E23 – We Were In Paris
We finally made it to Paris and it was wonderful. In this week’s episode I take you day by day of what we did and saw, so grab a cappuccino and croissant and join my as we roam through Paris.
Tours We Took
Louvre Highlights Tour (affiliate link)
Eiffel Tower Tour with Optional Summit and Seine Champagne Cruise (affiliate link)
Transcript
Here is a transcript of the podcast. Please keep in mind this was done via AI, so there are typos and mistakes. I tried to catch as much as I can, but it is definitely not perfect.
Beth 0:04
Welcome to the roaming Yeti podcast where we share stories and tips to inspire you to roam your neighborhood and the world. I’m your host and head Yeti, Beth Schillaci. Today, let’s talk about our trip to Paris. finally recovered from jet lag and the 65 miles, we walked in eight days, and I’m ready to share our trip with you. Before I get into some of the day to day details, just wanted to share some overall thoughts of of Paris. Paris is beautiful. It’s a beautiful metropolitan city, and it truly has something for everyone walking down the streets, your walk down the streets, there are shops and restaurants and it really looks like you’re in New York City or any other, you know, us metropolitan area, but it was a bit surreal, because you turn turn a corner. And there’s a beautiful and historic building in Monument church, it just, like, you know, just everywhere you turn, there were these beautiful buildings. But you were you were just on streets that look like any city. So it was just really interesting and surreal, and, and a lot of fun. Paris boast. When I looked up approximately 120 130 museums, maybe we saw three. So I guess we’ll have to go back. And you’ll be glad to hear if you listen to the preview podcast, about my Duolingo issues and learning about when shots. Cats, I didn’t see one shot, but we saw many more dogs than cats. But they put hats on a lot of their merchandise. So I had I just had to buy a pencil case that had cats and Paris symbols on it. For my journaling supplies. It’s It’s very cute. But um, speaking of dogs, we we had the best time watching dogs, we had fun watching dogs and children while sitting at cafes. But first the dogs. They just, they’re they’re so intent on their owner, they just sort of ignored anyone around them, and just paid attention their owners. And it was just really fun and fascinating to watch. Because we have an overly friendly, black lab who we just, it was just funny to see the sort of difference. And, and again, I don’t know if it’s a Paris thing, it might be a city thing. I’m not sure but just to see how much the dogs were attentive to their owners weren’t trying to pull them all over the place was funny because we have a dog that pulls us everywhere. And like I said, we loved watching little kids too, they would have scooters that they’d stand on and the parents would would pull them along, which was definitely an efficient way to keep the kid moving on those busy city streets. So it was it was fun to watch those things when we were at cafes. And when the other thing we also watched was how can people carry their baguettes as well. So um, you know, we had we had fun while sipping coffee coffees or adult beverages, or sodas or tea while I’m watching people. So from watching YouTube videos, I learned that the magic phrase in Paris and probably all of France is Bon jour. And boy did that prove Correct. I like to say hi to people ingredient are making eye contact. So this was pretty easy for me as long as I remember to say Bon jour and not Hello. But it definitely made a difference in how people responded to us. Of course, based on my accent and pronunciation, they often knew we were American and would often just begin speaking English. But those that didn’t, and we would, you know, say parley Angliss and, and they would always a lot of them would say well, they knew a little bit of English and we’re like, Okay, well let’s let’s see where we’ll figure it out. They always spoke perfect conversational English. I don’t know, I’m guessing they’re maybe a little self conscious. But we always assured them that their English was much better than our French. And we were able to get around a lot. We really didn’t have many language issues at all. So just some of my overall thoughts, thoughts from being in Paris. And now let’s dive a little bit into the trip itself. I’ll sort of give you a day by day. What we did. And we started the trip at Disneyland Paris but I’m gonna save that for its own episode episode. So stay tuned for that because that really requires requires its own conversation. I’m so will jump forward to the first day in the city. We did take an Uber from our Disneyland Hotel to our Airbnb. We did have an Airbnb we decided not to do hotel in the city and our Airbnb was located on the border of district. I’m gonna call them districts so I don’t butcher the names, district 10 or neighborhood 10 and 13 I mean, three, neighborhood 10 and three sorry. We were given by our host two different key codes to get into the courtyard and then into the building where our apartment was. Which at first we were sort of like wow, that is this Are we safe but we were safe everywhere in that city. It’s it’s the felt very safe, but it was it was just to get into different different parts. You walked first into a courtyard that was just full of potted plants and trees and and people