Nibble and Suck

projϑkt.3

A really cool store my ubercoolundergroundhipster cousin (pictured in brown leather jacket) brought us to on Saturday. You see, the manager/buyer Valentino (pictured in tan leather jacket) is a friend of his. Valentino has been working for projϑct.3 since it opened, ten years ago. He is so passionate about what he does, he made me discover numerous Copenhagen and Stockholm brands like DAY by Birger et Mikkelsen and HULT♡UIST (which make really nice jewelry). He travels a lot to nordic countries and is always on the lookout for what is new and cool. What can I say? A true fashion expert. Sweet and funny on top of that. Next time I'm in Munich, I'm coming prepared.

Notice the beautiful HULT♡UIST cards Valentino gave me gives to male clients for their girlfriends/wives.

Fun-Berlin style

Berlin Beach-along the Spree river

Me with a panda-Berlin zoo

The one thing you must try in Berlin- currywurst

Fountain in Alexanderplatz

Berlin food: sausages and pretzels-how different from Paris

notice how the bread is so much smaller than the sausage, how Berlin

At night, at the komische oper berlin

half-way through, we left for the Week-end

With our dear friends Johanna and Matthias (and Monsieur in the middle). Thank you so much for the much-enjoyed stay! We couldn't have experienced Berlin as greatly without you.

L'Auberge du Louvre

On our last day in Paris we went to l'Auberge du Louvre for lunch. Everything was so good. It was hard imagining we were to part with Paris, so we decided on having very French food not that the other 7 days we were not eating French. This restaurant was not too far from the Louvre (hence the name) and had a good meal value. I especially enjoyed the carpacio. And the mousse au chocolat.

terrine de porc with salad

salad with lardons de porc

boeuf bourguinion

beef carpacio with Parmesan

mousse au chocolat

Off to Berlin!

More from Paris with love

Marie Josette, 1 €, as good as it looks

Colette the coolest store in Paris inside, no Karl this time

admire the modern architecture

the best gelato in Paris with 36 flavours of ice cream and sorbet

Gelati d'Alberto 45 rue Mouffetard

we took mojito and nociola(hazelnut chocolate)

supper in Paris

dessert in Paris

more from LaDurée: fleur d'oranger, cassis, coconut, lemon and raspberry

Week-end

If you ever come to Berlin, you must go to Week-end. It's a high-rise roof-top club on Alexanderplatz that has a terrace overlooking the best of the city. It's really nice nothing like we have in Montreal. Show them your best smile and you might get in without paying the hefty entrance fee which is what we did!

P.S. the caipirinhas are a must!

Berlin

We spend Wednesday and Thursday in Germany’s capital where there’s infinite (Monsieur’s quote) room for expansion. During the day we took tourist-friendly bus sightseeing and a boat tour, visited Europe’s biggest zoo and watched how every restaurant/bar located on the big streets placed huge T.V. screens and every single customer / passing-by would stop and watch the world cup tournament.

I was mesmerized by Berlin’s architecture, after Paris it felt like a breath of fresh air.

Berlin's TV Tower

admire the train station

that’s the parliament

across from the Berlin Wall

I'm so in love

Le Deauville

On Sunday we wanted to take a boat tour of Paris at night, missed it by two minutes and ended up on les Champs Élysées' Le Deauville for cocktails. I can't remember what we took but it was very good (garnished with a glow-in-the-dark stick and chewy candy)(and it came with popcorn). We joked that Joe Dassin's song "Oh Champs Élysées" came to life when he saw the bill of his meal on this fabulous street.

Impressions sur Paris & Notes

The first few days I couldn't understand Paris. I couldn't understand how people can afford Paris. Everything is considerably more expensive. And somehow everyone had Chanel. Maybe Chanel owners do live on caffeine and nicotine (and an occasional baguette) , or maybe they all know that Karl goes to Colette, meet him there and beg for discounts (?). What is sure is that the French have style. On any street, at any time of the day, any day, you can spot a French girl head to toe chic in heels. Back in Montreal, we wear heels for pfff… clubbing. There are no flip-flops here in Paris. There’s an occasional pair of Lanvin flats. Even older ladies are uber heel-wearing-everywhere fabulous. I was eating lunch today (this post was written in the airport on Tuesday, IknowI’msobehind) on rue St-Honoré, when in front of me a woman on a bike stops, reapplies some lipstick and continues her way down the street. Ah! Paris!

Here’s a list of outfits I kept seeing:

• slouchy trousers
• black pumps, skinny dark jeans (the skinnier and darker the better)
• white shirts
• lots and I mean lots of boyfriend jackets
• marinières
• minimal pant/jean + top but great heels and a great bag
• ALWAYS a cigarette in hand
• dark, monotone colors, not much print
• black tights + shorts on top

Tourists are easily recognizable (even us... no matter how much we tried to blend in) but dress great. OK. well perhaps not all and I won’t name names (nationalities)… but I must say I saw many tourists who would get my fashion seal of approval.

*BOOKSTORE of Les Arts Décoratifs

If you’re slightly interested in design, decorative arts, fashion, be prepared to spend two hours there (which is what I did on Monday, the one day the museum was closed).

*When coming to Paris, bring an empty luggage. This is perhaps a note to self, but having under-packed (no really, Monsieur’s luggage is twice bigger than mine) I desperately need place for every cheaper-than-in-Montreal thing I bought. Like alcohol. Or LaRoche Posay. Or Isabel Marant. (it’s what I called my petite folie #1) But that’s because we don’t have Isabel Marant in Montreal. In fact, next time I’m coming to Paris, it will be exclusively for shopping. I’m starting a savings account as you're reading this :)

Amélie's Deux Moulins

I apologize again for my blog being less STEPintoMYDay and more STEPintoAweekAgo, but nonetheless...

Listen to me very clearly! If you haven't watched Amélie Poulain, RENT IT RIGHT NOW. Last Sunday, Monsieur and I went to Les Deux Moulins for lunch. The décor hasn't lost of its Amélie magic, the menu has a cocktail in each character's name and I tried Amélie's crème brulée (you have to come to Paris solely for this crème brulée).

I had a Italian salad and Monsieur had their "brunch". A plethora of really delicious foods: fresh pressed orange juice, a hot chocolate, scrambled eggs, sausage, baked potato with garlic sauce, coleslaw, salad and toast with crème brulée (in Paris, they have dessert after brunch). My salad was arugula, tomatoes, mozzarella, prosciutto with croutons, all in a very mouthwatering balsamic dressing.

And now let me tell you about their crème brulée. I may not be an expert in crème brulée, but let me assure you- this is by far the best crème brulée I ever had. It's interior is creamy and warm while the caramelized top is crunchy and full of flavour. With each mouthful (even if it wasn't actually mine I couldn't share) I kept thinking (eyes closed) "I'm in Paris, thisissogood. I'm in ..."

Outside the café, on rue Lepic there was a bike race going on around rue the Montmartre area (which is a hill, with streets as wide as North America's sidewalk) (imagine!) and Algeria/ Slovenia soccer match playing at that moment, people cheering on the top of their lungs and all I'm thinking is "I'm in Paris, thiscrèmebruléeissogood."