Day 1
Feeling fresh off our flight from D.C. We hit the ground running... kidding we didn't sleep a wink and thought white wine would put us to sleep - fail. But nothing a little espresso couldn't fix. If you're just getting up to speed my boyfriend and I are traveling France for two weeks. Paris, Bordeaux, Carcassonne, Nice, and back to Paris! So you haven't missed much as it's day 1. As soon as we were semi functioning, thanks for a double espresso, we grabbed an uber to the 10th district to our Airbnb. Our host Vera was so so sweet. Her home had everything we would need for the next two days, complete with a balcony and huge black cat. She was also travel guide extraordinaire - complete with maps and Rick Steve's Europe pocket guide. She had lots of tips for us and we were grateful for that!
We grabbed lunch at a small cafe on the corner which was our first meal in Paris! Quiche + side salad, two espressos, and a chocolate mousse tart - voila! From there we ventured around the 19, 10, & 9th districts. This part of Paris is flush along the canal - lots of little cafes and boats. We saw some beautiful street art and took in the sights. We stopped into a local brewery - naturally met some Americans and enjoyed a beverage while watching the rain start to fall and chatting about our upcoming symposium in Carcassonne.
As the jet lag started to kick in and let's be honest I was tipsy, we strolled to get dinner. We dined on traditional French cuisine, Croque Monsieur with frites and a side salad -- YUM, then off to sleep for a full 12 hours.
Day 2
We awoke to thunder and rain Wednesday morning. It was actually quite perfect allowing us to sleep in a little later and get adjusted to the time. We had both fallen asleep around 9 PM and then woke at 1 AM ready to go -- it was only 7 PM to our bodies! Somehow despite the noise and rain we fell back asleep and voilà! 12 hours later woke up feeling pretty good. After some espresso and a leisurely morning we scooted over to start our explorations at the Arc de Triomphe.
Arc de Triomphe, Des Camps-Élysées
This beautiful arch is surrounded by a round about of fast moving cars. Frogger anyone? After deciding we didn't want to cross over but just admire from afar, we decided to get our first chocolate croissants and fresh baguette complete with a mini wheel of goat cheese from Josephine (what a treat and must do while in this area) and headed down the Champs-Elysees which is similar to the NYC 5th Ave; full of shops and stores and yes more cafes towards the Eiffel Tower. Along the way we stumbled upon a huge open air market. Everything you could imagine, fresh formage, olives, fish, the butcher, clothes, linens, hats, fabrics, flowers, it was beautiful. After tempting our taste bubs we kept trekking to the tower.
Devin enjoying the French breads... and subtle middle finger! 🤔
Peonies in the market.
Fresh mint at the market.
The base of the Eiffel was under construction, and they've really upped security since my last visit here. Now visitors have to go through metal detectors and are subject to bag searches. You're not allowed to bring in any bottles of liquid- apparently there have been acid attacks .... what the ... so Devin was in luck as he did NOT want to walk to the top of the tower and refused to throw out our 3 bottles of water .... Convenient. Ha, it was actually a blessing as we were still getting adjusted to jet lag, so we strolled the gardens and sat down to eat our baguette and cheese while taking in the beauty of the tower. It couldn't have been more perfect as the lawns weren't that busy and we felt like we had a little slice of heaven to ourselves in that moment.
Eiffel Tower
From there we walked to the Military museum, just as the sun decided to grace us with her presence, we sat down at a little cafe for a pit stop of Sancerre. By the way 50cL is a good amount of wine and we were both a little drunk after that. After collecting ourselves, we went to the Rodin museum, which was great - the second time I've seen the Gates of Hell. We were in debate about the original location of the doors as a cast has been made of it - I had also seen the Gates of Hell in Zurich. Our assumptions were this was the original - remind me to google search that later. Other famous pieces of work include; "The Thinker", and Van Gogh's "Le Pere Tanguy".
The Louvre
Onward to the Opera where the sky opened up and decided to downpour. We snuck into a juicery and thanks to a little green juice and bliss ball we were off to the Lourve. This beautiful gem of museum is accessed by the glass pyramid which takes you underground. It is stunning every time you see it. This museum holds amazing artwork and provides visitors with all the culture you could imagine.
Next stop: Norte Dame and Sainte Chappell Cathedrals for our intake of Gothic artictecture, which concluded with a sweet treat at Berthillon Glacier (icecream)! We both had the traditional signature flavors - Salted Caramel and White Strawberry - Voila! We were getting a little weary at this point and well overdue for dinner, so we strolled in the direction of home and stopped a bustling cafe called Le Philosphors. I had the smoked salmon salad and we shared a trio of raw cheese - so so good. Devin had a 3 course meal complete with chicken liver salad and fried duck legs and frites! We were stuffed to say the least and decided to stroll back home. After a full 12 hours on our feet we were BEAT. Sleep came easy.
Day 3
We hoped the train to Bordeaux for the night, slowly making our way to Carcassonne. Note that the French transit system is interesting. Not only is it on strike which will later cause us many woes, but none of the train numbers or platforms align with the tickets and trains issued. It was semi confusing at 7 AM to be dealing with this but we made it. We're now in route on the top of a double decker high speed train. Next stop - ALL THE VINO in Bordeaux!