Paris, Day Four

By Natalie

Today we took the RER and Subway to Versailles. What a mind-blowing place. Started with a quick dash through "Dauphin's Chambers" and followed that with with a guided tour of the King's personal chambers and the chapel. We were supposed to see the opera house, but the chapel was a back up when the electricity failed! Ryan says our tour guide reminded him of an older version of Bruce Willis' girlfriend from Pulp Fiction.

After we finished in the Castle, we walked the grounds; I didn't realize how big and grand they are! We had ten-minute rain showers on a roughly forty minute rotation, which actually worked out for the best - there were less crowds, cooler temperatures, and a very romantic atmosphere. We had a great view of boats on the water, illuminated by sun showers and hazy skies. When we were exploring, we stumbled upon a tiny outdoor cafe hidden in the bushes. We stopped for a glass of chilled red wine and a chocolate crepe. There were cute cats roaming the courtyard, but they were pretty much our only company - the threat of rain kept most of the other visitors safely indoors.

We then headed back to the 1st arrondissement and hit the "big three" in the Louvre; Winged Victory, Venus de Milo, and the Mona Lisa. Checked out the Egyptian exhibit too.

We got back to our apartment around 7PM, had amazing falafel for dinner in Le Marais at a place called L'As du Falafel. It was a marathon day!

Paris, Day Three

by Natalie

Great day! We got an early start at 9:00 in the morning. Grabbed a baguette for breakfast (still warm from the oven...heaven) and took it on the go, meeting some folks at Notre Dame on Ile de la Cite for a Bike About Paris tour. It was an amazing time, a whopping four hour ride that brought us all over the back streets of Paris with a handful of major monuments thrown in. Pamela, our tour guide, had some great fun facts - cannon balls stuck into old palaces, pieces of the old fortress wall still in existence, bullet holes from the first World War visible in the walls of Hotel de Ville - all delivered from super-fun, light aluminum bikes. It was a blast. We had a fun surprise too; about three of the places she had pointed out we had already discovered, and we even rode by our apartment to boot!

After the tour, we walked a bit, grabbed a beer, and used our museum pass to visit Musee D'Orsay. Very cool building with tons of light - I found myself gazing at the architecture more than the paintings! We then made our way to Musee Rodin, only to find it was closing time. No big thing, we headed back to the apartment, showered and got dressed for dinner, and ate a dinner of steak frites on an outdoor terrace surrounded by a thick plastic ceiling and walls. Good thing too - the sky ripped open almost as soon as we sat down, turning the terrace into a veritable flood.

Thankfully the rain didn't last long. We walked down to Pont Neuf to catch a boat tour of the Seine. Ryan took some amazing photos with his fancy camera. In fact, he pretty much had that thing glued to his face! After the ride, we shared a romantic evening on the Pont des Arts bridge, where couples can "lock their love" by literally locking a padlock with their initials onto the wire structure of the bridge and throwing the key into the river. We plopped down on the side of the bridge, split a bottle of wine, and listened to young french guys playing flute and guitar, all the while flanked by the glowing Eiffel tower on one side, and the glowing pont neuf on the other. Not bad at all.

P.S. Had my first REAL chocolate croissant. All I can say is, WOW. No turning back for me now - chocolate croissants every day, at least once a day.

And a guest entry from Ryan:

Kind of glad we had not stopped by the Eiffel Tower yet because our first encounter was so epic. It was all lit up as we inched up to it on a boat on the Seine. Perfect way to see the tower for the first time. We will check it out later during the day and take the elevator to the top.

