Day 8: Cafes of Paris and the Latin Quarter

Bonsoir. All good things must come to an end... this is my final blog post from Paris. How sad!

I woke up this morning to rain so skipped my run, got ready for the day, and headed out. It was quite a cold rain so I stopped for cafe creme #1 in my neighborhood before heading to the Trocadero area. It was extremely overcast so today was not the best day to see the Eiffel Tower, but oh well!

I saw it on my last trip and already have photos of it from that trip hanging on my wall at home so it's not like I needed a perfect photo of it!



I was chilled to the bone from the cold rain so stopped in at cafe #2 for my 2nd cafe creme of the day. I had planned on walking from the Eiffel Tower towards city center, but decided to hole up in the cafe and read all morning instead.

Next I headed to the Hotel de Ville area so I could do some shopping at BHV, the store I browsed in earlier this week. I tried on the coat I saw earlier this week and decided it wasn't anything I HAD to have. Instead I purchased a pink scarf - I had to buy something for myself!

Then I stopped in cafe #3 to have some fries. Healthy? Non. Delicious? Oui.

Then I headed over to the Latin Quarter for the walking tour. It was still cold and rainy but I figured if I can handle sub-zero temps, I was not going to let the rain bother me. The tour was awesome - I learned so much about this area of Paris. In case you were wondering, it is called the Latin Quarter because it is the home of Sorbonne University where Latin was the language of instruction....

I loved this area so much, I might stay in the Latin Quarter on my next trip to Paris....

After the tour, I stopped in to cafe #4 of the day. I was really cold after being out in the rain for 2+ hours, so I warmed up with a cup of soup - and read some more. I finished my 4th book today. Luckily, I have one more loaded on my nook so will have plenty of reading material for the trip home!

After attending mass at Notre Dame, I had my last gallette of the trip. Yum. It did not disappoint!



Now I am back in my apartment. I am sad that my trip has come to an end! However, returning to Paris is certainly not a question of if, it's a question of when (maybe in a couple of years?) I just really love this city; it feels like a 2nd home for me.

Thanks for following along and commenting - I've thoroughly enjoyed blogging. One downside to traveling alone is that you can't turn to someone and say - "Look - isn't that beautiful?" So instead, I came home each day and shared the beautiful sites of the day with all of you. This blog will now serve as a digital scrapbook; I know I will look back on it on days when I am really missing Paris.

So au revoir for now. My flight leaves tomorrow morning at 10:50 am - fingers crossed that I get 2 seats to myself on the way home... or a handsome, single seat mate! That's bound to happen for me some day, right? :)

I'll close with a quote from Hemingway from A Moveable Feast:

"There is never any ending to Paris and the memory of each person who has lived in it differs from that of any other. We always return to it no matter who we were or how it was changed or with what difficulties, or ease, it could be reached. Paris was always worth it and you received return for whatever you brought to it."

Evening of Day 4

Greetings! I just got back from my tour of the Landing Beaches of Normandy. It's going to take me awhile to sift through all the photos so I'll be back tomorrow with a post about that. I am definitely very, very glad I did the tour. After seeing movies like Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers, it was surreal and humbling to see the beaches in person...

When I last left off, I was getting ready for the ballet! I wanted to have dinner in my apartment before the show so decided to buy one of the rotisserie chickens I've been drooling over all week at the local butcher shop.


I bought a small chicken and resisted the urge to buy some of the potatoes since I still have the fingerling potatoes I bought at the market on Sunday...

I shredded the chicken, cut up some greens that I had bought on Sunday and topped it with avocado and tomato, and a vinagrette that I mixed up with dijon mustard, balsamic and red wine vinegar. Yum! I don't have the French knack for presentation, but here's a picture of my delicious and healthy salad!



While it is fun to eat out, I am really enjoying eating meals in my apartment. I usually eat about one meal out a day. It's a great way to save money and I do not feel like I am depriving myself since the meals I am fixing have been delicious!

After dinner, I got dressed and headed out for the ballet (terrible self-photo, ignore the running clothes on the floor!)!



I got to the Opera area a little early so I could enjoy a glass of wine before the ballet. The Opera house is so so so gorgeous. As usual, my pictures do not do it justice. I am really terrible at night photos & photos of the interiors of dark places. I have an old point & shoot camera and I never have been able to figure out the night settings! These shots give you an idea of what the place is like, though.





The ballet was beautiful. It was danced to Vivaldi's 4 Seasons, which is one of my favorite pieces. This is my first ballet since seeing the Nutcracker in college - I really, really enjoyed it and was impressed by the dancing and the music. I would definitely love to go to another ballet back in Minneapolis.

All in all, it was a wonderful night.

