Jody and Sarah's Shopping Adventure in Paris April 28 to May 4, 2006

I invited my niece Sarah to accompany me on a trip to Paris where her 4 years of high school French would be put to test. She applied for her passport and the reservations were made. Our flight was on IcelandAir out of Minneapolis/St Paul which departs and returns only on Thursdays. My bank account would only allow 1 weeks stay, even though it would have been great to stay longer. Hotel reservations were made to stay at the same hotel I was in two years ago, The Familia Hotel in the Latin Quartier. This was Sarah’s first airplane flight and only my second. At that time the US dollar to Euro was $1=1.29€  

Paris 2006 travel journal: I bought two 7 Gypsies blank books with brown tag board covers, removed the wire bindings then sponge painted the covers. I applied antique looking papers from BasicGrey on the front and back inside covers, typed out the text and graphics on my computer and printed the books pages on my printer. I computer generated the cover graphic and had it printed at my local copy shop then decoupaged it to the cover. I then added ribbons with tags and charms. There are more pictures of my book towards the bottom of this page.

Paris travel journal Eiffel tower Champs Arc

Jody and Sarah when she was about 4 years old. She’s my elder niece, we’ve always been very good pals. As she gets older, it seems I get younger.

Auntie Jo and Sarah

Saying goodbye at the airport, Minneapolis.

Sarah’s husband Aaron drove us to the airport late in the afternoon. We were planning on doing some serious shopping so we nested a smaller suitcase inside the larger one. We packed quite light knowing if there was something we needed we could buy it in Paris.

The flight left MSP for a brief layover in Reykjvik, Iceland at 6am the following morning. The Leif Eriksson International Airport at Keflavik, Iceland is very small and so easy to get around. The place was nearly empty at 6am. This is literally in the middle of no where. After an hour and a half layover we were on our connecting flight to Paris which arrived at CDG about 1pm Friday. 

 We took a taxi (it seemed more like a limo as it was a Mercedes-Benz) to the hotel on the left bank which cost 75€ ($94.00) for the 35 minute trip. We checked in with Marc at the hotel and decided to wander about the neighborhood and go down to the Seine.

hotel Familia rue des ecoles
Picture

Our room was the one between the 2 spot lights

 room 11

bathroom room 12 chambre 12 familia hotel

 The view west on rue d’Ecoles. There is a little triangular park where the flowers and tree are.

Breakfast in America diner Paris

Sarahs first view of the Arc d’ Triomphe. We took the metro here and later walked down to the Eiffel Tower.

A tasty American style breakfast is just down the street from the hotel. Sarah had the blueberry pancakes (they were loaded with berries) and she said they were awesome! I had the “french toast” and it was equally delicious. Breakfast In America is frequented by many of the college students in the area.

arc triomphe triumph Paris

It was a very chilly Saturday evening with a 2 hour wait until we actually got inside the first elevator to go up the Eiffel Tower. There were hundreds and hundreds of people inside and the lines were so long to go back down we took the stairs about a third of the way. Then we walked from the Eiffel down the quai and found a Metro stop just after midnight. We arrived back at the hotel at 12:30am with sore feet, both of us exhausted. 

 GREAT THING ABOUT PARIS #1 - walking around the city at midnight and feeling safer than I do in my own city.

Jody and Sarah on the bus to Montmatre
Eiffel Tower

Late Tuesday morning, May 2, we took the bus (67) to the Place Pigalle at Montmartre, then went up to Sacre Coeur via the funicular. Lit a few candles for Mom and Dad in the church then wandered about the neighborhood down below. Sarah scored incredibly cheap, stylish  clothes and shoes and we both bought more souvenirs to bring home.

This stairway up to Sacre Coeur is on the left side of the front entrance, I believe it’s the west side.

steps at Montmartre
Sacre Coeur

 Sacre Coeur - Church of the Sacred Heart, on a beautiful day.

A Dixieland jazz band right in the heart of Paris! They were playing “When The Saints Go Marching In” when we walked by and these old guys attracted quite a crowd. This was on the Pont Saint-Louis bridge near Notre Dame.

jazz band in Paris, pont Saint-Louis next to Notre Dame and Ile Cite

It was a gorgeous, sunny afternoon as we sat on a stairway at rue Montorgueil next to St. Eustace Church. Here we shared a gelato from a place down the street called Deliziefollie and it was scrumptious!

rue Montorgueil Paris St Eustace
gelateria
Enjoying a limon and frambois gelato
Deux bis creperie

The creperie Deux Bis on rue d’Ecoles, directly across from our hotel. We stopped here every day.

Shopping Paris Observations:

If you went to Paris on a budget like mine, you’d find things are very expensive there. Restaurant meals, however simple, will cost you at least $20.00 per person. A 12 ounce bottle of Coca-Cola will cost you €3, about $3.60. All candy bars start at €1, about $1.25. They have this awesome candy bar called the Mars Delight which is not available in the US but it has been available in Europe for 2 years. I bought several packages of them. Lu brand cookies are quite INexpensive and they have dozens of varieties. Most cost under €2 a box. Sarah and I brought home lots of boxes of cookies as gifts.

A fresh streetside crepe will set you back about $2.50. Have it filled with applesauce and cinnamon or  Nutella chocolate hazelnut spread and bananas for $3.50. They sell wine and liquor in every little street market (“alimentation”) and grocery store (Champion, Monoprix) as cheap as €3 a bottle. I brought home a bottle of Asti (Italian sparkling wine) that cost me just over $5.75 and it was delicious! The brand was Villa Veroni. The grocery stores all smell like rotting produce and seafood. Yuck!

