibit was Marc's world. It was very colorful and loud, and there were audio recordings of him talking at different intervals. Very cool. He said that he always likes to start with a dialogue, that's he's really bad with a blank piece of paper; I liked that. I enjoyed LVMJ so much that I went through it twice while we were there. To be frank, I didn't really enjoy much else in the museum.

After a mealtime conundrum which ultimately lead J. and I to a lunch at McDonald's, I thoroughly enjoyed some Micky D's. It was actually delicious (familiar/comforting food halfway around the world was a plus for me during aforesaid conundrum). It took us a few days to realize that we needed to decide what we wanted to eat before we both became hangry, but we finally got the hang of it. After lunch, J. and I split up for the afternoon so she could hit up Centre Georges Pompidou (aka a famous modern art museum) and so I could go to Musee d'Orsay (aka a famous Impressionism art museum). Here's a tip, don't go Musee d'Orsay right after lunch. It's way too crowded. When I took one gander at the line outside, I thought, Forget it, walked away and never looked back. After that, I literally got lost in the Saint-Germain-des-Pres area. I had a map, but I had no intentions of going anywhere in particular, and that was one of my favorite afternoons in Paris. I really enjoy aimless strolling.

So, J. had an international cell phone, and I was using a pay-as-you-go cell phone that belonged to Han during the day. Our intention was to call each other and meet up, but it's a good thing we had a back-up plan, which I had to implement as soon as I realized that my phone was out of minutes/texts. Through a string of events where my phone would receive a few thirty second telephone calls prior to a lovely French operator saying some incomprehensible stuff to me (weird), I gathered from Han that she and her beau Ken would be home between 6:30-7 and that we were going to a place near where J. was (they had spoken apparently) for dinner. So I met them back at the flat before going to meet J. at the Pont Neuf stop. Looking back, it was kind of awesome that all that worked out the way it did because we were all able to meet in the right places and then go to this restaurant of amazingness:

Han and Ken walking through Saint-German-des-Pres on the way to Le Relais de l'Entrecote:

Le Releais de 'Entrecote has only one main dish: steak frite (steak and fries). They bring you a salad with lettuce, walnuts, parmesan cheese and spicy mustard vinaigrette, they ask you how you want your steak cooked (rare, medium or done), they bring you the bottle of wine you order, and an amazing experience commences. Below is my amazing plate of steak frite (they bring you seconds, too, yay). The green herb and butter sauce is very delicious and super interesting...we read some recipe recreations online of this dish, and everyone seems to think they use chicken liver to flavor this stuff. Whatever they do, it's out of this world delicious.

Next stop after steak frite, a Seine river tour that started at 10 p.m.!

Ken and Han on the river tour:

J. and I on the river tour:

Some Eiffel Tower action with J. on the river tour: