Day 32 : Part 2 - Out and about in Le Marais (again!)

Because I clearly loved it the first time around, I decided to spend another weekend exploring more of Le Marais! and let me just say that each time I come here, I fall more and more in love with the old charm and character of this neighborhood... Hopefully by the end of this blog post, you'll see why :-)

For your viewing pleasure, I've decided to share a few great finds from my afternoon stroll today... Of all of them, I'd have to say that, by far, my favorite highlight would have to be Place des Vosges! For my history buffs out there, you'll be intrigued to hear that this beautiful Parisian oasis happens to be the oldest planned square in Paris!

Bienvenue au Marais. Pavillon du Roi. Love the architecture. | Rue de Birague, 3e arrondissement

Place des Vosges  | 3e arrondissement

Being the nerdy little me, I've always been fascinated about hearing the stories behind people, places, and things--and so  after I came home tonight, of course, I had to give myself some fun, extra little homework to brush up on my Jeopardy trivia about this place :-) Quite an interesting story indeed--I must say reading up on its background definitely brought the beautiful old square more back to life!

Admittedly, many times at school I've been called the "Queen of All Nerds." So, rather than bore many of you with a full history lesson on what I learned about Place des Vosges today, I shall resist the temptation and leave my fellow nerds to rely on my best friend Mr. Wikipedia to educate you all. Meanwhile, without any further delay, I'll let the rest of you go on and enjoy my visual delights below :-)

Statue de Louis XIII | Place des Vosges 

Pavillon de la Reine. Il fait du soleil! | Place des Vosges 

If only it wasn't winter, I'd spend my weekends reading here... | Place des Vosges 

 Hmm, I've noticed that the French love to trim all their trees flat... | Place des Vosges 

 Maison de Victor Hugo in the far corner. | Place des Vosges 

Arcardes lining the park. Feel like I've travelled back in time... | Place des Vosges 

A few more lucky gems I came across this afternoon!

To start with, this cool concept store Merci, which my sister actually told me about a few years ago. Tucked away in a courtyard off Boulevard Beaumarchais, this lovely, quirky magasin solidaire was launched awhile back by the founders of chic children's brand Bonpoint and would be what I'd describe as the perfect one-stop shop for cool little things to make life more fun :-)

Merci  | 3e arrondissement

J'adore cette voiture rouge! | Merci

Inside you'll find a delightful selection of books, fashion, shoes, kitchen accessories, furniture, bikes, etc.--all artfully displayed to tempt even the most casual window-shopper to come in and take a peek :-) The best part about this store, though, is that 100% of profits from your purchases at Merci all go to charities! Hmm, now with a good cause like that, how can you resist indulging in some retail therapy?!

Day 32 : Part 1 - Reason No. 846 Why I love Paris!

After a week in hibernation, I finally decided to come out and play today, and let me just say what a terrific day I chose indeed! Not only was the sun shining bright with blue skies here in Paris, but I also came across this lovely surprise as I was heading into the Paris metro at Trocadéro this afternoon...

Who needs l'Opéra when you have the Paris Metro? |  Vimeo

Now, when was the last time you saw a 10-piece string orchestra in the New York subway?! What makes this even more perfect is the fact they played my all-time favorite classical piece, Pachelbel's Canon. Ah, oui, it definitely feels good to be in Paris :-)

Day 25-31 : Je suis malade...

Bonjour mes amis! Oui, I'm still alive!!

So sorry I've been MIA this past week, but unfortunately I've been terribly sick :-( Silly as it might sound, I actually bit my tongue while napping last week and did not take it easy over the weekend as I should have. Ended up paying for it this week as I could no longer eat, talk... or even laugh with the excruciating pain :-( In the end, I was forced not to talk and go on a liquids-only diet, which I must say is torture here in Paris with all the delicious boulangeries and pâtisseries taunting me on every street corner! Good news, though--after two days of rest, happy to say it looks like I'm finally on my way to a speedy recovery :-)

Now that I'm starting to feel a lot better, I guess it's safe to return to the scene of the crime and share with you my little guilty pleasure last Sunday that was partially to blame for the pain I later suffered this week...

