Paris 2018

October 12-14, 2018

I realize I never finished posting the next few parts of my Bilbao trip from July, but I do make these trips frequently enough that I just didn't feel like continuing the posts.  If anyone wants me to finish posting about the trip I will, I just don't feel it's necessary right now.  I really just want to focus on getting my Paris trip done and out of the way because it was already a month ago, and I really should have posted sooner.

So here goes.  A post about my adventures in Paris last month.



October 11-12.

We booked the tickets back in August, and realized soon after we booked them that a flight leaving at "00:30 AM Friday" doesn't mean midnight on Friday night, it means midnight on Friday morning.  No matter.  I just used the personal day I had so I didn't have to call in "sick", and my friend took a vacation day, since she has more left than I do and I wanted to save up for next year.

So we left on Thursday night after work to head to Newark Airport, lounged around until we could check in, then headed to the lounge where my friend has a Priority Pass and lets me check in as her guest.  We stayed there and ate dinner before heading to our gate, where we left maybe about 30 minutes behind schedule, but then landed in Orly with only about a 5 minute delay.  Getting out of Orly was the biggest hassle, but it honestly wasn't terrible.  We took the RER to Notre Dame and got there around 3:30 PM, leaving our bags with this wonderful service called Nanny Bag (highly recommended when your hotel is outside of wherever it is you're staying and you don't want to drop your bags off there, taking hours out of your day; your bags are insured and you pay in advance for the amount of time + bags you're leaving) at a little crêperie in the Quartier Latin before wandering around.  Being about 15 pounds lighter, we then proceeded to walk around Paris for the next few hours.  I am just going to say that our entire weekend we really, really lucked out on the weather, as it was unseasonably warm (we're talking mid-70s Fahrenheit, around 20 Celsius) the entire weekend.  In October.  It was gorgeous.

In front of the Église de Saint-Sulpice, near where we dropped off our bags.

Ahhhh Paris!

The bells, bells, bells, bells, bells of Notre Dame!

We hung out in front of Notre Dame for a bit, deciding that we'd go back another day since the lines to enter the cathedral were horrendously long, and then walked along the pathways next to the Seine for a maximal Paris experience.

How absolutely Paris!

The Pont Neuf, with the Pont des Arts in the background.

That first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower...

The Île de la Cité, with the Pont des Arts in the foreground, followed by the Pont Neuf, Sainte-Chappelle, and Notre Dame.

This was where we started getting those "Paris views", once the Pont Alexandre III with the Eiffel Tower came into view.

Place de la Concorde

By the time we reached the Place de la Concorde we started getting hungry and antsy, since we hadn't eaten all day (we didn't purchase meals on the flight, and we didn't really have time to grab coffees or anything at the airport before we got on the train to Paris).  My sister had recommended a place to eat that she'd found in her browsing and told us we should try to get a meal there, so what started off as a search for a café to sit down and grab something quick turned into "Well, we might as well get dinner."

So we turned in front of the Petit Palais, headed towards the Champs-Élysées, and headed further north, and east to the base of Montmartre to find this place, which turned out to open at 6:45, and it was 6:30 when we arrived.  We figured we might as well get in line (or "queue up" for the Europeans who might be reading this), and wait for the place to open.  They don't take reservations, so it's first come, first served.

It was well worth the wait.

This is Pink Mamma.  It's a restaurant serving Italian food (predominantly Florentine) with a bit of a French flair, using locally-sourced everything (the menu changes seasonally, even monthly, for this reason), and is five floors of sheer niche.  Each floor is designed differently, with a different ambiance, and waiting in line surely turned out to be a good decision because we got seats on the top level, which is quite possibly the most Instagrammable, in that the ceiling features a glass roof, complete with hanging plants and a very rustic design.  I did notice, on the way up to our seat --when you enter, you're led to your table by your designated server, whom you meet at the entrance once you tell them how many are in your party-- that one of the floors has a very Art Deco/Belle Époque feel, which I would have also loved, but I'm definitely glad we got the table and floor we did.

Glass ceiling, but covered in a translucent fabric.

The food itself was incredible.  If you know me well, you know I'm not a big spender, but I mean, come on, we're in Paris, and we're going to spend money on good food and good experiences.  At Pink Mamma, everything is worth it, which is what matters to me.  After all, when in Paris.

Our appetizer, a Tartare Napoli Gogo.  It's no longer on the menu, but it's beef tartare (aka essentially raw) with basil leaves and a sauce.

