12 Days of Paris
Jun 12th, 2017 | 09:16 PM
#1
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12 Days of Paris
This will start a report on our 12 days in Paris in May. During our stay we took daytrips to Giverny and Dijon.
We started our visit to France visiting Lyon for 4 days (with daytrip to Annecy). I already posted a trip on that leg of our trip.
We took the train from Lyon to Paris, arriving in Paris midday. We checked into the Hotel de l'Empereur (02 rue Chevert), which we had booked for one night prior to our apartment rental being available. We found it to be a comfortable hotel, though the room was small, and we had a wonderful view of the Invalides dome. We chose this hotel as it was close enough to our apartment that we could walk or take a very short cab ride to our apt.. Price was somewhere around $150 per night at that time through booking.com. We would consider staying there again, although we'd probably upgrade to a bit larger room if we were going to stay for a number of days. It's close to a number of restaurants that we planned to go to, and very near Rue Cler, Invalides, and the Eiffel Tower.
Our first day in Paris was a Sunday and we spent a little time exploring the neighborhood; by the time we got settled and ready to go out to dinner it was raining. Just across the street from the hotel was what looked to be a very nice restaurant, so we tried to book in there, but they were fully booked. So we grabbed our umbrellas and decided to see what we could find. We came across Les Parisiennes (17 avenue de la Motte Picquet), which had a casual hip look and a menu with a mixture of fairly standard dishes with some more health conscious dishes. I had a veggie bowl with whole grains topped with some chicken -- tasty but we tend to enjoy more traditional restaurants in Paris. We later looked it up on tripadvisor and saw some people thought the service was bad, but that wasn't our experience.
The next morning we headed for our scheduled 10:30 check-in at our apartment on rue St. Dominique. I wanted to get a cab as I didn't really want to drag our luggage around, but my husband won out and we headed out. Wasn't too bad -- I just hate all the noise the wheeled bags make. We arrived at about 10:15 and used the code we'd been provided to get through the outside door; Instructions were to then ring the buzzer for the apartment to be let through the door to get up to our apartment. We did that but there was no answer -- we assumed our contact hadn't arrived yet, so we waited in the lobby. As time went by, we got concerned -- especially since it was May 1, an official holiday. We didn't have phones with us, so after we'd waited a half hour, I left my husband, Bob, in the lobby and went to a nearby shop to try and call someone from the agency. Just got voice mail. So I returned to the apt. building, but no one had come yet. We waited about 15-20 minutes longer -- buzzing the apt. several times in case there was another entrance and the contact had arrived , but no answer. I went back to the shop to call again -- nothing but voice mail -- so I returned to the apt. building; Bob wasn't in the lobby and a woman appeared who rushed me into the elevator and I found Bob and the contact in the apartment. Apparently the buzzer wasn't working! You would have thought the contact might have gone down to the lobby on the off chance we were there, but he didn't -- although when we got home from our trip there was a message on our home answering machine from him wondering where we were. Probably we would have been there even longer if the maid, who had been in the apartment all along, hadn't happened on Bob when she was leaving. Very frustrating. Despite the rough start to our stay, we were quite comfortable in the apartment during our stay -- we'd stayed there in 2014. A comfortable bed, very nice bathroom, with a stacked full-size washer and dryer (we've had dealings with the little washer-dryer combos that take forever to go through a wash and dry and are so small you can't wash much at one time, so that was a big plus to us), a very good sized living room with full-length windows overlooking Rue St. Dominique. Though it overlooks a fairly busy street, we really didn't notice any traffic noise to speak of. After staying on previous trips in the Marais, the Latin Quarter, and on rue St. Germaine, we find we like staying on rue St. Dominique -- we like the convenient walking distance to a number of good restaurants. The metro is about a 5-10 minute walk for us (depending on how well our hips and/or backs are feeling that day) and we had decided we would finally give using the bus a try (the #69 bus goes by or near many of the main sights of Paris). We did use the metro frequently, but we also used the bus -- we really liked using the bus and will do so more on our next trip. Unlike the buses we have at home, there is no big step-up to get on the Paris buses and using the metro can, of course, involve lots of stairs and long walks. Also enjoyed the view from the bus and the fact that with our weekly metro/bus pass we could get off if we saw some place along the way that we wanted to check out whenever we wanted to and then continue on later.
