Paris, je t’aime

if i’ve been a little MIA on my blog lately it’s because i’ve been gone for about a month. i seriously spent maybe 7 out of the last 35 days in nashville (two of those were unfortunately during part deux of that pesky ice storm which knocked the heater out in my house and caused us to use up our entire stockpile of firewood — God bless fireplaces!!!!). john and i spent 10 days in eastern europe and were fortunate enough to “get stuck” with a 12 hour layover in one of my favorite cities on the planet — PARIS! oh la la, i love this place to pieces. i’ve got an entire series travel of posts coming up with tons of suggestions for the most fun things to see and do in all the crazy places we go. but for now i just had to get some photos up. starting with a photo of our first stop — le pure cafe. if you’re a richard linklater fan like john and i are then you will recognize this as the cafe that celine takes jesse in Before Sunset (part two in my favorite movie trilogy. go buy all 3 and watch immediately, then rinse and repeat and report back). to my pleasant surprise, they served the best cafe au lait i’ve ever had. delish!

Pére Lachaise cemetery is a beautiful and haunting stop. this was my first visit here after 3 trips to france and i wish i had more time to explore. hire a tour guide, you won’t want to miss all the wonderful little hidden secrets in this place.

though not the original location, this is the legendary Shakespeare and Company  bookstore (also featured in Before Sunset) where the infamous “lost generation” artists and writers came to converse and sort out their best ideas. ever since it’s been around it has been THE haunt of the literary world’s who’s who. of course i fell in love. nearly every author you’ve ever heard of (and plenty of them you haven’t) have spent time amongst these shelves, dreaming and writing and sometimes even sleeping. vanity fair wrote a beautiful article about it in november ’14. check it out here.

and what’s a trip to paris without a brief run past the eiffel tower? it’s a sight for sore eyes and i never grow any less enchanted with it.

i can’t wait to share more great things from our trip. i’m also grateful to have a husband who doesn’t put up too much of a fuss about having to be in every other photo that i take :)

hannah