We both ordered a drink called Mojito de Pedro, which is a mojito, but mixed with berries and peppercorns.

Pesto, with burrata cheese and sun-dried tomatoes and basil.  So. Delicious.

After enjoying our lovely meal, we realized how absolutely knackered we were after traveling and walking so much that when we left, we decided to just head straight to our hotel from Montmartre.  We took the metro, on which I ultimately almost fell asleep I was so tired, and we checked into our hotel around 8 o'clock, and went to bed.

Dark blue is public transportation; light blue is walking, except the line below Notre Dame, which was the RER into Paris.

October 13.

One of the great things about our hotel, which we loved, was the fact that since it was located right outside Paris, it had that suburb feel and was nice and quiet.  Some of the reviews complained about noise, but honestly, I love the sound of motorcycles and cars whizzing by, since that's par for the course in any major European city, and in this case, it was typical suburban fare.  The hotel, the Hôtel Espace Champerret, also happened to be right next to a Metro station as well as a café, so guess where we did breakfast.

No overpriced, over-fancy breakfast for us.

After enjoying our legit French pastries and tea and machine-made cappuccino, we got on the metro and headed back into Paris, where we spent the morning in Montmartre.

Panoramic view of Paris from the base of Sacré Coeur

The abbey next to Sacré Coeur, where visitors were treated to a small classical guitar concert.

There was a festival going on, the Vendanges de Montmartre, where vineyards and vintners sold and advertised their wares to the general populace, and since the weather was so nice it was absolutely packed, and we decided not to partake since there were just so many people.  It was still a lovely experience.

We headed back down through the back side (the north side) of Montmartre, down towards the Boulevard Haussmann, where we wanted to check out the Galeries Lafayette and its incredible stained glass Art Deco ceiling, as well as the view of Paris from the terrace at the Printemps Haussmann.

Seriously, it's incredible.  Absolutely breathtaking.

View from the terrace at Printemps Haussmann.

Full of wares we can barely afford, if at all, but the view is priceless and open to all.

We tried to get into the restaurant, but basically, if you don't have a reservation, they can't seat you, and we were even willing to pay the exorbitant prices just to say we did it.  Ah well.

After we left, we wandered along till we reached the Rue de Faubourg Saint-Honoré with the designer shops, and ended up stopping for lunch at the Café de l'Avenue, within spitting distance of the Arc de Triomphe, before my friend realized that the tickets she'd printed for the concert at Sainte Chappelle we were attending that evening were left at the hotel, and we needed to find a print shop.  But we still managed to polish off a bottle of Bordeaux.  Because this is how we do.

When in Paris.

We tried to find a print shop to no avail, so we grabbed an Uber at the Champs-Élysées so we could make it to Sainte Chapelle in time for the concert, where we were treated to a beautiful chamber orchestra performing in an incredible venue.

Parisians apparently love their black cats to the extent they do graffitti of them.  I think that's awesome.

Waiting for our Uber.

The concert was a gift from my friend's friend, and we decided that it's well worth the price of admission in the future, because seriously.  Seriously.  It was gorgeous.

We were there during sunset, though the sun hadn't fully set by the time we left, so the lighting in the church changed through the course of the hour-long concert, and it was right before dusk when we left an hour later.  But yeah, seriously, highly recommend the chamber concert at Sainte Chapelle.  Worth every penny, even though we didn't pay this time.  We will in the future, because it was just that good.  You can buy tickets here.  They did end up letting us in without printed tickets, as an FYI.  My friend just showed the barcode on her phone and we were able to go in.

After polishing off the bottle of wine, I was in dire need of a restroom, so we wandered down the Quai des Augustins, and found a place called Frou Frou that was virtually empty, sat down, ordered, and I ran to use the restroom.  Turns out the place is usually bumping, just not at that specific time apparently, though it generally seems to be more popular with locals than it does with tourists.  Which is more our thing anyway, so it was a great find.  The staff was very friendly, and the food was excellent.  We ordered what was called a shrimp salad, some French fries (lulz), and a glass of wine.  The salad was so amazing we ordered another round.

It doesn't look like much, but oh man.  Oh man.

It was about 8:30 PM by the time we left, completely dark, and since the temperature was so nice we decided to walk a bit.

"A bit" turned into "over a mile", taking us from Shakespeare & Company (and its beautiful resident cat) to just in front of the Eiffel Tower and Trocadéro.

