Posh Paris Weekend

The weekend in Paris with Sofia was my best weekend in Paris ever! I think it raised the bar on living in Paris. I not only want to live there someday... but I want to live the Posh Parisian Life. Hahahaha. Good thing it's free to dream.

I promised my friend Jay Jerrick Epping Boy (JJEB) that if I found myself anywhere near Europe, I would visit him in Hamburg, where we just finished his stint. It just so happened that when I finally found myself in Europe, he was touring the European continent so we agreed to meet up in Paris for the weekend instead.

We woke up at 4am to spend the weekend in Paris.

Fif and I took the Roissy Bus from CDG to Opera Garnier.
 € 10 (SG$16.40 or Php560)

I told Sofia she could eat pain au chocolat (chocolate croissant) for breakfast, lunch and dinner if she wanted to.
Pain au chocolat number 1 pour petit dejeuner.

The Roissy Bus tales 45 minutes and it will take you directly to Opera which is in the center of the city.

The front of Opera Garnier.
I knew our hotel was near, but since I didn't have my bearings yet, we looked for the cab queue instead.
The cab driver was shaking his head because he said it was cheaper for us to walk.

We stayed at Hyatt Regency Madeleine.
Sofia loved our hotel room! She wanted to stay there instead of going out. Hahaha. 

We also had a very big bathroom.

It had a bath tub and a bigger than normal shower stall.

I loved our faux balcony.

We got quite surprised to see an unexpected visitor.

The hotel was on Boulevard Malesherbes which had l'Église Saint-Augustin at one end

and Place de la Madeleine at the other end.

It leads to Rue Royale where the are small nooks with lovely boutiques.
I spy a Chanel store.

It intersects with Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré,
the famous street where every brand that everyone dreams of owning is present.

Walking straight on Rue Royale will lead you to Place de la Corcorde.

I was brave enough to take the Metro with Sofia and her stroller which was an experience I will NEVER forget and NEVER repeat by choice!

Sofia wanted her picture taken by the Metro entrance.

It looks like the yellow line we got on has been renovated!

We met JJEB, his wife Lia and my future god daughter Jillie in front of the Fointaine Saint-Michel.

We had time to kill before our lunch reservations so we went to PAUL, the famous Patisserie for some French Pastries to satisfy Lia's craving.

We ordered une tarte au citron (my favorite!) et une tarte aux framboises.
translated to mean one lemon tart and one raspberry tart.

This Frenchie was either NOT paying attention... or he did not understand my french!!!
We got deux tarte au citrons!!! I don't think it was my french that was the problem because I was billed correctly!

Sofia was looking after Jillie while we were loading the taxis at the Quai Saint-Michel
(by the river) near the Cathédrale de Notre Dame.

She wanted Jillie to look at the camera.

Lia with Jillie and Sofia... practicing to manage 2 kids :)

We had a really good lunch at Le Soufflé on Rue du Mont Thabor walking distance to our hotel.
Lunch was so good, it deserves a separate post.

We wanted to grab some macarons from Ladurée in Rue Royale but the line was scary and it started to rain.

We walked back to our hotel so the kids could nap, but someone else napped instead.

The kids started their picnic while waiting for the rain to subside.

Pain au chocolat number 2 pour dejeuner.

My little girl loves pain au chocolat.

JJEB also joined the indoor picnic.
He thought the tarte au citron from PAUL was a giant Eggtart! Bwahahaha.

When the rain stopped Lia and I mobilized everyone so we could do a quick stop at Chanel and Gucci on Rue Royal.
Sadly, the bags we wanted were unavailable. Booo!!! 

We just went macaron shopping instead!
 € 1.70 (SG$2.80 or Php96)

I got a box of 8. Yummy.
In comparison, the macaron shells of Ladurée stay crunchy longer and they have a nice chewy center, but I think TWG in Singapore is more generous with the filling so it ends up tasting better. Plus you feel that the tea flavor makes it healthier. Hahahaha.

Sofia also wanted a picture in front of their colorful store window.

Our next stop was Trocadero.
I wanted Sofia to see the Eiffel Tower but I don't think it impressed her much. Hahaha.

All of us at Trocadero.

Since it was more dry than drizzling, we decided to go through with our picnic plan and cross our fingers.
Since I really love picnicking at Trocadero, I will also be blogging about this separately.

It was so nice to see you again JJEB!!!
(and in my second home too)

We were able to see the Eiffel tower all lit up... and we also saw it blinking, but I may have been eating instead of taking pics.

We headed back by stopping at St. Augustin and since we share a name, I was cheesy enough to want a picture.
Photo Credit: Sofia

 l'Église Saint-Augustin at night.

Our hotel looks beautiful at night, just like all the old buildings in Paris.

I love the Hyatt Regency Madeleine.
Thanks to spending 2.5 months in Hyatt Regency in Mumbai, we got to stay for free.

Sofia by the hotel restaurant that;s just off the lobby.

I love the personal touch. Hand written, personally delivered note.
It would have been even better if it came with chocolates.

We just realized that at night, you can see directly into the restaurant.
Great way to spy on people who might be on secret dates.
Hahaha, note to self using my over-active imagination: DO NOT GO ON ILLICIT DATES HERE.
Hahahaha. Feelingera much. Sa paris ko pa talaga balak magdate.

The only thing we failed to do was put the lock we decorated on the bridge.
Well, I always love having a reason to come back.

My favorite bridge in Paris, with the locks in the background.
Sofia and I will be back!

We stored the macarons in our safe. Just Kidding.

I always choose the fruity flavors.

A new flavor they had which Sofia had to try was Les "Incroyables" Fraise Bonbon.
It literally  means the incredible strawberry marchmallow (candy).
It was a bit on the dry side because they filled it with a marshmallowy chewy center.

I had more tarte au citron to snack on because Frenchie at PAUL made a  mistake.

I decided to let Sofia sleep in the next day and I only started mobilizing her at 10:00am. I tried to get a taxi from the hotel to take us to the RER A station from where we could take a straight train to La Vallée Village and Parc Disneyland but the hotel told us to walk instead. Since I had re-acquainted myself with the area, we decided to take a stroll and enjoy the sights.

We stopped at a café for some petit dejeuner.
Pain au chocolat number 3.

Sofia wanted some of my croissant as well.
The café au lait was fully mine.

Me with our breakfast.
Photo credit: Sofia

Croissants really taste so much better in Paris!

We ended up at an Egyptian (named) Café in Paris that served expensive French Breakfast.
2 pieces of bread + coffee = € 8.90 (SG$15 or Php496)  

It was worth it.

Fif and mom at Le Pharaon Café. 

We finally made it to the platform.
They had a lot of lifts and escalators so it was not a painful experience.

Making funny faces while waiting for the train to Parc Disneyland.

On the RER A train.

This little kiddo fell asleep on the train.

We stopped at Val d'Europe so we could do 30 minutes in my Disneyland.

There is a free shuttle from the RER station to La Vallée Village but the shuttle only operates on Sundays.

Val d'Europe always looks beautiful.

Sofia wanted a picture with Oscar l'escargot.

I bought all of this in 30 minutes.
Gucci Bag deprivation = i sort of went wild.

I had a really, really good time. I only have three favorite stores, I put them on my NEED TO VISIT list and I bought something from every store. 

1. Furla 

The bags they had in stock this time were just so beautiful (and so affordable compared to Furla elsewhere) that I just pointed, pointed, pointed and pointed, and said, I want to take all of that... oh, and maybe that too... and I still ended up saving a third of the Gucci budget. I could get used to this!!!

I immediately used my new carmine bag. It went really well with my outfit.
The lady at airport security asked to check my bag so she could tell me it was beautiful.
That gave me a chance to go back for the boarding passes I left on a tray!

2. CK Underwear

I got some frilly pieces for a really good deal.

3. Longchamp
The pickings at the Longchamp Outlet were very slim. I had to buy le pliage shopping totes for my sister, so I forced myself to buy some for me as well because it's really much more expensive elsewhere.

Once you're done shopping, the customer service desk calls Parc Disneyland to send a shuttle for their guests for a small fee.

Sofia was so happy to see Disneyland!

Fast forward it to the part where we're done and we had a really really good time...
because this definitely deserves a separate post.

I pre-booked our Shuttle from Euro Disney to CDG so we did not need to go back to Paris.

My little girl was so tired she was asleep again on the way home.

We saw a double (bordering on triple) rainbow on the way to the airport.
I think that's heaven's stamp of approval for nice places.
The last double rainbow I saw was in Maldives.

Sofia snacked on her left-over pain au chocolat while we were waiting to board.

Sofia ate another croissant on the plane.

We did the activity books we bought from the airport before flying so we both could practice our french.

Fif with mom on the plane.

Making faces and showing me her shopping.

Trying to make faces while smiling at the same time.

We attempted to take the train home.
Like the Metro with the stroller... I will NEVER do this again.
Very penny wise pound foolish. But I guess you have to do it to learn that.
Pain au chocolat number 4.

At least Sofia enjoyed her ride in a London Black Cab.
She was in charge of carrying our BK take away.
She already threatened to tell her nanny that I only fed her pain au chocolat for two days.

Home sweet home.
Fif in bed with all her toys and books from Paris.

I really, really want to live the Posh Life in Paris. As my friend Rem corrected me, J'aime beaucoup Paris. Just Saying.