I Can’t Wait: To be an American in Paris

“So just love, make mistakes, and have wonderful times, but never second guess who you are, where you have been, and most importantly, where it is you are going.” -Carrie Bradshaw

My eternal icon, Carrie Bradshaw, traveled to Paris (aka her Mecca) in the final two episodes of Sex and the City. The fashion, the plot, and the breath-taking scenery could easily make these some of my favorite episodes. Did I mention the clothes they feature in these episodes? Some of the most memorable outfits are featured in these episodes, rightfully so because Paris deserved awe-inspiring fashion.

Like I said, amazing.

So, the whole point being, I absolutely cannot wait to go to Paris. It’s the city of love and I do love love.

Notre Dame, Effifel Tower, La Siene River and the Lourve are all the things you must do while in Paris. Which of course, I will do. However, I’m wanting to know some of the other activities and places that draw people in to Paris.

Well what else is there to do? Well shopping would be a top contender.

Shopping

I will certainly be pinching pennies this summer if I want to afford anything in Paris. The first stores I will be checking out are the vintage stores which can have a range of Parisian secondhand fashion. Aspasie & Mathieu is a vintage store that is known for great accessories. Le Dépôt-Vente de Buci is another vintage store that has great fashion, supposedly marked down 20-30% more than other stores. As I’m stated before, I love a good flea market (or any type of market, really) and Marché aux Puces de St-Ouen is a flea market with tons of stalls dedicated to vintage fashion. But the number one place to go shopping in Paris is the Galeries Lafayette which touts over 75,000 brand name items. There is even a fashion show every Friday! Can you said Oui!

Entertainment

Moulin Rouge, another great draw for Paris, is going to be first stop for a night of cabaret. If it’s anything like the movie I may just do ahead and start freaking out now. I’m definitely going to see a French play, preferably by Moliere and Comédie Française has three stages and each one usually features a French playwright for the evening. Cannibale Café is a hip bar/restaurant with decently prices meals and a cool atmosphere to enjoy a few drinks with friends. The Frog & British Library is a popular cafe with students so I’m sure if we hung out here for a bit we could possibly make some international friends-if they don’t absolutely hate Americans already. Maybe I’m start out by saying I’m from Texas…and use a heavy accent.

While I always use Lonely Planet to find some good reference material for traveling, I recently found Fodor’s Travel Intelligence which has a good category called “Places to Explore” which lists the neighborhoods to check out in a city.

Overall, Paris is something that I want to ask people about. It’s a place that you can’t plan for and has a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’ that you can’t really experience until you are there. I guess this is one trip I’m just going to have to make an impromptu adventure.