September 2015

 

I like to think I've seen quite a bit of the city of Paris, but let's face it, there's no way one can really get to know a place unless you live there for years and years - and who's to say - I've lived in Singapore my whole life and there's still so many parts of it unexplored to me.

But back to Paris! Paris is a walking city, and walk we did! There's 4 things I think I miss mostly: firstly, the aircon-esque weather (it ranged from 12-30 degrees Celsius). I remember the first time I went to Europe when in Summer 2008 and all I dared to wear was jeans and hoodies for fear of cold. I can safely say that since then I've gotten bolder (or at least more aware) of how much one needs to wear at certain temperatures so that I don't have to limit my closet too much!

Secondly, I really miss the food, of which I shall share in a separate post for those of you who have been asking! We'd take so long to leave the house because we really wanted to find somewhere good to eat (though we did fall into a couple of tourist traps along the way due to convenience - or cravings on my part - "l'oignion soupe" ahem.)

Thirdly, the city really inspires me - I always dress better in Paris for some reason. I think after being here 3 times and loving it more and more that Paris is one of my favourite cities and I will definitely be back. Lastly: always having something to do. It's more part of traveling than because of the city, but I guess on those days when you sit in front of your computer, engulfed by the haze and restricted by the realities of real life, you miss having something new and exciting to do everyday.

But that said - the tourism websites weren't kidding when they said that Paris becomes a ghost town in August. Things really get creepy when even global brands like H&M don't want to open (I want to give you my money???) But still, we made the most of it! I would say the best time to come to Paris from my experience would be the start of September when the shops reopen, but the weather is still warm-ish and the daylight hours are still long (it was still bright at 8-9pm while we were there!)

Ok long post, more coming soon :)

Breakfast was always quite a pretty spontaneous affair in the house, throwing together whatever is the fridge. We didn't really plan on eating at home a lot since Paris has so much food to offer, so we only bought bits of food here and there, but gosh I loved going to the market (or "marché") to update my charcuterie (the cured meat) every day because it's so darn cheap in Europe. Thinking about it now makes me wish I bought more back!

Also, you wouldn't believe it, but the pastries here were baked by yours truly the day before when we went to learn croissant baking at La Cuisine Paris. We were told that the same pastry that makes croissants is the same that makes pain au chocolat (which we made as well!), cinnamon rolls, and actually a whole ton of other pastries - but really, there is so much work that goes into making these layered, buttery rolls, and even if you tried to make it at home in Singapore, you would be missing the right ingredients, like live yeast. Even the butter in France just tastes better than at home. It's true, there's nothing like the bread here in Paris!