had on their windowsills, plants and stuff and it was just it was so peaceful. And after a few nights in a busy Theme Park Hotel, it just felt so nice and calming to walk into that. That courtyard, it was peaceful and quiet. It was really hard to believe that the hustle and bustle of the city was was just on the other side of a wall. You know, it was it was it was a very true European experience for us rather than then, you know, just a hotel lobby. The Airbnb was really nice. It was called the outstanding artists loft. And it had two really cool murals on different walls. I mean, it had it truly was a loft and one of the bedrooms was up on a loft above the kitchen. It was really neat. The biggest adjustment we had was just getting used to how to use some appliances just because things in Europe work differently than they do here in the US and including the washer and dryer. So at times of manual would have been helpful but we got to figure it out. And by we I mean John figured it out. The washer and dryer is actually one unit. And so until we figured it out, he figured out how to sort of get that setting. You know we were able to do a few loads of laundry during our trip which made it really nice we didn’t have to I didn’t overpack for once I did not overpack. So, thank goodness for John figuring out the washer and dryer. We knew we were getting in to the city around dinnertime. So we had messaged the host of the Airbnb, some dinner suggestions, and we were surprised by one of them. One of them was for a Mexican restaurant called guacamole. And it was Cinco de Mayo so we decided to give a try. And it was a really cute but small cafe. Um There were about four tables inside and maybe about five small cafe tables outside. But we were lucky people were leaving and we got a table so through a combination of French Spanish and English. We got our order and I know what you think and you had Mexican food in Paris. Yes, yes we did. And honestly besides pastries, we only had one French meal. Per Se Paris is an international city and in the neighborhoods. We there were so many amazing restaurants to try. Also I want to go on the record to say that those Theresia nachos that I had ordered. Are some of the best nachos I’ve ever had. Not just in Europe but overall the ingredients were just really fresh and a good combination. The right size, not a huge portion, something you could tackle and they just they tasted so good. So it really was the perfect way to though not not a traditional way to kick off that bar the trip but it was it was the perfect way for us. After dinner we stopped by a small grocery store to pick up supplies for the the the apartment mainly snack some stuff for breakfast and some beer. We found a few European beers, a few French beers and it was it was really good selection. One of the items we did purchase for breakfast was a I believe it’s beleaguer waffle li e g waffle but it’s a Belgian waffle and then it has clusters of carmelized pearl sugar baked into them. Yes, they are as good as this. And the ones we picked up actually were then dipped into dark chocolate on one side and I was a little concerned they would be too sweet but I that it was worth the risk and they weren’t overly sweet. They were perfect.
I really appreciate in Europe the things are not overly sweet they’re, they’re sweet but they’re not. I think we just put too much sugar or corn syrup. I’m not sure what but it was the perfect thing and that and a shot of espresso in this morning in the morning. And we were ready to go. So on our first full day in Paris, we headed off to neighborhood for where we did make a stop on the way for a cappuccino and a cookie. It was nice to stop and they had a counter to just sit and you know have our snack and have a drink and not you know doing it on the run. It was sort of relaxing, it was a nice break on the walk. And, you know, always I’m always up for coffee and a cookie to be honest. The first stop that morning after the cookie and coffee was the BH V mores department store. I’d seen videos about this and just one the check it out. And the beautiful the building is beautiful inside and out and reminded me so much of the big department stores in New York City in their heyday walking in and seeing the beautiful clothing departments. And you know, the perfume counters and it just was gorgeous. And so we headed up to we headed upstairs, we spent time in the housewares floor. They had some really beautiful Paris towels and they just it’s a neat place. If you want to go for souvenirs that aren’t your your typical souvenirs. We in addition to housewares, we also went to a floor. Not really sure how to categorize the whole floor but it it had books and paper goods, some souvenirs and haven’t had craft supplies and fabric. Sort of just a lot of different things. And we spent a lot of time there because there’s just so much to look at. I actually found a journal and a set of postcards that I fell in love with and purchased those as some souvenirs. Like I said, there were just some really neat options that we didn’t see the rest of the trip. So we were glad I was really glad I picked those up from the store. We we had to go walk by notre Dom, love to see the progress of the rebuilding. It’s such a beautiful church and I can’t wait to see it. Once it’s complete, it just it’s it’s stunning. And I’m so glad they’re they are rebuilding it. Next up was the Latin