France feels like a lifetime ago. Though in reality we only got back less than two weeks ago. But it really feels like we were there months, if not a year ago. I really didn’t know much about what to expect. french speakers: check. hot weather: check. a lot of bread: check. smaller cars: check. I’ve found that its very hard to really understand the size of a city until you’re in it though. Have you found that? We walked A LOT in paris. For hours straight. But with decent weather (less humid and warm than florida) and new sites to look at, neither of us minded.

I also ate a lot of bread in france. I wasn’t really planning on this. But I do like to give myself room to eat more of the foods that don’t do well in my gut while I’m away. I’ve learned I can’t eat nuts at all. If I really want to be lax I can maybe (MAYBE) have a bit of a nut butter– but even that can be rough. I figured it would be okay to have bit in france to see if my body could handle it. It’s not joke when people say that wine and gluten affects people differently in europe. I’m sure it has everything to do with crop quality, chemical use, and processing– but man, the difference was noticeable. I mean, my stomach was kind of like, “what is this food you’re making us try to digest?” but at no point was I in pain or discomfort like back home. I also found the most AMAZING coconut yogurt there. It had three ingredients: coconut, tapioca, and probiotics. This magical yogurt does not exist here in the states (of course), but man oh man I wish it did. So yeah, if you can’t tell, one of the more exciting parts was food. Well, that and when we actually headed to Dijon to see my friend Britany and celebrate her. But in Paris I learned that the city girl that once lived inside me has retired to a tropical vacation. I had a good time, found a lot of beautiful shops (the most amazing art book shop), ate delicious food, and had a great time just wandering, but I guess I’m just an open field girl now.

The flight over was great. Really great. I mean, you guys have heard me talk about fear or flying lot. But it was such a good easy flight. It left at 10 pm and I did manage to sleep for about 3-4 hours of it (miracle, I tell ya). There was a woman next us. She was by herself, with three kids who much have all been under 5-6. She was a badass mom traveler, let me tell ya. I have no specific story about her to tell you, other than I was impressed, for sure.

It’s almost starting to be amusing to me how his face is always a stern unhappy face. He could be lacking the muscles to turn up his smile, haha. We had a quick layover in Norway. I ate a lot of fruit and smoothies.

Almost there. 
It was a pretty long day + night of traveling. For whatever reason I thought we were getting to paris at 1ish. But no, it was more like 7pm? Which was fine, we had to get over the jet lag so we took a bus, subway, and walk to our airbnb, before finding sushi and crashing. (yes, our first meal in Paris was sushi). 



The next morning we had the whole day to explore. We of course looked up what large market would be closest to our place— and had this amazing one just a few blocks away. We quickly learned how little french we knew. We did know that “bio” was the term for organic produce, so sort of just picked organic fruit and hated over money hoping for the best.



We walked and walked some more and stumbled on this vegan superfood place. I later learned that the airbnb I booked for the last leg of the trip was right upstairs from this place. Super convenient, right? I ended up making friends with the people who worked there because I went in everyday asking for chocolate cake.

At one point my friend Alana messaged me and said, “stop making paris look like mexico”— I think we’re all just attracted to certain things– and maybe my eyes and brain and heart just go to the same repeating patterns and colors.

and morocco. 



A friend of mine is heading there on friday and texted me last night about what to dress. I really had no idea what I was packing for other than the three wedding events. And just packed my everyday clothes. I was planning to wear my black jeans more but it was just too hot. I never felt out of place or like an odd ball. The style changed depending on the neighborhood– much like new york. And in the little area we were staying (by the canal) people were young, and casual, and didn’t really care. They just looked good. And I wore my jean shorts happily.
 sunglasses / shirt / shorts / shoes / hat

we stopped at A LOT of bakeries. A lot of this trip revolved Alex + bread. Which was totally okay for me– since I think I got my fair share of travels this past summer. And I was mostly just concerned about spending time with my friends in France. The rest of it, I was happy to do whatever. So bread it was!

We stopped at the tiniest and cutest all vegan indian place. It was ridiculously cheap too. Honestly, I wish I could be there right now. Speaking of which, we were surprised in general about the cost of food, wine, all that stuff. So much more of it was organic. And all of it was so so so cheap— compared to here in the states of course.

The rest of the day we just kind of chilly out before finding a Lebanese place for dinner. We don’t have a lot of Lebanese places here in west palm, so we were more than happy skipping all the french food and enjoying food options that we both love that aren’t as abundant here in south florida.

The next day we had planned to leave for the train around noon. But first we made the trek to breakfast… and another bread stop, of course.

Oh and I stared drinking coffee again. Almost everyday. It’s one hell of a drug. And yes I did go all the way to france for a turmeric latte and tropical smoothie bowl…..

Apparently the vegan gf places i in Paris are abundant. This one was pretty good too.

We stopped at one more market (That we happened to run into) before heading back to the apartment to grab our stuff.

Back-packing style for the win. And isn’t this place the cutest? I swear I find the best rentals to stay in <3 Apparently the wall was painted the year I was born! 
Next: Dijon. (My favorite). 
Happy wednesday, friends <3

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4 Comments

  1. It's encouraging to hear about all the vegan places in Paris, I had no idea. You definitely photograph certain things, I really love your pictures. Patterns, colours and plants, always plants. Brilliant. I particularly loved your pictures of Mexico a while back, it was very different to how I imagined. So green. Glad you had a good time in Paris. It's great to see it from your viewpoint. CJ xx

  2. This is amazing!!!! I love it & SO helpful lol & I need a hat like ASAP!