Tuesday, October 13, 2009

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.

5 comments:

Salka said...

Teillä onkin ollut pikkaisen hulppeampi hotelli mitä meillä-ensi järkytyksestä toivuttuani jollain perikantaisella tavalla tosin viehätyin hotellin lähes Derrickmäiseen ilmapiiriin :D

Muistan lukeneeni ennen reissua ranskalaisten arvostavan, jos edes vähänkin yrittää kommunikoida heidän kanssaan ranskaksi. En tiedä, kuinka siihen sitten vaikutti hyvin epämääräinen ranskan puhuminen, mutta meidänkin kohdalle osui loistavia tyyppejä-tosin muutamia poikkeuksia lukuunottamatta :,

Sugar Kane said...

Too bad the catacombes were closed "en attendant New Order" - Although, must admit that in my rebellious youth me and the boys sneaked in by illegal means, in the dark... Ah la jeunesse!

I also must admit that this new-fangled "I'll travel to Paris/Milan/Londres JUST to take photos of the same people everyone else on the internet" tourist genre puzzles the hell outta me?

Anyway, glad to hear you had a marvellous old time in gay Paree, and great to have you back!

stellagee said...

salka, mä olen euroopanmatkoillani huomannut, että perushotellit ovat helposti aika, kuten sanoit, "derrickmäisiä", ja koitan nykyisin nähdä hiukan enemmän vaivaa etsiäkseni kiinnostavan lukaalin. tietysti budjetin rajoissa, mutta olen myös valmis maksamaan kohtuullisesti ekstraa siitä, että nukkumaympäristökin on viihtyisä. mama shelter oli kyllä ihan loistava kokemus, suosittelen.

silti yksi mun lempparihotelleista oli istanbulin klassikko, pera palace, joka oli todella rähjäinen ja kulahtanut. vannon, että siellä kummittelee. jotenkin tieto siitä, että asun huoneessa, jossa joku kuuluisa viulisti on kellistänyt päänsä saavuttuaan orient expressillä matkansa päähän, tuntui hienolta.

mä huomasin, että moni paikallinen myös turhautui mun soperrukseen ja vaihtoi samantein englanniksi, kun kuuli mun aloitukset. mutta keskustan ulkopuolella englannintaidot kyllä loppuivat selvästi, joten sönkkääminen oli ihan pakollista. ihan kuten sullakin, ystävällisiä olivat pääosin ihan kaikki.

sun postaukset pariisista ovat olleet muuten ihanan tunnelmallisia ja mukavia lueskella!

sugar kane, i wish we had stumbled upon a cataphile, but we didn't. next time i'll be better prepared...

yeah, tell me about it! some people, like petra, have a unique eye for detail that translates into interesting posts. there is a reason why the sartorialist is so famous.

but i'm really baffled about the many other hangarounds; why oh why would you waste your time celebrity spotting? i guess i just do not get the whole blogger paparazzi desire (i mean, everybody hates the paps!), but then again, i don't get a lot of things...

petra said...

wow, i'm all blown away by your compliment - sincere thank you. coming from you that means a lot.

stellagee said...

petra, well, you're very welcome, my sweets.