Reliving My Paris Vacation

It's been awhile since I've posted anything.  The long dark days of winter usually mean lots of time spent hibernating at home with just short trips out.  As a result, I haven't had much to write about lately, basically just trying to lose the 10 pounds I gained during the holidays and spending my Saturdays driving an eager teenager to her beginning gymnastics classes 50 miles away. Yup, pretty uneventful, but as spring is right around the corner things are looking up. In April I have a fun overnighter planned with a very good friend to see Garbage in Madison. Absolutely LOVE seeing live music!  In June I turn the big 5-0!  I'm still trying to decide what to do to celebrate this milestone!

So as the anniversary of my Paris trip comes up, I am longing to relive those days spent in my kinda paradise.  Today I pulled out my pictures, map, and Rick Steves Paris guidebook and went back to that wonderful trip.  This was one of my favorite things from that trip.

It was day three which was a free day for everyone in our tour group.  I knew exactly what I wanted to do....go shopping of course.  My goal was to buy an authentic Longchamp handbag in Paris.  I wanted to go to a Monoprix for some french cosmetics and a few clothing items and I wanted to go to Bon Marche and  La Grande Epicerie, the gourmet grocer next door.  So armed with my trusty guidebook and my Michelin Paris map off I went in the morning after breakfast.  I was pretty confident I would have no trouble finding my way.  I love to read maps and I had studied where I was gonna go.  Since our hotel was by the Eiffel Tower I found my way to Boulevard de Grenelle and set off on foot toward La Bon Marche.  I found a nice sized Monoprix on this street right across from a Mc Donald's.  I spent lots of time here
 scanning the aisles of cosmetics and skin care items.  This was heaven to me.  So much to chose from it was making me dizzy.  I ended up buying some Boujous mineral makeup and lip-gloss and a tube of Bioderma matte primer.  I couln't leave without some cute funky jewery and some inexpensive tops. I also loaded up on some chocolates to take home. I went to check out and had a little trouble using my credit card, of course the clerk was speaking rapid fire french to me that I could not understand.  I just pulled out another card and thank goodness this one worked!!

So off I was back on Boulevard de Grenelle, then to Boulevard Garibaldi and finally Rue de Sevres to my destination.  I arrived first at La Grande Epicerie.  This grocery was unlike anything I have ever seen before.  I mainly wandered around looking at the aisles of sweet treats.  This place is a food lovers paradise! I ended up purchasing more chocolate (a surprise I know!) and some souvenirs.  By this time I had worked up an appetite and went to the pastry counter and decided a pain au chocolate would be the perfect snack.  Next stop La Bon Marche.  Here I was on a mission.  It was afternoon by this time and I wanted to get back to the hotel in time to rest a little before dinner. I easily found the Longchamp department right on the first floor.  Oh how I wished I could explore every floor of this iconic department store!  In the end I came out of there with not one but two Longchamp handbags.  Oh what a happy girl I was.  I did exactly what I set out to do that day.

Back to the hotel I went.  Wait, I had one more thing to do!  There was a pain au chocolate calling my name in one of my bags.  I found a bench on a tree lined street and sat and enjoyed that yummy pastry.  Absolute heaven,  My shopping day was complete!