48h in paris

now i've to be a little careful about how i phrase this for fear of drawing disapprobation. let's just say i fortuitously got a friday afternoon off owing to some administrative oversight. and i found out while on the tube to work. so what's a girl to do but to plan an escape strategy? contemplated going north as i'm wont to do but figured i'd OD on friends the week before and didn't quite want to subject myself to the train journey. plus it was faster and cheaper to hop on the eurostar heh. was lucky to find eurostar tickets last minute, and get a good deal on a sweet hotel in a decent part of town. admittedly indulgent and hedonistic, plus the terrorist threat in paris isn't one to be taken lightly. but hey, why live in fear, you know?

so i sort of broke free from hospital as discreetly as possible at a respectable time, nipped home to pack an overnighter and was at st pancras before i knew it. had some time to kill so had yo! sushi tea before the 2h20min ride. 

my plans for paris were few. basically wanted japanese food and to be on my own. there's something restorative about one's own company and i often get introvert hangovers where i need to shut down and recharge before subjecting people to me again. told a friend about this recently and he said he was the opposite and being on his own for 48h was his idea of hell! 

but i mean how amazing is the thought of doing exactly what i wanted, when i wanted? not like i don't already in london heh but if i want to zz at 7pm, i will! if i want to have the same udon twice in two days, i will (and did!) and i walked in the tuileries, had berthillon ice cream, watched the boats along the seine the whole afternoon just lost in my thoughts. it was great :) came back really refreshed.

dins for one at sweet bistro that pierre hermes of macaron fame had his wedding party at. if it's good enough for him, it's good enough for me!

and a friend suggested i attended mass at montmarte which i'm glad i did although in retrospect if i were so inclined to blow things up, this would've been a prime target.

best udon ever. better than in tokyo. better than koya in london.

had the biggest tauhuay craving and after a disappointing mr bean in singers this last trip (never again!) i was gobsmacked to have such authentic silken tauhuay and tounai in the chinatown part of paris. the only downside was that it's smack in the middle of mainland chinese hooker*land and crawling with dirty old frenchmen :/ so unpleasant. and because i'm in need of a hep B booster, i did get a little freaked out by potentially dirty crockery and cutlery :(