Cafe de la Paix!

 Bear has  arrived in Paris safe and sound if a tad sleepless.

 He takes the scenic route into Paris on Roisseybus.

 Bear spots his first French woman, walking her small dog, wearing a red coat + possibly carrying a vrais o faux Hermes Birkin bag...Ah Paris.

 Place de la Opera is looking pretty gorgeous this morning!

 Bear, feeling his oats. He remembers his not-so-hot breakfast(extremement crummy) on Delta decides to have petit dejeuner at famed Cafe de la Paix. What the Hey!

 Bear looks inside. Who can resist?

 Lovely French script on the menu too...

 It's day 1 and Bear is feeling flush with fresh euros...

 This is some grand place!

 Tres grande indeed.

 Possibly a little too grand for Bear. He immediately dribbles his thick, unctious hot chocolate (certainly a contender to Angelina's).

 Fortunately other savvy breakfasters don't lift an eyebrow at Bear's faux pas.

 Nevermind.

 It's time to catch the Eurostar/Gare du Nord for London.

See you tomorrow PBers with London tales!

HUGO

Do you LOVE train stations too? Especially train stations in Paris...
All that hub-bub. And the anticipation, the expectations!
So much more managable than airports too.
And the big clocks!
Tick-tock...tick-tock.
Is it time yet?
I saw Hugo yesterday based on the graphic novel, The Invention of Hugo Capret...

It takes place in a train station...

A Paris train station...

What could be better?

There are mystery sketchbooks in Hugo...

And a mysterious automaton...

AND Paris dogs.

TWO of them - a perfect movie no?

The perfect movie to see on New Years Day 2012 perhaps?

Are you ready for 2012?

Do you know where you'll go?

ALL ABOARD for 2012!

Tick-tock..tick-tock
See you next year PBers
xxx Carolg AND BEAR

BEAR Stories

First Birthday, watercolor on Etsy, 9" x 11"

~
BEAR's First Birthday is just around the corner so we thought we'd celebrate today since it falls awfully close to departure date for Paris and Venice

BEAR has been dropping hints he'd like to drop into Sonia Rykiel to visit his long-lost bro... BEAR never stopped missing Paris... He remembers every detail of his last day... Bear feels a great affinity with a town loaded with stripes. BEAR wants to know if we'll take the EUROSTAR this trip now he's an expert. He was a swell guide in Venezia certamente.

He's lined up quite a few chocolate places this trip you know.  He'll be on the lookout for more bear doudous bien sur. BEAR has such fond memories of macaron class at The Ritz. He's thrilled to bits that he is going to get to interview Mad About Macarons! author, Jill Colonna in Paris for you.

"Can one ever have too many petit dejeuners?", Bear asked.

NY Bears have captured BEAR's imagination.

He didn't expect there to be such a large bear population, especially at FAO Schwarz.

BEAR's bag is packed & prete to go off mid-March. 

So wish him a BON ANNIVERSAIRE TODAY!

BEAR takes Eurostar to Paris

BEAR thought it might be fun to invite you along for the trip from London to Paris on the Eurostar (or 'The Chunnel' as we American heathens call it...)
After you book online, and as far in advance as possible for the best prices, you've got to high tail it over to St. Pancras Station.
Eeeek!
It's only 4:10 AM and our train is not until at 5:25 AM
Another eeek!
We were moaning to David at the Club about how early we had to get up to catch the 5:25 AM to Paris. But he reminded us that we did pay less, the train would be way less crowded (it was) And we'd be in Paris much, much sooner then if we took a later train.
St. Pancras is practicment vide/empty..
St. Pancras railroad station was designed by Gilbert Scott and built in 1868. Though it's been renovated for expanded service, it still retains many Victorian details like these gothic windows...
Really quite a thrilling space to have all to yourself...
AND there are at least 20+ shops to browse, almost all of them closed. Bear contemplates lovely catty socks - too purfect...sigh
Ah...a Bear hat!

And a FREE cuppa! Clever Pain Quotidien IS open for hungry travelers fortunately...

We take a look at the check-in board.

Check-in is approaching...

You smash your ticket agains the square window et voila!

You wait some more inside.

Other people are busy taking last pictures of London...

BEAR waits patiently...

BEAR gets impatient!

BEAR is first going up the flat escalators to the trains.

He has adopted New York pushy ways I'm afraid...

BEAR searches for coach #2, seat #72.

At last BEAR settles in and falls instantly to sleep.

zzzz...

BEAR wakes up to catch a glimse of French countryside.

Where did the time go?

Et voila!

Back in Paris at busy Gare du Nord Bear heads for the Metro.

Back on the streets comme d'habitude red red red...

More RED!

If you're wondering what BEAR is reading on his travels, he found Martha Gelhorn's (former wife of Hemingway) book, Travels with Myself and Another in London. The catchy subtitle grabbed him -

'5 Journeys from Hell'

Perfect reading everytime we wanted to moan about something like getting up insanely early to catch the Eurostar to Paris...ahem

BONJOUR EUROSTAR!