Paris!

I am the luckiest girl on earth!  I say this for many reasons, but one of them is that I have this amazing friend Ken.  Ken absolutely loves Paris.  He thinks it’s the best place ever and has wanted to share it with me for a while now.  Well he surprised me with a first class trip there.

It was pretty funny the way he dropped the news that we were going.  He kept asking about my schedule and some upcoming trips I had planned and wanted to know when I had some free time to go shopping.  He said he needed to stock up on butter and Champagne.  I thought it was a tiny bit odd, but I figured he was finally ready to have his house-warming party that we had been talking about.  Ken had moved into a new home.  Whenever he has a party, I always do the planning and cooking.  I gave him a window of about 2-3 weeks that I was free and then he casually mentioned that I needed to brush up on my French cooking skills.  It didn’t take long for me to figure out what was happening.  I was going to France!  Butter, Champagne…………. he always stocks up on butter whenever he travels to France and sometimes brings me back a nice bottle of bubbly!  I was initially thinking a trip to Costco.  Ha!  Little did I know!

We started looking at Airbnb’s and checking flights.  I was still a little shocked, but crazy excited.

I’ve always planned all of my own vacations.  I never really liked using a travel agent and I’ve been very lucky.  I’m sure it has a lot to do with my OCD.  I like things how I like them.  I like to know first hand what I’m getting myself into.  I like reading tons of reviews and doing the research myself.  I felt very lucky to be going to Paris with Ken though.  For one, he speaks French and knows the city very well.  He’s traveled to Paris numerous times over the years.

Ken has always talked about buying an apartment in Paris.  I don’t know what he’s waiting for!  He asked me to make a list of things I wanted to do and places I wanted to go.  There were also a few places that he wanted to show me.  We pulled up a map of the area where we were going to be staying.  There were parks, rivers, museums and even a branch of his bank  I said…….. “you have a bank in Paris?”  He said yep. My response was “so we won’t run out of money then?”.  Nope T, we won’t run out of money was his answer.  It was so funny!  Good thing, cause I’m not a cheap date!  I’m also not a shopper at all.  I don’t like malls or shopping for clothes, shoes or handbags.  I do that online and I also have a few close friends that will shop for me!  I know, I’m spoiled!  However, I can spend hours in a grocery store or gourmet market or my favorite gourmet liquor store or any farmer’s market and I love a great restaurant.  I can run up one hell of a bar tab though!  I like to dine for hours when I go out to eat.  I like to start at the bar for several hours, then maybe move to a table and have more cocktails.  Then I’ll think about an appetizer or two.  After several more hours I will then check out the menu for dinner.  That’s how I roll!  It’s because I cook and entertain so much at home, when I go out I like to really enjoy the experience.  This is how my dinner parties are in my home.  The invitation may say 2:00.  But you won’t be eating dinner til maybe 8 or 9.  No one ever even notices or complains.  It’s an experience!  There’s always great tapas/appetizers/snacks and lots and lots of wine and cocktails.  There’s always great music playing and always good people around.  This is my jam!  Having people in my home and entertaining them!  I’d rather spend my money doing this than buying an expensive purse or pair of shoes, and believe me I do!  I like to go all out whenever I plan a party.  It’s definitely my happy place.

A lot of American’s think that French people are rude.  As soon as I started sharing my news that I was going to Paris, this is all I heard.  I’ve never listened to other people much.  I always like to form my own opinion.  I downloaded an app on my cell phone so that I could start practicing French.  I started reading lots of travel and fashion blogs to learn more about France and the culture there.  I wanted to know what to wear, what it’s like, how to fit in.  I didn’t want to be all “touristy”.  I learned so much.  Since I work from home, I basically wear yoga pants everyday unless I have to go out for some reason or another.  This is apparently unacceptable in Paris.  I read from one fashion blogger that unless you are on your way to the gym, DO NOT walk around in leggings and sneakers.  I thought this was so funny.  But I made a mental note in my head to only wear those yoga pants when I was doing yoga in our Airbnb and yes, I did pack my yoga mat!  I wanted to keep my same routine of starting my day off with a little yoga and pilates.  I also learned that a lot of Parisians like to wear neutral colors……… black, tan, white, etc. and no torn or ripped jeans.  I must say it was very interesting researching the French culture and I am so glad I did.

