Towards the end of our trip, we spent a couple days in Paris- because really, if you’re a short train ride away, why wouldn’t you?! We had an amazing time. The food, the sights… ah, Paris.

I even had an opportunity to go to La Droguerie, one of the better known yarn and haberdashery shops in Paris. And…. it was an epic disappointment. And not just because one of the staff berated me for taking a photo. It’s a very pretty shop, but it is not customer-friendly at all. Even if you speak fluent French (I had some help with the fluent part, I went with someone who was). The yarn that you see in the store is only display yarn (and it is a modest selection, but with a good colour range), so you have to ask someone to get you the yarn that you would like. Except you don’t just find the nearest staff person and they are able to help you, you have to hover near the yarn (they provide benches for you to sit on), and wait. And wait. And wait. It is apparently the norm to wait around 45 minutes for someone, even if you can see three staff members at the back of the shop near the swifts chatting with each other. Even if the woman at the cash register is sitting right there by the yarn, in a booth. I assume that this is clearly a cultural difference. Obviously it works for them, or they would change it. But I left empty handed, and that was disappointing. They do have an impressive button selection, though. And it looked like you had a better chance of getting service if you were only buying buttons.

 It’s okay, though. Who goes to Paris for the yarn, anyway? And it was the only down moment of the whole trip- otherwise I found that Parisians were generally quite friendly and helpful, and the food was spectacular. Plus that photo of Lila on Guy’s shoulders with the Eiffel Tower in the background pretty much just made my year.