And I am off to bed! I had planned on going to Versailles tomorrow but I am going to wait and go on Friday as I need a slower paced day tomorrow. I bought a Paris Museum Pass so tomorrow I plan on leisurely popping in and out of some museums. A couple of you commented and convinced me to give the Louvre a try, so I will probably head there tomorrow night after dinner. It's open late on Thursdays so I figure if I go in the evening, the crowds should have thinned out by then.

Good night, everyone!

Day 4: Champs Elysees

Good afternoon, everyone, and happy Tuesday! I woke up to rain this morning so decided not to run as I'm not a huge fan of running in the rain! I wanted today to be an easy going day as I know tomorrow will be a big day since I'll be gone for about 14 hours for that Beaches of Normandy tour! So I took my time getting ready, finished book #2 of the trip (A Secret Kept which was good but not as good as Sarah's Key, the other book by the author), and headed down to the cafe on the corner for a cafe creme.


I must say, it's really nice to sit and savor my coffee for a change! At home, I am usually gulping it down on my drive to the park & ride where I catch my bus!! I sat in the cafe and started a new book - Murder in the Marais. I am not usually a mystery reader, but this book came recommended and it's set in the arondissement where I am staying, so I had to check it out!! I read the first couple of chapters and did some people watching.

Once I was caffeinated, I took the metro to Champs Elysees which is one of the most famous boulevards in the world. It's lined with upscale stores, such as Cartier and Louis Vitton, and some American-based companies like Gap and Abercrombie & Fitch. I stopped into Zara for a bit.


I think I did about 3 or 4 case studies on Zara in my MBA program, so it's fun to see the store in person after reading so much about their sucessful business practices. I saw quite a few things that I would love to own, but I decided to hold off on buying anything for now.

I continued on until I got to the end of the boulevard where you find the Arc de Triomphe. I climbed to the top of the Arc on my last trip so this time I just viewed it from afar. It was commission by Napoleon to commemorate his victories.


After that, I headed back down the other side of the street and stopped at Laduree. Laduree is a famous patisserie that is known for their Macaroons.

They had a beautiful Valentine's Day window display!


I waited in line for some macaroons and got a couple of shots of the delicious sweets that they sell.



Macaroons are made with almond flour, so they are a gluten free treat that I can enjoy! I bought 4 macaroons - raspberry, dark chocolate, vanilla, and coffee. It was hard to choose which 4 to buy!

I had some mussels and fries for lunch. I got the small 1/2 portion of mussels, which was quite a generous portion in my opinion. They were steamed in white wine and were so good!! I think I could eat mussels every day!



Now I am back in my apartment. I am going to a Ballet tonight at the Palais Garnier so I wanted some downtime in my apartment before I start getting ready for the evening!

I probably will not do a blog post tomorrow since it will be a full day for me. I have to be at the tour office at 6:45 tomorrow so it will be an early morning for me! I am really looking forward to touring the Beaches of Normandy, though.

Here's the interesting fact of the day. It turns out that Jim Morrison died in a bathtub in an apartment across the street from where I am staying! Confession: I know the name Jim Morrison but I didn't really know who he was, so I had to google him... Classic rock is just not my genre, so that's why I didn't really know who he was. I guess the circumstances of his death are a bit unknown and some people think he is still alive... He does have a grave at the famous Pere Lachaise cemetary, though!

Au revoir for now! I'm off to iron my dress that I will wear tonight!

Home Away from Home & Afternoon of Day 2

First off, a couple of you have asked to see pictures of where I am staying this week, so here goes! First, here is a view of the street, looking towards my apartment. It's a really charming neighborhood! I love all the little balconies!


This is the kitchen - such an efficient use of space! It includes a fridge, microwave, dish washer, and combination washing machine/dryer. Impressive, huh? The kitchen is well-stocked with pots/pans, dishes, and silverware. They also provide salt, pepper, red wine vinegar, and balsamic vinegar!


This is the living room area.


The bed is behind the shelves.

And this is where I write my blog posts from! The name of the apartment is "the butterfly" which explains the framed butterflies on the wall by the computer!



Now, onto my afternoon in the Marais. The apartment had a book with various walks around Paris so I decided to do one of the Marais walks this afternoon. I knew a little bit about the area before my walk since I had done a guided walking tour of the area last time I was in Paris. That walking tour is what prompted me to rent an apartment in this area. The Marais known as the Jewish quarter of Paris. It's such a charming area with narrow streets, lined with boulangeries and Patisseries.

As I learned on that walking tour, it is also where many of the mistresses of the royalty lived. Marriages during that time were mostly for political reasons so it was common for the royalty to have a mistress or two. So there are many, many grand residences in this area, known as hotel particulars, with impressive courtyards/gardens. Like this one.



