The City of Lights

Believe it or not, Paris was never part of the plan for me. Or at least I thought. I know many women, such as Sarah Jessica Parker’s Carrie Bradshaw, pine at the chance to go to the City of Lights. To be able to spend one magical night under the stars and walking the romantic streets of Paris. Sure I wanted to go at some point. But honestly I spent more time pining away at the thought of London then Paris. It seemed gorgeous but if I was gonna cross the pond, I wanted to see England more then France. I had even taken 4 years of French in High School but still, wasn’t dying to go. However, once we had decided to actually go to England and were going to spend a couple days hopping around it’s countryside, the idea crept into my mind. If we were that close already, why not go check it out? Randy had already been a few times and if I’m being completely honest, wasn’t really impressed. It wasn’t his cup of tea but agreed that I needed to experience it especially with me being in Culinary.

So we planned 3 days in Paris with two days of sightseeing in the city and one day, que the comments, being spent at Disneyland Paris. I make no apologies. I worked at Walt Disney World for two years. I have visited Disneyland in Anaheim twice. I knew of what an epic fail Euro Disney had been. But I had also heard that it was one of the most beautiful parks that Disney had. I will omit that day spent out of my report and if anyone does want a full day trip report on it, I will post it. But I will say, it was lovely getting to experience another park but honestly, ours back here at home are much better.

On the day we headed to Paris, we had woke up in Thornsbury, England where we were staying and were heading back to London to then make our way to France. I’m reserving that story for another time but we knew we had 2+ hours to drive to make it back to London. We were told to give ourselves plenty of extra time to make it back to London as traffic could be horrendous. Long story short, we found that out to be the truth. It took us upwards of 4 hours to get back, resulting in us missing our EuroStar train that we had booked. Thankfully, there was one an hour later so we got through security, grabbed some snacks for the train and soon, we were on our way.

After a two hour train ride, we had arrived. We found the line to get a cab at the train station to be insanely long but we finally got one and arrived at our hotel. If you aren’t familiar, the city of Paris itself is broken up into Arrondissements, or districts. This is something you definitely want to research before you go to this massive city. For those not aware of Paris’s lay out, which I wasn’t before I started researching, it’s a sprawling city. Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower are no where need each other. You need to really look and decide where you want to stay when it comes to what you want to see in the city. The 7th Arrondissement is the heart of Paris, where the Eiffel Tower is and Champ De Mars gardens that sprawl out in front of it are. Notre Dame Cathedral is in the 4th and the Louvre is in the 1st. And they don’t go in an order that you expect. So like I said, some research is needed.

As I’ve said in our London post, Randy and I put a lot of thought into our hotel choices. After much deliberation, we landed on Hotel Le Marianne in the 8th Arrondissement of Paris. This hotel put us roughly at equal lengths between the Champs de Elysee and the Eiffel Tower. While this hotel was not a big one located on a major road, it was a stylish one on a quiet road. We didn’t go with as traditional of a “French” look as we did with London because the England leg of our trip was the main part of it. We went with more of Randy’s style on this one and went with modern and stylish French. When we arrived at the hotel, we found a chic lobby with a few fun features. There was no full service bar or lounge, but there was self service bar. There was a small continental breakfast area as well and a self service Coffee Machine.

If you are looking for a big sprawling hotel with restaurants, pools and endless amenities, this isn’t it. But we knew we wanted somewhere safe, centrally located and stylish. We didn’t need full service restaurants in the hotel when we are the type to be on the go. We sleep and shower at the hotel and that’s it.

We got to our room, which did have a lift to get to, and found a stylish, small room ready for us. Additionally, European hotel rooms are not huge. And this was not. This was similar to many a New York City hotel room. Not much room to move around in. But a comfy bed, a stylish bathroom and a wardrobe to stow our items in. For what we needed, it worked. Breakfast in the morning at the hotel was quintessential Parisian. Meats in the way of Prosciutto and cheeses like Brie, croissants, yogurt and fruit were all for us to choose as well as plenty of juices, jams and cereals. It was just enough to get us going as we wanted to explore and eat around the city.