Quarter, which may have been my favorite area that we went to have a lot of fun shops, and pubs and pubs, cafes and stuff. And it was just it was really neat. It was one of those areas that I wanted to remember to go back to and I forgot just because we got so busy with with everything else. But that Saturday we were there happened to be free comic books Saturday. Yeah, Comic Book Day. So we were on a mission for comic book stores, which we knew were in that area. And it was a pretty easy mission. And there were a lot of different comic book stores. somes had different specialties of the China comics they had. So it was really interesting and fun to walk in and out of a bunch of them. Julia was looking for French versions of her favorite characters. And she found them and was able to pick up a few comic books that are in French, and it was really cool. So it was fun to see ones that were like, just sweet Blackwidow. So that was that was a fun, fun mission. And you know, we found a lot of stuff. It was also neat to see how many people were in the stores for Free Comic Book Day. So it’s definitely an international thing. And they did have free comics for for people purchasing. And so it it was just neat and fine. And something something totally different. From there, it was time for lunch. And when we headed off to our next stop. Our plan had always been and if you listened to the planning video, you know this, our plan had been to eat at the Bombardier British pub. But I totally forgot that the day we had planned to do that was also the same day as the king’s coronation. So luckily, by the time we got to the pub, we were able to get a table because a lot of the main coronation events had ended and so people were were heading home but it was a lot of fun to hang out there for a bit. People were definitely having coordination parties there. They had hats and Tiaras. And it was just a really truly unexpected experience that that I’ll I’ll cherish and remember for a long time Time. Again, one of those we had we had planned on the restaurant on that day. Totally, totally didn’t think about the coronation. So I did learn that there is something called a coronation quiche, which chosen by, which was chosen by King Charles and Camila Camila as the signature dish of their coronation. And their specific one had spinach, broad beans and terragon. In it, it was on the menu. So it was like, Well, I feel like in order to celebrate, I should give it a try. But they were out by the time we got there. So instead, I ended up with a traditional beef pie, British beef pie, and it was so, so good, I’m really glad now looking back that they didn’t have the quiche because I would have missed out on that pie. And that would have made me very sad. The Pantheon was nearby. So we stopped by there to take a look and get some pictures after lunch. We did a lot of sort of walking by and taking pictures just because there’s so much to do. So. We didn’t we didn’t spend tons of time at a lot of these locations. But, you know, we we wanted to see them at least. And also as you’re probably figuring out by now I I enjoy it. And I love this touristy things and this and taking in, you know the sites that you’re supposed to. But I just really love the sort of in between moments that the things you get to observe or be part of more, more getting into the culture and just seeing sort of what people do and interacting with people. So I hope that you will indulge me in this episode and and future ones while I share those moments with you, as well as the things we saw and and did. I think I think those are the things that make vacations truly, truly memorable. So yeah, definitely gonna share those as well. One thing I was on the lookout for during our trip was street art. Paris has a lot of street art, and specifically the Space Invaders found on buildings. They were put there by an anonymous French street artists known as the invader. And are these tiny? Well, they look small from this from the street. But they’re tile mosaics that are modeled after eight bit video game artwork. So think, think our Atari Games, you know, our fun Atari games back in the day. And so while the invaders work is in other city, Paris has the most with about 1200 works of art throughout the city. And you can see him on corners of buildings and so forth. And you know, we took some some pictures, and it was just sort of fun, just a you know, something to look at. Sort of like when you’re at Disney, you have the hidden Mickey that you’re looking for. So as you’re walking through the streets and stuff, it was just sort of fun to look at the art and look for for those Space Invaders. There is an app that you can download. And use to collect pictures of those invaders. I didn’t use the app, but definitely would like to give it a try next time. I downloaded it here in the States, I couldn’t get it to create an account. But when I was over in Paris, I was able to go through the process. So if you want to look it up here, download on your phone, and then you’ll be able to use it when you’re over there. So it’s again, I didn’t use it, which is by the time I I sort of figured out the that it might work. It was too late, but it’s definitely something I would give a try. And if you do let me know because I sort of like to know how the app works. So that was a busy day one. Actually, every day was really busy for us. So it was a lot of fun. The next day was Sunday, and we had two museums to visit. So again, another busy day but it was raining off and on which was pretty much the same weather every day of our trip once we got into Paris that I would say that was the one thing that sort of dampen the vacation for me because just because I with raincoats and umbrellas I didn’t pull out my camera as much I didn’t pull up my video camera. I didn’t pull out Addy for pictures. So you know, I still had a good time. I think I just you know,