I knew we would be doing a ton of walking, so I made sure to pack comfortable shoes and boots in addition to heels for night time.  I have a nice collection of pashmina’s  and scarves.  I currently live in South Florida, but am originally from Chicago.  Needless to say, I have all the winter gear since I travel home often.  I was so excited to be able to pack all of my beautiful scarves and wraps.  They would come in handy in Paris, the fashion capital of the world!  I started loading the bed in my guest room with everything I wanted to pack for my trip.  Since we were flying first class, I knew I could check 2 bags and carry 1 on.  I also knew that since Ken wouldn’t be packing much, i could even take an extra suitcase if I wanted.  What can I say, I’m a girl!  I’m “that” girl……… the girl who packs way more than needed just in case.

I totally wanted to embrace the French culture and fit in as much as possible.  I made my mind up that I was going to order my drinks and food in French, speak to everyone I passed on the street in their language and just live the life while I was there.  I practiced everyday.  I even made a spreadsheet (the OCD in me) of words and phrases that I knew I would need to use often. Vodka au citron vert s’il vous plait – vodka, soda and lime please.  I knew I would definitely need to memorize this one and I did!  And Nous aurons une nouvelle serie s’il vous plait – we’ll have another round please.  Another phrase that I knew would be frequently used.  When I asked Ken how I would ask where the lady’s room is he told me, but the word toilet was in that phrase…….. where’s the toilet.  I didn’t like that so I asked him how would I ask for the ladies lounge.  I told him that I was gonna say that instead.  He told me that no one would understand me.  But I don’t like the word toilet – it just sounds dirty.  I’m gonna change things and make this a new phrase in France I told him.  Needless to say, that didn’t work.

We sure had a fun time researching and texting each other daily about places we found that we wanted to check out.  He even sent me links to really cool bars he found that he had never been to, but knew I would love.   I started a list of places, experiences, restaurants and bars.  I put an “*” next to the must do’s.  The apartment we were going to be staying at was in the Old Jewish Quarter of the Marais District.  It just so turns out that I had been watching several foodie documentaries on Netflix.  One of them was I’ll Have What Phil’s Having.  Phil Rosenthal was the creator of Everybody Loves Raymond.  The 3rd episode he visited Paris. Phil also happens to be a foodie and his shows on Netflix follow his culinary exploits around the globe.  He also has another show Somebody Please Feed Phil which has 2 seasons out.  Talk about perfect timing!  I must have watched this episode on Paris a million times before going.

I LOVE middle eastern/mediterranean food and there was this one restaurant Phil visited that was very famous.  L’As du Fallafel.  In fact, if you Google the best place to eat falafel in Paris, L’As du Fallafel comes up!  This place also happened to be in the same area as our apartment.  Needless to say, it was added to “the list” among other places Phil visited.

• 

• 

I had a Fallafel Platter and it was amazing.  I am also a big fan a fresh squeezed lemonade.  L’As du Fallafel made theirs with fresh mint leaves.  I am doing this from now on whenever I make lemonade at home!  It was so good!

Phil went to this famous place for hot chocolate – supposedly the best hot chocolate in the world.  When he went there, they were closed for renovations.  Fortunately for us, by the time we got to Paris, they were back open. Angelina.  What a place!  It’s legendary.  Angelina was opened back in 1903 and offers refined pastries and hot chocolate in a beautiful age-style setting.  It was such an elegant place.  There’s even a tea room at Angelina.

• 

• 

• 

I’ve never had a sweet tooth, but tried the hot chocolate and a pastry.  I actually had white hot chocolate and it was so incredibly rich and decadent.  I definitely saw why Phil was so disappointed when he saw they were closed for remodeling during his trip.  He looked like he wanted to cry!

This is probably one of the best meals I had in Paris. Smoked salmon with French mustard on the left and marinated salmon with creme fraiche on the right. I had been walking around for hours and thought I’d stop somewhere for a little Champagne.  Lucky me stumbling upon this little gem! Autour du Saumon.  I met this really nice couple who was dining there celebrating their anniversary. They had moved to Paris from California many years ago and shared lots of great history with me about the city and the area we were in. They wanted to know how I found this place because apparently it’s very popular and often hard to get a table. I told them it caught my eye so I found an empty table outside and just sat down. It just so happened to be their favorite restaurant! I really lucked out! After several  glasses of bubbly (which was incredible), I checked out the food on the menu. This happened to be their “signature” dish. I can see why!  Under the lemon slice was a little potato dish. So good!

