Jour 8 à Paris: An Afternoon in Paris

After a few days of having to hit the road early and be traveling outside of Paris, today we decided we just wanted to stay in Paris and bum around and do a few things we haven’t had an opportunity yet to do. So today we woke up at a more leisurely time, got ready and walked to Café de Flor for a wonderful breakfast. I love how the French eat straight bread and carbs for breakfast yet they don’t really seem to mind. Secondly- I’m allergic to gluten but the bread here in France has been so wonderful and fresh and pure that I have actually been doing wonderful: praise the Lord!

Our breakfast at Café de Flor was the best breakfast we’ve had, hands down. Mom and Kelly ordered café crémes and I ordered a chocolat chaud,  all of which were rich and delicious. Then we had to get the fresh squeezed orange juice and it was just that- freshly squeezed. Yum! To ‘start’ our breakfast we all split pain au chocolat et croissants which were light, fluffy and perfect. Then for the main meal we felt like we needed some substance besides straight carbs so we split two pieces of quiche; my mom makes wonderful quiche but this was by far the best quiche I’ve ever had in my life (sorry mom!). Another reason that breakfast was just perfect was the pure ambiance of the place. It’s obviously an iconic café but we were able to snag an outdoor bistro table and watch people go by on the streets. Although I could’ve gladly sat there and gorged myself on croissants and hot chocolate all day, we wanted to move on and get some real shopping time.

Shockingly enough we’ve been so busy sightseeing and eating that we haven’t spent any time shopping; and coming to Paris, the fashion capitol of the world, and not shopping surely must be a crime. We spent the afternoon walking and shopping. We went to this large market called Le Grand Marche and picked up some food for our picnic tomorrow night (we decided that on our final night in Paris which also happens to be my birthday, we would have a picnic under the Eiffel Tower). We bought meats, chesses (not super stinky ones this time because last time we bought super smelly cheese and my whole bag smelled horrendous), biscuits and some fruit before going to a smaller Ladurée to get a small box of macaroons for my birthday!

The rest of the afternoon we just stopped into whatever shops we wanted on our way to le Jardin Luxemburg since we hadn’t been to that garden yet. It was another wonderful park with lots of outdoor cafés, people sitting on park benches and chairs and families out for the sunny afternoon. We spent some time here sipping on a few glasses of rosé and enjoying the scenery before realizing that we had forgotten to buy baguette for our picnic tomorrow! At this point it was late in the day and all the boulangeries were closing! Talk about the horror. A Parisian picnic without baguette- there is no such thing! Luckily my fluency in French food came in handy and a shop keeper was able to point out a bakery that was still open and wouldn’t you know it, the bakery had just made their last batch of bread for the day! (We purchased two baugettes for safe measure…and the disaster was avoided).

We took a long way home and ran into a street market which was super cool, full of foods, herbs, spices, soaps and handmade gifts. I think that is some of the fun of traveling- having unplanned, random and spontaneous adventures that allow you to see a whole different part of a culture that otherwise you would never see.

I can’t believe it’s been over a week since we arrived. I don’t think I’ll ever have enough time here. I don’t want to be sad that it’s over, because we still have one more wonderful day ahead of us to enjoy the magic and beauty of Paris.

Jour 5 à Paris: A Day on the Island

Another morning of sunshine greeted us today. I love being able to open up the tall window coverings and expose the day to the beautiful sights and sounds of Paris. Mornings are so wonderful because our little area is bustling with life as parents get their kids ready for school and business people head to work. We headed out this morning the Île de Cite, or the City Island, to visit Notre Dame Cathedral. I never realized that Notre Dame was on its little island in the city, and it amazes me that it has stood there for hundreds and hundreds of years.

Inside the cathedral is just outstanding. The stained glass, the gothic architecture elements, the cool and damp feeling is just like how you imagine it when you’re reading Hunchback of Notre Dame! It was dark and peaceful inside. I loved reading the history of the cathedral and how the construction has developed since the dark ages. This cathedral is a must-see for anyone who visits Paris just for the pure beauty of the architecture alone.