Because it was a holiday we had made a point to book a restaurant. We had eaten at La Fermette Marbeuf on our last trip -- we'd stumbled across it in 2014 and stopped in for a delicious lunch. At that time I'd been a little disappointed that, since we didn't have a reservation, we were seated in one of the side rooms, rather than the main dining room, which has a lovely Art Nouveau décor with a stained glass domed ceiling.. Actually the side room was quite nice too, but this time we wanted the full dining experience. Since it was a holiday I think the clientele was a bit more family-oriented than it otherwise might have been on a Monday evening. I chose the 5 course tasting menu -- Menu degustation -- at 55 euros. This included Foie gras de canard, Feuillete d'escargots de Bourgogne "Belle Epoque", Supreme de volaille jaune, and Souffle au chocolat. I was curious to try the escargot dish, as I'd never tried escargot before. There was also a good fish course, but I don't remember the name. Bob chose to just have a main course - cote de veau roti and a chocolate dessert. This worked out quite well for us as the tasting menu portions were quite generous and I shared my foie gras and the escargot dish with him. We both really enjoyed our dinners. The décor is quite lovely and the service was excellent -- since we generally go to bistrots and cafes it was much more formal service than we usually experience, but the staff was very professional but also very friendly and we had a very nice time. At 55 euros the tasting menu was quite a good value for a meal that in many other restaurants would have cost much more. If you want an upscale experience without breaking the budget, we would recommend it.
We started our visit to France visiting Lyon for 4 days (with daytrip to Annecy). I already posted a trip on that leg of our trip.
We took the train from Lyon to Paris, arriving in Paris midday. We checked into the Hotel de l'Empereur (02 rue Chevert), which we had booked for one night prior to our apartment rental being available. We found it to be a comfortable hotel, though the room was small, and we had a wonderful view of the Invalides dome. We chose this hotel as it was close enough to our apartment that we could walk or take a very short cab ride to our apt.. Price was somewhere around $150 per night at that time through booking.com. We would consider staying there again, although we'd probably upgrade to a bit larger room if we were going to stay for a number of days. It's close to a number of restaurants that we planned to go to, and very near Rue Cler, Invalides, and the Eiffel Tower.
Our first day in Paris was a Sunday and we spent a little time exploring the neighborhood; by the time we got settled and ready to go out to dinner it was raining. Just across the street from the hotel was what looked to be a very nice restaurant, so we tried to book in there, but they were fully booked. So we grabbed our umbrellas and decided to see what we could find. We came across Les Parisiennes (17 avenue de la Motte Picquet), which had a casual hip look and a menu with a mixture of fairly standard dishes with some more health conscious dishes. I had a veggie bowl with whole grains topped with some chicken -- tasty but we tend to enjoy more traditional restaurants in Paris. We later looked it up on tripadvisor and saw some people thought the service was bad, but that wasn't our experience.
The next morning we headed for our scheduled 10:30 check-in at our apartment on rue St. Dominique. I wanted to get a cab as I didn't really want to drag our luggage around, but my husband won out and we headed out. Wasn't too bad -- I just hate all the noise the wheeled bags make. We arrived at about 10:15 and used the code we'd been provided to get through the outside door; Instructions were to then ring the buzzer for the apartment to be let through the door to get up to our apartment. We did that but there was no answer -- we assumed our contact hadn't arrived yet, so we waited in the lobby. As time went by, we got concerned -- especially since it was May 1, an official holiday. We didn't have phones with us, so after we'd waited a half hour, I left my husband, Bob, in the lobby and went to a nearby shop to try and call someone from the agency. Just got voice mail. So I returned to the apt. building, but no one had come yet. We waited about 15-20 minutes longer -- buzzing the apt. several times in case there was another entrance and the contact had arrived , but no answer. I went back to the shop to call again -- nothing but voice mail -- so I returned to the apt. building; Bob wasn't in the lobby and a woman appeared who rushed me into the elevator and I found Bob and the contact in the apartment. Apparently the buzzer wasn't working! You would have thought the contact might have gone down to the lobby on the off chance we were there, but he didn't -- although when we got home from our trip there was a message on our home answering machine from him wondering where we were. Probably we would have been there even longer if the maid, who had been in the apartment all along, hadn't happened on Bob when she was leaving. Very frustrating. Despite the rough start to our stay, we were quite comfortable in the apartment during our stay -- we'd stayed there in 2014. A comfortable bed, very nice bathroom, with a stacked full-size washer and dryer (we've had dealings with the little washer-dryer combos that take forever to go through a wash and dry and are so small you can't wash much at one time, so that was a big plus to us), a very good sized living room with full-length windows overlooking Rue St. Dominique. Though it overlooks a fairly busy street, we really didn't notice any traffic noise to speak of. After staying on previous trips in the Marais, the Latin Quarter, and on rue St. Germaine, we find we like staying on rue St. Dominique -- we like the convenient walking distance to a number of good restaurants. The metro is about a 5-10 minute walk for us (depending on how well our hips and/or backs are feeling that day) and we had decided we would finally give using the bus a try (the #69 bus goes by or near many of the main sights of Paris). We did use the metro frequently, but we also used the bus -- we really liked using the bus and will do so more on our next trip. Unlike the buses we have at home, there is no big step-up to get on the Paris buses and using the metro can, of course, involve lots of stairs and long walks. Also enjoyed the view from the bus and the fact that with our weekly metro/bus pass we could get off if we saw some place along the way that we wanted to check out whenever we wanted to and then continue on later.