I just was like I’m just gonna be in the moment and not worry about all those other things. So um, But yep, Rainbow raincoat umbrella. And we headed off to me our Uber driver to our first museum, which was, alright, here we go. I’m gonna start butchering, butchering French get ready, the pavilions, the Barsi, which is located in an old wine warehouse in neighborhood 12. And it’s known as a theatrical museum. So this museum, and I mentioned this in the pre planning one as well. But we found out that season 32 of The Amazing Race, had a roadblock challenge playing the carnival games here at this museum. And also for you, Emily and Paris fans. This is where the 14th Party was hosted. In season one, episode seven, I believe. The museum consisted of four parts, there was the gardens, which was just this cool. courtyard with plants and trees, and then sculptures, and a lot of like, bust, head bust up in the sort of window areas. There was a Venetian room, which had I don’t want to call them early. I don’t want to call them animatronics, because it wasn’t, wasn’t Disney, but they were, you know, animated figures and they would sing opera and stuff. And it was just really, really neat to watch the fairground Art Museum and the theater of Marvel’s not those marvels. But going in, we knew the tour was only in French. But we, we just had to check it out when we saw the pictures, and we knew what it was about. And I’m so glad we did we we learned it’s in French because a lot of French families come. It’s not always foreign guests who know, no English and the kids are younger, and they don’t understand enough English yet. So they make sure the kids enjoy it by speaking during the tours in French, which totally made sense. And it was one of those things that once you sort of found out it was like, Oh, that’s so cool. Um, yeah, they, they should be included much more than we should be included. We’ll figure it out. Sometimes in the summer, they do offer English speaking tours, so check on their website to see if one’s available. We were given a booklet with English explanations of the main attractions. The tour guide also spoke English from time to time and she was so happy to answer any of our questions. She’d come over and talk to us, you know, sort of one on one. Because I think there was only other one other English speaking party in the in the tour. So, and her guide she, I do wish I understood French. She was so energetic and animated in her storytelling that it was just it was fun to watch her even if we had no idea what she was saying. But it was it was a really neat, neat tour. There statues that are animated, like I said, and sort of singing, doing opera, the there’s carnival games, different carnival games, and there’s some rides, there are some carousels. We were able to play some of the games and ride some of the rides in mainly the carousels. And one was actually a pedal powered carousel. So it looked like bikes and I didn’t, I didn’t do it because my motion sickness was not going to gonna do well on that. But it was cool. They got up on these bikes. And as they pedaled the carousel went around faster and faster. And these things are just in perfect condition. You know, I’m not, we didn’t get dates on everything. But I mean, they they’re definitely older. And I was just the care that they take to preserve these things is amazing. And, and I know people aren’t going to call these works of art, but the horses on the carousels were were gorgeous. We learned the difference between a German horse and you know, different. It’s just the the detail that went into the building these things. So it was very cool. They host private parties there, which I cannot imagine how amazing that is to attend one. It just Yeah, it’s a really cool place. If you’re a fan of amusement parks and themed entertainment, or just something different this museum is is really a must. I think we had a lot of fun. And it was you know, I’ve been to art museums before and stuff and so the you know, while the Louvre is cool. I had never been to a museum like this, like the closest I’ve been to something like this was a backstage tour at Disney to see like some of the rides and stuff. But yeah, this, this didn’t compare this was just super cool. So if you’re into that kind of stuff, definitely put this at the top of your list, check their website to see if there’s an English speaking one. If not, don’t keep that from don’t keep yourself from going, you can figure it out. And they will, you know, they guide you a little bit too. So, after the tour, it was lunchtime. And what ended up walking a couple blocks. And we found sort of like a promenade of shops and restaurants, and sort of started checking menus and stuff. And we found one called Frog. And we popped in there to eat just based on the menu. Well, we come to find that they’re also a brew pub that brew their own beer. So that just made it a bigger