Ladurée |  Champs-Élysées, 8e arrondissement 

Yes, that's right. Ladurée. Bored out of my mind and with almost every place closed on Sunday in Paris, I couldn't think of any other place to better entertain myself than Ladurée on the Champs-Élysées :-) Admittedly, this isn't first, second, or even third time I've been here... Nevertheless, I thought I'd come back anyway and check it out again for the millionth time. Why you ask? Well, because we all know Ladurée is one of the best pâtisseries in town! and frankly, with all the yummy desserts on display, seriously, how can you ever say "No?"

Grand entrance @ Ladurée |  Champs-Élysées, 8e arrondissement

Hmm, wondering what's inside the green bag? Well, if you guessed macarons... Haha, you're wrong!

Trés jolie! | Ladurée 

I know, I know... I always come to chez Ladurée for the maracons, and I must confess that's the only thing I've tried on their menu. However, what few seem to realize (except the local Parisians themselves) is that Ladurée also makes one of the best religieuses in town! I came across this interesting fact while browsing through my foodie blogs earlier on Sunday and decided I had to taste it for myself...

Day 24 : Part Deux - Le Chateaubriand + Snails = Yummy!

After running around all day at The Happiest Place in Europe, I found myself so hungry when I got back to Paris earlier this evening that I'm certain I could have eaten a whole cow! Thankfully, Edouard, our new, très gentil Parisian friend/local tour guide had booked a table at Le Chateaubriand (11, rue de Washington, 8e arrondissement), so that he, Yasuyo, Kurt and I could all catch up and start planning our big road trip to the French countryside/South of France next month! Let me say, like last time, he once again did not let us down!!  Merci beaucoup, Edouard!

To be honest, after three bottles of wine at dinner, my memory is a little blurry from tonight... Thank goodness for the pictures below to remind us of what fun we had! Besides the entertaining charades we had at the dinner table, gastronomic highlights from tonight's feast include: 1) l'escargots (translation: snails!!); 2) cheesecake for dessert (so yummy we had to order a second one!); and 3) amazing, warm hospitality from the Le Chateaubriand staff (especially our serveuse for the evening who even gave a certain gentleman at our table a little kiss on the cheek as a thank you for his nice compliment :-p)!

Old frenchman with awesome shades? Haven't tried the food yet, but I already know I'm going to love this place... | Le Chateaubriand

 A short history lesson before dinner :-) | Le Chateaubriand 

Edouard et Kurt | Le Chateaubriand 

To be honest, can't remember exactly what this is... Edouard had ordered it for us, but it was super delicious!! | Le Chateaubriand 

L'escargots. | Le Chateaubriand 

Day 24 : Part One - The Happiest Place in... Europe---Disneyland Paris!

I'd have to say today was, by far, the most fun I've ever had since I arrived here in France!! Why you ask? Well, that's because I got to spend the entire day being a kid again at Disneyland Paris!! 

Haha! Yes, we all know I've been a Disney fanatic since I was little. Truth be told, though, it was only after I found out I'd be studying abroad in France that I really started to have my eyes set on checking this theme park out. Disneyland Paris was the second Disney resort launched outside the US, but the first to be opened and operated by Disney--which unfortunately meant a lot of hard lessons learnt by Disney during its early days... While interning with Disney last summer, I actually got the chance to hear many of these stories from other cast members, as well as the various things Disney did to improve the Park since. Living in Paris now and embracing my inner Disney nerd :-p, I knew I could not possibly leave France without seeing it all for myself. Even more so, a number of my friends in Imagineering had mentioned a lot of good things about Disneyland Paris, with some even going as far to say that it was their favorite! So again, I needed to see why...

Admittedly, at first, I was afraid I wouldn't be able to find someone to make the Disney voyage with me... I had mentioned the idea to couple of my fellow Boothies, who thought it was nice but then quickly brushed the idea off. I don't blame them. At our age, I know, there's probably more exciting things to see and do in Paris... 

