Chocolate and Chanel

We spent a long weekend in Paris a couple of weeks ago. Since we'd already done the tourist thing nine years ago, we basically went to enjoy some city life, sit in cafes and parks and stroll about the neighborhoods. The older I get the more I like that kind of vacation - too adventurous and you need another vacation to recover from it. Besides, the center of Paris feels like Disneyland - packed with English-speaking tourists. Best to stick to the left bank, where just a few blocks in from the river things feel comparatively normal and you can actually get a seat on the patios. My brother was in Paris at the same time, creating further occasions for sitting on patios to eat dessert-like pastries and drink pure molten chocolate - for breakfast! I've never been a porridge girl, what can I say.

We were there during the elections, and while we saw the riots at Place de la Concorde from the top of the Tour Montparnasse, we'd never have known otherwise. Besides, I was preoccupied with my hunt for Sephora stores. The company started in France, and I can only guess that their failure to open any stores in England is due to lingering resentment from the Hundred Years' War. The only truly touristy things we did were visit the Louvre and then Montmartre on a Sunday. Horror show! Go midweek in winter or leave hating all of humanity. Here are a few Eiffel-Tower-free photos:

St. Germain

La Rive Gauche

Bistro!

Hotel room with, er, French doors!


While in Paris I also took the awesomest self-portrait EVER.