win. You know, if you don’t already know, I’m, I’m a craft beer drinker. And I’m always on the lookout for a beer that is local to the area we’re in. I like wine, but wine and I always don’t always get along, thanks to some acid reflux and heartburn issue. So I just tend to stay away from the vino, you know, it’s it’s, you just never know. But beer is is and the more local beer, the more excited I am to try it. So I will say the interesting thing as sort of an aside is, you know, we were talking to the waiter and he was actually saying that he helped brew the beer and, and he got really excited about talking about it. We talked to a few other servers throughout the trip and, and they were always so excited to tell us about a Parisian brewed beer. And they just had such a sense of pride about it. And it was really, really fun and interesting. Because, you know, I’m sure most people come and they want to have champagne, which isn’t produced in Paris. And you know, they want to have wines that are from, you know, the countryside and stuff. And I think there’s just such a sense of pride that they have all this local product in this beer, that they’re really proud of it and they should honestly they should be the beers we had were very good. I was very impressed and very happy and look forward to going back and, and finding some other ones. But um, so we had a great lunch of frog. We took a longer than expected walk to the metro station, which became a common theme for us. Google Maps just sort of did us wrong on this trip and had us believing things were closer than they were not really sure what was going on. But yeah, a lot of times our walk to Metro stations were a lot longer than than we thought or we’d get turned around. But but we found it we did go through a really cool walk through a really cool park while we were sort of lost, but you know it at least we got to see something different. So we did get the metro station, we figured out how to purchase tickets and navigate to our next tour, which was the Louvre. I will say about Metro quick. It was a lot easier to use once we sort of figured it out. If you’ve been in the DC area, it’s very similar to the DC metro and I’m sure like other metros is, you know, it tells you the two end stations. So whichever one you’re going towards, that’s, you know, the one you go to. We bought like 10 packs of like one way tickets. So you know, we use those. So it once we sort of figured it out quick. It was it was great to use. We had no problems on the metro, it was very safe, very clean. And we didn’t I’m thinking we run out of a super crowded time. But it you know, sometimes you’re packed on a little bit but not too much. You know, it was it was a really good good experience. So definitely recommend trying out the Metro when you’re there. We were a bit early to because we didn’t know we wanted to pad our time we didn’t know how long the Metro how long walking would be but um, we got to the Louvre a little early and it started raining again. So we grabbed a drink at the outdoor cafe and huddled under the umbrella to stay stay dry and enjoy people watching everyone just taking pictures outside the Louvre and around the pyramids.
It was it was fun people dressed up people changing outfits for you know their Instagram shots and Tik Tok and stuff and it was you know, these people are out there really working hard. So I’m kudos to them. I think we saw some, some weddings, wedding parties go by. So it’s definitely a fun place to sort of hang in and watch the coming and going. After a drink, we met up with our tour guide, Nick. That ended up being a private tour. I knew that but I, sometimes when I’m reading the descriptions, and I’m in a hurry, I didn’t fully pay attention. But it was, it’s very cool. So he took it, there’s a groups area in the Louvre if you’re a certified tour guide. So we were in the group area, he had a locker so we could drop off our raincoats, which was really nice, because we didn’t have to carry those throughout the museum. And it was he was very good. And I have to admit that as we walked around the building, and then inside, I was, I was much more all of the building than than the artwork on the walls. Don’t get me wrong, the art is gorgeous. And I thoroughly enjoyed it. But like the building and the history of how, you know, the building was added on to and what it was, and it was just really, really interesting, I guess architecture is, is much is one of those things that I’m always fascinated by. So telling me the story of the building was really cool. Nick knew the whole history of that. He know the history of pretty much. I mean, every artwork piece we saw he he knew about it, and I’m gonna put a link to his tour in the show notes. It is an affiliate link from biter, but I can totally vouch for his knowledge. He was super nice. He was very thorough. You can completely customize that that tore, it was our first time. So we just wanted to see some of the highlights. We weren’t, I didn’t. I was like, just show us what you think we should see. And so we saw a lot of cool stuff. We saw the Mona Lisa, there’s a line that if you want to get closer to it and take pictures, we didn’t we opted to skip that. And then when we had some time left, he piqued our interest. When he asked if we wanted to see a mummy, and you know, we that was an offer we couldn’t refuse. We’re like what there’s a mummy in the Louvre. And