Merci, Bonjour, Excuse Moi

France - Paris, Day 1 & 2 - Shop, Eat and Shoot

Hotel Du LeVant, Paris

Streets outside our hotel

Breads and Breads for their meals.

Crepes, Bananas & Chocolate!

We arrived at Paris in the early morning at 9am. After breakfast and a little of walking, we met Jac, my make-up artist, for shopping for the rest of the day, first stop at Champs Elysees. Of course, LV was the first stop and we got not too many things, unfortunately.

This little bicycle is their favourite mode of transport.

Weather in Paris is cool, with occasional drizzle and we were initially worried about our own shoots. Glad that everything turned out well as wished for with no rain and nice weather. We learned to take the Metro, and found it really convenient, except that it can get quite pack and warm at certain times of the day.

Shopping in Paris is wonderful, and service level for Asians depends on which street you are at. St Honore - the home of the main Hermes Store, houses the most complete Hermes collections and the birkins you've not seen before. The craftsmens are there behind the counters working, and it's really interesting being in the store. Arrivals of The Berkin comes quite regularly, but it depends on your luck if you get the one you want.

Girls wait in anticipation for their dreams to be realised, many only to be disappointed. But for the fans - you can actually call them to ask for availability or place your order starting September for the Autumn/Winter order.

Shoppers along St Honore strolls with their Birkins, as if to show off their trophies. Along the street, there are also common brands. Most happy to see my evening shoes designer Rene Caovilla's store there, not forgetting Giuseppe's.

Service level at St Honore, however, is a tad more pro-ang mohs, so unless you can tolerate second-class citizen attitude, I suggest Avenue Montaigne, which is an equally good street with excellent service for asians. I was there thanks to Jimmy Choo, for his wedding collection.

Of course, one also cannot miss the Champs Elysees!

Me @ LV. Call me samba or whatever. I don't care. It was great to be at the HQ.

At Avenue Montaigne where Jimmy Choo, Chanel and all friends are.

Enough of shopping... We'd also visited Notre Dame and also the Louvre and I decided finally not to help Ms Mona Lisa draw her brows - reckon she looks better without.

Madame Mona Lisa

Notre Dame

Louvre

Sorry no Eiffel Tower. We were there but somehow we didn't take shot! But Kelvin sure did great for Eiffel Tower shots!

The shoots we had in Paris was excellent. I had woke up an hour earlier and shocked my make-up artist when I arrived at 415am instead of 515am, thanks to my phone's alarm!

We'd tried our French food near our hotel but it was expensive and disappointing. Portions were big and not the typical French food we'd expected.

Escargot & Mussels

Pork Knuckes & Potatoes

Mixed Grills of Pork & Lamb

Desserts - Ice-Cream. Super Sweet & Creamy!

Besides the typical touristy spots, we had passed by the spot where Princess Diana and her boyfriend Dodi Al Fayed had the car crash. The tunnel is a very short one, and it seems the accident happened just at the beginning of the tunnel. It was just so sad. I've always like Princess Diana.

France - Avignon, Provence
Avignon is a part of Provence - where your lavender is, and my L'Occitane originates.

L'Occitane - They supply my Favourite Shampoo. I've been using it for 6 years & on! This picture was taken in Paris outlet though.

Now as I'm writing, I'm actually in this little castle-turned-hotel called Hotel d L'Atelier at Avignon, Provence. The 4 of us - Ourselves, Photographer Kelvin and Make-Up Guru Jac took 2 hours to arrive in Avignon. The TGV was disappointing. I had specifically chosen the 1st class hoping for good standard, but the toilets stink! Can't imagine what would have been if we took the 2nd class ones!

TGV

We were most impressed with the hotel (except that there is NO aircon). Just imagine living in this little castle with each room being uniquely set!

Avignon is a nice old quaint town but the temperature's hot. And I squirmed with joy seeing the origins of L'Occitane here.

We've done quite a bit of checking around Avignon. We'd be going down to Sault tomorrow for the lavenders (and shopping) and photo-taking! Special mention to Kelvin the Photographer and Sean, the Groom-to-be for putting much efforts with the logistics and research in finding the locations for the shoot tomorrow.

2 very special people - My make-Up Artist & Photographer, Jac & Kelvin.