Last Thursday I went to Paris for a day… Yes I know… I am a lucky bastard to live close enough to Paris to visit it for a daytrip… I planned to do this daytrip with my sister Cindy. Unfortunately she fell ill with the flue so I had to find a replacement less than 24 hours before departure…

Now I really would ‘ve gone by myself if I wouldn’t have been able to find a replacement. But I was so glad my best friend Katrien dropped everything and everyone and made time to join me (thank you so much Philip for taking care of the 5 kids while I steal your wife for a day at such short notice!!).

We did this daytrip with bus company Slangen Reizen. The bus picked us up in Antwerp and after a smooth trip, we arrived in Paris, where we were dropped off at the Bateaux Mouches at about 11 am.

As we both have visited Paris on several occassions, we know our way around the city. The only thing we had to include was a reservation I made for lunch at Ralph’s on Bld Saint-Germain.

We wanted to let the weather decide what we should do… and as it was cloudy, windy but dry as we arrived in Paris, we decided to skip the museums for the time being and made our way to Ralph’s on the Bld Saint-Germain, exploring the Rive Gauche.

On the left bank many artists (past and present) find a place to live. It’s the place that artists like Picasso, Matisse and Hemingway called their home, because this part of town was cheaper to live in than other parts.

We wandered around the streets of the Left Bank. Eventually we ended up at Boulevard Saint-Germain where we did some (window)shopping.

 

We also went to Fragonard. One of my first beauty posts was about my favourite perfumes… including the perfume I bought at the Fragonard factory in Grasse. Well… as my bottle as well as my husband’s was nearly empty I wanted to make a stop in this shop to stock up on new fragrances. I bought a refill bottle for my husband (he should be good now for 4-5 years…) and for me a 120 ml bottle of one of my favourite perfumes (you can read about it here).

Then it was on to Ralph’s, where I made a reservation for lunch. Ralph’s is the restaurant of the Ralph Lauren store. We started off our lunch with a lovely Champagne accompanied with deep-fried olives. Now I really like olives in pesto and in dressings, but I don’t like to eat them plain. But these were deep-fried… and well… I must say that I liked it a lot!

Katrien and I both ordered the same main course: Ralph’s Cobb Salad. We enjoyed this salad (with roast chicken and blue cheese) with the extra ordered fries… A LOT!! To end our lunch we just had coffee… but the caramel-covered popcorn that were served with our coffees was an added bonus 😛 (as was the presence of Alber Elbaz!!).

After our lunch at Ralph’s we also visited the Ralph Lauren store which can be found at the same address. I had seen some fab pants on the online shop, but unfortunately they were not available at the shop…

On the Boulevard Saint-Germain we did some other shops like Liu Jo and Gerard Darel but our hubbies could sleep on both ears as our Visas didn’t come out…

We walked passed Café de Flore and Les Deux Magots, through Quartier Latin and onto Ile de la Cité where we paused to enjoy the sun in front of the Notre-Dame. This stunning cathedral stands tall and proud on the Ile de la Cité and is a fine example of French gothic architecture. For more information on visiting and mass hours, you can check the website.

In the afternoon we strolled around the Marais, but more on that next week! Don’t miss it as there will be lots of beautiful photos.

Love, Kathleen

PS : don’t forget to scroll down all the way as there are heaps of photos!!

Here you can read about another daytrip to Paris!