Wandering Heels: Paris

I wanted to get a few older outings out of the way before I start on Budapest so I decided to cheat and do a compilation post on everything.

My bestie ~~Amy~~ Ray Ray (Hi, Bestie!!!!) bought me tickets to visit Buckingham Palace for my birthday this year. It was only valid during the months when the Queen was away on her summer vacation and I didn't want to go while the Olympic madness was going on so I had been delaying it until the last minute. Literally, it turned out.

I decided to go on the third last weekend but when I got there, the attendant told me I did not have the right documentation. It turned out that Ray Ray didn't give me the right page, i.e. the page with the checkout details. I guess she was trying to be polite and not let me see the price. So I turned around and left, kinda having given up after battling the crowd to get to the ticket area. I stupidly went at 11 am, i.e. changing of the guard time. It was seriously people mountain people sea. I was off to Paris the next weekend so I could try again on the very last weekend.

Lucky they turned me away because it turned out that Ray Ray bought me TWO tickets. Apparently she didn't have the heart to let me wander around B Palace by myself like a loser. Heh... anyway Damon got to come along for the ride. We were slackasses and delayed it till the last possible minute to go... I was secretly reluctant to go because of the inevitable crowd but the inner-kiasuness in me kicked in and said I had to go or Ray Ray might as well had flushed the 36 quid down the toilet.

No photos were allowed as it is a working palace. Fair enough. It is the Jubilee year so there was also a special diamond exhibition on display. The queue to go past each diamond slowly was ridiculous so we opted to speed walk past the queue. *yawn*.We saw a few different rooms - Blue room, Green room, White room, bla bla bla. It was pretty boring to be honest. I was just hanging out for the food at the end of the tour.

Yay overpriced touristy lacklustre food.

Only picture I was allowed to take of the palace... meh.

My mate, B visited me in October and we went to a few shows - Jersey Boys and Top Hat. We also did a chocolate walking tour around Soho. Our guide was like a real life Wally from Where's Wally.

I got bored after taking two photos. Suffice to say we went to quite a few chocolate places and I bought some interesting chocolates - Tom Yum, Bakewell Tart, Miso Soup and Peanut Butter & Jelly.

October also saw me ducking off to Paris for the day with my 2 girl mates. Stacey was only in London for a week and demanded to go to Paris to visit her usual haunts. So off we went!

The one touristy thing we did that day was going up Eiffel Towel. It was a cold and miserable day so there wasn't much of a queue.

Can you spot the Arc du Triomphe?

Two things surprised me at the top of the tower...

1. There was a cheesey wax exhibition ... you would think chic Parisians would be above this kind of nonsense.

2. Not really a surprise but there was a teeny tiny champagne bar on the viewing platform. It was a tad too cold and windy for that.

We did some shopping and then headed off to one of Stacey's favourite Spanish restaurant for lunch.

She said the duck was amazing so that was what we all ordered.... and it really was amazing! I ate everything.... woops.

Last day in Paris and it was a Monday. I got up early and packed up everything. I checked out of the hotel and then left my suitcase with Reception. I then walked along the river again, bound for Notre Dame. The plan was to wake up early and go there before I checked out to beat the crowd. Alas, I was very very tired so I slept in.

The Seine really is gorgeous and romantic. I lost count of how many kissing couples I strolled past.

I had to go through ile Saint Louis again and this time I was determined to find that ice cream shop.

Success!! I found Berthillon.... one small problem though..... it's closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. I had to resign myself to the fact that I will not be tasting the best ice cream in Paris. Boo!

I was going to go find a Parisian sidewalk cafe and act like a Parisian but I was starving so my stomach won the battle. I went into the nearest pastry shop and got my breakfast. It was my last day so I had long given up trying to charmingly attempt to speak french. So I pointed and made a hand gesture of 1. It worked and that's all that mattered.

Only photo of me in Paris... well, my head anyway.

I continued walking through to ile de la Cite where Notre Dame is.

I found a bench and started to photograph my breakfast. Umm yes there was quite a bit for one person but I couldn't decide and i ate everything. So there! In the background. it was an almond rolled up bread type pastry and in the foreground an ah-maaaaaaaaay-zing blueberry tart and a light as air (because of the copious butter no doubt) pain au chocolat. Soooooooo good.