We visited the Eiffel Tower early in our trip.  During my research I read that this couple went to the Eiffel Tower their first day.  Being so high up and being able to see all around the city gave them a little perspective of where everything was when they were on the ground.  I thought this would be helpful since I am so directionally challenged.  We were so lucky to have such a clear and absolutely gorgeous day when we went.  The lines weren’t bad at all.  The view was stunning from the top.  I could not believe where I was.  I definitely had an outer-body experience while there.

We pretty much walked and took the subway everywhere we went.  I preferred this to using Uber because I believe we would have missed so much otherwise.  We came across so many fruit markets, wine and cheese shops, specialty food stores that we for sure would have missed just taking a car to our destination.  It was a great way to get around and just so easy and convenient.  I also loved the people watching. Paris is just a big ole melting pot and I loved it!

There were a few things we got tickets for before traveling just to make sure we could do the things we absolutely wanted to do.  We got tickets to a comedy show in english called How To Become Parisian In One Hour by French Comedian Olivier Giraud.  It was hilarious!  We went a few days after arriving.  It was at the Theatre Des Nouveautes.  It’s a 600-seat theater in the heart of Paris.  The show promises that after more than an hour of intensive training, you will be fully fluent in the behavior of Parisians in shops, restaurants, taxis, subways and nightclubs.  Definitely worth checking out!  Olivier reveals legendary Parisian stereotypes through laugh-out-loud impersonations.  He even engages the audience to participate.

• 

• 

I loved walking around everyday and finding busy narrow streets loaded with cafe’s, restaurants, bars and all kinds specialty shops.  I was also surprised at the all of the many different cuisines in France.  I guess I didn’t think about it before traveling there, but there wasn’t just French restaurants.  On every block there were pizza places, Italian, Mediterranean and Greek, Middle Eastern, Lebanese, American, Burger places……… anything your palate desired.  I guess it makes sense.  It’s like living in the United States, one doesn’t always want American food.  I loved this.

I was really surprised at all of the Creperies on almost every block.  I’ve never really been a fan of crepes.  No reason in particular.  I just didn’t eat them.  My mom used to love them and would always order one when she saw them on a menu.  I decided that I needed to try one.

We found this really cute little place called Creperie Saint-Germain located in the Latin Quarter.  It was a cute little restaurant located on rue Saint-Andre-des-Arts.  It was quite small inside, but had 2 levels.  I love mushrooms so I ordered a Mushroom Crepe and Ken had a Ham and Cheese.  I was pleasantly surprised.  I was used to seeing crepes stuffed with tons of cream and cheese oozing out.  i remember them looking very rich and heavy.  That is not what we had.  As you can see, this place used Buckwheat flour to start with.  The crepes were not rolled the traditional way (like an omelet), but folder over to expose the inside middle.  They were beautiful and very light.  I like whole wheat pasta, bread and brown rice so the fact that they used Buckwheat flour made me very happy.  The crepes were amazing!  I was so surprised I enjoyed it as much as I did.

• 

• 

I was also blown away by the many fruit markets on almost every block.  I have never in my life seen such beautiful strawberries, tomatoes and artichokes before.  I remember going to grab a basket of strawberries one day and a worker stopped me and asked when I had planned on eating them.  He knew exactly which one’s would be better today as opposed to tomorrow or the next day.

The cheese shops and all the wine shops……….. all in abundance.  There was a wine shop right next door to our apartment that had the most beautiful display of Rose wines.  Needless to say, it was Rose everyday for me!

I know a lot of people that have been to Paris before and everyone had suggestions or mentioned their favorite places to go.  We had our “list” that we made up, but for the most part (as with any vacation I take) I never like to plan all of my time.  I think it’s fun to be spontaneous.  To just walk around, explore and see what places you stumble upon.  This usually works out very well for me.

We planned in advance to go to a few restaurants, but other than that we just found them on a whim.  Most of these food pics are from random places we found.  We were never disappointed.  We kept fresh fruit and wine in the apartment and would pick up a fresh baguette most days along with some cheese.

