Our trip to Paris began the same way that many do, with an international flight. We had a relatively smooth check in and flight from Catania to Milan and managed to travel using only carry on luggage. Score! During our three hour layover in Milan we found a Moleskine store and bought the cutest little Paris travel journal. We decided to buy this to jot down thoughts, sightings and stories from the people we met during out week in the City of Lights. This seriously came in handy when writing this blog series, because I didn’t have to try and remember the name of a specific restaurant or family we met… It was all there and neatly organized for me! Self-five! We arrived in Paris at Charles de Gaulle Airport and made a bee-line for the Tourist Information desk. Tony and I purchased two Paris Museum Passes, grabbed our complimentary Paris Metro and street maps, and we were off. Once in the city we arrived at a metro stop right in front of the Notre Dame Cathedral. Beautiful! The western facade and towers were exquisitely lit in the night sky, yet surprisingly we were able to spot a few stars shining high above.
We didn’t have long to linger here, we needed to reach our apartment in time to meet the landlord who we would be renting from. Like most of our travels, we relied on airbnb.com to find a suitable apartment. I was quite pleased with the location of the home we rented. It is in the 15th arrondissement (neighborhood) of Paris, three metro spots were just blocks away, the building was safe and in a fine neighborhood, plus a little fun fact: They filmed a scene from the movie Inception right on our street! The only con in my eye was hiking six flights of stairs! Yep that’s six small, old, wooden, spiral stairs every single time we wanted to go “home”. There was no, “whoops, I forgot my scarf upstairs”, because there was no way I was going to go get it! 100% lazy American tourist right here baby!
On our first evening in Paris we decided to take a stroll down towards the Eiffel tower and grab a late dinner. We found a cozy little restaurant by the name of La Terrasse which boasted red loveseats for guests to sit on and relax with a cup of onion soup. La Terrasse was situated on a busy street corner, which allowed for us to watch the Parisians and tourists take a stroll near midnight. After dinner we spotted the Eiffel tower and watched it sparkle at midnight.
The next morning we woke bright and early for our first full day of sight seeing. We intended to see the Louvre, Orangerie and Orsay museum; but not before a stop at one of Paris’ many boulangeries (bakeries) for a fresh croissant. Eric Kayser was our boulangerie of choice this morning, from there we hoped onto the metro and arrived at the Louvre just after opening. Thanks to our handy Paris Museum Passes we were able to use a fast track line and it wasn’t long at all before we were enjoying the some of the worlds finest sculptures and paintings. From the Louvre we took a stroll through Tuleries Garden (totally dead this time of year) and joined the long line at the Orangerie Museum. We waited in line shivering in the cold and eavesdropping on the tourists around us for two hours for the chance to see Monet’s “Water Lilies”! Let me tell you all, that two hours standing in the cold was well worth the 30 minutes of sitting in awe of the amazing oil strokes made by the 80-year-old; cataract-plagued Monet. Unfortunately we don’t have photos from this visit, because photography is forbidden inside of this gallery… a policy that I 100% support!
Next on the agenda was lunch. We found a packed little restaurant right on the Seine river by the name of “Cafe Bords de Seine” … clever, huh? : ) Our first taste of Beef Burgundy was less than impressive, but their chocolat chaud (hot chocolate) was the perfect thing to warm up these two tourists and jolt our sugar levels to get us through the afternoon. Our plan for the rest of the afternoon was to see the stained glass works of Saint Chapelle and climb to the top of Notre Dame. Yet another sudden down pouring of rain came our way and we nixed that plan in favor of dashing inside of the Notre Dame cathedral and then heading home for a cat nap. The tremendous cathedral was dimly lit which quickly drew our attention to the beautiful arches and stained glass works. The famous Rose Window has been providing beautifully colored light for patrons of this cathedral since its completion in the year 1250.
Around nine that evening (when the rain stopped) we headed out for dinner. We walked for ninety minutes trying to find something that sounded remotely appetizing. French food is proving very odd to our palates. Things like engorged duck liver and raw steak don’t interest me at all, rather than make me loose my appetite a bit. So we walked along, reading the menus posted up outside of restaurant windows all the way, until we settled on a small cafe by the name of Lelinois. It’s near the Metro stop Saint Charles and our window seats provided us with an obscured view of the Eiffel tower behind the lovely Christmas lights strung along the street. A Croquet Monsieur was just what we needed for this late night dinner. Our review… “I love cheese!” We followed that up with crepes caramel to top off our first full day in the City of Lights.
After the first few days in Paris, we really found our rhythm in this lovely city. We learned to start every single morning with a trip to the corner bakery and load up on far too many baked goods for two people to handle. We also learned to bundle and layer and bring the umbrellas with us absolutely everywhere! In time, we became comfortable in our temporary city and even though the sun eventually came out, we enjoyed our week of Paris in the rain.
There are plenty more photos to be shared and ramblings to be read, so check back next week for Part 2 of my Paris blog series.
//Lyndsay.