Not too bad, huh? There are private residences now. I wonder how much one would cost!!

Place des Vosges is also found in the Marais. This is one of my favorite squares in Paris. It was built in the early 1600's as a country retreat for Henry IV and his courtiers. Victor Hugo also lived here.



You can tour his apartment for free, so I took a spin through. He had a lovely view of Place des Vosges!



After taking a spin through Victor Hugo's pad, I continued onto rue des Rosiers.

This is the main street of the Jewish quarter. It's lined with kosher restaurants and lots of falafel shops. L'as du Fallafel is one of the most popular - there were probably about 40 people waiting in line! I had one on my last trip and they are definitely worth the wait in line (and it's only 5 euro, which isn't bad for a meal).

Towards the end of my walk, I ended up outside of this mansion.


Apparently it was built for Princess de Soubise, one of Louis XIV's mistresses... Quite the friends with benefits arrangement... The King built it for her but then he eventually ditched her because, according to the guidebook, she 'lost a tooth'. Hmm, odd explanation... Regardless, she benefited quite nicely from that relationship...

After that walk, I refueled with some coffee, rested my feet for a bit, and then headed to mass at the Notre Dame. I walked along the Seine - which is incredibly picturesque!


The Notre Dame is about a 15 minute walk from my apartment.



Mass was really neat. No, I did not understand any of the sermon (obviously, I speak very, very, very limited French), but one nice thing about being Catholic is that the mass is the same no matter where you are. So while I didn't understand the words, I was able to follow along and speak the parts of the mass in English. Plus, they had the mass reading in English in the bulletin. Notre Dame Cathedral is so stunning - I knew my pictures of the interior wouldn't do it justice so I didn't even try. You just have to see it for yourself!

After mass, I walked back down rue de Rivoli and looked for a place to have dinner. A friend had told me I had to try Pot au Feu , so I walked along until I saw a menu that had it.

The Pot au Feu was good - it's beef with root vegetables (the beef is at the bottom of the dish), so sort of like a fancier pot roast?

The bone in it brought back memories of my bone marrow experience, though! Eeks! So I did not eat that part of the dish.

Funny story of the post... When I sat down, the waiter asked if I wanted an apertif. I only caught the word 'house' in his next sentence (I understand very little French), so I assumed he was asking if I wanted a house wine, so I said yes and that I'd like red.... Um, this is what he brought...



Yes kids, that's a glow stick in that drink. Interesting choice for a drink stirrer, huh? Again it was another exercise in flexibility. While it wasn't what I was expecting, it was good - it was sort of a cross between a mojito and sangria...

That was actually my first alcoholic beverage in France. I feel like it's a sin to not have wine with every meal but truth be told, my stomach has not been feeling so hot on this trip, so wine has not been appealing.

Lesson learned, next time, point to a red wine on the menu.

There you have it - another wordy post! I saw so much today - and all on foot! I love how there is so much to see/do within walking distance of my apartment. My feet are tired so tomorrow will be a quieter day for me. I'll start with a run along the Seine and then we'll see where the day takes me!

Au revoir for now!

Day 1

Bonjour from Paris!! Day 1 is already behind me, I think this trip will go by quickly!!

The flight went well - the 9 hours actually went by pretty quickly. It wasn't a full flight so I lucked out and had 2 seats to myself! It was really nice to sprawl across those 2 seats. I didn't sleep much but I was way more comfy than I would have if I'd had a seatmate.

I found my way to the apartment easily and continued my trend of not getting lost in Paris. Last time I was in Paris, I never got lost. I am probably jinxing myself by saying this, but this is sort of miraculous for me as I am notorious for getting lost! I got to my apartment in the Marais and the cleaning guy was still there so I hung out on the terrace and read while I waited for the apartment owner to show up so he could explain how everything works. When he got there, he informed that he had a little bad news - the hot water was not working in that apartment and he wasn't sure when it would be fixed so he offered to take me to a different apartment in the Marais. For those familiar w/ Paris, the apartment I had booked is close to Hotel de Ville. The new apartment that he moved me to is about 2 blocks from Place des Vosges and maybe 4 blocks from the St. Paul metro stop. So it's in a very similar neighborhood. My heart was set on that first apartment but having hot water is way more important to me. He did say that if I want to move back to the other apartment when the water has been fixed, I can, so I haven't ruled that out just yet... ButI really do not want to re-pack and haul my suitcase over to a different apartment. Plus the apartment they moved me to is very nice and is actually probably even a little bit bigger. It doesn't have a terrace, but it's probably unlikely that I'll use the terrace much since it's February and all...

The whole apartment changing thing is really not a big deal, though. One thing I love about traveling is that is forces me to be a bit more flexible. Flexible is really not a word that typically describes me, but when you travel, it's a must. Plus, it's really hard to let anything bother you when you are one of the moest beautiful cities in the world!!