• 

• 

Everything we ate was exceptional.  We never really had any crazy heavy meals.  We ate pretty good.  I know I had a lot of Salmon because it’s my favorite.  I had it cooked, raw, smoked…….. as you can see all of the dishes with salmon were mine.  During the day we’d just “snack”.  Maybe a cheese board, I had several smoked salmon plates which are very light and we’d always have lots of wine of course.  We also did a ton of walking each day.  That was the best part……….. just stopping at cool places we’d find along the way if we felt like it.

• 

• 

It was so nice to be able to spend a good amount of time in Paris.  We were there about 2 weeks.  We had planned to take a day trip to Lyon, however, that didn’t work out.  The train worker’s were striking.  We would have been able to get there, but we might not have been able to get back.  Apparently they don’t do a “full” strike.  They decide that they are not going to work for certain shifts and they decide at the last minute.  I was a little disappointed.  Lyon is the culinary capital of France so needless to say I was beyond excited!  I had picked out 2 places to visit.  One was this incredibly enormous food hall.  Les Halles de Lyon – Paul Bocuse.  Lyon’s mythic indoor food market with an international reputation for offering the very finest gourmet food.  I had planned for us to go there during the day.  Then I had picked out a Michelin Star restaurant for dinner.  It’s ok though.  I will definitely go back and make a point of trying to get to Lyon next time.  I was really looking forward to riding the high-speed train as well.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Our very first day we took a cruise from River Seine to Canal St. Martin then a few days later we took another cruise from the Bateaux Mouches Pier.  This cruise traveled up the Seine towards Notre Dame de Paris, passing by the Louvre Museum, the Town Hall and the Conciergerie.  I have always enjoyed being out on the water.  It was so much more being in Paris!  It was such a great way to see different areas of the city.  Both times we took the subway and walked to our destination.  The weather was just incredible the entire time.

We did visit the Muse de Louve one day.  I must admit that I was very overwhelmed by the enormity of the museum.  If you’ve been there before I am sure you understand.  That will be a place that I will have to visit numerous times.  There is just no way to do it all in one visit.  I would also consider doing a guided tour in the future.  I feel like we just walked around without a real plan of what to see.  It was quite something though……… a little emotional as well.

I didn’t even take any pictures inside.  It was just too much.  I would have missed that incredible feeling of just “being” there.  I have learned that over the years.  Sometimes you just need to be in the moment.  If you stop to keep snapping photos you may miss something and I didn’t want that.  Anyway,  I feel like pictures wouldn’t have really captured what it was actually like just being inside there.  Now I really remember just walking around and feeling how incredible that felt…………….. how blessed I was to be able to take this trip.  There were times I couldn’t even speak.  Just looking at and reading about all of that history.  Amazing.  Overwhelming!!  In the best way though!

• 

• 

• 

One day or early evening I decided to head out on my own for a bit.  At first I started taking pictures of the street corners whenever I would turn.  I thought this would help me find my way back.  I did not have cell service or even know the address of the apartment.  There was however, a carousel on our block and the apartment was next door to this huge church that had big red doors.  That got old pretty fast so I gave up.  Especially after a few stops here and there for wine or Champagne.  When the sun started to set I thought I should try and work my way back towards the apartment, but I had gotten so turned around I had no clue where I was.  So I just kept walking.  Eventually when I looked down one street what did I see……………. that carousel!  I knew that was my block.  After I saw that I felt comfortable stopping for another cocktail.  I knew my way home by then after-all.  It was definitely an adventure.  To me, that’s what life is all about!

• 

• 

• 

I had a good amount of time to do a little research before this trip.  I must have watched every movie, documentary and read every article I could find about Paris.  I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited about a vacation before.  I just always remember Ken talking about it so much and always wanting to take me there.  He would rave about the markets and getting around and the people and cafe’s and the museums.  I couldn’t wait to see for myself.  And now I get it!  I totally get it!  There were just so many different neighborhoods that we visited it’s hard to name them all.  I may end up adding to this post at some point in time.  There are many more pictures and stories to share.  Every time I think that I am just about ready to hit “publish”, I think of something else.  I will certainly let you know if I do.  Until then…………. thank you for taking the time to read this! Please leave a comment and let me know what you think.  I love the feedback.

Follow me on social media:

• 
• 
• 
•