After finishing our tour of the inside we wanted to go to the top of the cathedral so we went outside to the left of the cathedral for the door and the line was backed up for ages. We decided to stand in line hoping it’d go fast but later found out that they only let 20 people up every 15 minutes. At that rate, I did the math and we would’ve waited for three hours before we could’ve made it into the entrance. Just as we were weighing out the ‘should we or shouldn’t we’, the skies opened up and it started pouring rain. Well that basically answered it for us and we ditched the line and sought shelter in the crypts of Notre Dame.

Inside the crypts were old ruins and foundations of a time long ago. The little village that surrounded the cathedral (which later would become Paris) was built by men and women who laid brick by brick and stone by stone. As a history buff I found it interesting to see the beginning foundations of Paris and what it tells historians about life back then.

By the time we reappeared from underground the rain had passed and we were able to move on. On the one side of the river is a famous book shop that has been there since the 1950s- Shakespeare & Co. I of course had to stop and bum around the nooks and crannies of books and find a book to purchase to receive the iconic ‘stamp’.

Post book-purchasing we walked along the little narrow streets of Paris and came across a man making crepes at his shop so of course we all had to split a nutella-banana crepe because when in Paris…

One crepe and a few metro stops later we found ourselves at the Galleries Lafayette, a grand and luxurious shopping center that blows any other mall out of the water for opulence. The interior is just fabulous, the designers are wonderful, and the shopping is awesome. The iconic dome structure in the center of the mall is full of stained glass and ornate details. It’s here that I saw and fell in love with the pink Eiffel Tower Longchamp bag for the first time. Oh and besides shopping here, don’t miss an opportunity to walk to the top terrace of the mall for a super chic place to have a snack and catch some wonderful views of Paris, the Eiffel Tower and the Grand Opéra.

Next we took the metro towards the famous boulevard, Champs-Elysées for afternoon tea at the Ladurée. We’ve done tea at Harrod’s in London and mom had come here with Lisa before but this was  my first time at the original tea house. Inside it was opulent, feminine, and fabulously decorated. We each got a pot of tea and a sweet dessert from the wonderful selection of treats they had in the case. 

















I’m a visual person so I honestly don’t know what I ate or what it was but I pointed to the pretty pink one and chose that. We each sampled and nibbled while we enjoyed our afternoon tea as we desperately needed a pick-me-up after a day of running and yet we still had stuff to do! We opted to wait to get iconic macaroons for a later date as we were too full from the desserts and tea. However it was a good thing we had some energy left because we had one more big thing on our agenda for the day: the musée de Louvre.

First off let me tell you that it’s almost embarrassing to say how little time we spent in this wonderful and amazing museum. However sacrifices had to be made, and sometimes you can’t do it all so this was one of the places that kind of got short changed. However the nice thing about today was that the museum was open late! Normally it closes at six o’clock or something like that but tonight it was open to eight o’clock. My tip is to definitely check out when museums are open late (usually there is at least one night that it will be open for longer hours). So we arrived at the Louvre and obtained a map of the ‘highlights’ such as the Venus de Milo, Mona Lisa and the Winged Warrior.

















 In the matter of a few hours we hustled from one room to the next and managed to see a handful of the highlights before we were over it, too tired and ready to go. Next time I’ll definitely have to spend more time in this wonderful museum and probably plan on spending at least a half day in this museum alone.

After a crazy long day on our feet we started the walk back to our apartment but stopped at a wonderful restaurant for some French onion soup and crème brûlée before finally calling it a night and returning to our sweet little abode. Tonight we will sleep well.

Jour 3 à Paris: Montmartre & Sacré-Coeur

After a semi-late evening last night we didn’t get the quick start like we had been hoping. We ate breakfast (which consisted of café and croissants again at Café Le Solerino) and then took the metro out to the Montmartre area. It’s quite a ways away from the heart of Paris so you’ll have to take the metro. When we arrived in Montmartre we wanted to go to Sacré-Coeur right away and started our journey up the hundreds of steps to the top of the landing where the cathedral stood overlooking the city.

I mean I consider myself in shape but still felt like I was huffing-and-puffing up the stairs. Yet people were working out and jogging up the stairs around me- jeez. After a few hundred stairs we finally made it to the top of the landing and Sacré-Coeur stood behind us and an amazing city-view of Paris before us. Talk about a wonderful view! The sun was out and lots of people mingled on the stairs leading up to the basilica; some were artists sketching the beautiful architecture, others painted the city view, some people ate and chatted on the steps and others just lounged taking in the views.

