A couple weeks ago, I joined Andrew on a work trip to PARIS! The stars aligned and my parents were able to take Maelle for us, and our kitchen cabinets were a bit delayed, so there wasn’t a lot of work going on at our house while we were gone. He went two years ago for the same exhibition, and I hope to join him when he goes again in another two years!
We left on a Wednesday, flew overnight and after a quick nap (I never sleep on airplanes), we headed to one of our favorite cafés, Le Compass, for a drink before dinner. The last time I was in Paris was briefly in 2017 during our larger trip to the Netherlands, and I was both excited to go again and a little anxious. I LOVE Paris; the café scene and art museums can’t be beat, and we’ve had great experiences there. However, I knew I was a bit rusty on my language skills; during our last trip I was able to have short (EASY) conversations with people because I’d taken a couple years of French classes. This time, I got by with the bare minimum, and I find that beginning in French and simply being polite get you a long way.
It’s a busy place and the people-watching is incredible! After our drinks, we headed to a new place, L’ Ami Jean, for dinner. Andrew got some sort of poultry and I got a tuna steak, although we should have shared the flaming duck! (Don’t get me wrong, our food was delicious.) We planned to go back later in the trip with Andrew’s colleagues but it didn’t pan out, so we’ll have to save it for our next trip!
The following day, we began with a quick croissant and café créme and then headed to some of our favorite passages in the city, which include Galerie Vivienne and Passage des Panoramas. Andrew loves to look at the old postcards and added one to our (already) large collection. (Side note: that collection is framed–individually–at the top of our stairs at home. I recently dusted EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. in preparation for moving back into the house. Le sigh. )
We ate lunch at Canard et Champagne in the passages, then headed out on a walk and grabbed coffee across the street from the Centre Pompidou. It’s a favorite of mine, not because of their art collection (generally a bit too “modern” for my taste) but the outside of the building is a work of art itself, and the views from the top are fantastic. The temporary exhibit (on comics) didn’t pique my interest, so I skipped it this trip.
After a fancy dinner at Allard (note to self: confirm restaurant ‘dressiness’ prior to dinner), we walked to Notre Dame to check out the rebuilding progress. Back in 2019, a fire destroyed the roof and it’s been under construction ever since. According to a sign at the site, reopening is planned for December of this year.
We grabbed our usual Berthillon ice cream cone nearby before heading back.
The next morning, we grabbed coffees and jumped on the bus toward the Eiffel Tower. We stopped at Rue Cler, a cute shopping street (think food and flowers more than boutiques) for breakfast.
We walked and shopped our way to the Eiffel Tower, which turned out to be the only time we actually saw it the entire trip! Tell me you’ve been to Paris a bunch of times without telling me you’ve been to Paris a bunch of times…
We did catch a quick glimpse of her all lit up later on, but we forgot to hit the Trocadero for the best view at night. Oh well–next time!
We continued sightseeing by taking a metro to Rue des Martyrs, which is another shopping street that leads up to Monmartre and Sacré Coeur. We stopped at a café for lunch on the way up, then walked along to see all the artists and souvenir stalls.
Andrew is happiest with a crêpe in his hands!
The following day, we grabbed croissants to go from Maison Landemaine and kept playing tourist and visited the Louvre, which is always a lot but always worth it.
It’s so neat seeing things that date back to Bible times! We also love still life painting, especially the Dutch masters.
We took a lunch break at Café Angelina to rest our feet and recharge our batteries. Andrew got a ‘French’ onion soup without the cheese! (It’s kinda a funny story…on one of our first trips to Paris, Andrew ordered the onion soup. It took me a minute to realize he’d ordered FRENCH onion soup and that it would arrive covered in cheese. He did, and it did.) This time, they held the cheese and he was thrilled.
Also, that coffee kept me up until like 3 am. I seriously have to remember NOT to drink coffee after about noon.
Our second round of the Louvre included the special exhibit, which was about the restoration of The Madonna of Chancellor Rolin, by Jan Van Eyck.
After the Louvre, we couldn’t get to Le Compass fast enough for a drink and to rest our feet and our brains after a marathon of a museum that is the Louvre. Dinner was at Daroco, which turned out to be a hidden gem. We’d definitely go back, and Andrew said his pesto pasta was quite literally one of the best things he’s ever eaten. I’ve made a note of it to try to recreate at home! It had pistachios, lemon, mint and maybe miso?
Meanwhile, Maelle flew with Nana to Atlanta to see Uncle Aaron, Aunt Sewon and Aiden! She got this amazing dragon face paint at Uncle Aaron’s work picnic they attended.
Up next: follow me around Paris ALONE!
thehealthypineapple 