paris is always a good idea

We went 8-12 both days in Paris, so that combined with being sick is why you haven’t heard from me in two days (unless you follow me on Instagram, in which case I posted a couple of pictures).

Paris was perfect, as usual.  There is so much beauty, fashion, and food there that I could live a hundred lives and never know every bit of the city.   I always feel so dumb because I hated Paris my first day or two there, and now when I think of what I miss in France, what I really think about is Paris.

We stayed in a Holiday Inn over by Notre Dame, and it was a great place - super view, clean, modern, good location, and a rooftop bar (more on that later).  We were right near several metro stops as well as dozens of cafes, restaurants, and shops. 

Day 1:

Monday morning we lazed around a bit before getting out the door around 10 or 11, and stopped for a coffee and pastry on our way to the Jardin du Luxembourg.  It was pretty close to the hotel, and was lovely.  Let me just say we really lucked out with amazing weather in Paris – sunny and warm the whole time!  We walked through the paths, looked at the palace, sat and looked at the flowers, but the best part was looking at the little boats that were for rent for the children to play with in the little fountain pond.  The kids could direct them and push them with a stick, but at times they’d get out of reach and zoom across the pond if they caught the wind right.  It was such fun to watch.  We probably walked around there for an hour and a half or so, before making our way to the Eiffel Tower. 

It took us a while to get there, because I had to find the right metro station, so we didn’t get there until 1:30 and we then decided it was time for lunch.  We ate at Café Constant, which is a little place I read about on the Paris in Four Months blog.  It was super creative and delicious! Example – one of their specials was “lobster ravioli.”  It was a huge hunk of lobster, with a really delicate pasta loosely wrapped around it, in a lobster seafood sauce, with caviar on top – wow!  We had a good view of some old buildings, other great courses, and champagne, so it was a win.  We initially planned to climb the Eiffel Tower next but we also wanted to go to Montmartre and walk around, so with us running out of time, we decided to go to Montmartre first, and then do the tower later in the evening.  

Montmartre was lovely.  While there were still a good bit of tourists around, particularly near the Sacre Coeur, it was riddled with teeny adorable winding streets with which I have an open love affair.  The only other time I’ve been to Montmartre was the very first day I was in Paris with Daddy, two years ago and we did a driving tour to see the major sights and to help me get my bearings.  The rest of that summer I had intentions to go back, explore, and buy art, but never got around to it.  I finally went back – so happy!  Montmartre is known to be the artsy area of town and there is the square near the Sacre Coeur where people sell lots of artwork.  I was a little suspicious because I read somewhere that some of that stuff is made in China (gag), so we only looked at vendors who were working or had their stuff there.   There was a lot of images of Paris, as you can imagine, but a lot were just over the top.  We saw a couple people who did wildflowers, but neither of us were particularly keen on hauling back oil paintings (been there, done that for 2 months).  We found a guy who did very simplistic ink drawings that were of Paris and of French people, and we just fell in love with them.  I have a lot of photos to post of other things today, and they are wrapped up well now, but I will try to post a picture of them when I get home.  

We took our time walking down the hill from Montmartre (aka we got a little lost) but ended up getting on the Metro in front of the Moulin Rouge.  Flashback to watching Bassnectar at the bar next to the Moulin Rouge the night Kyle and I got engaged.  We dropped the paintings off at the hotel, rested for half a second, and then tried to go to climb the Eiffel Tower again.  “Try” being the operative word.  We got there at like 7:30ish and they’d closed 2 of the pillars, including the one for the stairs, so we’d have to wait for at least an hour, if not more for the elevator and neither of us were particularly keen on that.  We watched the sun set behind Parisien buildings and then went to dinner at Semilla (also from Paris in Four Months) near our hotel.  Mother loved it, I thought it was good but would not go back.  We did have really awesome champagne there.  The meal was good but for whatever reason I was just sort of meh about it.  I think I probably just felt really poorly and needed to rest.  Got home at 11:30 – straight to bed.