The only downside was that there seemed to be a miscommunication with the payment. It wasn’t included with our stay and we thought it was. Either way, I’d recommend staying here if your goals align with ours: See and do as much as you can throughout the city.

We wandered up to the Champs de Elysee and looked at all the luxurious shops. The Arc de Triomphe was towards the top of the street so of course we had to take that in.

One stop we did make while we were in Paris on the Champ de Elysee was at Laduree. Laduree, if you aren’t familiar and I wasn’t before we arrived, is one of the top Parisian Tea Rooms in the world that is famously known for their Macarons. If you are looking for classic French Patisserie while in Paris, this is the place to go. While they do have a dining room that you can enjoy meals in, the place to be is their dessert counter where they sell what seemed to be an unlimited supply of choices in the Macaron department. We chose a box for ourselves with each of us picking flavors that we wanted to try. Honestly, if I did have a chance to go back to Paris, I’d want to dine here. We unfortunately did not but it was so charming, classic French and classy. Everyone else seemed to also get the memo about their Macarons as they line wrapped almost out the door for people buying them. I’ll tell you though… it’s worth the wait.

Let’s get to the Eiffel Tower, the tourist spot that no one can avoid when going to Paris. For being the girl who hasn’t always been wooed by seeing the structure in person, I turned into a full blown nerd when it came into view. This happened in Vienna as well. It’s like my mind couldn’t wrap around that it was actually right in front of my very eyes.

There was something so wild about knowing that it wasn’t on an Ikea photo or a computer background. It was REALLY in there. A few things you need to know if you get this amazing experience. Make a reservation. It sounds silly but this place is mobbed all of the time. If you have a reservation, your wait time to get up there will be substantially less.

Additionally, if you are going up there, go all the way up. Trust me. There is nothing like the view from the very top of the Eiffel Tower. I don’t have a fear of heights, but I almost developed one up there. It literally feels like you are on top of the world.

I also recommend you going up there during dusk. I recommend this in NYC too but we’ll get to that at a later time. This way, you see the city in the daytime but then you get to see the lights starting to come on in the city and why it is truly called the City of Lights.

You can get champagne at the top of the Eiffel Tower, do it. Is it overpriced? Yes. Is it worth it? Yes. There’s something about doing it that is so amazing and perfectly French. There are also some eateries up there, gift shops and other goodies. Take your time up there. Explore everything. I was so vividly aware that I was at the Eiffel Tower, and knew that it would probably be the only time so I soaked in everything I could.

And this is the most important tip that I can give you. Please… if you take nothing else away from this entry, please take this. The Eiffel Tower and it’s surrounding area down below is LOADED with Pick Pocketers. There are signs everywhere telling you this. Not just to scare you but because it is completely true. Thankfully, I read this when I did my research and went in with a plan. I bought a saddlebag that you had to flip up to get in to. I had a wallet that barely fit in there so it was quite snug inside. And I took it one step further but purposely carrying it directly in front of (sorry, gonna be blunt here) my crotch area. This completely blocked myself of anything happening. Randy, for the male end of things, shifted his wallet to his front pocket to make himself more aware. He always had his thumb in that pocket to also put a mindful block on it. Also, anything that we didn’t absolutely need while wandering the city like our passports or additional money we left in the safe in the room. Additionally, there are a ton of gambling games and cheap vendors down below. Don’t engage with them. They know how to get money from you. More then you think. There are plenty of other places all over Paris that you can get souvenirs from. Save your time and your money and go there.

Let’s talk about Food. We had two amazing experiences with dinner in Paris. The first, was shortly after visiting the Eiffel Tower. With no plan in place, we wandered over to where we saw numerous Cafes. Unknowingly, we stumbled upon the Flame of Liberty, which is a replica of the torch the Statue of Liberty carries here in the US. But more so, the Flame of Liberty is located directly above the tunnel where Princess Diana died. It was stirring to see it.

