France Day 2/3: La Belle Vie

Hello Everyone!

I didn't blog about my stay in Paris yesterday because I had the Huckleberry Cakes review due and also because I didn't have the patience to chose all my photos. The odd thing is that my camera died on me yesterday so I didn't manage to take photos during the later half of the day which was really sad. Most of my photos were taken in The Louvre which I really really loved. 

The nice 5am view from my hotel balcony~

Early 730am breakfast at Caffe Lafayette 

I love breakfasts here and there are so many cafes around my hotel that and I wished I could try them all.. I've been having loads of croissants and baguettes everywhere and I don't really regret it since we constantly walk a lot during the day. I'd say that Paris is a place where you need to be able to constantly walk for the whole day, or else you won't be able to see and experience things. 

The trains are pretty alright though I'm not too fond of the funky smell (not like anyone is) that's in every single station. Taking public transport here was generally an interesting experience.

Some snaps fro The Louvre

I definitely would love to go back there again and I'd recommend it to anyone who loves museums, history and art. Also, the basic entry cost 12 euros which was pretty darn reasonable as compared to the attractions in Singapore. I'd say the long queue is completely worth it. A great tip would be to head there in the early morning! We reached there around 9am and it was pretty packed already, the queue moved quite fast so it wasn't exactly a problem.

Personally, I'd spend an entire day in the Louvre, I had to speed up my walking which I didn't really like and I didn't have time to visit the Richelieu wing which kinda sucked. But of course, not everyone was into this sort of thing, so we left around lunchtime. Definitely want to come back here one day to spend hours wandering around the place!

Lunch was at a little shop around the Saint Ouen Flea Market

I didn't manage to take photos at the flea market as I was a little more wary of my valuables while I was there. If I could describe it, it's almost like Thailands Chatuchak market, but the Saint Ouens Flea market was more concentrated on antiques and little vintage trinkets. I do love walking around the little shops and the shopkeepers are generally nice. Then again you have the people selling random goods near the station (I'd presume some were probably stolen, particularly the phones) so that really made me uneasy about taking my phone and camera out to snap some shots. 

I sort of wished I was a little braver about taking my camera out because the Flea market really was a quaint and interesting place. I definitely liked it there. 

After wandering around the shops at Saint Ouens we took a bus to an area near the Notre Dame and walked along the Seine river which was really refreshing even though my feet were on the verge of breaking. By then my camera had died so I didn't get to snap any photos at the Notre Dame or anywhere after that which was a bummer. 

Everyone was looking forward to getting their hands on some Berthillion ice cream, which was pretty amazing (I just took a little from my friend). I wasn't feeling too up for any ice cream (partially because I was carrying many things) so I happily wandered around the nearby shops and marvelled at the buildings, which more or less have the same concepts but being a foreigner, I was really intrigued. I'm not too sure about the pricing but the scoops were kinda small, but since the ice creams were so packed with flavour, I'd think a bigger scoop wouldn't be too much of a good idea.

As for this morning, I woke up almost just as early as I did yesterday, but I had a great amount of sleep because I knocked off a lot earlier last night. I was pretty tired and bummed about my camera so I felt like there wasn't much for me to do but get some rest. We will be having a small performance/workshop at the Palais de Tokyo which is a building dedicated to contemporary art. Thus, I decided to take the day to relax in my hotel room, eat my lunch while I blog and enjoy the nice view from my balcony!

I'd be snapping photos for the night since it's a really small performance and not all of us are needed. I should add that I'm (not so) secretly happy about that because I get a little more time to myself than some of my friends who're performing tonight hehe. Then again, I'm kind of excited for tomorrow's performance and the following days in the other towns as well! It's going to get really busy so I don't know if I can even get any blogposts out! 

Today's breakfast at another cafe around my hotel. 

I can't remember what the cafe was called but it was just opposite the Gare Du Nord train station.. Then again there are quite a few along that stretch but sadly, I really cannot remember it because I was quite hungry and excited to eat. 

I missed out the photo of the croissants which were probably one of the softest that I've had since I came here and I wished I could eat tonnes of them without getting any fatter. I loved today's breakfast even more than yesterdays, but what can I say? Give me eggs for breakfast and I'm absolutely happy. I find myself craving for eggs very often and here in Paris, I fulfil that craving everyday! 

Well, that's all for today's (and yesterday's) blogpost! I hope I do get to explore more of Paris at the end of our tour if I'm lucky but for now, it's time to prepare for the performances! I'll see you guys in my next blogpost! 

xx

Shayne