Paris, Day Two

By Natalie

Our second day in Paris began later than we thought, but was full of lots of sight seeing and leisurely stops. Here is the entry from our travel journal:

We intended to get up at 9:30 this morning, but slept until noon by mistake! Set out for St. Martin Canal, and passed it by a good ten blocks. Ended up in the China Town section of the city, and by the time we got there, I was fading fast from having completely forgotten to pick up breakfast and coffee. We stopped on the way for a few snacks, caffeine, and aspirin and had lunch on a bench lining a busy street, too weary to look for the Canal in that moment. After lunch, we finally found it and took a leisurely stroll on the banks of the water and the steps leading up to the canal's many bridges. Stopped for beers, and didn't use a word of English for our order - it was fun! While window shopping, we had a scare when we passed a homeless man face down on the sidewalk. He wasn't moving. A passerby stopped and poked him with his foot, and finally, after much delay, the man moved! Phew!

We made our way back to the apartment along Rue St. Paul, a street full of amazing antique stores. Got all dressed up and went to a fancy dinner at La Petite Cour in the St. Germain district. Ryan treated, which was very sweet. I spoke French to place our order, although it was very broken! Ry had the prix-fix: great veggies with cream sauce for an appetizer, veal with asparagus for the main course, and creme brulee for dessert. I had clams and greens to start, lamb with pureed sweet potatoes and vegetables for the main course, and a flaky pastry to end. Split a delicious bottle of wine.

Afterwards, we took a romantic stroll back and stopped at a bar for beers, which were served with sweet, crunchy peanuts. On our way back we leaned over the pont neuf bridge and snapped photos of the Seine. It was beautiful at night.

Paris, Day One

By Natalie

So, our trip to Paris has come and gone. I've been sitting here for about twenty minutes trying to come up with the words to describe the experience. Throwing around words like amazing, breathtaking, and stunning can be fun and all, but they don't seem to do the city justice. Paris is unlike any place I have ever experienced, and it all comes down to this: if you haven't been there, YOU MUST GO. Now.

Before climbing the plane and crossing the Atlantic, my cousin recommended I buy a Paris Moleskin notebook, which turned out to be an indispensable tool. Packed with city maps, subway maps, metric conversions, and a cute little pocket for keepsakes, the book is also stuffed with a number of blank pages for your own personal notes and hints. Each night, after spending hours walking (and eating) our way through the city, we spent time writing a brief entry of the day's events in the book. It turned out to be a great way to remember the little moments. We got back two days ago, and I've already read through the entries at least seven times. Sigh.

I'd like to share the entries with you, as I think they give a great sense of what our trip was like. I am still a bit jet-lagged, so this blog entry will cover a day or two. Next week, I'll do a few more! So, without further ado...

Day One, May 23, 2010

Big day! Our flight got in around noon. I received my first ever stamp in my passport and stared at it for a good minute.


We took the RER train to the Les Halles stop and decided to walk the rest of the way to our apartment rental rather than transfer to a different subway line. We got totally lost in a shopping complex and parking garage immediately upon exiting the subway. Had to use "beaucoup de francais" to get directions out. Settled in at the apartment and went right back out to Les Halles. Ryan was exhausted from the plane ride and fell so deeply asleep in the park outside St. Eustache church that we had to go back to the apartment and pass our for four hours! We awoke feeling a bit more refreshed, and hungry of course, so we grabbed baguette sandwiches for dinner and ate them in the grass lawn outside the Louvre. The Eiffel Tower was sparkling in the sky in the distance; coming around the corner and seeing it for the first time in my life literally made me gasp. Groups of French kids were smoking and drinking in groups all around us. Lots of laughter and relaxation.

After dinner, we walked miles along the Champs Elysees. A "young agriculture market" was taking place not far from the obelisk square where Marie Antoinette once lost her head. Lots of rowdy young farmers filled the block with drunken songs and dancing. Dust kicked up in the air, and every other person we passed was munching on an awesome baguette and sipping wine. There were actual living, breathing cows in a pen next to all the goings on - they couldn't be less interested in the party. Had a funny interaction with a French man selling glasses of wine for 2 Euros a piece...my French was really rusty. It took me about ten minutes to bumble through the ordering of two glasses, at the end of which the man handed me my change with the perfect English phrase, "4 euros for me, and 1 for you!" I'm glad he let me try to speak French, even though it was probably so he could make fun of me for it later!

