Paris Days

Carousels. No shortage of carousels in Paris! We always stop when we see one. This one above is at the Hotel de Ville. I've gotten a little behind in posting our Paris outings. I have a lot of catching up to do! We usually go out once a day to a park or playground, but we also try to check out a few other places, like bakeries or shops, for as long as Lois will let me anyway. Here's some of what we've been up to the last two weeks.

Here's Lois at the Eiffel Tower. She loves her camera my sister bought her for Christmas. It's really cute to see how excited she gets to take photos.

We've spotted some really cool shops, like this one that only sells film posters and old printed film promotional materials. 

And I've been scouting some craft stores. This one above is Le Bonheur des Dames, which I read about in Paris Made by Hand. If you're looking for cross stitch or embroidery supplies in Paris, this would be a great place to go. I'd like to do a longer post on it sometime soon.

Le Bon Marche is a very nice department store near our apartment. I like the sign at night. 

Every Sunday we go to the Rue Raspail farmer's market, which is a wonderful market. Fruit, veg, dairy, meats, fish, even some handmade items. There's also a guy who makes amazing potato pancakes (he sets up at the front entrance area--you probably can follow your nose). They taste like they have some onion and gruyere cheese in them. Sooo good!

The Conran Shop is near our place. It's a really amazing home goods store. Furniture, lighting, rugs, bedding, kitchen, bath, books, cool kids stuff. It's really fun to browse here. 

What you see above is the fanciest cupcake I've ever had (uh, most expensive and beautiful). It's a hummingbird cupcake from Synies. It was very good! I had walked by a few times and also read about Synies here on this great blog (if you want some Paris to-do, to see, to eat info, put her blog on your reading list). Just today she has another cupcake post. 

We took Lois to a marionette show in Luxembourg Gardens. We saw Little Red Riding Hood. It was ADORABLE! The sets were really great, and though it was in French, and we couldn't understand much,  we know the story so it didn't really matter, and it was a lot of fun. Lois loved it. I recommend it even if you don't have kids. They have shows on Saturdays, Sundays, and Wednesdays. See the web site for info. 

Pastries. We have not found a bad one yet. Here we stopped for a few minutes to have a chocolate eclair. 

We've also had some really nice weather. 

I love the Haussmann buildings. 

 Just walking along the streets is nice, I really like seeing little flower shops.

A lot more to see and do... More soon! Oh, and I'm still torn between large and x-large photos. These are all large except for the top one. Do you like them large or x-large? I wish there was something in between, but I don't know HTML and am limited to the blogger template. (Update, went back to the biggin's!)

Mamie Gateaux

A few people have mentioned Mamie Gateaux, a tea room and cafe, which is just around the corner from our apartment. I've walked by a few times, once when it was open and packed, and once when it was closed. There are some really great photos of Mamie Gateaux in Paris Brocante, an adorable Paris Brocante guide book, which unfortunately for me is in Japanese, but it's still super cute, and all the addresses are listed so it's still a good guide. Today I thought I'd take Lois there for a lunch date.  The atmosphere was very inviting, with a cosy French country feel, but my food was lackluster. I ordered a vegetable crumble. It lacked flavor and could have used some cheese or something else to bind it a bit, but the tea and hot chocolate were good. I noticed most people ordered quiche, so I think I will try that next time. Our cake was delicious though. A wonderful, moist chocolate cake. The waiter, who I think is also the owner (as he's pictured in the Paris Brocante book), was quite overwhelmed with customers. He was the only person waiting on about 12 tables, and things were moving quite slow, but he did mention they were short staffed when we got there. The brocante is closed for now, which was also a bit disappointing. They're in the process of expanding, so it's closed for now. I don't know that I'd treck across town for this spot, but if you're in the neighborhood, I think it's worth a try, especially if you like cake and cute atmosphere.

L'Oisive Thé

Today I went back to L'Oisive Thé, the wonderful tea room I went to last week for knitting group. Today I brought Lois there for lunch and to buy some knitting needles. Aimee, the owner, is so nice, and it was a real treat for Lois that her adorable son Maximilien was there. I just love this place! It's so inviting and cosy. My lunch was delicious, and it's a kid friendly place, so it's perfect for a lunch date for me and Lois. Aimee even has a little toy section for the tiny tots. I look forward to going back soon. It was very busy today, so I waited till most people left to take these photos. Here's a peek into L'Oisive Thé.

Around Town

We've had a really nice first week in Paris. We've mostly been getting to know the neighborhood (we're in the 6th arrondissement for now, in a temporary apartment) and exploring some parks. We took Lois to the Tuileries Garden to run around and check out the playground and the sailboats there. I love that kids can rent sailboats and push them around with a stick and watch them sail. We also took her to Luxembourg Gardens, where they have a great playground and a very old, charming carousel. 

And of course we've been eating! We found a great boulangerie around the corner from our place. 

Last Wednesday I went to a knitting and crochet group at L’Oisive Thé. My friend Carrie in San Francisco told me about it. I was nervous to go since I don't speak French (not but a few words yet anyway) and I'm just a very beginner crocheter and knitter. But it was a lot of fun, and I'm glad I went. I was reassured by the fact that the owner, Aimee, is an American.  

And we've been sprucing up our apartment at bit. It's a temporary furnished rental that we found on Home Away, and it could use some TLC. We started with a few basics like a tablecloth, some small rugs, candles and flowers. It's more homey now. 

And we've been taking at walk around dusk each night. Well not even intentionally, but it seems we're out around that time of day each day, and when the sun sets it casts really beautiful light on the buildings. 

We made it!

Good morning, Paris! We're settled into our temporary apartment now and ready to explore. More soon....