There is no Monoprix store on rue de Rivoli like one guide book listed. It is now the H&M store where Sarah snagged a few trendy bargains. The only Monoprix we found was on the Champs Elysees. It’s like a Kohls or Marshall Fields upstairs (not Target as the guide book said,) very limited on its seasonal junior/misses apparel, has higher priced cosmetics than at home (Bourjois was to be the big bargain and I could buy that at home at Sephora) and has a grocery store in the lower level. In Paris they use mostly powder laundry detergent, not much available in liquid, and I never saw dryer fabric softener sheets. I bought a tube of tooth paste (Signal brand) that is anise flavored, how weird. A bottle of Head and Shoulders shampoo will cost you about $8.00. They carry mostly Garnier hair products. I bought bottles of Gliss Sublim Intense Shampoo and conditioner (they call it simply “apres-shampooing”) by Schwarzkopf which is a German brand sold only in Europe. Salons in the US carry the Schwarzkopf Igora professional line. I purchased 2 cans of Rexona aerosol antiperspirant/deodorant and the fragrances are great. Not available in the US, its made by Unilever who markets Degree, and it is apparently the largest selling brand in the world. 

The Champion grocery store is on rue Monge, just down from the Cardinal Lemoine metro stop. Rue Monge has a lot of interesting shops. There was a second hand clothing store that was literally wall to wall with heaps of used garments and shoes on the floor. The shop was at capacity with 4 persons inside it, then a lady tries to come in with her dog. Even though it was overcrowded and full of fire code and safety violations, Sarah bought a pair of cute jeans here. Need a challenge? Find a single shoe in the pile and then hope it’s mate is in there too, none of them were attached. 

The second hand shop on rue Monge

what a mess!
Metro subway train paris

Here comes that Metro subway train! The train comes by every 2 to 4 minutes so you never have long to wait if you’ve missed it. We hopped on and off all over the city - I wish Minneapolis-St Paul had something like this, it’s great transportation and soooo fast! 

GREAT THING ABOUT PARIS #2 - the very fast and predictably efficient public transit system, aka the METRO. Major US cities like Minneapolis/St Paul (my home) should have accomplished this many, many years ago. The Paris Metro is 100 years old!

Graffiti in the metro, taken by Sarah

graffiti in Paris subway metro

Sarah couldn’t believe how fancy looking and busy the McDonalds on the Champs Elysees was. The customers were at least 10 deep in every line. They serve white cheese on the cheese burgers. They even have a patiserie in this location.

Are the days of the pay toilets gone? Two years ago we had to pay to use the facilities even at McDonalds. This time there was no cost but the restrooms were smelly and trashed!

Paris McDonalds champs elysees
merry-go-ground

GREAT THING ABOUT PARIS #3 -  the public squares, piazzas, places and gardins. There are so many public gathering places and locales of architectural interest in foreign cities that we don’t have here at home.

The carrousel at St Chapelle

Sarah loves men in uniform! 1918 WW1 world war 1 monument soldier angel armistice

Sarah hanging out with a    few guys on the street.

We walked and shopped until we were exhausted at days end.

My Baedeker’s 1892 tour guide book of Paris that I picked up at a Cancer Society garage sale for $1.50

asti Villa Verona
Baedeker's Paris and its Environs 1892

Cheers! I loved this Asti that I bought at the grocery store for 5€ a bottle. Drank one at the hotel and brought one home.

Paris travel charm bracelet sterling silver

I made this sterling silver charm bracelet with charms of Italy and Paris: Eiffel tower, Arc de Triomphe, PARIS, Romes colosseum and Michelangelo’s David. Also a passport, jet airplane, floral heart and heart and home. All parts (charms and bracelet) were purchased on eBay. With sparkly baubles of faceted Czech glass and Swarovski crystals, the bracelet makes a pretty tinkling noise like wind chimes. I have since added a Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Picture

Take a peek inside at the pages of my altered journal:

CLICK here to go to the Italy/Paris altered book travel journal    ....Paris travel journal Eiffel tower Champs Arc artisan jewelry

I randomly stamped ink blocks on the pages to add color. I cut a string and button envelope to fit and decorated it with a torn BasicGrey paper then stamped the word ‘receipts’ (byStampin’ Up! but I lost the letter “p” and used my old Jody Poesy typewriter stamp instead.) I stamped on the other side billets and recus (tickets and receipts.) The pages are decorated with photographs and postcards. The font used in this book is Sandy Text from Hallmark.

This is the page for May Day. Torn edge paper by BasicGrey and lily-of-the-valley embellishments from Jolies.

paris travel journal altered art scrapbook
paris travel journal altered scrapbook

tickets saved are enclosed in envelope

maps and postcards

paris travel journal
paris travel journal altered scrapbook Paris

words and pictures

A mini file folder by BasicGrey holds a tiny copy of my flight details

paris travel journal scrapbook altered travelog
Picture
CDG airport

Reflections of the tubed escalators inside the CDG airport. Sarah took this shot and called it “Habitrails.”

No offense to the people who live here, but this view of Iceland shows a desolate, unforgiving landscape. A lady on the airplane called it “God forsaken Iceland.” It’s just rocks, volcanic rocks.

Iceland coast
Snyrtingar Iceland airport

I took this in the airport in Iceland. We thought snyrtingar was such a funny sounding word! An American or British magazine such as Glamour would cost nearly $13 American dollars at the airport news stand! I bought a few postcards and a bottle of fresh squeezed orange juice instead.

JodyPoesy.com

I hope you’ve enjoyed my travelog!

updated Dec 28, 2007