The Eiffel Tower and its searchlight from the Pont Alexandre III

Eiffel Tower from Trocadéro.  I wish this were better quality, but alas.

From Trocadéro we realized it would be way too complicated to get back to the hotel via Metro, and we were too tired for anything else, so we got an Uber to take us back to the hotel.

And thus our day ended.

Dark blue line to the right is the Metro, blue line to the left is Uber (from Trocadéro), and everything else is pretty much walking, except the Uber to Sainte Chapelle.

October 14.

We had tickets booked for the Eiffel Tower at 9:30 AM, so we left the hotel around 8:30 to get to our Nanny Bag dropoff right outside the Musée d'Orsay so we could get to the Eiffel Tower in time.  We got there a bit late (hooray for Uber!), but since we already had tickets we skipped the long lines (after waiting in one for a good 15 minutes...oops) and got on the elevator to get to the top.  It's definitely something we won't do again on our future trips (because we decided we are definitely going back to Paris in the near future), but for our first trip (it had been 15 years since I was last there, and it was only for a few hours) it was great.  Recommended if your trip to Paris is once-in-a-lifetime or once-in-a-very-long-time, but after that, yeah, not necessary.

View from the top, facing La Défense and Trocadéro in the foreground.

Arc de Triomphe (the zoom on my camera is the very best thing)

Sacré Coeur and Montmartre

Champs de Mars and the Tour de Montparnasse

The Seine, facing west-ish

From the second level, facing Trocadéro and La Défense.  It was also the day of the Paris 20K, hence the swarm of people.

We left the Eiffel Tower, grabbed breakfast at the one café near the Champs de Mars, where we camped out while we ate our breakfast (because, again, when in Paris), and relaxed in the sun.

Breakfast (brunch?) of travel champions.

I like the idea of being cheered on by a street band under the Eiffel Tower, and I'm not a runner.

We headed towards the Arc de Triomphe at this point, and decided not to go up, but we did spend time in the traffic circle.

After leaving the Arc de Triomphe, we headed back down the Champs-Élysées, and then realized that we hadn't yet done what we'd specifically come to Paris to do.  Namely, buy macarons at Ladurée.

So we crossed the street, waited in line at the flagship store, and basked in the sugary meringue goodness that is Ladurée macarons.

As we do.

We followed our not-at-all-planned route to the Place de la Concorde.

Arc de Triomphe/La Défense from the Place de la Concorde, with my epic zoom

For the record, this is the "normal" view where I took that picture of the Arc de Triomphe.

Then we walked through the Jardins des Tuileries, ending at the Place du Carrousel, right in front of the Louvre.  Which we didn't enter, because when you're only in Paris for 48 hours you don't have time for museums.  As much as I love them, I'd rather walk through the city than in one building.

Entrance to the Louvre

We needed to eat lunch before heading to the airport for our 8:30 flight, so we headed back towards Notre Dame, where we'd catch the train to pick up our bags and then get the RER back to Orly.

Île de la Cité

We stopped for lunch at Le Bistro des Augustins, which specializes in cheese dishes, and since I don't generally do cheese (sorry to all the gourmandes, but I haven't developed a taste for it and it seriously saddens me) we got salads and more wine.

I don't do fancy cheeses, but I'll do fresh mozzarella (and mozzarella burratta, like in the pesto dish from before).

Norwegian salmon over toast.

We managed to get out of the restaurant with time to visit Notre Dame, like we said we would.  So before catching the train, we visited.

We left Notre Dame, got on the train, picked up our bags, got back on the train, switched trains, and finally got back to the airport with time to spare to sit in the lounge (I would get it myself now I think, but my friend won't let me, she likes me being her "plus one" I guess) until our flight back to Newark left.

As everyone who visits says, Paris is truly magical.  I love France as a whole, as my family has driven through a good chunk of it when I was in high school and we would make annual, sometimes biannual, drives from southern Spain to Germany where I went to school.  Paris was never on our way and that's okay because France as a whole is a beautiful country.  But Paris is truly a beautiful city, and Norwegian (ugh I love Norwegian so much it's insane) flies there very frequently and has very affordable rates.  We will definitely be going back we had so much fun.

Dark blue is public transportation, light blue is walking

Including the hotel

Next up: the Netherlands in December (about 4 weeks away!) and Barcelona in January.

There may be another more tropical trip in the near future too, but we'll see.