Paris Diary Day 3

Missed out on day 1 and 2? No worries, I got you. Read 'em here and here. 

On our third and final day we booked a fancy dinner. The kind of fancy we had to book weeks in advance. More on that magical dinner later...

First, we went to Starbucks. They have collectible city, country mugs that can only bought in the corresponding countries. They had 'Paris' and 'France' so I took both. They had pancakes so we ended up having breakfast there. We went for seconds, lol.

Then my friend wanted to mail post cards and so we went to the post office.

After we made our to an area called Le Marais and spend our afternoon there.

Our Airbnb host notified us there was a  music festival happening today. Restaurants, cafes, and even stores hosted musicians to come perform at their establishments. As we walked around the city we passed by a few performers. The normally quiet streets of Paris came alive.

Also, it was Sunday and we noticed many stores were closed. It was weird but I was like 'okay, Paris...' It's nice for the employees though.

On the way, we saw two women arguing on the streets. Not just women, French women. Typically this is amusing by itself but because Parisians are reserved, this was a rare treat we were witnessing.  My friend was looking at the map while I discretely watched them. It was tres magnifique.

On the way we saw a place with cats on the window. And then more cats. Turns out the place was a cat cafe. We already ate breakfast but since we've never been to one we decided to go in. We needed reservations. Fortunately, the lady was nice enough to accommodate us without one. We both had teas and mini desserts. Mine had a white bug (lice?) in my raspberry but I didn't say anything because the cats were cute and I am weak to cute.

Most of the cats were sleeping. They had 3 rules: you can't pick up the cat, you can't pet a sleeping cat, and you can't wake them up. It was a little bit of a bummer. However one cat was awake and sat next to the window behind us. Then it became interested in my friend. It sat on her lap and examined her sweater. It was magical. It didn't come to me, but I'm okay with being magical adjacent.

After we finally made it to Le Marais. It's a place where the streets are narrow and stores - that are open, yay - populate the place.  It seemed to be a tourist area (it was busy) but there is something very French about it.

The stores are more contemporary. Think Sandro and Maje (Michael Kors and Kate Spade if you're a basic bitch). We did see COS and Uniqlo. In general disposable, cheap clothing isn't really Paris's style. I love that and I think that's why their style is so infamous. They're more considerate of what they buy and there are no Forever21s or Dynamites to taint their wardrobe.

What was so bizarre however was we kept seeing stores with multiple locations in close proximity. We saw, I think 2-3 Maje stores. The biggest culprit was The Kooples. We saw 5 in the span of like 30 minutes. After the second store or so, we started pretending we've never heard of it and that we should go check it out.

I mean, one was 'opening soon...'

Also located in Le Marais is the Picasso National Museum. The museum was only open for another hour  and something minutes. So we kinda felt rushed. It seemed small to me, but it turned out to be 5 floors. The design was also more modern (read lots of white, simple).

The collection includes pieces from, I feel, all of Picasso's periods. Cubism, African, sculpting, Blue, Rose. Even his early Realism work (I didn't know he did this) and pieces of artwork from his personal collection.

Seeing the work Picasso made in his lifetime - the styles and mediums he worked in - was inspiring. It reaffirmed that it is important to continue to grow and evolve despite of age, how established you are, and even if you develop a 'signature.'

Just outside the museum was a restaurant selling hotdogs on the street. Street meat is such a Canadian thing so obviously we made a stop and did it. Their street meet was different though: the bread was flat and the hotdog was like soft beef jerky. My friend put mustard and it was spicy, I don't know. They did give me an extra hotdog (bless) which I shared with my friend (share the bless).

With the cat cafe and this, unplanned eating just kept happening. I'm very okay with that.

After we made our way back home. We had to pack for our early flights and also change for our fancy dinner.

On the way to the restaurant we made a detour. Because I am me, we had to reshoot a shoot. It was at the Arc de Triomphe and I loved the concept we had. The results I had were unsatisfactory and since it will probably be a long time before I come to Paris again, I was adamant in getting the perfect shots. My friend concurred.

Thankfully, it was in the same area as our dinner. Unfortunately, we were strapped for time. We took the shots and rushed to the restaurant.

It was dramatic and we loved it.

Finally we made it to the restaurant. We were late but our reservation was honoured. It was at a place called Les Ombres. It was recommended by the internet as a go-to (highly recommend this list of things not to do in Paris) for having the best view of the Eiffel Tower. Let me tell you, it did not disappoint. I was winded, disheveled, and sweaty. The food was alright and the serving was tiny but after seeing the tower light up at 10pm, none of those things really mattered. Coming to Paris has been a dream come true and we were ending on a magical note.

After, we walked back home one last time. We slept maybe 2 hours that night (morning?) and I walked my friend to find a taxi. I made my way to the airport 2 hours later.

We were off to Rome. STAY TUNED.