one of my absolute favorite finds in paris was au petit bonheur la chance. it’s a little shop exploding with fabulous finds. from dishes to little apothecary bottles. parisian house numbers to vintage school supplies. silk ribbons to lovely table linens. old parisian pictures to vintage stamps. calligraphed cheese labels. little parisian chalkboards. vintage postcards. old labels. vintage greeting cards. and much, much more. i could have spent days in that little store.

comptoir de famille is a little shop we discovered while strolling the streets of paris. taking it’s inspiration from the french countryside, it’s a shop that sells wonderful french furniture, home decor and accessories. the pieces found at comptoir de famille remind me of items i’d imagine i’d find at french flea markets and traditional french country homes. i particularly loved their jars, chairs, metal serveware and milk bottles [which you can purchase here]. i still regret not picking up a little metal napkin holder i spotted there. i think it would have been perfect for holding mail on our entryway table.

In Paris, we made sure to stop into Petit Bateau, a wonderful little shop that focuses on classic French clothing, especially for children. It’s reasonably priced, and there are several locations throughout Paris. We stopped into the one on Champs-Élysées and on Rue Cler, but the clothing can also be scooped up at various Monoprix’s scattered throughout the city. You can also find Petit Bateau locations in the States, but like many Parisian brands, you’ll probably pay much more for them in the US.

In Paris, it seemed nearly every street was dotted with a lush flower market. And every chance I got, I stopped and smelled the beautiful blooms.

I hope you aren’t getting tired of seeing Paris posts. I know I’m not. I think about that city every day and enjoy reliving our trip through these photos. This is the last of the Paris details recap, but next I thought I’d share a few little shops we discovered there. Hopefully it will be helpful for someone planning a trip there.

Oh, and many thanks to Nole, who featured our custom moving announcements on her lovely Oh So Beautiful Paper blog yesterday. Quite a lovely surprise.

Paris is full of yummy Pâtisseries. From Ladurée to Lenôtre to Pierre Hermé and lots of others in between, Kacey and I tasted as many as we could. I was most excited about Ladurée, but most surprised by Pierre Hermé. The macroons at Pierre Hermé were my favorite! Oh, those little iridescent macaroons. Yum.

Today the very famous Eiffel Tower celebrates its 120th anniversary. I thought it would be very fitting to highligh this gorgeous structure today. Hands down, it was one of my favorite things in Paris. I never would have dreamed I would have been so smitten with such a wrought-iron wonder. But I was. I took a zillion pictures of her.

Paris is dotted with lovely and distinctive metro signs. Their metro system dates back to 1900, and the signs were originally designed by Hector Guimard in an art nouveau style. Back then, the metro entrances had two different looks – the cast iron structure containing orange globe lights [second horizontal pic], and the elaborate glass canopy [top right + bottom left pic]. In all of Paris, these are only two glass canopy stations left. And, let me tell you, they are gorgeous. We actually set out one morning to find them. The first one we found was the glass canopy one pictured at the top right. It is quite detailed and quickly became my favorite. It’s amazing that they have survived all of these years.

As expected, there were a ton of cafés in Paris. What we didn’t expect were all of the colorful and detailed chairs. Such a variety from café to café! But more surprising? The chairs frequently faced outward. Onto the street. Often times theater style with the street and people becoming the spectacle.