We arrived in Paris around 1230 pm. The Girl was so exhausted she slept through getting off the plane and collecting our luggage. She also dozed most of the taxi ride to our apartment. Once we got to the apartment and got settled in we crashed! We slept for what we thought was 7 hours. According to our computer and our phone it was after 10 pm. We had not really eaten all day and were starving!! The Chef ran down to the grocery and it was still open and very busy. He got salami, cheese and stopped at the corner bakery for baguette. After we gorged ourselves we fell into bed. The Girl watched the tail end of a movie and we were out. She was up at 5am but we said no and put her back down. She went right back to sleep as did The Chef. I, on the other hand, was awake. I finally got up and closed myself in the kitchen to write. The Girl and The Chef got up around 7. At 8 The Chef headed out to get pastries. Nothing was open and there were no people on the streets. Come to find out our clocks on our electronics were wrong!! By 9 HOURS!! They were still on USA time. So, that means it was not 10pm when we woke up but 7pm. And The Chef was not out hunting down pastry at 8am but 5am…doh!! That means I was sitting in the kitchen writing at 2am….jet lag sucks.
We finally pulled it together enough to get out and walk down to Notre Dame. So beautiful and awe inspiring! Our apartment is less than a 10 minute walk to Ile de la Cite. After spending some quality time in Notre Dame we walked north a few blocks and got lunch at a take away joint. Our first lunch in Paris was on the Seine, brie pannini and café au lait for me and The Chef and hot dog and hot chocolate for The Girl.
Now, hot dogs in Paris are NOT just hot dogs…they are stuffed into a fresh baked baguette and covered in hot, bubbly cheese. It was a delicious lunch sitting on the side of the street with the river rushing by.
We then walked to Sainte Chappelle. There are absolutely no words to describe how incredible this place is!! All I can say is GO! Book your ticket to Paris NOW!!! It is worth every penny.
Our second full day in Paris was mostly a waste. Jet lag was really killing The Girl and me. We slept most of the day. And not just sleep but the kind of sleep where you remember things but think they are dreams because you are kind of still asleep. We finally got out around 630pm.
We walked back to Notre Dame to see it at night. It is so beautiful! Huge and imposing and gothic and inspiring all at the same time.
After that we walked back to our apartment to decide what to do for dinner. We decided that close was all we required that night and hit the corner bistro. Literally, steps from our apartment. Let me tell you, some of the best food was found that night! Yay France!!
I had the best foie gras I have ever had with a lovely glass of Sauternes for my first course. The Chef had escargot and it was yummy as well. For my main course I had risotto with prosciutto and house made sausages…..there is no describing the flavors…incredible!
The Chef had steak and it was good as well. The red house wine was better than most $20 bottles you can buy in the US. We also all had dessert. I know, we sound like a bunch of horking freaks!
All of this cost us UNDER $100 US and that was with the service charge…..Now, The Chef and I go out to nice dinners whenever we can. We could never get what we got at this restaurant here in the states for under $200. It was amazing.
We finally made it to La Tour Eiffel on the 4th day in Paris. Meh…and I don’t mean that in a “waste of time” way. It’s just hard to get excited about a thing like the tower after seeing Sainte Chappelle and Notre Dame. It is lovely but it did not move me like the other monuments did. We took the metro for the first time in Paris to get there so The Girl got her very first metro ride. After the Tower we walked to Trocacero and the Arc de Triomphe. We stopped and let The Girl play on the playground at Champ de Mars as well. There is something about watching your child play with the Eiffel Tower in the background that made me very proud as a mama. We had planned on going back to the tower after dark but it didn’t happen. It’s hard to schlep a 2.5 year old with jet lag around an unknown city at night.
We went to the Louve on our last day in Paris. WOW! We did not even scratch the surface and cannot wait to go back. We saw the “big ones” and that was about it. The Girl was not having it.
We saw the Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, Venus de Milo and a couple of statue halls but not the Hall of Statues we wanted to see. The Chef and I are already planning a trip back without The Girl. It is so absolutely amazing.
The Girl's favorite statue because of the "reindeer".
After a short rest we walked around the Latin Quarter (our apartment was right on the edge). What a fabulous part of town!! We stopped to pick up dinner. Salami and duck pate from the charcuterie, wonderful baguette from the boulangerie (which The Girl ate half of on the way home) and some soft, stinky cheese from the fromagerie. Yes, that is how shopping should be. Everything is fantastically fresh and delicious.
Au revoir, Paris. The food, the wine, the architecture, the people. We have fallen desperately, passionately, crazy in love with Paris. Will anything measure up to you? We will see, for tomorrow we jet off to Roma.
