Typically Parisian and French: Galerie Vivienne and Le Petit DÃ©jeuner at Bistrot Vivienne

Paris has slowly grown on me. The short visit last December is making me want to visit her again. And soon I hope.

Breakfast at Bistrot Vivienne.

The Galerie Vivienne in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris.

Because I have been to Paris many times, going to the city of lights and romance is not anymore like going on a little holiday. It’s starting to become like going to Amsterdam and having a nice lunch or dinner there whilst enjoying the architecture and cultural things. It’s become like a lifestyle?

That said, I really want to go back soon… and discover new things to see and appreciate.

The terrace of Bistrot Vivienne inside the passage.

Living in the Netherlands has some perks, especially if you have the means, you can just go easily to many beautiful cities, towns, villages, and parks. There is an abundance of these within just a few hours drive. The whole of Europe is within 1-3 hours reach with an airplane. The choices are endless! But the reality is different. Living the real and normal life doesn’t mean that you are going on holidays and little trips every time. There was a period though when I was going every month (or twice) somewhere but after some time I just got over it.

Life is more than travelling. There is a condition as well that is called travelled-out or travel burnout. It happened to me, and although it was temporary, I realised it is for real. It sounds very privileged and ungrateful but it does really exist.

Nowadays I prefer to stay at home on weekends and sometimes I do trips here and there, but the difference is that I have mellowed down a bit. The crave is there to go out and explore Europe, the world, but it’s not a must anymore. That is the difference. I miss Blondine though, she was my sparring partner in this living the big lifestyle. I truly miss her dearly.

Anyway, in Paris, BFF Pinpin who flew from Hawaii (yes, from Hawaii!!!) and I went out to experience your typical French breakfast in a typical French (shopping) gallery setting. I wanted Pinpin to experience the real Frenchy things in an authentic Frenchy place.

Traditional old world charm French-style interior and ambiance.

Galerie Vivienne is one of the oldest and beautiful covered shopping passages in Paris (2nd arrondissement near Bourse). It is a Parisian historical monument built circa 1823 and get this, not many tourists know about it! Well, now you know =)

This place reminds me of the many elegant covered passages in Europe, such as the one in Dungelmann Passage in The Hague (Netherlands), the Galeries St. Hubert in Brussels (Belgium), as well the famous Galleria Vittoria Emanuele II in Milan (Italy) but on a rather smaller scale.

In this gallery is the famous Bistrot Vivienne in typical old French ambiance. The good thing about this bistro is they are open for breakfast at 07:30 which is perfect to combine with the gallery sightseeing. We are hitting 2 birds with 1 stone so to speak.

Your typical French breakfast.

Moreover, the bistro cafe has a typically French breakfast special on the menu, the “Le Petit DÃ©jeuner” which consists of a baguette sliced in half, salted butter, strawberry jam, coffee or tea and fresh orange juice. I can live with something like this every day as this will fill me up quickly, enough for me to look forward to lunch. I envy those girls who can eat like a horse and do not get full or get fat. Life is unfair.

Lunch for me is “the meal” of the day; it is non-negotiable and more important than breakfast, and although I always take breakfast these days, I just eat a light one. So this was just all perfect =)

They also have an English breakfast option on the menu though but this just too heavy for me, and hello, we are in Paris! So obviously, the Le Petit DÃ©jeuner won. A no-brainer of course.

Pinpin and I really enjoyed the vintage setting of this bistro. It was not busy as well, perhaps because it was early in the morning. We were joking around that the portraits of the old people hanging on the walls were our ancestors, and we managed to take pictures with them as well, haha.

I like my baguette with both the (salted) butter and jam spread on it. No coffee, but tea. Coffee is for later, for in between drinks.

I like the fact that many cafes and bistros are open for breakfast in Paris.

After breakfast, we inspected the rest of the beautiful covered shopping passage. It is stunning and really old world charm. It is one of the many places in Paris that are not (yet) crowded with tourists. There were tourists around though (such as us and a few others) but it was just like any normal day wherein you get a good mix of locals and tourists passing by.

I highly recommend visiting this Galerie Vivienne, and if you do, combine it with some drinks, snacks, breakfast or lunch at the Bistrot Vivienne. You will love it.

Check out here for the website: Galerie Vivienne Paris

Here are the rest of my pictures of the vintage covered passage: