un petit déj à montmartre

back from ibiza, and perfect timing - meg & hat were in paris when i got here! such a wonderful thing to be able to meet up with people from back home here in paris - over 16,000km away from melbourne. a surreal experience that is just as special every time it happens! last time i saw these girls was in venice, back at the start of july...and before then, in march - when hat & i spent some time together in london (this especially seems like an age ago!). now we're spoilt and able to spend a full week together, here in paaaaaaris. ♥ 

the girls arrived at 6am after an overnight bus from amsterdam, so we decided to grab a delicious french breakfast before starting the day. what has become my favourite café, le relais de la butte is just around the corner from my apartment, near abbesses. there's a heap of outside tables & chairs where you can sip a hot drink and nibble (because french people eat slowly, and not much) a croissant or two, while looking out to a beautiful view of paris (montmartre is on a hill). 

we caught up on all that has happened in the past few months, exchanging stories of travels through europe with stories of life living in paris. it was only three hours later when we found ourselves still sitting at the café that we realised how much we really had to catch up on...

post-breakfast we went for a walk around montmartre - through place du tertre with its portrait artists, ducked inside sacre coeur to see the 19th century basilica, then got an eyeful of the magnificent view out over all of paris from the top of the sacre coeur steps.

finished up the day with crêpes at saint-michel, devouring them whilst strolling around the historic quarter of paris. solid day of eating, talking & soaking up the city of light. was lovely to be able to share the experience. loving paris now, more than ever. 

bisous à tous,

S.

very personalised postcard from meg. loving my address. ta!

a sunset at notre dame

rediscovered this stash of photos on my laptop just this morning - they were from a few weeks ago, when neesh, frida and i caught up after work for a crêpe (just for a change). we lazed about, wolfing our crêpes down....then regretted not savouring every last delicious bite (every time! after 5 months in paris, i still can't eat a crêpe slowly...). these photos sum up how we spend our mid-week evenings: tasty food, eachother's company & a ridiculously beautiful backdrop. while strolling from saint michel to notre dame, we crossed the river and looked down on the riverbanks - where we saw (& heard) several people strumming away on their guitars, while others were pulling baguettes, cheese & red wine from picnic baskets. i love this pocket of paris, where the everyday hustle & bustle seems to stand still - i know that for me, in any case, those early evening hours is when i can stand apart from it all and really admire & appreciate paris' beauty.

it had been one of those hot 30º days, so the setting sun had a glorious warmth in it as we watched it ever so slowly, but surely sink towards the horizon. it's weird to think that i'll be leaving paris soon, and with the weather dropping lower every day - it feels like this little chapter of my time in paris was an age ago! 

will definitely miss these stunning sunsets, reflected in the rippled waters of the seine...

bises,

S.

hunchback frida

shakespeare and co.

a little book shop facing notre dame, shakespeare & company is a magical place to go to pick up second-hand/new books, or even just sit down and flick through the pages of old, yellowing books.
stepping inside this little bookshop is like stepping into a different era. it's an old 18th century building with uneven floors and sagging ceilings with big wooden beams. there are books everywhere, with couches around the place so you can sit down and read. there's even an old piano up there that you can sit down and play...

there's a little curtained alcove upstairs that has every inch of it covered in notes & messages left by visitors. apparently there's some romantic connection to the old book shop, as lots of people leave love letters to people. notes are left on whatever the person had on them at the time - paper, receipts, maps, metro tickets, tissues, photographs (there were lots of people who left copies of their little passport photos), and are written in more languages than i could count on both hands.

with tables & chairs out the front, i get the impression that it's a common meeting place for english speakers in paris - seeing as the majority (if not 100%) of the books that the shop sells are in english. it's tucked in between shops on either side, and if you're not keeping an eye out you can easily walk straight by it.

with a trip to spain in a few days, i came to shakespeare & co. to land my hands on a couple of books to take with me. i can't begin to explain what a luxury it is to be able to lose yourself in a book written in your mother tongue. managed to find several great ones for just 2€ each. mmmm and they have that old book smell. mm!
will definitely be back here several times during my time in paris...there's this undescribable peacefulness within its walls that i haven't found anywhere else here in the french capital...

with anna & kate spending a few nights with me in my apartment, we decided to splurge on a delicious dinner in one of the many restaurants lining the streets of montmartre. yum, salmon pasta!


bisous, bisous,




S.

a little alcove upstairs with notes left by visitors

another great place for buying second-hand english books is here, in saint michel

definitely a promising, quality read...or not

wandering the streets of saint michel

delicious pasta by candlelight