one day we're gonna live in paris. i promise.

i've been quiet for a while, i know. a big launch kept me fully occupied at work last week, and we topped the busy days off with a long weekend trip to paris.

we stayed at mama shelter and enjoyed the luxurious hotel atmosphere. a place that offers kiehl's for toiletries cannot be all bad and the restaurant seemed a local hotspot. i wholeheartedly recommend it although the surrounding area is not as bustling as they'd have you believe.

it was a rainy and chilly weekend, but some warm sunshine graced our way, perfect for just walking around. post-fashion week the streets of paris were emptied of models and celebrities – not that i looked or would have recognized any of them anyway. japanese tourists shot random people (my sweetie included) at the tuileries as per usual, but otherwise the streets and cafes were refreshingly empty of fashionista wannabes trying to stalk people outside the fashion events themselves. personally i do not understand why anyone would stand for hours outside fashion shows, never setting foot inside, just to shoot people whose photos will appear (in better quality) on the pages of the sartorialist... maybe they hope they'll get an opportunity like petra, who popped by a ny fashion week party and found herself invited to shows in paris. a lucky girl she is!

shopping-wise the trip was uneventful: i grabbed a few items from cos which has slowly become my favorite high street store surpassing zara, but is unfortunately unavailable in finland. the sweets got a wallet from louis vuitton – where i realized i need to hoist my dj fees in order to afford their limited edition black python damier dj-bag (at 6800€ they had sold two) – and we stocked up on delicacies like olive oils and macaroons. my plan was to buy the perfect boyfriend blazer and i found one at stella mccartney, but they were out of my size. bummer.

predominantly we concentrated on being tourists: i spoke my hilariously poor french and got by fine because the locals were incredibly helpful and wanted to understand my rambling. contrary to the rumors, parisians are definitely not snotty by any standards.

we rode up le tour eiffel, walked along champs-élysées, admired the notre dame and tried to visit the catacombes ("closed due to vandalism until new order" – i hope they're referring to the band...). we also went to some sources of origin: enjoyed bloody marys at harry's bar and ate a sumptuous, long dinner at buddha bar. nevertheless, the line at laduree provided reason enough to rely on our local bakery for macaroons and colette was so packed it reassured us on the superiority of shopping online (yet again), although their little rodarte collection offered the necessary art experience of the paris visit.

unsurprisingly, we witnessed parisians protesting something on the streets, a cat stuck in a tree meowing heartbreakingly (we helped him down with plenty of cooing), and ridiculous traffic. we realized that parisian coffee is horrendous (and actually started craving starbucks – seriously...) and beer is sold in fairly unbavarian quantities. we also suffered hunger because of our laissez-faire schedule that craved nourishment between the official times for lunch and dinner. early monday morning we walked the corridors of cemetery pere lachaise inhaling the chilly fall air.


all in all, the perfect getaway after a hectic week.