so yeah, he took us to the Egyptian area. And we walked around and he told us some stories and showed us the mummy. And it was really very interesting as well, you know, so there’s definitely a little bit of everything. The impressionist artwork is not in the Louvre. So, and that’s some of my favorite work. So I’ll definitely have to go back to Paris, just to go see that museum. But you could spend days in the Louvre, we only scratched the surface in a couple of hours. We were there before closing but it’s, you know, it’s one of those things I guess you have to do. It’s very crowded. So two hours was probably good for me. The two two and a half hours we were there. But it’s gorgeous. It’s if you love art, if you love Renaissance art, it’s definitely worth or the crowds for sure. So after our tour, we started heading back to the apartment. This point I was sort of hitting a wall I get to a point and this is probably in the TMI too much information, but you know, I want to be honest with you guys. Where I guess I’m so hungry, but I don’t feel hungry. But I get a little hangry like I get a little grumpy I’m not gonna lie. And I think we were all sort of at that point so it was not going great. And so we started looking for a cafe or something to stop in, in eat and of all things we found an Italian restaurant called Bochy, Bochy and we stopped in there because I pizza just sounded good. I’m so glad we did. It was amazing pizza we had a sharp coterie board and the carbs and the cured meats. We all felt better. So if you pass a big Bochy, the budget big in Paris, Kiss Kiss, stop in for a bite. They’re super nice. Good food, good drink. It was a good, it was a good stop for us for sure. So next day was Monday and that man it was time for it. Well tower tour. I was most nervous about this one. I have a, I want to say fear of heights. I just don’t love heights and depending on the situation, I can I can get even more anxious about it. So I was a little nervous about what it was gonna be like. And also at this point, my insomnia and jetlag were. We’re doing a number on me, but, but you know, I knew I had to keep pushing and that’s what we did. So we took the metro. And on our way up to the tower, we stopped off at a pastry shop to get upon a chocolate and cappuccino and I don’t have the name of the shop. But it ended up being the best chocolate croissant of our vacation. It was such a beautiful shop. The people were so sweet. We just it was really on a cloudy day it was you know, it was definitely a little bit of sunshine to get us started. Luckily though, it was cloudy, but the rain held off for the day, which felt like a small miracle giving them we weren’t going up into the Eiffel Tower and a riverboat cruise. So thank you rain for just giving us one day of a break. When we were walking up to the tower, we were walking through some fields and stuff and it was neat to see how the residents in the area use the park there were a lot of dogs playing together. And it you know, it was nice to see is not just the touristy area, we met up with our tour tour guide and headed up in the tower and I have to say the viewing the view was breathtaking. But the tower itself was the real star. Okay, and I know Rebecca from Ted LaSalle calls the Eiffel Tower a lamppost with a publicist, but it truly is an amazing structure and the elevators are even cold because they don’t go straight up they sort of follow the curve of the tower which was a really a different different experience and I did well like I I can’t get close to the railings but the you know, if I stepped a few back I was I was good I didn’t the height was not an issue. But the tower the structure is is gorgeous again, I’m wondering if maybe I should should have been an architect architect. But we went up to the second floor and after you know admiring the view and taking our pictures, we went down to the first floor and grabbed a snack where we actually grabbed a crepe I had a crab with crepe with Nutella and it was it was as good as the veal it was definitely worth it. So nightfall tower was fun. I think I personally enjoy looking at the Eiffel Tower more than I enjoy being up looking off the Eiffel Tower if that that makes sense. So, but definitely worth the trip and warrant again warranty back crowds I think we were early. Included in our Eiffel Tower tour was a riverboat cruise with a glass of champagne. The Cruise was such an unexpected treat, like gives you such a different perspective of the city and allows you to see the details of some of the bridges that you just can’t see while you’re actually on the bridge. So I definitely recommend a cruise it was relaxing. The glass of champagne was a nice treat. It really again just let you see the city in sort of a different way. After the after the boat ride, we headed to the Ponte Alexandra the third bridge. It was quite a walk and the crepe had worn off. So we had to stop at a floating art store slash cafe for a snack. The bridge was beautiful. And it was really cool to see it from the perspective of being on top of the bridge after going after being on the boat and going under the bridge. So a lot of the detail. Again, you see from the river boat that you can’t see while you’re on on the bridge necessarily. Pretty much it was done a quiet night at the apartment. We had done a lot we had gotten up early. And so that was our Monday, Tuesday. Mark John and myself.