Made our way up to rest of the Champs Elysees and looked at the Arc de Triomphe from across the busy street. Headed home, and rested up for another marathon day.

Lunch: Beef stew with pasta

Dinner: Baguettes with chicken, lettuce and tomato, french fries (with mayo!) and ice cold coke

The Final Countdown

By Natalie

In a mere five days, I will step off a plane, passport in hand, and find myself in Paris, France. It is my first trip abroad, so I've been devoting my days and nights to neglecting any blog-worthy projects in favor of googling Parisian things. Mostly Parisian food-related things. Wine, cheese, baquettes, croque monsieur, ratatouille, omelettes, you name it, I will likely eat it at some point next week! I might even try escargots...

Photo courtesy of Jonah Myer's blog, C'est pas tes Oignons

On second thought, I am not sure if that is going to happen. We shall see. At any rate, I certainly have an appointment with this lady when I get back. Thanks, cheese!

Ryan and I have opted to keep our schedule for our week in Paris rather light, so that we can wander aimlessly and stare up at the Eiffel Tower or stare down at the city from the steps of Sacre-Couer. However, I did want to share some of our planned events, so that you can get an idea of where we'll be and what we'll be eating, ahem, I mean...what we'll be doing.

• Dinner at La Petite Couer, a fancy-pants dinner to kick off the week!
• Day trip to Chateau Versailles to parade around like royalty. Do you think my tourist sneakers will give me away?
• Bike About Paris tour. 3 hours, bicycles, side streets of Paris? I'll take it!
• Possible day trip to London or Brittany. Thoughts anyone?
• And of course, did you really think Ryan and I would go on a trip without one of these? Wish us luck!

Au revoir, mon ami!

Travel writing, traveling for your mind.

By Emi

I love reading travel writing because it combines two of my favorite things, travel and food! It makes me hungry and has me fantasizing about travel adventures at the same time. So to get Natalie and Ryan in a further Paris state of mind I'd like to suggest some of my favorite books about the city of lights.

Immovable Feast: A Paris Christmas - John Baxter
This is a great book about celebrating Christmas in France. The author, is a native Australian, who marries a French woman, and learns to cook traditional French food in order to impress his new in-laws. If you like learning about French traditions, foods, and culture then this is a good book to read. Maybe save it for the holidays to inspire you into a festive state of mind.


A Year in the Merde- Stephen Clarke
This is a quite amusing tale about an English man, who is hired by a French company to help them open English style tea rooms in Paris. The book is about the author's experiences working and living in Paris. If you speak a little French you might know that merde means shit in French. As you can probably guess, this wasn't Clarke's favorite job experience.


My Life in France - Julia Child
I actually really loved this book, not only is it food writing, but also travel writing. Julia Child writes in such a casual, lively, and friendly voice I kind of fell in love with her. I was never a Julia Child fan before, but I was really inspired by her story. She found her calling later in life, and lived her dream. It gives me some hope that if things aren't perfect now, there's time for things to work out. Since reading her book I've acquired a copy of Mastering the Art of French cooking, and plan on giving her recipes a try. If your into French food I highly suggest reading her book to get you psyched about all the amazing food you can eat there. She obviously had a real passion for French cooking and you will too after reading this.


French Milk - Lucy Kinsley
French Milk is actually a graphic novel. It was written by a young illustrator, who spent a couple of weeks living in Paris with her mother while she was studying cartoon illustration in college. It's a really quick read, but it's a fun and unique take on travel writing. Lucy kept an illustrated journal while in Paris, so you get to actually see different scenes through her artistic style. If you want to take a break from reading traditional books I would pick this up for a change of scenery.

My all time favorite travel writer though is the one and only Anthony Bourdain, aka Tony Bourdain. He's one of the loves of my life, and I'll share more about him later.

Travel Diaries

I have never been a diary or journal writer. When I was a kid, I might have attempted keeping a journal once or twice, but it never stuck. I just didn't really get the attraction. To me it just seemed like an invitation for people to read things you didn't want to share in the first place. Travel diaries, though I would say are closer to scrap booking. They are more about memories, then sharing intimate details. My friend Melissa, whom I went to Paris with, is into scrap booking, journals, stationary, pens, and all the accouterments. As a result while we were on our trip to London and Paris she gave me the super nice gift of a Louis Vuitton carnet de voyage (travel notebook) for my 21st birthday. I remember when she took out the chocolate brown box with Louis Vuitton on it and this beautiful cream ribbon wrapping the outside, I was shocked! The Louis Vuitton carnet de voyage is a beautiful, thoughtful gift for anyone who likes to travel, and wants to remember it with style.


Inside there are beautiful watercolor illustrations of the city of Paris, and a series of postcards, and a little brown pencil. When I came back from my trip I immediately printed out some of my favorite photos and added them to the book as well as writing down what we did every day. As a result I am now able to look at it any time I want and can relieve my trip through my notes and photos in a beautiful little LV carnet.




Just in case you were wondering, they come in a number of other major cities like New York, London, Tokyo, Mumbai, Rio, Athens etc... And you can purchase them here.


If your on more of a budget, but still want a great travel notebook, I highly recommend the Moleskine City Notebooks. They come in most major world cities, and they are nice and compact. Inside they have public transportation maps, important phone numbers and things like local conversions, a little pocket to hold small paper items, tracing paper, a well organized address section to keep track of hotels, restaurants, shops, museums, and the super helpful index of all the city streets and maps on a grid. I bought one when I went to Barcelona with my friend Liv last year, and it came in handy. I was able to map out exactly how we were going to get from the airport on public transportation and how to walk from the subway to our hotel. Which was great when your exhausted from flying and don't understand Spanish. It took a lot of the guess work out of the first couple of days in Barca, and I really liked the idea of being able to write down and keep track of all the cool little places we found along the way during our adventure. P.S. I lost it after a first couple of days on the trip during a frantic flight check in on our way back to Barca from Italy (that's a story for another time). I will definitely be purchasing another one the next time I go abroad. They are cheap, so I hope to make a collection and can keep adding to them as I make return trips to each city.

One of my favorite memories in Paris was the day that Melissa and I went to Montmartre. Atop Montmartre sits the beautiful and unique Sacre Coeur, which is an amazing church at the highest point in Paris. After climbing up the many, many stairs to see the church and awesome view of Paris, we walked around Montmartre. There we found one of the many similiar, yet no less exciting, streets lined with food shops. We decided to pick up a snack and stopped at a little cheese shop, where we bought some cheese aux poivre and a camembert which we were told was "Tre Forte!" (the camembert was pretty forte, and it proceeded to get stronger on the trip back to London. Melissa's father ate it a day or two later for breakfast, and it positively reeked! Normally you would think it's because the cheese went bad without refrigeration, but French cheese is unpasteurized so it doesn't need to be kept cold. It was just seriously stinky, but tasted good none the less.). We also stopped to get some pain au chocolat, brioche avec sucre, dark chocolate covered orange peels, and a 3,50 Euro bottle of red wine with a screw top (because we didn't have a bottle opener) at the French wine chain, Nicolas. We found a serene little spot in a small park that lined the middle of a street in Montmartre, and sat down to enjoy our little "French" feast. Afterward we realized we had chosen a street that was was home to a large number of sex shops, which definitely explained some of the weird looks and the maybe sarcastic "Bon Apetite!" we received. It was still delicious never the less.

I think weird little memories like this are what make trips fun and exciting. I like not knowing where I am, and exploring some place new on foot. I hope Natalie and Ryan will have some good stories to tell. Knowing Ryan I know there will be.