But anyways, we wandered and soon found Maison de la Truffe . While Randy is not a fan of Mushrooms or Truffles, he was wonderful enough to know that I’m a massive fan and we were in Paris. We got ourselves a table and had the most perfectly French meal one could have on their first night in Paris.

Anything you ordered, you could choose what kind of truffle mushrooms you wanted added to your dish. While this can get quite pricey, I kept my choices more modest and added them to my risotto. A risotto that was so perfectly creamy, decadently rich and luxuriously filling that was only topped by legit truffles on top.

I could tell you what Randy had by actually looking it back up. I remember he ate something that looked good but I think my mind repressed it after eating my incredible risotto. I couldn’t finish it because it was so rich.

Now the dessert. Again, I can’t remember the name. I really didn’t even want dessert because I was so full. But Randy picked it out since that was his thing and I gotta tell you: I still think about it. It was creamy, crunchy and so amazingly balanced, I’m pretty sure I ate the majority of it.

Our last meal in Paris was deliberately chosen because I wanted one thing when I was in this city. I needed to eat Sole Meuniere. For those who aren’t familiar, Sole meunière is a classic French fish dish consisting of sole, preferably whole or filet, that is dredged in flour, pan fried in butter and served with the resulting brown butter sauce, parsley and lemon. Simple and straight to the point. What was so special that I had to have this dish? Easy. It’s the first thing Julia Child had in France that made her fall in love with French cooking. If Julia had it, I had to have it.

And it was worth it. If you can have this dish, have it. In France. With Wine. Staring at the most wonderful human being. If you can do that, you are a lucky, lucky soul.

The food in Paris was everything I expected it to be. Desserts and amazing food was everywhere. I don’t think I would be a good French person. I wouldn’t be stylishly slender and effortlessly chic. Firstly, I’ve never been stylishly slender at any point in my life so why would it happen there? Effortlessly chic? Definitely not. I’d be considerably heavier from eating so many rich things and most likely would have stains on my shirt from shoveling those rich things two quickly and haphazardly into my mouth. Let’s call a spade a spade. But I sure did love looking and trying all of it.

I also recommend doing what we did in London and rely on using the “tourist” busses as your transportation around. While they are mocked and while they are super touristy, you do get to see the main points of the city that most want to see. We got to see the Moulin Rouge and the Grand Palais and so much more.

We made it to the Notre Dame and are so fortunate that we got to see it before it had that horrific fire. We were more respectful then most and purposely didn’t take a ton of photos inside. You aren’t supposed to take any but pretty much little to no people respect that.

While I was guilty of taking two, I was also aware that while this is a major tourist attraction, it is also an actual house of God and people were there indeed to pray. One thing we did not do was book ahead to go to the top of Notre Dame. The view of the city up there is reportedly stunning but we did not book ahead and didn’t get to experience it. I recommend you do that before you go.

Another thing: the Louvre is not just the glass pyramid that is so well known. It is a massive complex that takes up easily the equivalent of 10 city blocks or more in New York City. I could have spent a day alone wandering through there. But since our time was so limited in Paris, we just walked a bit of the grounds and wanted to see more of the city. If I get to make it back, it’s on the list.

Paris is incredibly romantic. The architecture is everything you have heard of and is as sweeping as it seems in films. The traffic there is daunting and relentless. The food is as good as you’ve heard. The people are as straight and to the point as their reputation precedes them, but they are also kinder then they get credit for. I will tell you if you try to learn and attempt some French while there, they will welcome you even more. I had nothing but enjoyable interactions with them. Either way, the city gives plenty of reasons to swoon as many do. It’s an experience I will not soon forget. I’m so happy we took the time to take it in. I’m grateful to Randy for agreeing that it needed to be experienced. I look forward to exploring more parts of the beautiful country that is France. There is a magic that exists in Paris. Especially now, we could use a bit of magic. So if you can go get some, do it.