Our favorite place in Paris has definitely got to be Opéra. Though if you've already been there, it may not be for the reasons you imagined. This area is well known for holding a great lot of famous shop centers - such as Les Galleries Lafayette, Boulevard Haussmann. I do enjoy going there, though definitely not as a spender, but as a watcher. There, heaps of Asian people (I didn't mean to go all cliché straight ahead I swear) wander and buy everything. From Dior to Channel, stopping by Vivienne Westwood, getting a bit of Swarovski to end up covered in Yves Saint Laurent. I never quite understood the Parisian Dream. It may be because I'm French... and Parisian (though I haven't lived there for 20 years so) though. Going there and spend heaps and heaps in tremendously expensive clothes and jewels and bags and shoes. Oh I'm sure it must feel nice to go back home with all this ! However, to me, Paris' real charisma doesn't rely there. I don't exactly like Paris so much but when I end up wandering there and finding nice, cosy places, I enjoy it the most. And if I like Opéra so much, it's because as I tend to call it the Japanese area, it hides a great amount of Japanese places. Here, have a look at the picture underneath.
As it may seem like one long pretty Parisian street, to every turn you'll take, you'll find Japanese restaurants, groceries shops, book stores, toy stores ... pretty much everything you might enjoy if you like Japan even just a tiny bit. And since my friend and I have been missing Japan like crazy since we came back last summer, it was our absolute place to be. Keep reading, I'll show you a bit later.
One more cliché : the obligatory Starbucks stop. You see, the closest Starbucks to where I live in France is in Paris. So, every single time I get there, I get one. There's nothing like my wonderful White Chocolate Mocca Frappuccino. Trying it when I was in Los Angeles was the best decision I made there lol.
I'm usually the one holding the camera so I don't have many photos of me but this time my lovely Priss stole my camera and went all paparats on me.
We then headed to Lafayette Gourmet. It's the yummy version of the clothes you find in Les Galleries Lafayette. It was actually my first time going in. I had no idea it existed. I found an article on the web about a wonderful Japanese patissier who had one shop in there so I thought we'd check it out. And when I see food, I start itching to take pictures. So here you go~
That's Sadahoru Aoki's stand. Everything looks amazing.
... just normal apples. Told you. The itching.
They had all those funny pasta. I even got one package... they're small Eiffel Towers, Arc de Triomphes... really cute. I thought it may be a funny present for my host family in Tokyo ! (no picture though)
After a whole afternoon of walking in the cold, we couldn't wait any longer and rushed to Happa Teï. It's a traditional Japanese (biased much?) restaurant. You see, my friend wanted to eat Takoyaki really badly. I knew that restaurant, after getting lost in those streets once, so we went. And it was wonderful. It's quite sad how hard it is to find an actual good Japanese restaurant in France. Firstly, most of them are hold by Chinese or Vietnamese people. And they all sell sushi or yakitori... to be honest when I was in Tokyo I had sushi only once, never had yakitori there. So when you leave Japan and start craving for Japanese food, that's not sushi or yakitori you want. That's takoyaki, okonomiyaki, yakisoba, onigiris, ramen, gyuudon... real Japanese food for god's sake ! And it appears to be that Happa Teï is one of the only real Japanese restaurant around. (They have awesome ramen in the area though !!)
Above : Takoyaki with chives ... and cheese I think. Under : Traditional takoyaki with dried skipjack and mayonnaise.
MIX TAMA Okonomiyaki : with pork, prawns and squid. Ahhhh~
It felt so so good, you have no idea.
Obligatory Japanese beer to cool off a bit.
And that's how our afternoon in Paris ended. We went back to my uncle's place, had a nice (too short) sleep and headed back to Metz in the early morning.
My uncle has quite a few designers' works, I always enjoy going to his place, it's like a messy museum. This time, the guy holding his own picture was my favorite.
As I told my mum on the phone yesterday, being in a big city is definitely the best. You can do everything by foot, find everything you're looking for, never get bored. It's so lively and entertaining. I always feel the best when I travel to big cities. It made me miss Tokyo all the more~ But hey, 63 days until I go back !
それじゃ、また！
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