Paris: The Final Day (sniff, sniff)

We actually started out Sunday morning with mass at Notre Dame.  It was quite beautiful although difficult to follow in French!  The voices of the choir were breathtaking.

I did not take this picture during the mass we attended.  It is a little surreal, but there are tourists in the perimeter while mass is happening.  After the mass we attended was complete we looked at all the incredible artifacts and statues around the church.  By the time we came to the other side, another mass was in session.  It was quite beautiful the way the smoke from the incense hit the light.

Things are quite bit more extravagant than our little home town church.

In one of the surrounding areas, sitting on the ground, was this amazing chandelier.

We walked around the area some and just enjoyed being in Paris.

We stopped here…

And had this amazing lunch…

Then we walked through the gardens of the Louvre.

The chairs, that in the Spring, Summer and early Fall, are filled.  In late fall, in the rain, they sit quiet and lovely….

We saw this at a flower shop.  It was quite intricately put together.  Thought it might provide some inspiration.

Last, but not least, this was the lovely room that we stayed in.

Thanks for letting me share my trip with all of you.  It was such a great time and it will stay with me always.

Bon Soir!

Paris: Sometimes the Unexpected is the Most Fun!

Stepping back out of Christmas decorating for a day.  While I finish everything up, I thought I would share a little more from out trip.

Here are some more pictures of beautiful Paris…

After we left the flea markets we headed our on the Metro to the Champs Elysees.  We weren’t planning on going to any of the tourist areas but changed our mind and figure we would go and spend some time in the area.

This is the view of the road from the end by the gardens in front of the Louvre.  It leads all the way up to Arc de Triomphe.

Turns out they had a winter festival set up on both sides of the road with lovely booths selling all kinds of wares and lot of yummy food.

How often do you see a Frenchman shucking oysters on the street?

How often does a silver man blow you a kiss?

We enjoyed some yummy food and some mulled wine and made our way down towards the Eiffel Tower.  We did not follow the normal path and ended up passing through a very lovely (and expensive) area that housed several Embassies.

We did go to the Eiffel Tower and it is beautiful.  I hope this does not make me a scrooge,  but we did not stay very long.  On the day we were there, it was so crowded, the lines were hours long and there is a LOT of people selling you Eiffel Towers.  Funny, the one guy who didn’t ask if we wanted to buy some we ended up buying some from.

We actually made our way back to Champs Elysees once it was dark.  We had seen all of the lights on the trees and were hoping to catch the lights lit for Christmas.  While we waited we came upon this beautiful store window with a little girl enjoying it.

I think this window was Hugo Boss.  I have a few ideas brewing in my head with this one.  Maybe not quite so large, but on a smaller scale…

I am not sure what this building is, but it was so beautiful all lit up at night.

And here are the lights lit leading up to the Arc de Triumph.

Unfortunately, we were not there to see them!  They were being turned on the Tuesday after we left.  Ah, you win some, you loose some!

Bon Jour!

Paris: One the Coolest Things I Have Seen in a While

I am jumping ahead a little to day three…

It was again raining, not a downpour, more of a drizzle.  We had enough of the Metro the day before, so we walked despite the rain.  Don’t get me wrong, the Metro system is incredible but we decided to be out in Paris instead of under it for such a short visit.

After we visited the Musee d’Orsay we crossed a foot bridge over the Seine towards the Louvre and we found this…

Everywhere you looked were locks on the railings.  Each one of them expressed a message or a love note.  It was so cool to read each of them.  Here are some pictures of my favorites.

So romantic…

My daughter’s initials.  I think this will be incorporated into her bedroom re-do.

And always remember…

Thanks to Michelle from Emerald Cove for inspiring me to try out some of the applications from Picnik.

Bon Jour!

Paris: The Flea Markets

Day two was all about hitting the flea markets.  There were three I targeted but decided to only do two since we were there for such a short period of time.

Since my husband does so much business traveling, he NEVER checks his bags.  I knew he wouldn’t say anything if I had to check bags, but I knew he would be happier if I didn’t.  So, I had to get all of my stuff in carry-on only, leaving little room for treasures, but I did mange to get some treasures which I will post soon.

We did arrive relatively early at both and did not have any issues with crowds.

The first one that we went to was Marche de la Porte de Vanves in the southern part of Paris. This was a true flea market as booths are set up in the morning along the sidewalks.  When we were there we seemed to be the only English speaking people around, but by saying “bonjour” and “combien?” (how much) everyone was helpful and kind.

Looking a little sleepy but happy!

This is the one I still think about, that gives me a little shot in the gut.  There was not wa this was fitting in my carry-on luggage.   It was in the very beginning and I never even asked how much it was.  It is probably better not knowing, but I can’t stop thinking, “what if it was really cheap, I could have shipped it home!”.  Hindsight as they say is 20/20 and the sight of this was gorgeous!

This was just tons of fun stuff.  Oh to bring home the bistro chairs, the leather club chairs, the blue car, the frames, the legs and the galvanized bucket.  The good news is I did get to bring home the guy who’s feet you see!

This is not really my type of stuff, but can appreciate how lovely it all is even just for the fact that it is French!

Again, just beautiful furniture treasures waiting to find a home.  I didn’t ask about pricing on any furniture, but this did seem like the type of place where there would be a potential for some fairly good purchases.  However, I think you would have to lots of courage or know a lot more French than I to really get some deals!

Not everything seemed appropriate to photograph as I did not want to ruffle and feathers.  Once we turned the corner, everything was closer together and more difficult to photograph.  Also, the further you went down, you seemed to be moving into the “lower rent” district of what was being offered.  However, on the other side on the way back through, I did see this lovely seed packet holder.  Oh, if it would only fit in my carry-on bag!

 

I really enjoyed this flea market and would recommend it.  We then moved North to the Marche aux Puces de St.-Ouen.  This is the oldest and most famous flea market in Paris.

It was a little difficult to navigate around what is what around here as there are a lot of vendors who have filled in around it to take advantage of the crowds.  We kept following signs for the information booth, but never actually got to it.

We didn’t really tackle much of this, we just got a flavor of it.  The parts that we went through were all permanent structures more like shops.  I understand there are more “flea-market-like” areas, but we did not go to them. 

There were some amazing and beautiful things to be inspired by.  We bought nothing here as it was so expensive, but it was really fun to just stroll through.

Sorry this picture came out so blurry, but I felt it was so amazing it was worth showing.  I am big sucker for anything with an industrial feel.  The suitcases up at the back on the shelf were amazing.

This booth was just so Parisian in every sense of the word…

This was down one of the smaller alleys and I swooned over these…

Loved every single thing in this booth..

Some of the booths were VERY high end.  Check out the cute guy in the mirror!

This gives you a good sense of what the alleys looked like.  Some were much tighter and snaked around quite interestingly.

This booth was stunning.  Just to give you a perspective, she wanted close to $500 for the music sheet covered dress form pictured below.

There is no mistaking where Restoration Hardware gets their inspiration.  This area was filled with industrial items that we would all put in our homes.

I don’t think this piece is old.  I believe it is a newly machined metal cabinet.  Exquisite.  The guy inside the booth was like a mad scientist talking to himself quite quickly while creating something.  I would have loved to stayed and watched but the smarter side of me said, keep moving and photograph where he can’t see you!

This was a different section that was actually closed in with a glass rooftop.  Really pretty.

After this we had some cappuccino and a Croque Monsieur (fancy ham and cheese) and then moved on to another part of Paris. 

Stay tuned…

Bon Jour!