When a croissant is not just a croissant...

We watched some episodes of a documentary...Paris, Next Stop...and the episode on the Bastille mentioned a boulangerie/patisserie that has amazing bread and pastries.  We love the Bastille area and can always find things to do there, so we headed off this morning to the 11th arrondissement for croissant and coffee at Blé Sucré.  Fresh from the oven-warm, buttery, flaky...petit déjeuner doesn't get better than this!

Walked some of our favourite streets...rue de Charonne, rue Keller...and then to the Vinyl Office for some digging in the crates (a limited edition, German pressing of Yello's 1983 single "You gotta say yes to another excess" - this one was on Brent's wish-list, so big smiles from Mr Music!).

We wandered back along rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine, in and out of some tiny laneways - not always picturesque, but oozing history, dotted with graffiti, a mixture of renovated and untouched - Passage de la Bonne Graine, Cour des Trois Frères, Passage du Chantier.

Back at the Place de la Bastille, we kept an eye out for somewhere to grab a quick lunch...oh, no, Brent spotted the Grilled Cheese Factory.  This turned out to be a fun, hole-in-the-wall kind of cheese toastie place.  Pour Monsieur (the cheese-lover), an Authentic - Napoleon, mozzarella and red Leicester cheddar.  Pour moi, a wonderful toasted sandwich of fromage de chèvre, raclette and fig paste.

Refueled, we wandered via Place des Vosges - the grassed areas full of couples lounging, teens sitting in circle-groups, girls with shopping bags resting their pieds!

We dropped into Pop-up Club - a gathering, once a month from June to September, of young créateurs in jewellery and fashion.  Met a gorgeous girl whose marque is Mister Bandit - she sews items from Japanese and European denim and cotton, decorated with a hand-made stamp or Mister Bandit badge.  We talked about the difficulties of producing quality items locally - seems it is no different in France than in Australia.  She reminded me of Ruby and we talked a little about young designers bringing their ideas to the market - she said to be sure to contact her...so I might leave that to Ruby...maybe it will be the first Paris photo-interview session??