Parisian book market

Whilst wandering back to our hotel one day of our trip we noticed a market place that said it was open the next day, so on saturday morning we headed down not knowing what to expect and it was incredible.  Firstly it was huge and all the stalls had such a wide range of old books, magazines, prints and posters. It was my ephemeral heaven.  I spent a lot but I did get a few bargains and I just think I would never get these things anywhere else and they are too beautiful to not get.  Although we didn't speak french all the stall owners were lovely and tried to speak to us in English and explain where things were from etc.
I love collecting ephemera like this, not only because of the history but they are often so beautifully designed, with amazing typography and handwriting.

I cannot wait till I have my own place so I can frame and display all these things properly!

Paris changes everything..

Last week I finally got to have a holiday after god knows how long and got to visit somewhere I've always wanted to go, Paris!  I can honestly say I had the most amazing time.  We were extremely lucky with the weather with temperatures of 26C everyday and only a few showers dotted throughout the weekend.  I studied French at school but grasping languages was never my strong point and sI barely remembered it, but whilst in France I was able to recognise words and knew a few basic phrases to get us through, it does make you feel like a very ignorant tourist though when most of them have a basic understanding of English. 
On the first day we went up the Eiffel Tower which looked beautiful with the rich blue skies. The queues weren't too bad but there are several bits you do have to queue at which was a bit long but totally worth it when you get to the top.  After that we went to dip our feet in the beautiful fountain behind the tower to cool down before getting soaked by the spray of the jets! 

The next day we visited the Louvre, if you ever go don't queue for the entrance in the Pyramid but walk towards the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel and go down into the shopping centre where you can get in without queuing.  It was great to find out that because I am under 26 and live in the EU I got in for free!  The Louvre is absolutely beautiful.  It's huge and you need about 2 weeks to go round it and you will most definitely get lost, but there are just so many breathtaking ceilings, paintings and historical objects it is incredible.  On our last day we found a gorgeous book market which I shall do a separate blog post about and had a nice wander through the shops and aswell as visiting the tourist attractions we found a lot of great idea/ concept stores in which I wanted to purchase everything.   

I absolutely fell in love with Paris.  Not only does it have beautiful architecture and sights but just the general culture is so inviting.  There aren't loads of chain stores, everything is independently run and you have fresh fruit shops, bread shops and pattisieres instead of supermarkets.  They have a much healthier attitude towards food and where they get it from, and its much more friendly.  
The only thing I missed about London was the nightlife.  We did manage to find the 'trendy' area with lots of bars and people our age, but the majority of places close at 2am and there are very few nightclubs if you wanted a spontaneous night out.  Saying that the french have a much better attitude towards alcohol and you don't see people rolling on the floor, passed out and with their skirts pulled up because they don't enjoy getting 'Mortal' they like to drink and be social, something which has become a bit lost in England I feel.  
Aswell as visiting the tourist attractions we found a lot of great idea/ concept stores in which I wanted to purchase everything.