PARIS - Shopping - Maison Sajou, Des Fils et une Aguille, Le Bonheur des Dames, Shakespeare and Company..... Finding some Dim Sum

Gentle Friends, I left Bordeaux on an early afternoon flight getting into CDG Airport and eventually arriving in Paris via the RDR Train with plenty of time to do some fun stuff.  I checked into my hotel, dropped my bags off and got going.......

 ......  my first stop was Maison Sajou.  I knew of all the great things they carried from the web site - but the store is so worth a trip to see everything up close!!

It's a corner store and an odd shape - sort of "L" shaped - and just packed full of goodies......  such kind ladies running the place......in fact Frederique, Owner/and designer of Maison Sajou was helping me and I was so into the stuff I didn't realize until I asked to take some pictures....

...... so much great stuff to see - and there was a sewing class going on while I was there - they were making a needle roll - of at least it looked like one - 

... a close up of the scissor case - with those wonderful scissors Maison Sajou has - and some of the great thread winders.....  and.......

....... my little stash haul from my visit...  I picked up two great thread winders made of really heavy plastic and a package of paper ones of a bicyclist - and I couldn't leave without the chart.  It's taken from historic printed cotton from the Musee de la Toile de Jouy - an there were a wonderful set of pillows in but colour variations made up in the store.....  I also visited....

.... Des Fils et une Aguille - as I did last year, and Elodie, owner, was on duty and just a lovely as i had remembered from my visit last year....( you can click HERE to read what I wrote)....  I did pick up a couple of things...

...... a cute chart and the Sheep from Just Pins....  I went then to .....

..... Bonheure des Dames - both of these shots I found on the Internet as I forgot to take pictures...  a nice store, but everything and I mean everything is pre-kitted up and prepackaged - so all I could find was...

..... some really great fabric for finishing.......

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I was dragging a bit so I headed over to the Left bank and some snackeroos.....  I wanted to stop at Odette, a really great little shop that specializes in delicious choux, little puff pastries filled with creme!!

... so I order a tea and picked some treats - from l to r -  Citron (lemon), Caramel and my favorite Fruits de Bois (fruit of the wood - berry)

... and so I sat there enjoying my choux and tea with this view................

 

...... Notre Dame......

...... literally around the corner is a great bookshop founded in 1919 by Sylvia Beach...

... and although I have really tried to not buy books when I travel -  I usually break that rule....and I picked this book up about the Diamond Necklace Affair - perfect for a trip to France!!

I went back to the Hotel and took a much needed shower and headed out again for dinner.  I read a Blog called "Living the Sweet Life in Paris" by David Lebovitz, once a pastry chef here in the Bay area now residing in Paris.  He spoke of a great place to get Chinese food........ so I headed there!

....it was a long Metro ride across the city with changing trains 3 times...... but so worth the trip....

...... when I walked in I was totally spotted as "not French" and was given this menu... I do love dim sum so that's what I ordered

..... I am never sure what any of these are called but know them on sight.... this one I think is called - Goutie and is crunchy and filled with beef and lemon grass ...

..... these are called Siu Mai and are shrimp filled with a saffron coloured pastry....

.... and these called Har Gow and are also filled with shrimp - as you can see I had one of my favorite Chinese beers to wash it down - Tsingtao!

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It was a super day and at the end of it I fell into bed - check back tomorrow for more Paris stuff!!

Take care,

edgar