An Epic Treat

Well hello long lost readers. It's nice to be back with a post full of memories from an epic birthday treat to Paris last month. Honestly, things have been slow and a bit unexpected lately, hence my absence here, but it's good to finally be able to take a few minutes and tell you about my special birthday. And before you get carried away, no, I haven't had a BIG birthday this year, but we did indulge a little bit more than usual.
So my lovely husband decided we should mark the occasion, break the horrible January weather and downy mood and have a mini break in Paris...yeah! Who am I to refuse this perfect invitation? So we set off early on Saturday, arrived in time for a Parisian lunch, and then went shopping for a bit. Well, I did most of the shopping and my dear half mostly tried to keep our three-year-old entertained in the meantime.
We booked in at the Regina hotel, right in the heart of Paris, just opposite the Louvres and a stone's throw away from Place Vendome. This location is perfect. Not only do you stay in one of the grandest neighbourhoods, but you're also completely central with access to everywhere super quickly (my shopping goals took me rue Vieille du Temple in the Marais, the BHV, and then to Boulevard Haussman for the bigger shops). The staff couldn't have been nicer either, which really helps when you have a toddler in tow.
We booked a Junior suite, and there was lots of space there, with a decent bed for us and a whole sofa-bed for our daughter (which magically appeared ready when we came back from the shopping). All in all, a fantastic place to stay in - and the art deco is just to die for. I wish we could stay there every time we visit Paris, it's a classic, classy hotel. We had a lovely stay there, and also a fantastic meal just across the river from it in Pierre Gagnaire's Gaia restaurant, an intimate and cosy place with fish and seafood on the menu. Everything was spot on, especially the dessert, which I summarised as a Mozart Kugeln turned into a cake - heaven for me, I could not have dreamt up a better dessert for my birthday.

On to Sunday then, and as you can see we didn't even try to make any efforts to curb our food intake, but hey, it's only one's birthday once a year. We decided to have breakfast at Angelina, as we hadn't been there for years. The cakes...OMG! In retrospect I think we should have waited until a bit later and had their brunch, it looked fabulous. Not complaining, though, breakfast was scrumptious. We spent the rest of our day in the Tuileries (well, until our fingers froze, the weather was wretched) and then headed to Orsay so I could see one of my all-time favourite paintings by Caillebotte - do you like it? Someone annoying said to me "oh but this painting is full of errors, the arms are all disproportionate etc" but I don't care (and had never noticed it), I find it really human and pretty. This time I even brought a small poster of it, I need to frame it now and find it a decent place on the wall somewhere.
Well, friends, as you can see, I have turned another year again, and this time we did it in style didn't we? Paris was an absolute treat. We are so lucky to be so close to it. I feel blessed and very lucky indeed.
Here's to another year hey?