I sat there in the warm sunshine, eating my treats, while staring at this sight. Life was very good, indeed.

This could be the famous Rose window?? Not sure and too lazy to wikipedia it.

This was the queue for the entry into Notre Dame and it was more than halfway around the block so I didn't even bother trying.

These gargoyles were pretty scary. Can you see the faces underneath them?

But sadly there were a lot of gargoyles with a lot of damage like these ones.

The front of Notre Dame.

This is point zero of Paris which is right in front of Notre Dame so everything is measured from this point..

I noticed this fascinating man in front of the church.

He was like that Central Park crazy bird lady in Home Alone 2. Every hand gesture of his caused the sparrows to go mental and dance around at his command. It was pretty cool!

Bye Notre Dame. Thank you Hugo Victor for Les Miserables and the foresight to restore Notre Dame.

I had one tube ticket left and I needed one to go to the train station that night so I decided that I wasn't allowed to use public transport that day and must leg it everywhere. I decided to go back to Rue Cambon and seek out Chanel. So I wandered in its general direction.

I walked along the Seine where the famous little bookstores are found.

They are very low maintenance and can be locked up easily.

Saw this and thought of the print at Ah Here's house.

To get to Rue Cambon, I had to go past the Louvre....

It used to be a palace and is HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I also passed by Angelina, one of the famous pastry shops but I couldn't see myself finishing a hot chocolate so I didn't go in. I will in February with April though.

Pierre Herme is one of the famous macaron shops in Paris. I walked past it and wasn't going to go in but then I turned around and went back inside. The most gorgeous Parisian man served me and I bought 3 macarons. I knew enough written French to know what the flavours were. Yay me.

I got Passionfruit, Hazelnut and Pistachio.

Anyway I went to Chanel but waited for at least twenty minutes and no one came to serve me because they were flat out selling bags to Thai billionaires and Russian oligarchs so I gave up and took my sorry self to the nearest garden, Jardin des Tuileries. I sat down in one of many chairs provided and just enjoyed the sunshine. I then took my macarons out and this pretty French girl who was reading in the chair next to me piped up - Oh Pierre Herme is my favourite. They are sooooo good. Have you had them before? Only in France would you strike up a conversation with a stranger about food. Haha.

Macarons melting under the searing Parisian sun.

Anyway I sat for like 5 minutes and got bored as usual so I got up, bade her farewell and continued on my walk.

I wasn't too hungry but I needed a bathroom break so I ducked into a Japanese restaurant for lunch. The waiters and waitresses all spoke French but conversed in Mandarin between themselves. So jealous!!!!!!!

I got the set menu which came with miso soup, salad and rice. I also got a kir which is a common French apperitif of white wine and creme de cassis (blackcurrant liquer).. It was gross. Yuck, i really do hate wine.

Sashimi!!!!!!!!

5 yakitori sticks - beef with cheese, chicken wings, chicken balls and some other meat ones that I don't remember anymore.

I started heading back towards the side of the river that my hotel was on and came across some random monument - Saint Michel.

Then a miracle happened and i chanced upon an outlet for Berthillon ice cream. Happy days!!! Even though I was stuffed, I HAD to try some.

My landlady told me their chocolate is amazing but it looked deadly sinful so I chose pistachio instead.

Best ice cream in Paris with Sainte Chapelle in the backdrop. What more could you ask for?

I wandered towards Le Marais again since the shops were closed when I visited yesterday. I opened my map to consult the way and this old man offered to help. He only knew a few basic english words and asked me where I wanted to go. So I pointed to Rue des Francs Bourgeois which was the shopping street the guidebook told me about. He nodded and then pointed to this little street called Rue des Rosiers and kept saying Beautiful! Beautiful! and told me to just go straight. He was also going that way and actually turned around a few times to make sure I was still headed the right way. What a sweet old man. I figured he was either calling me beautiful or the street beautiful. The chances were pretty high for either one. I didn't have anything to do so I heeded his advice and it really was a beautiful street lined with shops. How did he know I'm a shopaholic??

See anything interesting here?

Got ya, you little sucker!

My train was leaving at 9 and I meant to get back to the hotel around 7 but being a Hii, I do things ten times faster than normal people so I was back near the hotel by 5. So I sat by the canal for a bit, just to absorb the atmosphere one last time and to reflect on the fact that i was in Paris. How cool was that?