Paris, oh beautiful Paris

Today's post will be about my time in Paris.

Our appartment is in the 11th "arrondissement" (=neighborhood), but we were on the go and touring in many other places.

The arrondissements of Paris

We wandered around the Marais (3rd and 4th arrondissement) a lot, one of the most beautiful and most touristic neighborhoods of the city. One day we saw this performance artist conducting a "time machine". He got a lot of attention and it was quite hard to get a picture without somebody standing in front of the camera or shoving me out of the way.

 

 

The Marais has a Jewish stretch with five or six different felafel shops, where you can get a sandwich to-go or sit inside the restaurant. Personally, I think the to-go is the better option. You can find plenty of places in the Marais to sit down, whether it's on the steps of a monument, or a bench in the park...  you can just eat while walking. Plus, to-go is much cheaper and it's funner to have the fillings put in the bread then to have it spread out on a plate.

These felafel sandwiches are SO GOOD and just thinking about them is making me crave one, big time. By the way, if you specify that you don't want sauce in your sandwich (there isn't that much anyway) they're vegan. :)

 If you visit Paris this should definitely be on your list of things to do.

 

 

 

 

There were several vegan restaurants that I wanted to try and we only got to eat in one (which is in the 11th arrondissement) but I'm happy we got to fit that in, at least. It's called SOYA and it has a really groovy atmosphere... and yummy food:

We got a big spread with hummus, roasted veggies, beetroot dip, tzatziki, tofu and best of all the tofu-mint dip. It was amazing. I want to replicate it.

My brother got couscous with seitan and tofu, which was really, really tasty.

I got a salad of roasted veggies and quinoa and this pesto-sesame-sauce-thingy which I can't really remember apart from the fact that it tasted amazing.

One day we crossed Paris all the way to the 16th arrondissement (it felt like a totally different world from our neighborhood) to see some old friends. On the way we stopped at the American Library where I got five different books and a bunch of Friends DVDs. Then we proceeded to the 16th. We toured a little: we saw the statue of liberty (which honestly was much less interesting and pretty then the one in NY) and we strolled on the new walkway along the Seine.

 

 

One of the things which makes Paris so beautiful are the architectural details. Like the face over this window, for instance. You can find these on the façades of many buildings.

Other than touring my mom and I went to one or two yoga sessions per day and when it got too hot we spent time at the pool with my brother too.


Unfortunately, at some point during the trip my camera started freaking out and I couldn't take anymore pictures... I was planning to snap away at anything interesting I saw but therefore I was not able to. :(
I cannot tell you how many times I pulled out my camera to take a picture of something while we were out and then remembered that my camera would not co-operate. Kind of a drag, but I lived. ^^