Because it was a holiday we had made a point to book a restaurant. We had eaten at La Fermette Marbeuf on our last trip -- we'd stumbled across it in 2014 and stopped in for a delicious lunch. At that time I'd been a little disappointed that, since we didn't have a reservation, we were seated in one of the side rooms, rather than the main dining room, which has a lovely Art Nouveau décor with a stained glass domed ceiling.. Actually the side room was quite nice too, but this time we wanted the full dining experience. Since it was a holiday I think the clientele was a bit more family-oriented than it otherwise might have been on a Monday evening. I chose the 5 course tasting menu -- Menu degustation -- at 55 euros. This included Foie gras de canard, Feuillete d'escargots de Bourgogne "Belle Epoque", Supreme de volaille jaune, and Souffle au chocolat. I was curious to try the escargot dish, as I'd never tried escargot before. There was also a good fish course, but I don't remember the name. Bob chose to just have a main course - cote de veau roti and a chocolate dessert. This worked out quite well for us as the tasting menu portions were quite generous and I shared my foie gras and the escargot dish with him. We both really enjoyed our dinners. The décor is quite lovely and the service was excellent -- since we generally go to bistrots and cafes it was much more formal service than we usually experience, but the staff was very professional but also very friendly and we had a very nice time. At 55 euros the tasting menu was quite a good value for a meal that in many other restaurants would have cost much more. If you want an upscale experience without breaking the budget, we would recommend it.
Jun 17th, 2017 | 01:20 PM
#7
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For the balance of this trip report, I’m not going to break things down day by day – this was our 5th visit to Paris and some days we just roamed around, sat on park benches, and in general just soaked up the atmosphere.
One of the real highlights of our trip was to attend the ballet at the Palais Garnier. We’d toured the Opera house in 2014 – don’t quite know we didn’t know it was a “must see” prior to that. We loved our tour then – the Chagall ceiling and the stunning great hall take your breath away. After that tour we knew we wanted to attend a performance on our next trip. Once we knew our travel dates, we went onto the Paris Opera website to see what performances were available and booked our tickets. We had hoped to see a traditional full-length ballet, but there were none scheduled that fit our dates, so we bought tickets for a selection of three shorter-length performances set to music by Ravel and choreographed by Jerome Robbins, Balanchine, and Cherkaoui and Jalet. They were very entertaining performances – very different styles, which was very interesting to Bob and me. We were not familiar with the last choreographers – theirs was set to Ravel’s Bolero – the music is very hypnotic and they used some special lighting effects that made it even more so – although it went on a bit too long – you almost got dizzy! A very enjoyable evening!
We’d had a filling lunch earlier in the day, so rather than have a meal before or after the ballet we went to a tea salon that we had discovered in 2014 and wanted to revisit. Le Valentin is located at 30 passage Jouffroy (just off Boulevard Haussmann, metro stops Richelieu-Drouet or Grand Boulevards). They do serve salads, soups, etc. , but we just wanted tea and dessert – I was very much looking forward to ordering the Jouffroy (described on their website as: light caramel buttercream, almond meringue heart, hazelnut icing, and almond biscuit) which I had really enjoyed our last visit, but alas they were all out. Had the Mont Blanc instead and it was delicious – next time we’ll go earlier in the day so they have the Jouffroy -- but you can't go wrong with their pastries! They have a very large selection of excellent teas – most, if not all, from Dammann Freres (we love their teas and later in the trip bought a number of tins of tea at their Place des Vosges shop – although they do sell bags of the tea at Le Valentin as well).