It was our 25th of 25th wedding anniversary. So we decided to take a little slower stop because we knew what we were we were planning to do. Again we woke up to rain but It didn’t stop us we were off to neighborhood 18 and 19. And our first stop of the day was a floating bookstore. On the so gonna butcher this, the canal and the ORAC, I sorry, it had a cafe was a bookstore in a cafe. And with the rain, it just would have been the perfect place to just spend the rainy day sipping coffee and perusing their books. It, it was really, it was very neat. I just loved all the stores and cafes and restaurants that were on the rivers and canals and the floating ones. I don’t know it was just something very sort of romantic and cool about it. So our next stop was for lunch at the pond ma Brewing Company. Again, they’re their brewery. But they also had really great food and good beer. And we noticed this a lot. They also had an espresso machine, which I honestly wish breweries here would adopt this idea of being able to have a cappuccino either after a beer or with your beer. I had, I did that while we were at Frog I had had a beer with lunch. And then I had a cappuccino afterwards and just Oh no, it’s a really good idea. I wish we’d had to up top that a little bit more here. So after the lunch, thank goodness, I was filled up with some good food because we did a lot of walking. It was it was very hard on my knees and hips this day. So we we were heading to Montmarte and I was really not prepared for the number of stairs we would be climbing from the metro station alone up to the Basilica and Montmarte my knees and thighs were just burning like it was it was bad I was not not prepared. But we we got up there for sure. But we stopped at a cube Park to see the wall love. And I’m sure you’ve probably seen this and it features the phrase I love you in 250 languages and I just felt like it was the perfect place to stop and get a picture for our 25th wedding anniversary. The wall is big, it’s 430 square feet. And if you’re in the area, it’s definitely worth a stop. It’s very pretty. And, and a lot of fun. So again, more steps. We went up to the Basilica, which from there there’s an amazing view of the city that actually includes the Eiffel Tower. Unfortunately, it was a little cloudy and rainy. So we didn’t get the full effect of the view but on a sunny day, I just I can’t imagine how gorgeous that is. You know, we were sort of hoping we would be able to to see that at night. You know, stick around and see it at night and watch it light up but we just knew the view wasn’t wasn’t going to be enough. So at that point, we knew we were going to have to head back to life tower that night to to get a good vantage point of the lights. We were we were pretty worn out for the walk. And you know we needed a a pitstop so we popped into a cafe to rest up and I finally had some macarons they were so good. I could have eaten dozens of them I restrained myself and just had the three that were on my plate so they were definitely some this is something I really want to learn how to be. I’ve had a lot of macarons before that are okay, but he’s we’re so good. After a little fuel up, we weaved in now the streets. There’s so many cute shops, or we’ve been ended up us up at a Moulin Rouge this area it’s the red light district of Paris and it really reminded me of Time Square in the 70s and 80s. So you probably know what I mean. Let’s just say I was glad Julia’s not a little kid anymore. But um as we were walking we realized that a garment district was was up ahead so we had to go check that out and went to a huge I think five or six floor fabric store and it was just really cool to walk around look at the fabrics. Watch people picking out fabrics for their projects would have loved who known what they were making. You know some look like fashion students and so it was just really cool to look and we sort of window shop our way Get through many other stores. As we, as we headed back to the apartment, but um, at that point I was pretty worn out and I wasn’t sure I was gonna make it to the Eiffel Tower, John and Julia, but I’m so glad I pushed through. We took the Metro out to the Eiffel Tower, we stopped at a French bistro, where we enjoyed a cup of French onion soup, and a cheese Dre tree cheese tray with amazing brie. And it was just what what I needed to make it through the rest of the evening. It was really, really good. And so we bought the few blocks to the tower and waited for it to get dark. I was very entertained by there’s some very enterprising men that were walking around selling beer, wine and champagne to people waiting for the lights. We didn’t partake in it, but I really appreciated the the effort and like, what do people need while they’re waiting? This is what they need. So kudos to them. good business move. The tower lit up is I wasn’t prepared for it. I was like, Yeah, okay. No, it’s so gorgeous. And I’m glad we stayed even to the top of the hour to watch it. Sparkle, the sparkles take place for five minutes at the top of the hour. I think that ends at midnight, not 100%. But our pictures and videos don’t do justice. It