Day 2:

We struggled a little bit on Tuesday.  We meant to wake up earlier than we did, but its hard to wake up at 7 when you go to bed late, after a very full day of walking!  We tried to go eat breakfast at the Sofitel near St. Honoré, which is where we stayed last time.  Their breakfast is to die for.  But we got there at 10:10 and they stopped serving the buffet at 10.  Super sad face.  We ended up in a café I knew from when Daddy and I were in that area for a nearly perfect croissant and coffee, but it just wasn’t the same as the Sofitel breakfast. 

We did a lot of shopping for the first part of the day along St. Honoré, stopping to drool in all the big names like Hermès and Chanel.  From there we went halfway across town to Hugo & Victor for macarons, which are supposed to be some of the best in Paris.  They were pretty amazing. They had a pineapple and ginger one that was the most delicious one I’ve ever had.  I could’ve eaten a whole box of just that one flavor.  I will say I though, their vanilla flavor tasted like Lucky Charms.  By this time, it was quite late in the day so I may or may not have eaten all 6 macarons at once because I was hungry. 

We dropped stuff off at the hotel and then went across the river to eat lunch at Frenchie To Go.  Frenchie is a really good restaurant in Paris, but you have to make reservations a  long way out, but Frenchie To Go is more of a faster fare type restaurant and it was amazeballs.  I got a smoked salmon bagel, which came with an awesome caper dill sauce, some sort of delicious green, and toasted bread –ermehgerd it was so good.  I got it with the best fries which came with a ginger mayo – also killer- and had fresh pear juice to drink.  I could eat that every day.  I really felt like I wanted explode after because of all that food plus the macarons, but I walked it off when I tried to get us to our next destination but went the wrong way.  I was very angry with myself because I wasted 40 minutes going the wrong way and having to go back.  We just had so little time in Paris I was pissed because I’d wasted nearly an hour because I read the map wrong. 

Anyways, we finally arrived at E. Dehillerin, a copper maker, and I was completely overwhelmed.  They sell really nice French copper pots, pans, and cooking things, but it was a very industrial place with stuff everywhere and people going in every direction.  I wasn’t really mentally prepared for that so I just sort of stood in the middle of everything and mentally freaked out.  My brain was totally fried between getting lost and the whirlwind copper shop.  I made it out alive and in one piece though, albeit laden down with about 20 pounds of copper.  We dropped our stuff off again at the hotel and had to make a decision.  Did we want to try to go to the Eiffel Tower again, or just forget it, go get éclairs, and have a drink?  Mother said quote “if we go to the Eiffel Tower it will be a forced march” so that sort of decided it for us (later we joked about this day being the "trail of tears across Paris" or if I'd made her go it would've been the "French Revolution Part Deux.").  I am a hardcore tourist and I have a tendency to go go go.  On our way (in a taxi!) to get éclairs, I remembered our hotel had a rooftop bar, which would be great because it is close and easy (essential after a hard day of touristing).  That turned out to be the best decision of the trip to get a drink on the roof of our hotel, and then go to dinner.  Keep scrolling for the pictures and you'll see why.  I am STILL stunned a day later with how incredible the view was from the roof.  What was also amazing, was that our hotel was the only building within sight that had rooftop access at a higher height than most buildings (9 floors).  Plus its relatively inexpensive, or at least comparable to other hotel in Paris - WORTH the view.  You can also make reservations to go up if you aren't staying in the hotel.

When we got there 

View close up

expanded view

From our INCREDIBLE rooftop view we went to dinner at Pirouette, which had a really awesome vibe, great waiter, and killer food (I ate pidgeon and it was to die for.  Along with equally spectacular octopus salad, and then rice pudding with a salted caramel sauce for dessert.)

Day 3:

We left Paris at about noon today, but not before stopping for some choux (cream puffs basically) for breakfast.  We got them at Odette, which arguably has the best choux in Paris.  It it located on a corner which meets three adorable streets, and looks directly at the Notre Dame de Paris.  It was crazy to think about all those tourists taking pictures of just the church, when they could eat a choux or three and just stare at it from afar for a long time with no crowds.  On the way back to the hotel to go to the train station, we spotted this Parisien chat, who was kind enough to pose by the sign for me.

We got back to Caen with enough time to watch a good number of riders go.  Here is my favorite of the day - Ludger Beerbaum & Chiara 222.  What a looker this one is!!! Those knees and that expression!!  I'll take this one for my WEG souvenir please.