So last week Sugar Paper and friends went on a trip to Paris. The trip combined two of my besties birthdays and some awesome tattoos! It went a little like this....
I picked up birthday girl number one, my oldest pal Katie outside Maccy D's to get the bus to town,to the train station where we picked up birthday girl number two Kandy and then picked up the last Parisian pal Alison on the train. Scoffed down some of Katie's leftover birthday cake and got excited.
A pretty routine check in (thankfully nobody(Katie!)got their million toiletries confiscated) followed by birthday pizza served to us by Manchester airports answer to an EMO Pee Wee Herman and off we flew.
I last travelled with air France in 1998 (my first and last visit to Paris on a french exchange trip) on the flight there we got a free croissant and orange juice. Air France are not affected by the recent economic crisis as we got offered free snacks and beverage on this flight, yes mate!
The first night was supposed to be spent having a toast for Katie but by the time we make it to the hotel we are too tired, Katie enjoys the wine we got at the corner shop, the cheap rum is exactly that cheap, we go to bed excited for tattooing!
Wednesday, an early rise so we can make it to Sunny Buick's studio for 11am, some gals are gonna get inked, eeek!
A walk to Sunny's end of town with a quick stop for a baked goods breakfast and we're there, a little nervous, but as soon as we step into Sunny's studio and she greets us with a smile and offers us tea (she had it ready knowing English girls love their tea) we knew we were in great company.
A little thought about the placement of my tattoo meant I was to have mine the next day, first up, Alison with her Little Red Riding Hood snow globe tattoo. The rest of us chat and look at all the cool things Sunny has (from her artwork to her dice collection!)We head off for a bit of fresh air, to return to marvel at Alison's tattoo. Then a spot of lunch.
I picked up birthday girl number one, my oldest pal Katie outside Maccy D's to get the bus to town,to the train station where we picked up birthday girl number two Kandy and then picked up the last Parisian pal Alison on the train. Scoffed down some of Katie's leftover birthday cake and got excited.
A pretty routine check in (thankfully nobody(Katie!)got their million toiletries confiscated) followed by birthday pizza served to us by Manchester airports answer to an EMO Pee Wee Herman and off we flew.
I last travelled with air France in 1998 (my first and last visit to Paris on a french exchange trip) on the flight there we got a free croissant and orange juice. Air France are not affected by the recent economic crisis as we got offered free snacks and beverage on this flight, yes mate!
The first night was supposed to be spent having a toast for Katie but by the time we make it to the hotel we are too tired, Katie enjoys the wine we got at the corner shop, the cheap rum is exactly that cheap, we go to bed excited for tattooing!
Wednesday, an early rise so we can make it to Sunny Buick's studio for 11am, some gals are gonna get inked, eeek!
A walk to Sunny's end of town with a quick stop for a baked goods breakfast and we're there, a little nervous, but as soon as we step into Sunny's studio and she greets us with a smile and offers us tea (she had it ready knowing English girls love their tea) we knew we were in great company.
A little thought about the placement of my tattoo meant I was to have mine the next day, first up, Alison with her Little Red Riding Hood snow globe tattoo. The rest of us chat and look at all the cool things Sunny has (from her artwork to her dice collection!)We head off for a bit of fresh air, to return to marvel at Alison's tattoo. Then a spot of lunch.
Up next, Kandy and her knitting Nancy. Another trip out for fresh air, which was spoiled by hoards of Parisian men being completely leery and gross. Walking down the street untouched is apparently not an option. Sunny had some great advice about this, she said don't worry you don't speak the same language, just shout GET AWAY FROM ME COCKSUCKER!!!!
Kandy finishes off, we marvel at the tattoo and bid Sunny goodbye until Thursday afternoon.
Head back to the hotel, tattooing is tiring, a freshen up and off out for tea, get shunned at a pizza place for entertaining the idea of sharing two pizzas, pfft, but manage to find some tasty rice, tofu, spring rolls combo where we don't get told off and the bin almost sets on fire from a cigarette!
A hop on the metro and we arrive at the Palais de Tokyo for fun in the Amelie photo booth, but it's shut, but it's OK we soon get distracted by the SPARKLY EIFFEL TOWER! We make our way down through the Trocadero, stopping to watch some folk swing dancing, we sigh and realise it is quite a beautiful city. We finally get up close and personal to the Eiffel Tower, but not before having a go on the Carousel!
We sit for a while but leave as we get sick of the street sellers trying to sell us champagne and cigarettes!
Thursday, the day of my tattoo, but not until the afternoon, so we spent the morning (after having a proper french breakfast!) sight seeing, first stop The Louvre, then onto the bridge that is full of padlocks of love, we spent a good bit of time on there! Then we managed to find Laduree, the maccaron place Sunny recommend to us, we were going to sit in but time was ticking and tattoo appointments were calling and we didn't want to rush, we stared at a cake that looked like an ACTUAL SPONGE modelled like a strawberry, then left and made our way to Sunny's.
I got my tattoo done, a sewing related one with 'Make Do And Mend' written. I really enjoyed getting tattooed by Sunny, she has some super story's and is a crafty gal herself! She gave us all some free stuff (as she's ace) we then bought other bits of hers and reluctantly left.
Headed back to the hotel for a freshen up, not before a stop for some wine and bottled cocktails. We had a sit down and drunk our drinks, that seemed to go to our head! We realised time was ticking and we didn't want to miss Palais De Tokyo again so rushed out.
