Paris Weekend (deux)

All set for more Paris?

Good. Because this may have been the best part: getting to go to Shakespeare and Company. Which just so happened to be right next to the restaurant where we had dinner plans. FATE. I'm sure of it.

Do you know how long I've wanted to go here? The answer you're looking for is about ten years, when I first heard of it. That's a long time to want to go somewhere! And we just ended up right next to it by chance! Magnifique! Incroyable!

Fun fact: You're not allowed to take pictures inside Shakespeare and Company.

Funner fact: you are reading the blog of a REBEL. I couldn't resist taking a few sneaky snaps. SORRY NOT SORRY.

Especially of this little saying above the permanent book collection upstairs. Dreamy. Do you know what else was upstairs? The giant white cat that lives in the bookstore. That's right. Lives there.

And here is the little restaurant where we had dinner!

Jenny & I had a little whisper about if we'd ever tried escargot and after discovering neither of us had, we decided to split it for an appetizer. It came in this amazing puff pastry and inside was this delicious herb and cream and mushroom sauce.

And the snails, obviously. Which.. eh. They reminded me of muscles, which I think are disgusting. And I'm not a picky eater. Anyways, now I can say I had escargot in Paris! And that will likely be my first and last time.

Then: French wine and duck in caramel sauce. I don't even think I need to say anything else.

Afterwards, Jenny, Alice and I stumbled home on the metro before everyone else because we could barely keep our eyes open at the dinner table.

One more Paris post to follow about our Sunday afternoon at Versailles!

xx

(Don't forget to check out #TTDERbridalpartyinparis on twitter and instagram for everyone's snippets of the weekend! There's some gorgeous snaps on there!)

North London Vintage Market

Sunday morning I met up with a couple of girls I met through Britbound, Ashley and Siobhan, and we ventured North to the North London Vintage Market. I saw the market advertised on TimeOut London (or was it Londonist..?) and suggested we go as a catch up morning.

I met Ashley just outside the tube station on the cutest road lined with houses from fairytales, covered in vines and leaves and with brick sides and colored doors. Google maps lead us through a muddy woods to a little town center complete with a church parish hall where the market was taking place. Since it didn't start until one, we decided to find a place to grab a bite to eat first.

Cookies in the window called us in, and we sat in a little cafe that gave me some serious little French town in Beauty & the Beast vibes (I know, that's weird). I got a hot chocolate and a croissant and Ashley got a giant lady finger and an espresso. We chatted for about an hour, and then went to collect Siobhan at the station. Luckily we found a much less muddy way back.

Sunday was so beautiful, blue skies and a little breeze that was nothing like the freezing gusts back home. It was almost like spring, which I'm sure every Londoner would disagree with but, being from Newfoundland where it frequently snows late May and temperatures don't rise until July.. well, it felt like Spring to me.
The market was in a little church hall, like I said, and it was jam packed with vintage goodies. Furniture, clothes, jewellery, toys, kitchenware.. everything you could imagine. It was small in a good way - tons of things but not the least bit overwhelming. A little window served coffees and cakes.

I fawned over all the vintage tins and pawed through the clothes racks. Ashley bought a cute vintage summer dress, Siobhan got some movie star-esque sunglasses, and I picked out one of those glass milk bottles shown above (the blue ribbon biscuit one, to be exact!), to use as a vase in my room.

I left the girls fairly early and headed near the Southbank to Gordon's Wine Bar to meet my flatmates for lunch. Joe left for the States on Monday for a month, so we decided to go out as a going away get together kind of thing. We sat outside because inside was packed, but it's the coolest place - boasting itself as one of the oldest wine bars in London, the inside cellars are low stone ceilings lit by candlelight.
The cheese platters seemed to be the most popular menu item, which we all ended up getting. I got a chèvre and a camembert, which came with a giant piece of baguette, parma ham and a delicious cranberry (?) jelly. Oh, and a Malbec, naturally.
This post is getting really long. Oops.
After lunch we wandered to Trafalgar Square to check out the Chinese New Year celebrations. It was a bit odd; as we entered a woman was singing the theme song to Downton Abbey. Have yet to figure out what that has to do with the Year of the Horse. We stayed for a bit and watched some little kids perform and I kept getting shoved by the couple next to me who seemed to think they were at their own private event given the amount they were making out. Lovely.
So that was Sunday! How were your weekends?