Day 11: SHOPPING!!!

Yes, of course, I would set aside a whole day for shopping.  Duh!  I set out my plan of attack the night before and figured out where I wanted to go and how to get there.  The first stop for me was City Pharma for French beauty products.

These purchases were all based on reviews from blogs and articles online.  When I googled "must buys in Paris", these keep turning up.  Everything else you can buy in the States except these French pharmacy finds.

Haven't had a chance to try this yet

This is surprisingly refreshing, but I could be just buying into the hype

Sunscreen - I bought the tinted by mistake, but still really like it.  It's very thin and goes on without the greasy feeling of normal sunscreen.

Lip Balm - smells really good, it's very rich.  I don't think I could ever give up Chapstick though

I don't wear a lot of makeup, but everyone swears by this.  I haven't tried it yet

Just started using this toner and skipping the moisturizer, so far so good.

Haven't tried this mask yet

Haven't tried this oil yet.  I will when my current one runs out.  Didn't want to start a new product and love it and then not finish the one I already have.

All around ointment, have not tried

After I got back from my jaunt to the pharmacy, I woke the hubster up and slowly got ready to continue the shopping spree.  We picked up some croissant to go and made out way to the flagship store of Longchamp on Rue St Honore.  I did say that most thing are cheaper in the US with the exception of these bags. I bought two: one weekend travel bag that expands and exclusively sold in Europe Pliage with the Eiffel Tower on it.  I spent significantly less than I would have here.

Weekend getaway bag

Bag for my mom

After I bought the bags, we went to the Arc de Triomphe to see the landmark as well as start at one end of the Champs Elysees.

Kissy kissy

Walking in the underground tunnel to the Arc de Triomphe

Under the arc

Unfortunately for us, as we were viewing the Arc, it started to rain.  And then it POURS!  Great....  I had brought a small travel umbrella with us and it sorta worked.  We stayed mostly dry and we try to power through the rain.  We stopped into H&M because the hubster wanted me to get some faux leather pants.  He's been seeing them on girls everywhere and thinks I would look good in some.  I say sure we can look.  We've popped into a few stores earlier, but they didn't have my size.  Well, we found a pair and I bought them.  I really do like them.  Thanks pookie for the fashion type.  We also bought a large umbrella so we didn't have to share.  It wasn't cheap, but we consider it an investment into our relationship.

Faux leather pants - should have bough the lace shirt

After H&M, we went into the Louis Vuitton flag ship store... just to look.  It was a fun house of LV.  I've never seen so much stuff with the LV logo on it.  It was fun to explore the multi-floor building.  They don't allow photographs, but I did sneak this one on the escalator.

Even the escalator is pretty

We walked some more and once we reached the Metro station some ways down the street, we decided to call it quits.  There was just too much rain and we were soaked and it was cold.  We went back to the hotel to dry off.  I couldn't just sit around in the hotel, waiting for the rain to stop.  I told the hubster I was going back out to finish up the shopping.  The hubster would have just been following me around.

I went out and rode the metro on my own again and made two stops.  One was to a kitchen supply store.  It wasn't E. Dehillerin which is the more famous one, but to La Vaissellerie.  Aside from the scarf I wanted to buy, I also wanted to buy a small coffee cup and saucer set.  I really grown accustomed to the smaller portions and sizes and I think a set made of French porcelain would always remind me of our trip whenever I used them.

The second stop was to a soap store for souvenirs.  This was a small shop with bars and bars of delicious smelling soap.  I bought 10 bars and plan to give some out as gifts.

So colorful and pretty and delicious smelling

One last stop before coming home was to another random bakery on the street for some more macaroons.  I bought six and they weren't nearly as good as the one giant one I bought the other day.

Coconut, chocolate, vanilla, rose, strawberry, and salted caramel

I grabbed my baked goodies and headed back to the hotel.  Total round trip time was two hours.  While I was out, the hubster had been doing some research for some gifts of his own.  He has two very good friends and he had already picked them up something from the Mercedes Benz museum.  They both like to drink whiskey and scotch, so the hubster wanted to pick up some French whiskey.  He had found an affordable option which was also highly rated.  Once I dropped off my items and warmed up a bit, we headed back out.  On the way over the Maison du Whisky, we came across Maille which is a famous mustard maker in Paris. I'm not a big mustard person, so we didn't buy any.  I did try to convince the hubster to get some since it came up as something to bring home.  No dice.

Mustard!

After picking up to bottles of whiskey, we returned to the hotel.  I was pretty hungry, so we started our nightly ritual of finding a place to eat.  After 10 straight days of this, I was tired of reading reviews.  The hubster stepped in and found a place.  It was a mixed Japanese/Chinese restaurant.  The english was a mix of both and so was the cuisine.  It turned out to be one of the better meals in Paris and it was cheap too!!

€11 gets you noodles, gyoza, and a bowl of fried rice!  Even better, the water was free!  The only place that had free water our entire trip!  Hallelujah!

Yummy!

And of course, here's a shot of all of our souvenirs we bought.