All... By... Myself... En Paris

With Chad gone, I had just over 24 hours of Paris to myself.  I didn't get up to much that was exciting, but I did discover the insanely awesome La Grande Epicerie de Paris at the Bon Marche where I bought myself an amazing picnic brunch.  Those who know me won't be surprised I also did a fair bit of wandering through bookstores.

Chad and I spent the past 10 weeks together pretty much 24/7, so I wondered how weird it would feel to be all by myself.  The short answer?  Not at all, which is kind of weird in itself.

Anyway, the fun really started when my Mom got here last night, so I'll just share a few shots from my day(s) alone.

The view from my hotel room - a rough neighbourhood, as was easy to identify when I spotted the Baby Lacoste down the street.

The famous Shakespeare and Co!  I could have spent many dollars there, if I had any.

The Canadian version of Shakespeare and Co.  Apparently serves coffee flavoured with maple syrup, but the guy working there couldn't muster up so much as a 'hello' for me so I didn't get to try it out.  Not that I really think I would have wanted to.

This one is for Chad.  That's all.

Break time in the Jardin du Luxembourg.  I could spend weeks in the reclining chairs there.  So comfortable!  Plus it was right across the street from my hotel.

Two Days in Paris

The McFrothys have separated!  Oh, don't worry, not like that.  Chad and I said a tearful goodbye at the Voltaire Metro station this morning (okay, the tears were mine, not his) as he left to catch his flight to Vancouver.  It is incredible to think that our 10 weeks in Europe and Turkey has flown by so quickly.  We capped it off with a lovely two days in Paris - not seeing any of the major sights, just picnicking and exploring.  

We started Sunday at the market Marche Bastille near our hotel - it's a great open air market that runs on Sundays and Thursdays.  Some of the ingredients above will later star in our picnic lunch.

Next up, a visit to the lovely Jardin du Luxembourg. It was jam packed with locals and tourists on a sunny Paris Sunday.

After a bit of a wander through the Latin Quarter, we stopped in the Jardin du Plantes for our picnic lunch.  Those strawberries beside me cost 5 Euros at the market (we're sure not in Turkey anymore!!!) and were worth every penny.  As was the wine... and the bread... and the cheese...  I'll confess that we had to stop at our hotel for an afternoon nap after drinking the bottle of wine at lunch.  We spent the rest of the day wandering the Seine, exploring the Marais, and soaking it all in.

French line dancers along the Seine.

Pont de l'Archeveche - couples attach a lock to the bridge and then throw the key into the river to signify their undying love.  We didn't leave a lock, but it was cool to look at what people had written on theirs.  Apparently, many couples come to Paris to celebrate wedding anniversaries - maybe that will be us in 20 years!

Centre Pompideau - the guts of the building are on the outside instead of the inside.

L'As du Felafel.  Best. Falafel. Ever.  Especially when eaten alongside the Seine.

Day two was more of the same, and since the post is already extremely picture heavy I'll just leave you with a few more shots.

Morning cafe au lait and croissant.

We will definitely (eventually!) have to come back and get jobs now, as we spent some of our future earnings in the Bordeauxteque at Galleries Lafayette.

Picnic in the park outside the Louvre, overseen by the Eiffel Tower, including some macaroons for Chad.

Famous Berthillon ice cream.  The left is dark chocolate, the right is rhubarb.

You didn't really think we would come to Paris and not go to a beer bar, did you?  We sought out some biere de garde at Au Trappiste on Rue St-Denis - delicious, and Chad advises that it went particularly well with his moules frites.

Street jazz on the the Ile St-Louis.

How lucky am I that I have six more nights in this amazing city!?

Last days in Turkey...

We spent our last two days in Turkey in Istanbul, soaking up all we could before flying out to Paris on Saturday.

Little did we realize our first time in Istanbul that our hotel's rooftop terrace has stunning views of the Blue Mosque and the Bosphorus.  

The city park below the Topkaki palace has many of these wooden carved squirrels.  I'm pretty sure they're not meant to be treated like horses, but Chad begs to differ.

We spent part of an afternoon at a cay garden overlooking the Bosphorus.  Trust me when I tell you that this pot of cay was way, way too much caffeine for the two of us.

I'm not sure whether it's a good thing or a bad thing that McDonalds will deliver right to your door...

Nicest. Starbucks. View. Ever.  We went in for the view but left without the coffee, which is priced about the same as Vancouver.  

This is Taps - the second of Turkey's two brew pubs.  You may have read Chad's post about the first.  This one is located in the rich Istanbul suburb of Bebek and has stunning views.  Let's just say that it's the views, not the beer, that made the trip worth the while.

There are as many fishermen along the Bosphorus as there are cups of cay in Istanbul.  They seemed to have a lot more success in Bebek than on the other side - this guy caught multiple lines full of fish while we watched.

Chad's face is probably all you need to know about the beer at Taps.

We also visited the Basilica Cistern.  It's huge, but I thought it was pretty creepy down there.  It's filled with about six inches of water and carp now, but apparently there were many years when it was used as a garbage dump/place to dump dead bodies.

Much love for the tubs of fresh watermelon you can buy on the street.  One of the things I will miss the most!

Chad's eggplant kebap on our last night in Istanbul - a tasty treat after a gross, tourist trap dinner the night before.

They kindly hosted this traditional dancing concert in the square outside the Aga Sofia to celebrate our last night in town.

The view from our room - the Blue Mosque!

When he heard I was going to Turkey, my Dad told me that a pudding shop in Istanbul was the first place he ever got ripped off.  Could this be the scene of the crime? 

We had an amazing time in Turkey during our month there - I'll definitely be back at some point to visit the places we missed (in the east and along the Black Sea).  Luckily our arrival in Paris has soothed some of the pain... more on that to follow!