Staring on the interior – the first thing I do rather than checking out the new collection…that’s me in a nutshell. This is one of my favourite stores in Paris, All Saints! Love the old Singer sewing machines they have in their shopping windows, the bricks on the walls and the industrial lamps. Besides their interior I love their boots (I have some pairs) and their printed shirts, leather jackets and outerwear…. I would describe the style of their clothes as vintage meets industrial with a warm and soft touch of bohemian.

All Saints – 49 Rue Étienne Marcel  75001 Paris

Café Charlot in Paris is one of my favourite places for having an utterly delicious brunch at. It is a place I discovered when I moved to Paris in January 2010 and ever since I had my first brunch there I fell in love. Love affair deluxe I would call it…

As you can see in the photo above, me and my friends all went for their classic brunch menu: fresh squeezed orange juice, hot chocolate (to die for! Thick and creamy texture….), pain perdu, toast, cherry tomatos and shallots, fresh fruit salad, scrambled organic eggs with smoked salmon and soft chive cream cheese. Can you ask for more? This is THE place to bring your friends for some Sunday chillaxing and gossiping (ofcourse! we all want to know what happened last night at the party if your memory failed on you…) while endulging yourselves with a delicious brunch.

Café Charlot is located in the Marais district and is situated just across the Marché des Enfants Rouges (the oldest food market in Paris). It is a bistro with a retro interior and a very fashionable clientel…oh yes, this is the place were you can see the trendy Parisians almost fighting for a free table inside Café Charlot…..

It’s definately the place to be, either if you want to have a delicious brunch…or just be in the middle of a fashionshow ;-)

p.s. I’m not into burgers BUT Café Charlot‘s actual specialty is the cheese burger...which all my friends gives the thumb up for. So if you share the same passion, Café Charlot is the place!

Café Charlot – 38 rue de Bretagne, Paris

La Fête du Muguet (muguet = Lily of the Valley) and La Fête du Travail in France, are a public holiday to celebrate workers right and also an occasion to present the fragrant Spring flower, the lily of the valley to loved ones. When I was living in Saint Germain in Paris I remember that some representatives from Croix-Rouge française (the Red Cross) used to sell this fragrant Spring flower on the street. The photo above is acctually the muguet I bought from them on May 1st in France 2010….

Wish you all a bonne fête du muguet!

View from my window in my apartment at Boulevard Saint Germain, Paris

While some people are fascinated by skyscrapes and other extraordinatry views I was and still I’m fascinated by the view over the Parisian rooftops. No building ressembles the other, time and history has clearly left signs…the window shutters are my favourite ones (please let them never be changed into ugly new ones)…and the “l’œil de bœuf “s in zinc…I remember when we were selling those in the gallery I used to work at. People use them as decoration in homes, by putting a mirror in them. Sometimes I wish I could turn into Mary Poppins, open my umbrella and just fly in the sky above all these beautiful rooftops in Paris :-)

“Chem Cheminée Chem Cheminée Chem Chem Tchéri,
Pour avoir d’ la chance, prends ta chance telle qu’elle vient.
Chem Cheminée Chem Cheminée Chem Chem Tchéro,
Dans vos mains je trouve chaque fois mon étoile d’or.“

(Mary Poppins, “Chem Cheminée”)

View from my window in my apartment at Boulevard Saint Germain, Paris. You can see the two towers from the Saint Sulpice church and the Montparnasse tower.

Rue Jacob is a charming street in St Germain in Paris and since there was a period I was working at Ladurée Bonaparte that is situated in the intersection of Rue Jacob and Rue Bonaparte, I was walking on Rue Jacob pretty often. While working at Ladurée and I had my daily breaks I always used to go out and have a 15 minutes of walk exploring the area and looking in the display windows of the boutiques…..often dreaming about the beautiful Hervé Léger dresses in the Hervé L.Leroux boutique next to Ladurée…or just being fascinated by the beautiful buildings…decorated with typical French shutters, antique lanterns, boutique signs and the building facade covered with the dirt of exhaust fumes, they all showed signs of the years that had passed….

Cherry blossom trees in Paris

Paris in pink! The beautiful cherry blossom trees are finally in bloom…..

Cherry blossom trees in Paris

The exhibition is more or less comparing the past and the present, the founder (Louis Vuitton) and the actual Creative Director (Marc Jacobs)…click here to read more about the exhibition and have a look on the beautiful photos below:

Photo credits: [Ay]A Studio ,  [Ay]A Studio Facebook page

Photo credits: [Ay]A Studio ,  [Ay]A Studio Facebook page