Woke up bright and early Saturday morning hoping to get a full day in. We started at Le Musée de la Vie Romantique....all things lovely and romantic. Seems like a strange thing to do with your two best friends but hey, who else was I going to do it with? :)
The museum is just around the corner from Chloé and Franck's, so we met at Blanche and went from there. We passed through a long hall with flowers and vines to a small house with green shutters, in the middle of a very small courtyard. Quaint...but very......romantic. How fitting. We were the minority of age there as we were surrounded my mostly older people. But Kerry and Ashleigh don't really care how much we stand out or how strange something is that we're doing...and that's why we are such good friends! Inside the house were small rooms, each one of a certain color filled with all things old and romantic. Including works from Delacroix, Chopin, and most importantly George Sand. There are all sorts of things from the romantic period including literary, musical, and artistic works. Beautiful furniture and gorgeous jewelry. There is also a nice tea room in the garden that is open in the summer but unfortunately we didn't get to experience that!
Still needing to find a costume, we wandered down to the only costume shops I know of it Paris just south of Pigalle...Au Clown de Montmartre. They were little tiny shops filled with basically anything you could need for building a clown, princess, or pirate. If one shop didn't have it, the next one was sure to. Ashleigh chose a pair of suspenders to match her nerdy glasses at home, and I chose some butterfly wings, a glittery mask, and a pair of antennas. I figured once I was finished with it I could give it to Marie-Césare and she would love it.
With my huge orange bag of butterfly wings, we went on to Rue de Rivoli to the Musée de la Mode. Probably one of the best museums I've been to so far. The people selling tickets are not so friendly, but as soon as you walk through the doors to the dark rooms with excellent spotlighted mannequins you are transported to a runway. Everything was black and white except for the clothes, which were displayed very well behind glass cases. Clothes from Dolce and Gabbana, Vivienne Westwood, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen....oh the list could go on!
Some were strange, like this dress with what I'm sure is a fashionable butt pad...And I'm sure this costs thousands of dollars, but one I won't be spending any of my money on.
Upstairs was the gallery of jewelry which of course we had to pop in. Goodness only knows how much money was in this one little room alone.
Upstairs was the Musée des Arts Décoratifs and the Musée de Publicité, which were interesting but we breezed right through. Needing a coffee break, neither Kerry or I had had Angelina's hot chocolate yet, so Ashleigh took us down to the tea room for a cup. It's about a 10 minute walk from the Louvre, and worth every step. The line was ridiculously long for a table, so we decided just to get our 5 euro cup of chocolat chaud to go. We stepped out onto the sidewalk and I took the first sip. I practically choked it was so thick. I mean, it was seriously just like melted chocolate. After I got over the shock factor, it was absolutely delicious....although there is no way I could have finished the entire thing. It was like eating 3 melted chocolate bars in one cup.
We walked down Rue de Rivoli to Le Marais to the Museum of European photography. There was an exhibition going on with photographs of the war in Vietnam that were better than the actual museum. The photos were heartbreaking and so surreal that afterwards we need a little pick me up. Lunch always does the trick so we stopped in a little place just off the main road. We sat in the window and watched the busy Parisians passing by with handfuls of baguettes, fresh vegetables, and children. I ordered my first Croque Madame and this was a good place to choose to do so! It was served on fresh whole grain bread, loads of delicious emmental cheese and thinly sliced, salty ham. On top, smack dab in the middle was a perfectly fried egg. As I always say...what doesn't get better with a runny egg on top?!
The bread was crunchy and crispy, but the cheese was still perfectly melted on the inside. Yummy! Saint Sulpice was on Kerry's list and since we are trying to tick things off on her list since she only has 3 weekends left we went down near Montparnasse. Saint Sulpice is a beautiful old church with an even more gorgeous plaza. In the middle there is a huge fountain, the Fountain of the Four Bishops, is appropriately named.
No, you are not suppose to throw coins in this fountain and make a wish....but, we all thought it would be an excellent idea.
Ashleigh and I had to go home around 6 and get ready for Rhea's costume party. As I started to put on my fly butterfly déguisement, I kept thinking what a crazy person I am going to look like on the metro. I stuck my ensemble in a bag, stopped by Monoprix for a bottle of wine (you never go empty handed) and ran to meet Ashleigh. She had been to Rhea's before, so thought it was best to go with someone who knew where they were going! She lives in the 20th, which is somewhat of a trek, but not unbearably bad. The other girls' costumes were good, and I do like hanging out with them. I didn't take any photos, but once some get posted on facebook I'll put them on the blog. These will have to do for now!
At Rhea's apartment
On the metro
We had a fun Sunday in Versailles too which I will post later! The weather was beautiful and Versailles is much more enjoyable in the sun!
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