Some Americans in Paris

I am an official Paris convert. I’m lucky enough to have visited this occasionally cheesy, beautiful, butter-filled city 5 times now and each time I’ve grown to love it more. On my first visit, I was unimpressed. 18-year-old me, backpacking around Europe, enjoyed the major sites but didn’t see the big appeal. Why were all these people so in love with this city?

First time visitors, myself included, seem to fall into two traps –

1. Paris is full of well known (and less well known but equally impressive) things to do. People try to cram everything into a brief amount of time and few things are as tiring as wandering museums all day. I still maintain that I was more exhausted after a full day at the Louvre than after hiking a 14er.
2. Paris is one of the most visited cities in the world and can be presented as a fantasy. Paris in, in fact, a city full of its own faults. The streets are dirty enough that I would never wear sandals, smoking is still quite common, few people acknowledge traffic lights, and you are going to run into large crowds. You have to embrace the faults and roll with them to enjoy this lovely place. And pack some solid close-toed shoes.

If you can escape the traps and build in some time to enjoy a coffee in a classic cafe, read in the Luxembourg Gardens, wander the city at night, or spend four hours enjoying some delightful food at one of the many Michelin-stared restaurants, you may join me in the fans of Paris club.

While there are many amazing sites in Paris (the Orsay is, and likely will always be, my favorite museum in the world and Sainte Chapelle is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been), Carey and I spent our time this trip relaxing. After the stressful work of packing up our lives in Denver, it was great to take a minute to enjoy the Parisian summer.

Site Highlights

The Palais Garnier (the Paris opera house), funnily enough, usually shows the Paris Ballet. We got to see L’Histoire de Manon, a 3-act ballet that gave us 2 intermissions to explore this beautiful building and about 3 hours to appreciate the talent of the Paris Opera Ballet. Europe knows how to get everyone interested in the arts – cheap seats cost us 33 euro/each and still had a solid view.

I don’t know exactly what it is, but the reclining chairs at the Luxembourg Gardens and the Tuileries (the gardens in front of the Louvre) are some of my favorite in the world. Few things are as relaxing as grabbing a tea and chilling with a good book for the afternoon. The views are beautiful and the people watching is top notch.

In our wandering, we found 3 especially interesting sites –

• Nicholas Flamel’s former home – it is now a Michelin-stared restaurant, but you can wander by without eating at the restaurant and be a Harry Potter fan.
• Victor Hugo’s apartment – while letting the soundtrack to Les Mis play through my head, I discovered he had one of the original standing desks. One of the original office hipsters.
• Marie Curie’s labs – this was by far the most interesting of the places we stumbled across. Curie defended her doctoral thesis and won her first Nobel Prize in the same year and you can have the privilege of seeing her office and lab space while learning about her and her family’s amazing research. We really 100% recommend it if you’re ever in Paris.

Food Highlights

Now, as lovers of cheese, pastries, and good produce, Paris, especially Paris in summer, is our jam. France is rightfully arrogant about it’s food and you can get great food at all price points. Grab a pain au chocolate that tastes like heaven and it will cost 2 euro or less. You can grab a delicious croque monsieur at a classic cafe for about 12 euro. Or, you can treat yourself and grab that 3 Michelin star meal. Here are some of our favorites –

• Macarons! Pierre Herme is a staple in Paris and makes some interesting flavor combos (e.g., basil and strawberry).

• Cafe le Tournon – honestly the best croque monsuir I’ve ever had, and it is right by the Luxembourg Gardens.

• Arpege – one of my favorite fine dining establishments. They are famous for maintaining their 3 Michelin stars after changing their menu to an entirely veggie-based menu, the chef using his own garden to grow the majority of the produce. If you go over lunch for the chef’s choice tasting menu, you can get a 14 to 18 course meal for about half the cost of the dinner tasting menu and it is just as delicious. My favorite course this time was the beetroot tartar – absolutely amazing!

• Kodawari Ramen – Michelin-recommended and worth the long wait. The chef trained in Japan and the noodles are made in-house every day.

• Croissants! We tried a different bakery every day and Liberte had the best pain au chocolate.

• Le Souffle – a friend recommended this lovely restaurant and it was a lot of fun! We had some delicious souffles. The best was pear and blue cheese. They also had a delicious french onion soup.

• Harry’s New York Bar – Harry, supposedly, invented the Bloody Mary and the French 75. The French 75 is my favorite cocktail and was especially delicious at this quite touristy, but quite fun, bar.

Day Trip to Champagne Region

We took the train out to Epernay and wandered the Avenue of Champagne. It is similar to Napa in that you can show up and pay for a tasting, but with lots of world class champagne. Champagne is my favorite type of wine and I was in heaven. Paul-Etienne Saint Germain house was my favorite and if we had been flying back to the US after France, I would have brought an entire suitcase full of champagne back with me.

What next?

Now, why would 2 people who have already spent a fair bit of time in Paris spend a whole week there as the start of their year of traveling? Honestly, because Charles de Gaulle is a very convenient airport and our new adventure is a less than convenient location. We caught a flight and made it to our next adventure – can’t wait to share pictures!