One of the real highlights of our trip was to attend the ballet at the Palais Garnier. We’d toured the Opera house in 2014 – don’t quite know we didn’t know it was a “must see” prior to that. We loved our tour then – the Chagall ceiling and the stunning great hall take your breath away. After that tour we knew we wanted to attend a performance on our next trip. Once we knew our travel dates, we went onto the Paris Opera website to see what performances were available and booked our tickets. We had hoped to see a traditional full-length ballet, but there were none scheduled that fit our dates, so we bought tickets for a selection of three shorter-length performances set to music by Ravel and choreographed by Jerome Robbins, Balanchine, and Cherkaoui and Jalet. They were very entertaining performances – very different styles, which was very interesting to Bob and me. We were not familiar with the last choreographers – theirs was set to Ravel’s Bolero – the music is very hypnotic and they used some special lighting effects that made it even more so – although it went on a bit too long – you almost got dizzy! A very enjoyable evening!
We’d had a filling lunch earlier in the day, so rather than have a meal before or after the ballet we went to a tea salon that we had discovered in 2014 and wanted to revisit. Le Valentin is located at 30 passage Jouffroy (just off Boulevard Haussmann, metro stops Richelieu-Drouet or Grand Boulevards). They do serve salads, soups, etc. , but we just wanted tea and dessert – I was very much looking forward to ordering the Jouffroy (described on their website as: light caramel buttercream, almond meringue heart, hazelnut icing, and almond biscuit) which I had really enjoyed our last visit, but alas they were all out. Had the Mont Blanc instead and it was delicious – next time we’ll go earlier in the day so they have the Jouffroy -- but you can't go wrong with their pastries! They have a very large selection of excellent teas – most, if not all, from Dammann Freres (we love their teas and later in the trip bought a number of tins of tea at their Place des Vosges shop – although they do sell bags of the tea at Le Valentin as well).
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Jun 20th, 2017 | 09:36 AM
#8
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Another highlight of our trip was a daytrip we made to Monet's Garden in Giverny. We first visited in 2014 -- but it was end of the season in October -- and were looking forward to seeing it in mid-May. This time we decided to try a different schedule (last time we got the earliest train to Vernon). We took a train to arrive in Giverny early afternoon (train to Vernon and then took a bus from the station to Giverny) and explored the village sights -- including the village church and site where Monet and his family are buried, some village shops, and the Musee d'art Americain. We particularly enjoyed the American museum, especially a special exhibit "Musical Instruments in Art". As you enter the grounds of the museum you are met with a very beautifully landscaped garden. And along the main road through Giverny you are able to glimpse some beautiful vistas that make you realize why Monet chose this area for his home.
Our aim in seeing the village sights before going on to the gardens was to arrive at Monet's garden mid-to-late afternoon, when the hope was that crowds would be less (with tour buses already having departed and individual visitors perhaps less as well) and this worked out well for us. We ended up leaving Monet's garden on the last bus back to the train station in Vernon.
The gardens were stunningly beautiful -- will post a link to our photos once I've organized them -- and we had an absolutely gorgeous day -- we had watched weather reports to try and visit on the best day since up until then the weather had been very overcast and cold. An ideal day to us.
If you plan to visit both the American museum and Monet's garden, you can buy a combined ticket that is a good deal -- plus if you buy it at the American museum, then you don't have to wait in line with everyone who's buying a ticket to Monet's garden. We didn't know about this in advance, but discovered this when we were buying our American museum tickets.
We didn't have a meal in Giverny, but noted a few restaurants with outdoor seating that looked appealing.
Our aim in seeing the village sights before going on to the gardens was to arrive at Monet's garden mid-to-late afternoon, when the hope was that crowds would be less (with tour buses already having departed and individual visitors perhaps less as well) and this worked out well for us. We ended up leaving Monet's garden on the last bus back to the train station in Vernon.
The gardens were stunningly beautiful -- will post a link to our photos once I've organized them -- and we had an absolutely gorgeous day -- we had watched weather reports to try and visit on the best day since up until then the weather had been very overcast and cold. An ideal day to us.
If you plan to visit both the American museum and Monet's garden, you can buy a combined ticket that is a good deal -- plus if you buy it at the American museum, then you don't have to wait in line with everyone who's buying a ticket to Monet's garden. We didn't know about this in advance, but discovered this when we were buying our American museum tickets.
We didn't have a meal in Giverny, but noted a few restaurants with outdoor seating that looked appealing.