We only had 15 minutes before closing so squashed ourselves in the photo booth and pulled out our best poses, a stripmof us all each, a strip of solo ones each, before you know it they had locked the doors not knowing we were there, a few minutes of photo developing and we left!!
All that drinking and posing gave us a hunger so we headed towards Notre Dame and stopped off nearby for some falafels, yum. A mini tat stop shop and some sight seeing of Notre Dame.
We then set off for a bar Katie wanted to go to that we found in a guide book, yeah guide books sometimes suck, we eventually found it and despite being listed as a bar not eatery everyone was just sat down eating, pfft. So we headed back and got a cocktail from our local!
Friday was a non tattoo day, so we leisurely got up, ate breakfast was we wandered to Montmatre.
Another day of sightseeing and typical tourist fan stuff and yes TAT SHOPPING!!!!!!
we made it to Sacre Couer, but noticed an outsider art gallery nearby, went in but sadly you had to pay and we were getting low on funds (we needed to buy tat!) so just browsed the gift shop, bought some postcards (we bought A LOT of postcards this holiday!).
We don't head up to Sacre Couer straight away, we get distracted by tat shops and carousels!! we have a go round and the sun come sout, full beam. We have a scvuffle with some rude street sellers who think it's ok to harras and touch you IT IS NOT!
We walk up the steps towards Sacre Couer and I see a group of girls who I can tell look English, I recognise one and think it's someone I know from home, I thought don't be stupid, then Alison says It's Nikki from As If (early noughties CH4 teen drama!) CELEBRITY SPOT OF THE DECADE!!!!!!
After we get over that amazing celebrity spot we walk down to the old town and spend far too long picking postcards of doe eyed children (in the cool 70s way not some weirdo I love kiddie pictures way!) Pass by the fruit & veg stall featured in Amelie, Kandy gets an apple that is pretty gross, my nectarine is OK! Then we stop off for lunch in the Amelie cafe, yeah tourist time!
It's such a lovely place, the right mix of old and new, not too cool and quite laid back, the foods pretty tasty too, we get all french cuisine and have a vegetarian croque monsiuer, followed by our first macarons, YUM!
After a good few hours at the cafe, we get on our feet and look at the Moulin Rouge, it's too busy for us to recreate the Lady Marmalade video, even though we assigned each other roles, pfft. We decide we want an ice cream and some grass, so head to a cemetery! It's not got anyone we know in, but we have a quiet walk round and a sit in the sun, goffs. Before heading back to the madness, picking up an ice cream and heading back to the hotel.
Friday was a non tattoo day, so we leisurely got up, ate breakfast was we wandered to Montmatre.
Another day of sightseeing and typical tourist fan stuff and yes TAT SHOPPING!!!!!!
we made it to Sacre Couer, but noticed an outsider art gallery nearby, went in but sadly you had to pay and we were getting low on funds (we needed to buy tat!) so just browsed the gift shop, bought some postcards (we bought A LOT of postcards this holiday!).
We don't head up to Sacre Couer straight away, we get distracted by tat shops and carousels!! we have a go round and the sun come sout, full beam. We have a scvuffle with some rude street sellers who think it's ok to harras and touch you IT IS NOT!
We walk up the steps towards Sacre Couer and I see a group of girls who I can tell look English, I recognise one and think it's someone I know from home, I thought don't be stupid, then Alison says It's Nikki from As If (early noughties CH4 teen drama!) CELEBRITY SPOT OF THE DECADE!!!!!!
After we get over that amazing celebrity spot we walk down to the old town and spend far too long picking postcards of doe eyed children (in the cool 70s way not some weirdo I love kiddie pictures way!) Pass by the fruit & veg stall featured in Amelie, Kandy gets an apple that is pretty gross, my nectarine is OK! Then we stop off for lunch in the Amelie cafe, yeah tourist time!
It's such a lovely place, the right mix of old and new, not too cool and quite laid back, the foods pretty tasty too, we get all french cuisine and have a vegetarian croque monsiuer, followed by our first macarons, YUM!
After a good few hours at the cafe, we get on our feet and look at the Moulin Rouge, it's too busy for us to recreate the Lady Marmalade video, even though we assigned each other roles, pfft. We decide we want an ice cream and some grass, so head to a cemetery! It's not got anyone we know in, but we have a quiet walk round and a sit in the sun, goffs. Before heading back to the madness, picking up an ice cream and heading back to the hotel.
We finally manage to catch a happy hour and head to the local for a cocktail. Then back up to Notre Dame for falafel take tow and some serious tat shopping, like SERIOUS!!!! We all manage to get what we need and then some, it's super busy, so we grab a couple of crepes and head home, for the last time.
It's packing and sadness in the hotel and dread of thinking about getting up at stupid o'clock.
It's Kandy's birthday and it's 5am!!
We make it to the airport stress free and get in, super hungry and can't manage to find any food, but do notice a Laudredee in the airport so we spend a while picking some macarons. We eventually find somewhere for breakfast and we spend the last of our Euro's......
We board the plane and get sleepy and sad, Paris it was a blast!
It's packing and sadness in the hotel and dread of thinking about getting up at stupid o'clock.
It's Kandy's birthday and it's 5am!!
We make it to the airport stress free and get in, super hungry and can't manage to find any food, but do notice a Laudredee in the airport so we spend a while picking some macarons. We eventually find somewhere for breakfast and we spend the last of our Euro's......
We board the plane and get sleepy and sad, Paris it was a blast!
