Brenda Baker Productions

Day five: It was a gloriously sunny morning so we walked toward Luxembourg Garden and stopped for pastries and coffee at  Bread and Roses Boulangerie Biologique , 62 rue Madame, 75006. From there we walked to  Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche, Paris' first ever modern department store, at 24 Rue de Sèvres, 75007. Le Bon Marché offered a gorgeous shopping experience. We took our own sweet time wandering through a wide range of departments: groceries, housewares, stationery, and even haute couture for kids. La Grande Epicerie de Paris was a feast for the eyes and palate, and we found plenty of goodies to pack for our picnic lunch. Fun summer display of French condiments tellement de fromage Loved the books and stationery department A child's frock with latex balloon hem We bought the most delicious French picnic items and set out for a picnic in Luxembourg Garden. We basked in the sun, watched children playing with vintage sailboats and...

We had big plans for our sixth day so we started with a good breakfast in the hotel lobby. After breakfast, we took the metro to Porte de Clingancourt station for a guided walking tour of the Paris Flea and Antiques Market, Les Puces de Paris Saint-Ouen , Saint-Ouen 93400. For my birthday, my sister purchased us a guided tour . This is a great way to navigate the flea markets if you've never been there before. Without our guide it would have been a little overwhelming. But once our guide shared her tips and tricks and led us through some of her favorite areas, we were able to maximize our time and experience the best of the markets. Photography is not allowed in most of the stalls so I can only share a few images here. There was one other woman in our small tour group; she had traveled from Israel to celebrate her fiftieth birthday and attended the same concert we had enjoyed the night before! My favorite booth featured exquisite papier-mâché art. Photo ...

Day seven began with another hearty breakfast tray at the hotel. It was the first day of school in Paris (Labor Day in the U.S.), and I got a kick out of watching the picture-perfect Parisian parents and kids starting their days together. Today was a day for shopping. We took the metro to Les Grands Boulevards/Place de l’Opéra and headed straight for Swatch Paris Opéra, 8 Place de l’Opéra, 75009. Opera National de Paris, Place de l’Opéra, 75009, was right across the street, and we had a ball checking out the fun gift shop. We pre-purchased night bus tour tickets at Big Bus Info Center for evening outing, 11 Avenue de l'Opéra, 75001, before heading over to the fabulous Galleries Lafayette, an upmarket French department store on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement that showcases seven levels of shopping with spectacular dome and views of the city from rooftop terrace. View from the Galleries Lafayette terrace We also dropped by R...