After grabbing some soup and finding an internet cafe so I could check in with my family and let them know I arrived safely, I headed to the Palais Royal area to do a French Revolution walking tour. I had done another tour by this same company last time I was in Paris. The tour was pretty good, but not as good as the last one I did. I think I might be more confused about what happened during the French Revolution now than I was before... the guide was a little bit confused I guess you could say? She kept forgetting dates and blanking on things completely... It was a bit awkward... But I am still glad I did the walking tour as I saw parts of Paris that I didn't see on my last trip. And it was nice to talk to others in English as that's not something that will happen very often this trip!

After all the walking, I had worked up an appetite so I headed to the St. Michel area for an early dinner. I was hoping to find a menu with mashed potatoes (ultimate comfort food for me), but didn't see anything on w/ pomme de terres on the menu and I was too lazy to look further, so I went to a creperies place instead. I can't have traditional crepes, but buckwheat crepes are gluten free so I found a place with a selection of gallettes (savory buckwheat crepes) and had a nice salad and a gallette with ham, mozzarella, and tomatoes. This meal was awesome! Here are some pictures!



After dinner, I headed back to my apartment and called it a night. My goal was to stay awake until 7 pm and I stayed up until 9 pm - not bad considering the fact that I probably got about 3 hours of sleep!

Oh, and here is my random/funny observation of the day. You know the movie, "No Strings Attached" that's playing now? Over here, the title of the movie is "Sex Friends"!!! I thought that was pretty funny! Can you imagine that being the title of a mainstream movie in the US?? Ah, the French. They sure are direct.

Au revoir for now! It's Sunday morning so I am going to head out to the Bastille market. Tonight I will go to Mass at Notre Dame at 6:30.

Paris, Here I Come!

"America is my country and Paris is my home town"

~ Gertrude Stein

That Gertrude Stein quote perfectly sums up how I feel about Paris. I do not know what is about that magical city, but it totally captured my heart when I was there in 2008. Is it too cliche to say it has a certain "je ne sais quoi"?

This trip has been on my mind for so long now! I reserved my flat back in June and then I really didn't let myself get excited about it. But this week - the excitement has set in! A day from now, I will be getting ready to go to the airport! Eeks, I am so excited!!

Last time I went to Paris, I had an extremely planned out itinerary - an excel spreadsheet, to be exact! There was so much I wanted to see and do, having a well-planned and well-thought out itinerary helped me take advantage of my time in Paris. This time around, I am taking a much more relaxed approach. I still want to do a lot of sight-seeing and exploring but I also want to take time to relax in cafes and people watch. Jet lag aside, I want to come back rejuvenated and refreshed!

Of course, I do have a bit of a 'to do' list. Here are some of the things I plan to see/do:

• I've learned that the best way to avoid jet lag is to get out and start exploring right away so on Saturday afternoon, I am doing a walking tour where I'll learn about the French Revolution. It starts at Palais Royal and ends at Place de la Concorde. I did a different walking tour by this same company (Paris-Walks) last time I was in Paris and it was well-worth the money spent (I think, it's around 10-15 Euro for around 2 hours).
• On Sunday I want to check out the Bastille food market. My plan is to buy a roasted chicken and potatoes. I plan on eating some meals in my apartment so I figured leftover roasted chicken will go great with some fresh greens throughout the week. I plan to take the "French approach" to meal preparation and will shop for the ingredients for my meals each day. Conveniently, there is a grocery store on the block where my flat is located!
• On Tuesday night I will attend my very first ballet at the Palais Garnier! It's danced to Vivaldi's Four Seasons, which is one of my favorite pieces so I am very excited for this!
• On Wednesday, I will take a day trip and visit the Beaches of Normandy. I am really looking forward to this and I feel it's an important thing for me to do. So many brave men gave their lives on these beaches, I imagine this will be a humbling day.
• On Thursday, weather permitting, I will go to Versailles. It's not the optimal time to visit Versailles since the gardens won't be in bloom, but at least the crowds won't be too bad! I can't wait to check out the Hall of Mirrors!
• On Friday I will check out Musée national de l’Orangerie. This museum has a wonderful collection of Monet's Water lilies.
• Throughout the week, I plan on reading "A Moveable Feast" by Ernest Hemingway. It's his classic memoir of Paris in the 20s - what better place to read it? I imagine I'll savor this book while sipping on café crème or vin! If I finish this book, which is likely, I've got 3 more books loaded on my nook which are all set in Paris!

Au revoir for now! I leave tomorrow at 3:30 pm and plan to do my first post on Saturday night! Thanks in advance for following along on my adventure!

à tout à l'heure!