was it was I’m so glad, so tired. But I’m so glad I went it was really, really pretty. And definitely, definitely worth the time. So on our third day, or sorry, not our third day, our last day, we were off to neighborhood three. So again, our morning ritual of finding upon chocolate and cappuccinos. We stopped in a little place, and we ordered and then we realized there was no room for us to eat. So that meant eating outside on the street in the rain. In Paris, and I’m sure in a lot of Europe, eating on the goes not really a thing. They like to sit and savor which I fully appreciate. But that wasn’t going to be an option. So we sort of had to go now be in Disney park veterans who if you’re going to Disney parks, you know, you can’t always find a table. So you get pretty well versed in finding somewhere else to eat a ledge and so forth. So that’s what we did. And we got some strange looks not gonna align and rightfully so. And as one French woman passed by, I threw out that magic word, I gave her a Bon jour with a smile. And her look went from confusion to smile and a slight laugh. And you know, like she realized, Oh, just a group of Americans making the best of a situation. So it was fun. Don’t forget, that was two words, that phrase when you’re there. So our main goal goal for the day was the Picasso Museum. John and I had been to the one in Barcelona in 2000. So it just felt right to see the one in Paris. The galleries were stunning, the art direction of each room was themed to that phase of Picasso’s work. And I really enjoyed this museum. And it may be a hot take, but I liked it more than the Louvre. It was much smaller, more manageable, and not near as crowded. And I think because it was one artists work and you can sort of walk through his career. I think the storytelling was a little stronger for me. You know, I like a good story. So I like a good theme. So it was really cool. You know, again, you can easily do the whole museum and in a couple of hours. And it was definitely worth the trip if you have time. And you know, Picasso is intriguing, you know, his artworks intriguing to you. So after lunch, we walked around a bit more we found the defender of time artwork, and then the Nicholas Flambeau house, which is supposedly the oldest house in Paris, which was built in 1407. Like I said, it’s a piece of history around each and every corner of the city and you never know where you want you might find or where you’ll find it. So we headed back after that to the apartment and the pack. Boo. And check out some high end vintage and consignment shops in the area. The clothing was gorgeous. And I’m just not used to seeing Versace like hanging on the rack but but there it was.
We walked around the neighborhood a bit more looking for a place to eat and actually ended up back at guacamole for more nachos. And as we were eating John looked up at Google Maps and realized that there was a canal A few blocks away. So we went and check that out after dinner. We found more cool shops and cafes. So you know, we had to stop at a pastry shop, get dessert and breakfast and it was just the perfect way to end our last evening in Paris. And the next morning, it was time to head home. And it was it was sort of a hard one for me. Usually I’m like, Okay, let’s go. Oh, I could do more. The terminal we read a different terminal, a Charles de Gaulle than I was on a previous trip through Paris. And it was beautiful. It had a huge duty free shop, a hallway of like, high end fashion boutiques. It was just it was gorgeous. And so we had some time to grab something to eat, I just couldn’t resist a final cappuccino and pastry. This time, it was a cream puff filled with chocolate cream. Delicious. I’ve been wanting to get back into baking more, I think these French pastries just may be my next baking challenge to tackle. It just it really rekindled that sort of desire to do that. So we’ll see. But it was a great trip home. had a few hiccups. Let’s just say I’m very happy we put air tags in our luggage. But yeah, everything when we got home safely, and made all our connections. So that’s the important part. Parents, again is a beautiful, it’s beautiful. And just like any other city, you really can choose your own adventure depending on your interest and taste. Amy told us this right like, back in Amy’s Paris episode, she told us like, you can find what you want and go do it. And I’d whole totally now see why people return to Paris so often and keep going back. I definitely want to go back and hit up some more museums and roam more neighborhoods. So definitely, it was good. It was a good trip. It was a trip we needed. So thanks for indulging in listening to it. I hope these episodes inspire you to get out and roam even in your own neighborhood. And so please subscribe so you don’t miss future episodes. And if you like what we’re doing here, please leave a review and a rating. Also to help support us please head to Yeti to shop to pick up some roaming Yeti merch and sign up for our newsletter to join us in our monthly bingo challenge. Talk to you soon and keep roaming
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