Thankfully, though, my french teacher asked our class last week what places we wanted to visit while we were here in Europe. Half-jokingly I mentioned Disneyland Paris, of course. Expecting the usual "Oh, how nice..." response, I was amazed when my classmate Lisa jumped on the idea! Looking back, I'm really glad she came along today! It turns out Lisa is just as big a Disney fan as me, so she didn't mind at all that I wanted to stop and take a million pictures :-) I guess, you can thank her for my extensive picture album below!

Being a kid again for a day! | Disneyland Paris   

"Parc Disneyland" - couldn't believe how many other people came out early for the opening of the park! | Disneyland Paris   

Wow! So pretty! | Disneyland Paris   

Umm yes, this entrance beats the one in California... | Disneyland Paris   

Disneyland Hotel | Disneyland Paris   

"Bienvenue." | Main Street USA, Disneyland Paris   

Wow, we're finally here! Yay! | Main Street USA, Disneyland Paris   

First Impressions: Hands down, I would have to agree with whichever Imagineer said that Disneyland Paris is the prettiest Disney park of all! I should probably mention that I haven't been to Disney World (yet), so I could be mistaken... But for now, yes, this park gets my vote for the top prize!

Rather than bore you with all the little details of my Disney day-long adventure, though, I thought I'd just quickly share with you my three favorite highlights from today:

Day 23 : Rewind --> Art Day... in Le Marais!

Unfortunately, it's another gray and rainy day here in Paris. After yesterday's action-packed adventure, I've decided to be a hermit today and stay inside to catch up on emails and homework. While combing through my files in my computer, though, I realized that I somehow forgot to share with you my little Parisan expedition to Le Marais over the weekend! (Yeah, despite my horrible cold, I had to flee the nest on Sunday for some fresh air. Otherwise, I always end up going stir crazy...). 

I first heard about Le Marais from my sister when were planning our last visit to Paris back in September. I remembered she had put it on our list of places to see, but sadly we were in town for only a weekend and could only see so much :-/  Anyway, home to the Centre Pompidou, a building complex which houses the largest museum of modern art in Europe, Le Marais has often been described as one of the liveliest, loveliest and most beautiful quartier of Paris. It's also one of the few places in Paris where most of the shops are open on Sunday! Rain or shine, the old narrow streets filled with trendy fashion boutiques, restaurants and antique shops are perfect for wandering about and just getting lost for a day...

Centre Pompidou | 3e arrondissement 

High-tech architecture | Centre Pompidou

When I first read about this building, I was such a big fan... | Centre Pompidou 

...but in person, it's so much more interesting and fun. | Centre Pompidou  

Giant air ducts. | Centre Pompidou  

Interesting juxtaposition with the historic buildings in the back.| Centre Pompidou  

I must say I love the charm of the old historic buildings in this neighborhood... It almost feels like you're walking back in time! Below are a few fun discoveries I made while out and about in Le Marais :-)

Day 22 : Part Trois - The pâtisserie tour continues... Angelina!

Finally, after a day out at the museums, Miss Y and I decided to talk a stroll across the Seine and check out another pâtisserie near the Louvre... Angelina! Voted as one of the best pastry shops in Paris, we knew we had to make a stop here, and I must say we had a delicious time indeed :-)

In terms of the desserts, while they may not have been as orgasmic as the ones we tasted at our visit to La Pâtisserie des Rêves, the treats were still very yummy and definitely worth the trip! Also, unlike the modern flair of the tea room at La Pâtisserie des Rêves, Angelina's parlor room offers a little more touch of traditional French elegance and sophistication that invites you to stay and chat with your girlfriends for hours... Yasuyo and I sure know--we ended up closing the place down and left just before they shut the doors at 7:00pm! Definitely a great way to end a perfect day in Paris :-)

Angelina | 3e arrondissement 

 Lovely mosaic. | Angelina

Dessert time!! | Angelina 

"Ooooo! Now how do I decide...?!" | Angelina  

"May one of these?" | Angelina