5 Days in Paris: DAY TWO

Happy Friday everyone! I’m leading off the weekend with a detailed account of our 2nd day in Paris. Whatever you happen to have planned over the next few days, I hope you have a fantastic time of it, and I’ll see you on Monday!

After a great night sleep, we were ready for a full day of adventure. We began our 2nd day in Paris by stopping in to Claus, a gem of a breakfast & brunch place located just northeast of the Louvre, for take away croissants and cafe. The interiors are beautiful–visually clean & classic, the service is friendly, and the pastries are heaven. If you’d like to sit in for brunch, they do have a salon upstairs, but it fills up quite far in advance (when we were there, it was already booked for the. entire. day.), so call ahead for a reservation. We decided to take our provisions and mosie down the block to a tree-lined square with benches to enjoy the beautiful sunny day before us. Claus. 14, Rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau 75001

 

From Claus, we jumped on the Metro and headed north to Les Puces de Saint-Ouen, one of the largest flea markets in Paris. When you come up from the Metro at Porte de Clingancourt the area is a bit disorienting. It’s a big intersection, and there are street vendors there selling fake designer purses and sunglasses laid out on blankets. However, we found Oh Happy Day’s description and map on how to find the actual flea market to be very helpful. We didn’t have internet access other than the wifi at our apartment, so before we left I saved Jordan’s map as an image on my phone so we could access it once we got off the Metro. Thank you Jordan!

Once we arrived at the market, I was catapulted into thrifting heaven, and I didn’t waste any time getting lost in the maze of stalls brimming with storied curiosities. If only these pieces could talk! The prices are all over the map from very high end restored antique armoirs and chaises to “sale” tables where everything on the table is 5 Euros. We scored a beautiful italian ornamented mirror on one of those 5 Euro tables, and I can’t wait to find a place for it here at home!

We worked up an appetite at the market and decided to make our way down to Montmartre for lunch, stopping off at a sweet sidewalk cafe for a relaxed hour of good food and people watching. And then it was on to Sacre Coeur to experience the grandeur of the basillica, the fantastic sightlines of the city from the top of the hill, and a Nutella crepe from a street vendor because, well, my mouth started watering the moment I saw the word “Nutella”.

When packing my bag earlier that morning, on a whim I decided to throw our lock for the lock bridge in just in case we happened to stumble upon it. And what do you know? On our way back to the Seine there it was, The Pont des Arts Lock Bridge. More on this and the Tuleries Gardens (which we also came across by accident) next week!

With tired feet beneath us, we snagged a sidewalk table at Le Soleil D’or for mojitos overlooking the Seine at sunset, followed by an idyllic stroll home, ready to do it all over again the next day. Paris, je t’aime!