Sunday's are for snugs

I apologize for the lack of postings, I have had an extremely busy week-work wise. Thursday I helped perform a ceremony rehearsal for a very sweet couple from the states. It ended early so I was able to call it a day from there. The rehearsal was in the 6th arrondissement which is a ritzier part of town, so I decided I would take the evening to explore. I found a fabulous cafe called Malabar. It was essentially an old cottage that was set up like a dining room with a bunch of really old taxidermy on the walls. It felt very cozy and they had an excellent cocktail menu as well as food selection. After that I headed home, and enjoyed a glass of wine with Leila and Christian.

Friday was wedding day. It was very small, an simple an elopement for the couple from the night prior. Again I was out very early so ran a few errands and attempted to do some shopping. The shopping here is mildly frustrating, there are always a million people in the stores and the dressing room and cashier lines are always outrageously long. After a long week I decided it was not worth it and saved myself a few bucks.

Saturday morning I was up early to head downtown for a haircut. I was in desperate need (Not that this is exciting, or even relevant to any of you..). My co-worker Nancy suggested an American girl named Stephanie. She did a great job and actually had some tips about being new to the city. After that my day got a little more exciting. Realizing I was only about 5 minutes from the Louvre I decided that was how I would spend my day. It was overwhelming. They say that you could spend weeks in that museum and still not see it all. I really only did one wing. That one wing alone took me three hours. I managed to find the Mona Lisa which was exciting, and much smaller than I thought it would be. It was super crowded so I found myself having a hard time seeing anything I really wanted to see. After three hours of roaming around a very large building, I made my way out.

After the Louvre I headed out to walk along the Seine. I walked all up and down the river taking in the antique book salesmen along the path. Seeing all the books reminded me that I was dying to find the Shakespeare & Co. Bookstore. I was successful in finding it and spent about an hour searching through their fabulous selection of books and walking up and down the stairs through all the different reading rooms and reading about all the history in the store.

After picking a book I headed back on the train home. Once home I found out Monmartre was having a festival that evening. It was the the Vendange Festival. Vendange is a vineyard in the heart of Monmartre and every year they put on a festival to celebrate the harvest of their grapes. It was really cool, very crowded and a little crazy, but awesome to see. The streets were lined with vendors selling all different types of wine and food, and they had an amazing fireworks display. Paris has no laws about drinking in public places so on nights like this the locals really go crazy.

Sundays are quickly starting to be my most favorite day in Paris. No one really starts to come to life in the city until well after noon. People here really believe in taking Sunday for rest, and I could not agree more. Waking up around 10 am felt fabulous, followed by a little light reading with some coffee in bed. I had been invited to a brunch with a friend that I have met here as well as few of her friends. We met at cafe called Facebar around 2pm. It was a delicious leisurely brunch that had an all you can eat pastry buffet, so naturally I was in heaven. A relaxing Sunday before another crazy week.

Missing home, can't believe I have been gone a month already!
xo
C