We walked up the remainder of the steps and into Sacré-Coeur. It’s amazing how inside the cathedral it seems to be untouched by time (with the exception of the speaker and AV systems). It was very stunning inside the cathedral; lots of amazing architecture and sculptures throughout. It was cool and gray and I can’t even imagine attending service in the winter- it must be frigid. After touring through the inside of the cathedral we made our way to the ticket office to go to the top of Sacré-Coeur. Note- they only accepted cash and there are NO bathrooms anywhere in the cathedral so make sure you a. have currency on you and b. go to the bathroom before you walk up the staircase.

A windy 300 steps greeted us and we began our accent to the top of Sacré-Coeur. Mom wasn’t kidding when she said the steps get narrower as it goes on. We climbed to the very top and were not disappointed by the wonderful views, wow. You had a wonderful 360° view of Paris. Off in the distance was the iconic Eiffel Tower. We were lucky because not many people had decided to climb the stairs at that time so we were quite alone with the exception of a few other couples.

Sacré-Coeur is obviously an iconic part of Montmartre but so is the art scene. Artists were set up around the streets painting various sceneries of Paris with a multitude of different mediums. Some were relatively accurate like a photograph while others were interpretive or impressionistic but regardless it was still beautiful to see the different artists. We stopped and watched artists in their element a bit before finding a café, Les Coulisses, for a quick bite for lunch. Oh and when I mean ‘quick’ I mean French quick, which is by no definition anywhere close to the term ‘American quick’ ha.

Have I mentioned how small the tables are in cafés and restaurants around here? With three of us around one small French bistro table there’s barely any room for plates! So we originally grabbed two small tables but they told us we could only get one for three people. So we were trying to maneuver around the table when Kelly accidentally bumped the table, sending the glasses and bottle of water flying down towards me (as of course we were sitting on a tilt). Can you say hello Americans? Luckily the waiter was nice about it (to our face anyways) and I dried out eventually.

Following lunch we got to spend the rest of the afternoon in Montmartre. The area has tons of cute shops and boutiques, cafés and restaurants as well as some historic landmarks. We stopped into a cute little macaroon shop later in the afternoon as well as our first Starbucks (because you know, sometimes you just need a piece of home). The clouds were starting to roll in and look threatening so we decided to wind our way down the streets towards the metro station. On our way down however we saw a cute little man dancing in the street to a guitar player, people walking hand and hand, and children playing soccer in the streets…welcome to Paris!

Oh also along our way, we searched out Moulin Rouge which I do have to say was kind of a letdown; it’s literally built into another building and looks nothing like the old pictures. I was expecting it to be its own standalone building with its cool and funky windmill on top, but it almost looked fake!

Luckily it never did rain on us and we were able to hop on the metro and cut across town to the Champs-Elysse district to go see the Arc de Triomphe. Walking down the street and oh my goodness, there was one name brand designer after another. Beautiful stores with luxurious cars parked outside, you could almost smell the opulence and money in that area. The Arc sits right in the middle of it all, almost like the center of Paris (although the ‘heart of Paris’ is actually over by Notre-Dame Cathedral I later found out). We walked down some steps, under the ground and there you pop out right in the center of the iconic round-about. I’m not sure if its every day or just on the weekends but there was a military ceremony happening when we arrived with public officials and children walking with the French flag and flowers and under the big French flag that flies under the Arc they gathered for a few moments, kind of neat to see.

We climbed the stairs, although not as many as this morning, to the top of the monument for another spectacular view of Paris. Sigh, I seriously will never get sick of this view. Again in the distance you could see the Eiffel Tower and even Sacré-Coeur where we were earlier. It was so windy up there I’m pretty sure by the end my hair was a birds nest but it was worth the views of the city.

It was getting late so we decided to make our way back towards our apartment to figure out a dinner meal. We stopped into our local grocery store to just gather a little picnic meal of cheese, meat, bread and fruit when…remember that rain that never happened earlier…well it hit right as we were packing our grocery bags to walk home. Granted we were only a half block away from our apartment but I don’t think I’ve been more soaked in my life! We busted into our apartment complex in fits of laughter because we couldn’t believe how drenched we got in that short period! So tonight we enjoyed our not-so-hot picnic indoors and laughed about our wonderful  day in Paris.