Frankly Cross Eyed: Adieu Paris!

Our final day in Paris began with a croissant from the local boulangerie/patisserie.

Mmmm... light, crispy, buttery goodness. No, the boulangerie wasn't anywhere near this metro station, but I just wanted to French-ify the photo.

Fen-fen had to fulfil her dream of purchasing something from Louis Vuitton from the seven level flagship store on the Champs Elysees. I bought something too - a book!

Yes, I bought a book from Louis Vuitton *rolls eyes* It wasn't even about LV, it was about cakes.

Next on the list was the Notre Dame.

The intricate archway door. A confession booth - made of glass. Behind the Notre Dame.

We headed further south of the Seine towards the Pantheon, passing through Rue Dante which incidentally had a lot of manga/comic stores.

Oh look, it's Kahoons dancing with Snowy. Yep, if you can read that clearly, that small figurine costs €285. Snowy with a bone. Just a side fact - I've never read a Tin-Tin comic in my life.

Finally we reach the Pantheon. But not after we walked past the University of Paris where the guard gave us a wink.

Not so far away were the Luxembourg Gardens.

It was a well-manicured public space (as you'd expect in Paris), full of non-working Parisians (don't these people have jobs?) lounging around in the provided reclining deckchairs. Aaaah, such the life. Can I join in?

Needing my crepe fix for the day, we sat down at the park's cafe.

Today I decided on the heavy stuff - crepes au Grand Marnier. He then proceeded to flambé my crepe. *thumbs up* Wooh!

We then found another creperie in the park - you know, cos they're just everywhere.

A local enjoying her day out.

Me joining in with the locals. The provided chairs recline at such a comfortable angle. Foot stools are provided too! How can you not have a sleepy-time at the park?

Fen-Fen found the largest Nutella tub to date..... at yet another creperie in the park. All hail Nutella!

Now this is where I have to tell my sob story. My first encounter with Sadaharu Aoki was when Kahoons brought back some macarons in the most exquisite flavours which exemplified the beauties of French-Japanese food fusion. After doing some more research and crying tears of joy when I saw this blog, I put the patisserie down on my to-do list. Their rue de Vaugirard branch was a short walk from the gardens and my excitement grew as I approached the store's sign.

But... when we arrived at the doorstep, to my horror, the patisserie was closed! I had not been able to find the official website prior to our trip and banked on the blog which didn't indicate that it was closed on Mondays! I ran into the convenience store next door and nearly burst into tears as I blurted out my "Excusez-moi, parlez-vous Anglais?" to which the young check-out chick indicated 'a little bit'. I think I then spoke too quickly but she got the gist of it and confirmed it is indeed on closed on Mondays. *sob sob* I calculated in my head that we didn't have time to risk going to the Les Gobelins branch especially if it was also shut on Mondays and the distance was too great to head to Galeries Lafayette for what were essentially.... some snacks. I vow to return to Paris and conquer thee!!

Upset at not having the chance to indulge in eclairs, macarons and other Japanese-French treats, I had to go and photograph just the 'normal' French stuff. Oh I really shouldn't complain - these are yummy too!

Having yet to eat a proper lunch, we headed to the Viet/Chinese area for some pho. Again I was disappointed as we searched for Le Bambou only to find it shut on Mondays! What's with that? Hungry and still a bit upset, we just went to the nearest open Viet restaurant.

Well at least they served the pho with my favourite pickled onions. The pho itself was so-so, not bad-bad but if I had a choice I wouldn't eat there again. Lunch was topped off with a Three Colour drink.

Returning to the hotel to collect our luggage, we stopped by the local patisserie to bring some sweets back to London. Again, the journey to Gare du Nord was just as quick as when we arrived and we were ready to board after a 10 minute metro ride.