Trip to Paris 5/7

After coming back to the hotel around 2am due to Disneyland the day before, we decided to sleep in on our 5th day in Paris.

It was already noon when we finally headed out so breakfast turned into brunch/lunch at Starbucks at Rue Saint-Lazare. Maria ordered her typical Vanilla Frappocchino and a sandwich with "saumon" while I ordered an iced doughnut and my own favorite: a Chocolate Frappocchino!

The workers there barely spoke any English and misheard our names. I was Lucie while Maria was... Nogia?

They completely forgot my frappocchino even though I had paid for it and when I finally got it it tasted like coffee -.- I cannot stand even the slightest taste of coffee so I bought a strawberry smoothie in addition. Maria also said her vanilla frappo was thinner and less tasteful here compared to the other Starbucks we went to. An iced doughtnut, a nasty frappochino, and a strawberry smoothie = 10,85€.

Much too expensive for breakfast but there are no Starbucks in our city so we had to enjoy it while we could.

Today was going to be a lazy shopping day and our goal was another big mall called Printemps. Before that though, we passed a smaller "mall" with a super cute store named Bourjois inside!

They had a bunch of pretty false lashes and you could try them on with these smart little thingies~

I was in need of an extra liquid eyeliner and the girl working there was very good at helping. She explained to me, in very good English, which one she personally preferred so I ended up buying that one. I also got myself a pair of false lashes (after having tried them on in that cool booth of course!), a white shimmery eye shadow, and a tricolour eye shadow with different pinks. There were a lot of signs with 10€ off but it was in French, which we didn't understand. Once again the girl there helped us and told me I could get 10€ off if I bought 3 products from the back... so I did. Thank you for the excellent service!

There was also a Sephora in the little mall and we went in there so Maria could look for a highlighter. My mascara was also starting to dry out so she told me I HAD to get a new one. The employees in there were also super sweet and helpful! I told the girl I wanted a mascara with the largest brush possible to achieve a more dolly look and I ended up buying this one (I will make a review on all these things later on).

Outside Sephora stood a couple of guards and 3-4 asian men who were joking around. They didn't communicate by words but by handmotions and it was quite entertaining to watch. I was glad to see the guards smile and have fun instead of just standing there in their nice suits, looking down at people. 

[NOTE: All of the guards we encountered (and there were a lot since we for some reason always beep'd in the metal detectors) were very nice and smiling. Thank you, French guards for making us feel welcome!]

Then we came to Printemps and Maria has seriously been talking about it ever since BEFORE we came to France. 

It looked really cool from the outside but there were so many people! So many that it was perhaps a bit too much. We checked out the clothes stores but everything was waaaay too expensive! Their clothes was pretty boring too in my opinion. I'm a pastel girl (there was nothing pastel) and Maria can wear pretty much everything but even she didn't find anything. 

Okay... there was ONE dress I liked a bit because of the shape but the colour (beige) made me look washed out.

So we gave up on the expensive and not-so-pretty clothes and moved on to the make-up section since Maria still hadn't found a highlighter or a concealer. 

Of course all the high-end make-up brands were there! It was like paradise walking around in all that!

Maria found the cutest coral lipstick from Dior~ 

Sadly, all the concealers were too dark or too orange for her skin so we gave up on that. Keep that in mind if you are planning to buy make-up there. Price wise I can't say the difference between Denmark and Paris is big and you can probably find their products on the internet for the same price as if you were physically there (We had hoped to save some money since a lot of large make-up brands are from France but no).

Maria then went over to look at highlighters and was helped by the worker there. She looked at the different patches but said they were perhaps a bit too shiny for her to which the worker replied "Well, that's what a highlighter is. That's how it works. They are all like that" in a rather sassy voice and it annoyed us a little. It sounded like she thought Maria had no idea what she was doing or how to use highlighter -_- 

It was only 4pm but there was nothing more left for us to look at. Before we went home we stopped by a Ladurée macaroon shop because Maria had made it her mission to taste as many different macaroons as possible~

The store was all pastel (and had well dressed French guys serving you ;D). Such a pleasure to the eye~

We never got a card over what these ones were with but I think Maria got one with rose (again), one with a whole berry in the middle, one which tasted like soap (ew), and one with raspberry.

I got one with mint, one which tasted like soap, and one with chocolate and coconut. I only liked the one with chocolate and coconut but not enough for me to buy them again. Maria wasn't a fan either. She preferred the ones from Pierre Hermé. 

We spent some hours back at the hotel relaxing our tired bodies (from the day before) before heading out for dinner. The day we had gone to KFC for dinner, we had found an American Steakhouse at Moulin Rouge, called Buffalo Grill, that Maria really wanted to eat at. 

For future use, here is the address:

Buffalo Grill

3 Place Blanche

75009 Paris

France

 Okay maybe the restaurant wasn't ON Moulin Rouge but it was facing Moulin Rouge from the other side of the road!

 Free bread basket!

A waiter showed us to our table and soon after he came back to ask if we knew what to order yet. We didn't. Se he went away and it took FOREVER before he came back! And when he finally did... he only brought Maria's food (look how yummy that steak looks) and a starter that we had agreed to share. He took it as if I wanted to eat that alone but apologized and brought me my food some time after. 

I'm usually a fries girl and saves the burger for last but I couldn't keep my hands off of this! I'm normally not a big meat eater but the ham (I think) in this was the best! Our food was very filling and we were nothing but satisfied when we left the place. I suggested Maria that we split the bill equally and we each ended up paying 20€ each which I think is a really good deal for the amount of food (and its quality) we got.

Definitely a place worth a visit!

Tips and things to know:

• "Saumon" means salmon, "coppa" is some sort of ham, and "poulet" is chicken.
• There are a lot of interesting restaurants near Moulin Rouge. Don't miss that area!
• Printemps is quite pricey so if you are planning to go, prepare your wallet.
• Also, Maria and I were discussing if we should go to Printemps or one of the big churches. Looking back I would definitely have chosen the churches.