Last weekend, I went on a last minute trip to Paris with 2 of my friends, Fatima and Assel. We just wanted to get away from school related stress and just spend time with each other since it would be our last semester together. We’ve all been to Paris before and it’s just amazing how we all still want to go back. For me, Paris has this certain charm that keeps me wanting to go back. I love the Parisian buildings, the outdoor cafes, not to mention shopping but most of all, the pastries.

With two nights in the city, we mostly wanted to do some sightseeing, shopping and pastry tasting (for me!). ;) We arrived friday night, dropped our bags in the hotel and went to find a cafe where we could have our dinner.

We found this rather cute place called LouLou’s by Boulevard Saint Germain. Fatima and I went for the salmon while Assel went for the steak. (Sorry for the bad pics, anyone have tips with taking photos under yellow light? >_<) 

To be quite honest, we found the food rather disappointing. The steak was quite dry and the salmon quite bland really. Perhaps it was coincidental or not, who knows. Service was so so, the staff speak english well enough but it did take long to receive our bill.. then again, it was rather packed and only 2 servers and a bartender was around. Afterwards, we had a stroll by the Seine and the Notre Dame.

Saturday was rather busy; woke up early to find our hotel breakfast was a croissant with a few variety of jams and coffee. Rather disappointing again but we were too hungry to complain. Then we walked to the Louvre. Wonderful morning exercise by the way. Especially for 3 unfit girls. HAHA. Well, we walked since the tour bus didn’t start until 9:30 and we decided to go to the Louvre as it was a stop for the bus and so that we wouldn’t be going in circles.

Got on the hop on hop off bus to the Trocadero stop to snap some photos of us with the (complete) Eiffel Tower. It was around 11:30 when we went to look for food. Yes, we are rather hungry people. Haha. Spotted a few cafes around but the first one we went into turned us away since it was too early for lunch. So we went 2 doors down to the Cafe Kleber.

I must say I was glad to have been turned away as the food here was pretty good. Fatima ordered the Sirloin Steak with pepper sauce, I ordered the Hanger Steak with shallots while Assel ordered a burger. The steak was really good; juicy and tender plus I loved the sweetness from the shallots. Both my friends loved their orders as well.

Afterwards, we had planned to go to the Sacre Coeur since we’ve never been there but since Saturday was the only day where shops were open… we went shopping instead. Typical females or what? ;) Whilst in Galerie Lafayette, we happened across Pierre Herme. My friends ordered some macarons and although I love trying to make them, I don’t really like eating them. I do occasionally try some but I get tired of it for some reason.. :\ I love taking pictures of them though.. so cute. :3 I somehow managed to steal a shot before the staff told me pictures aren’t allowed. Oh well :P My friends didn’t like the green tea mac but I love green tea so they gave the extra to me hehe. We loved the violet one as well, the one at the top in the picture but didn’t like the olive oil with vanilla and rose flavors.

We went to Champs-Elysees next to see what we could check out which isn’t much really. We decided to eat in Laduree after trying it a couple of years ago with my parents and I remember the food was good. Unfortunately, we were an hour too early for dinner service so we ended up ordering sandwiches instead. It wasn’t anything special really and I felt bad since I persuaded my friends to go for an actual dinner instead of snacks. Ended up taking away a box of macarons partially because I love taking pictures. Hehe.

i love the green apple, caramel, chocolate and coffee flavors!

For Sunday brunch, we went back to LouLou’s since we saw from their menu before that they served breakfast/brunch items. Fatima ordered a cheeseburger (I swear, she eats so much for a tiny girl) whilst me and Assel went for the Big ‘New York’ breakfast (if I’m not mistaken) which consists of 2 large pancakes, 2 eggs cooked how you want, hashbrowns, BACON, small jars of fruit and yogurt. It was better than the dinner experience.

After, we went to the Jardin du Luxembourg to have a stroll in the park. Pretty cool and relaxing place and happened across the Statue of Liberty.

I crossed the park to find Sadaharu Aoki’s patisserie as I was determined to go and try out his japanese-french pastries. Finally found the shop which is pretty tiny but filled with aesthetically pleasing goodies. I settled for the bamboo and a matcha croissant whilst my friends got more macarons to bring back. I wanted to try out the matcha chocolate bars myself but found it was rather pricey :( Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to take pictures of the goods as they didn’t make it during the trip and the cake split in half. :( Of course, I still ate it but it was soaked through and I just wanted the matcha goodness. Hehehehe.

I know there isn’t much about pastries in the post but we were too full after meals to get snacks like crepes or croissants :( But I’ll be going back in June again to meet my family before they come here in Switzerland for my graduation. I’ll definitely visit the Sacre Coeur (would be my 6th time in Paris after all) and go visit more patisseries. Which probably would be not a very good idea seeing as I’ll have to fit into my dress.. Anyway, until next time!  xo