Ile Saint Louis

We walked across this little island and it truly was one of the high points of the trip for me...just so charming!





Here's a sweet little excerpt on the island from about.com...

Lots of tourists swarm the island in Paris, home of Notre Dame Cathedral. But far too many overlook its adorable little sister, the quaint Ile Saint Louis just a few steps away.

This small island is like an oasis from the rush of the city. It's almost as if someone dropped a small French village into the center of Paris, as it features markets, bakeries, fromageries and cafés. While much of Paris has modernized over the years, the ile remains romantically frozen in the 17th century. It is remarkably the same as it was centuries ago.

Paris Neighborhoods: Ile Saint Louis,
A Charming Oasis in the Heart of the City
From Kelby Carr

Le Premier Matin

Our first morning. Pinch us...petit déjeuner à Paris!

Pain au Chocolat

OK, technically, pain au chocolat would be more of a chocolate croissant...but it didn't really matter. When you want bread with chocolate and you're in Paris, any bread with chocolate is pain au chocolat. For some reason, we waited until our last day to indulge in this insanely delicious treat. The evening before our departure, we went into a boulangerie and got what was more like a chewy baguette with chocolate chips. No sooner did we walk a block, nibbling it half way down, than we turned right around to buy more. We thought we'd snack on half before going out for the night and then have the other half for a quick petit dejuener before heading to the airport. Well, not so much.
I came out of the bakery with two more whole "pain au Vincennes" (I think that's what the sign said) and we polished off the rest of the first one before getting to the apartment, most of the next one in the apartment with some white wine before going out, and all but half of the third one the next morning. The last, wonderful, beautiful, glorious half...well, we saved it for our layover in Boston and enjoyed it with some Starbucks while enjoying the view of the airport harbor.
Ahhhh....pain au chocolat...my lingering craving...

Lou Pascalou, Ménilmontant

Signe knew of this little place down the street from La Féline where she had been on her last trip nine months ago, Lou Pascalou, so we went to rest and refresh. It really felt like a warm little neighborhood joint. There was some kind of unidentifiable yet quintessentially French music playing, art on the walls and friendly faces. Oh, and yummy fromage et charcuterie!

Ménilmontant

This is not in chronological order, but since we left off with La Feline, I think it fitting we start there now that we've actually been there! The previous post is a photo of the sign, as seen coming down the street, just above where the girls sit in the black and white shot. THIS—this was a fun night! I really liked the area of Ménilmontant even though we didn't see much of it, it just had a laid back yet energetic vibe. We were invited to a private party there by the dynamic duo Sean and Natacha, aka The Fugitives. Sean, a surfboard-shaping Californian married Natacha, a Parisian rock-n-roll artist and, voila, the punk band The Fugitives was born. Never before have I seen a couple so in love! They are regulars at La Feline and so we went to meet them there...with no idea what we were in for...
We got off the metro with an hour to kill, so we wandered around just a bit. Here is some mesmerizing graffiti I found right around the corner...

Fin

Well, back now mere hours before the volcano disaster (phew!) we can begin to tell the tale of Two Friends in Paris...

La Feline

I seriously love this image



Named after the 1942 American film Cat People, this bar is brimming with cute Bettie Page lookalikes and their handsome greaser boyfriends drinking cocktails at the bar or outside smoking, leaning against their motorcycles—or Vespas.