Paris. Not a venture far or new but I love it there so much. I also really love it when you are with some awesome friends, who want to do the same things as you (like eat bread and drink red wine) and aren't on a super tight budget. This trip I was joined by my sister Krys (the sleeping beauty below), my friends Faith and Yemi, and met up with my Wifey for Lifey Jo who currently works at Chanel (you fancy huh).
As much as I have championed the overnight bus in the past, the 2 hr Eurostar is way more comfortable and time saving. We left at 5.30am, slept and woke up in time for breakfast....which was Coffee and cake, haha. First stop Fondation near Republique.
We did our fair bit of "tourist" things. One thing great about Paris is that you can walk everywhere (even though we did take the Metro a fair bit.) We wandered around obviously stopping off to visit the Eiffel Tower, which is impressive close up and even further away from different angles of the city. We popped into lovely bookshops, perused the free street galleries and posed for photos outside cool looking french doors, etc. We also visited the Dries Van Noten Inspirations exhibition at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs. It was a glorious visual feast, and made me love his clothes more and more. This trip I revisited the Père Lachaise Cemetery which was beautiful just like the last time and we also visited the banks of the River Seine and got crepes and ice cream at Saint Loius' Berthillon.
One thing I have not done before is go to a club and dance in Paris. Well a visit to the Twentyone Sound Bar changed that. Located in Bastille this was the closest thing to a Hip Hop night that we would visit in London. We were a little nervous when we arrived as we had to ring a door bell to get in. The bouncer came out, then shut the door on us after letting some other guy in, then opened the door again and let us in! Haha. The space was tiny, the size of a regular bar, but every inch of space filled with people and the wider area filled with people dancing. We grooved and even had a dance with some of the locals; they also have a cocktail list that does not shy away from free pouring. It would be nice to visit more night spots next time I am over there and have a good wiggle.
We ate a lot. This is no understatement. We visited cafes, coffee shops, bars and fine dining restaurants. I am sure all my girls would agree that the highlight was the 5 course Chef's tasting menu we had at Frenchie. Paired with some great red wine we enjoyed beautifully cooked chicken, seafood, veggies, desserts and things like "carrot air". There was a lot of fish on the menu and even the fish haters were texting home to their loved ones telling them "can you believe I am enjoying Mackerel?!". The main chef came out to talk to us about the food, and the waitress seemed to really like us too. We were GASSED.