Monday, July 16, 2012

Where do I even begin?

Day two in Paris has been full. I met Stephane and Alex this morning and enjoyed my time with them. Stephane explained that in the past three years, the Gare Saint Lazare has been transformed from a shady train station into a gorgeous mall of shopping and much cleaner nicer place to travel to and from. After they departed, I put on my shopping shoes and got to it!

Shopping in Paris is actually fun for me. I hate shopping. I don't even like online shopping, yet Paris offers a wonderful selection of stores that are far beyond what is available in America. I could go to Chanel and purchase my lipstick and likely walk out with a handbag that is twice my rent in Nashville. I however refrained today and hit up Promod; aka lil fashion wonderland. It's a European chain, I would say is similar to Zara. It has gorgeous well made clothing at affordable prices. I can't even tell you how much I adore this store.

Half the joy of coming to Paris with an empty suitcase, is the adventure of filling it up. Between the hotel furniture and today's adventure, I'm about 25% there.

After shopping I walked, and walked, and walked about 7 miles before settling on a place for lunch. It was at that point I realized, I'm not lost in Paris, I just took a scenic route without a map or a plan and then it was much past busy lunchtime which clearly meant time for wine! Rosé and Steak Tartar were on the menu at a place that had this in the window:

Epic win! I walked some more...and found the Seine!

I walked all the way from Gare Saint Lazare, to my hotel, on the scenic route. I never asked for directions, never felt lost, and loved every second of it.

I'm now certain, the best way to find yourself is to ditch a map and just walk the streets of Paris. Eventually, you always end up where you intend to be. I didn't venture very far off of my route but I did see a lot of the city. Incredible exercise, incredible people watching, and I only got asked to dinner three times along the way!

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