Things I miss about Paris

It's been several months we're based in Paris and a few days from today we will re-unite with the whole family again. Me and my daughter, Noelia are having lotsa fun being in melting-pot city of Paris. I don't like to be the tourist in a city. I'd love to be in a small cafe and having a good conversation with the locals. It's easier when I get Noelia around, because they are friendly with the children.

Paris is one of the melting-pot city with so many immigrants, tourists, expats etc. I'm looking for something more profound than just what a spectacular Paris is. I am not talking about Paris museums and old buildings.

So, here things I am going to miss here ....

1. The Butter
It's amazing to see so many kinds of butters in the shelves of the supermarket. It has different taste from the butter where I lived in Singapore. Those butters over here are deliciously good, creamy, a little bit sweet and oohh heaven! At the beginning, I didn't understand why they can be contented with croissant and butter or la crepe and butter only. Now I want to taste all the butter they have in the shelves.

2. Cafes and Bistros
The service could be bad but being in the cafe is more than that. I am not even a coffee drinker. Well, I stopped drinking coffee when I got pregnant and now I am a tea lover. But for me the cafes and bistros are meant to be the gathering places, and the less-fancy the better. The old grunted man behind the bar prepare the drinks while the waitress guy takes your order, that's the first impression when you enter the cafes. If you can win their affection, you are lucky cos they can be really realy nice. But that's hard! I only managed to do it in one of the cafe in boulevard Raspail. I've got a free coffee and good conversation, that's good enough.

3. Cycling around with Vélib'
Paris is notorious for having the street demonstration, strikes and other surprising events which can affect our plan to move around. Luckily, the governement provides the bicycles everywhere for the Parisien to move around. I used the service once, when I was really late to my class during the demonstration around Gare Montparnasse. It's really a good alternative beside buses and metros. Especially during a hot day, you don't want to jump into bus and metro! You'll feel like in the oven, they don't use aircon (not like busses in Singapore!!). But of course, we need to be brave to cycle in between all those crazy Parisien drivers, especially taxi! But I love the look of Velib bicycle, and it's ecolo! For once, it's the transport which doesn't produces a lot of hazard for the environment.

4. The unique sense of fashion
Of course, Paris is the fashion city and I understand a little bit more than that now. Anything that feel comfortable is the key, and everybody is an unique individual. Although most of the famous designers are from Paris, but everybody doesn't need to have Louis Vuitton and Prada bag or shoes. It is more than luxury brands. There are higher end society group who are happy to show off those branded stuffs to each other. But for the most part, they don't look like carrying the common Gucci or Louis Vuitton stuffs around the town. I think those are for the tourists (especially Asians!!!)
Their sense of fashion is dorky and Bohemian or Bobo (Bohemian Bourgeois), in a way. They don't really care about the global luxury brand, it's the mix between our old and new ones. A funky jacket with the vintage t-shirt, with the grandmother's jewellry. The good example from the celebrities are Kate Moss and Nicole Richie's sense of fashion. They are not neatly attire but it's attractive. And we can google what is BoBo, a Bohemian bourgeouis...
Fashion for the French is for tout le monde with young, fresh brands at affordable prices making you look fashionable with no excuses. Just take a look at those adolescent lycéennes and you’ll get my drift.
Hair and make-up must look effortless and natural (so, no big fake eyelashes and thick make-up powder here, that goes for CanCan dancers). I am not sure how they do these, I never found a secret or not just yet. They are less flamboyant than the ones in London.

5. The Boulangerie (Bakery)
My friend who lives in the city of Paris told me that he loves to smell the fresh bread from the nearest bakery in the morning. He sometimes walk around 3 or 4 o'clocks in the morning and smell 'the morning aroma'. Thierry, that's for you!! Haha...
It's true, it's amazing how I grow in love with the French baguette which costs 1.60 euro (medium quality). I love cutting the fresh bread for breakfast (only), but I love it fresh for the tartine. I am lucky, we have home-made jam over here too! In Singapore, those quality bread is priceeyy...

6. Accordion musician busking in the metro (trains)
Noelia loves when there's somebody plays an accordion in the metro. It can be bored sitting in the stroller for a journey, the music is good to bring up the spirit. I just loved the instrumental music and not when they are singing. Crossing down the quai and looking out the busy and narrow streets of Paris entertained with these buskers make us framed in the nostalgia of old Paris.

7. The smelly cheeses
I could be a little bit crazy if I say this, but truthfully I love them. There are sooooo many different kinds of cheeses but I only love soft and creamy cheese. I know it's fatty. But during my diet, every evening for dinner I have to choose between having a dessert or cheeses. I usually have cheese twice or three times a week, it's enough. The foul smelling of them could be 'hazardous' for some people, but even me too. I just have to switch off my smelling sense for a while and trust my taste buds to work it out for me.

8. The cutest and SIMPLE children clothing
I know, I am a mom. But Paris has a simple, most adorable, gorgeous, well-made children clothing. Forget GAP, OSHKOSH B'GOSH, BENETTON (boring), WALT DISNEY characters (sorry, I never fond on them). Sometimes I really can't help it but what I can do when they dedicated the entire streets for children boutiques.

9. Friendly passer by who helped with the strollers
It could be a little bit a hazzle to travel around Paris with the stroller and the baby. I would say the condition is not baby friendly, because there are many stairs to go up and down. I usually have to lift up the stroller with Noelia inside of it. It is heavy. But I love to see how young or old people ask "Avez-vous besoin d'aide avec la poussette? (Do you need help with the stroller)". They help me to carry the stroller together. It's one of the good basic courtesy over here beside opening up the door for us. I don't normally get those in Singapore. The men couldn't care less about opening the door in the shopping center for us to get in. Even when they see we are with the baby, the shopping bags and stroller.

10. La Creperie, chocolate noir, and sumptuous kinds of desserts
Should I write more about these? It's extraordinary. It's hard to look for the good crepe restaurants around Paris. The good crepe is coming from brittany (Bretagne) part, so usually we can get those places around Montparnasse area.
I am not going to explain how the taste could be, but you just need to look out the window display the variety of desserts and you'll know.

I will definetely come back for more, it is only 10 things at the moment! Maybe I will change my taste about Paris in the future, but it is one of our home.