time keeps ticking on & i can now count my last days in paris on one hand. i never thought this time would come, ahh! despite still working this week i've been out & about whenever i'm free. paris seems to be loving me back at the moment, because it's been day after day of blue skies & sunshine - making it perfect for roaming the cobbled streets in pursuit of things i haven't seen yet (although there's not much, let me tell you...).
we began my last sunny sunday with a picnic on the riverbank of the seine, watching boats & birds drift past. next stop was berthillon's...without a doubt the most incredible place to land your hands on ice-cream/sorbet in paris. no seriously, this place is famous & always has a long cue of customers trailing out into the street. it's on île saint-louis, the smaller of paris' two islands and it boasts the most delicious flavours such as dark/white chocolate, grapefruit, cherry, peach...omnomnom!
we devoured our ice-creams on the steps leading down to the water, together with several handfuls of other people who had had the same idea. happy days! continued on through le marais, another one of my favourite quartiers of paris - one word: shoooopping! we made a pit-stop at a boulangerie to pick up a handful of pain au chocolat's (because we hadn't eaten enough yet...), before poking around in a tonne of second-hand/vintage boutiques that i haven't come across before. what i love most is that the pricing isn't ridiculously expensive...win win win.
the downside: i've begun attempting to pack up all my things in paris (very, very sad process...) and as it stands i have about three backpacks worth of clothes, shoes (thirteen pairs..where did they all come from!?) and general stuff to fit inside one, single backpack. disaster waiting to happen, & one that doesn't need extra clothes added to the mix...
from pont marie we watched the sun beginning to set over the city. this is definitely the best way to watch a parisian sunset, as you get the stunning reflections bouncing off the seine, as well as dramatic shadows cast by the riverside buildings... going to miss these very, very much.
we walked through rue du chat qui pêche (street of the fishing cat), paris' narrowest "street" - about the width of an arm span, before heading down the metro.
we made our way to saint-germain-des-près, the wealthy, bourgeois quarter in the 6th arondissement of paris. it used to be the philosphical & cultural epicentre of paris and was the fav chill space for existentialists simone de beauvoir and jean-paul sartre. both now have streets/squares named after them here in saint-germain-des-près. we wandered around for a bit, saw the church & some artists selling/exhibiting their paintings nearby - but once it became dark we decided to get comfy at one of the many hundreds of cafés in the area. a few beers, hot chocolates, wines & crêpes later we made our way back to the metro and over to la tour eiffel - to see it twinkle for the last time (for a few months, anyway...).
no matter how many times we've sat there and watched the tower come to life every hour, on the hour...we still 'ooh' & 'aah' when it happens... just one of those things.
a busy day doing nothing, yet looking back now & it feels like we did more than we realised. i'm glad we took advantage of the sunshine, because from here on out it's just going to get colder...and colder...and colder...
salut salut,
S.
 |
| hôtel de ville - "place du peuple" (place of the people) |
 |
| quadrouple scoup? that's a bit keen |
 |
| hmm, which flavours to take... |
 |
| chillers by the seine |
 |
| noo, it's almost finished! |
 |
| pont marie |
 |
| rue du chat qui pêche (street of the fishing cat) |
 |
| "neither beggars, nor rulers" |
 |
| metro excitement |
 |
| middled-aged woman riding a scooter home from work |
 |
| église saint-sulpice |
 |
| cobblestones ♥ |
 |
| nicolas flamel street. best! |
 |
| "life is worth nothing, but nothing beats life" |
 |
| "the world is a poem" |
 |
| les deux magots, one of paris' most famous cafés |
 |
| ♥ |
 |
| crêpe butterfly |
 |
| café de flore, another of paris' famous cafés |
 |
| la tour eiffel, la nuit |
