30 Days in France – A Paris Trip Report
Oct 12th, 2011, 04:41 PM
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30 Days in France – A Paris Trip Report
Here’s our trip report sharing our experiences while enjoying 30 glorious days in France (9/8/2011 – 10/7/2011). I wrote several blog posts that are included as links below for more details about our activities. I’ll detail our side trip to Côte d’Azure in a separate trip report.
ABOUT US:
Our group included me, my sister, and my husband (who joined my sister and I for only 8 days). We are all in our mid to late 40’s. My sister and husband both used FF miles to secure their coach tickets from Seattle to Paris on American Airlines, while I had to purchase my ticket. I purchased my ticket in February 2011 and paid the most money I have ever paid to fly to Europe ($1,288). When my sister and I booked our tickets in February, my husband was unsure of his Fall schedule (he is a full-time student), so his ticket was booked much later and we were able to use FF miles for his ticket (which took some of the sting out of my very expensive ticket).
WHERE WE STAYED:
We rented an apartment we found on Homelidays (http://www.homelidays.co.uk/paris-05...-121011en1.htm). The apartment was in the 5th, very close to the Luxenbourg Gardens and 1-1/2 blocks from the Port-Royal RER B stop.
The apartment was quite spacious (68 SM) and had 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, with a nice living and dining area and well stocked kitchen. The best feature of the apartment was the terraces. We had 3 three terraces on one side of the apartment, plus a smaller terrace on the backside of the apartment that was primarily used to dry our laundry. We absolutely loved the location and its proximity to shopping, restaurants, markets, etc. We paid 3200€ for the month (30 days), which I think was a definite bargain. The apartment is definitely an older apartment. It’s in a rather non-descript building that was probably constructed in the 1950’s or 1960’s. It could use some updates (like newer, more comfortable furniture in the living room), but the beds were comfortable, the linens were clean and it was completely functional for our use during the month we stayed. Most importantly for our needs, we had great WiFi access (which we needed for work) as well as other amenities we require, like a hairdryer, washing machine (and dryer, although it didn’t work very well), ironing board and iron and a very functional kitchen (including American style coffee pot as well as European espresso pots (like Moki).
The apartment was located on the 7th floor (with an elevator) and could sometimes be a bit noisy from the city sanitation department across the street early in the mornings (although this probably only affected the front bedroom). But generally speaking, it was a fairly quiet location and is in a family-oriented neighborhood. I wouldn’t hesitate to rent this apartment again in the future if we needed this much space. When we first booked this apartment in February 2011, we had two additional travel partners joining us, but they ended up canceling (and not contributing to the apartment), so we actually had a place that had one additional bedroom that wasn’t used, but we definitely used it – it became our “dressing room” and I also used the desk in this room to work at.
FAVORITE FOODS / MEALS:
Since I love to cook, we balanced our restaurant meals with those eaten at our apartment. Generally speaking, if we ate out for lunch, we’d have dinner at the apartment and vice-versa. I’ve listed here some of our favorite places we found, most of them by accident. For years I’ve kept a “restaurant list” on Paris and honestly, we didn’t want to have a very “structured” visit, so we adopted more of a laissez-faire attitude and didn’t make a lot of restaurant reservations for that very purpose.
Food Highlights:
• L’As du Falafel (4th Arrond. - 32, rue Rosiers) I love their Falafels here. Especially their hot sauces – very good!
• Le Cristal Brasserie (5th Arrond. - 96 Boulevard Port Royal) This was our favorite neighborhood brasserie. Loved their “plats du jour” including a spectacular “poulet au raisins” (roasted chicken with grapes, some yummy sauce and served with some delicious potatoes (kind of reminded me of hash browns) – Plats du jour are usually 9,50€ - 13,5€.
• Mavrommatis (5th Arrond. - 42 Rue Daubenton) Excellent Greek food. We had the fixed priced menu for 35€. My sister had the “Trio of Lamb” and I tried the Moussaka. Both were excellent. For our starter, we both had the Mezzes platter which was a selection of different “spreads” like hummus, an eggplant spread, roasted red pepper, served with flatbread. For dessert, we both had the crème brulee with Uzo. Très yummy!
• Brasserie de l'ile St. Louis (4th Arrond. - 55, Quai Bourbon) This place has been on my “Paris restaurant list” for over a decade and we stumbled on it by accident (and ate there not knowing it was on my list!). We both had the “plat du jour” which was poulet presse with duchess potatoes - 26€. This dish was to die for. Seriously delicious!
• Café de la Rotonde (6th Arrond. – 105 Blvd. Montparnasse) We ate here twice. We wandered down the street and found this place one sunny and warm Saturday evening. We had no idea of its famous spot in literary and art history (famed hangout of Matisse, Hemingway, Fitzgerald). The details are fuzzy (too much rosé? But I believe we had the fixed price menu. 39€. Excellent seafood and we loved this place for dining on the terrasse (aka sidewalk) and people watching!
• Le Petit Broc (14th Arrond. - 206 Boulevard Raspail) We ate here twice for “brunch” on Sunday. It’s a block from Café de la Rotonde. They do offer a brunch fixed price option (29€) but that always seemed like too much food for us. Instead, we both ate a croquet madame (excellent) accompanied by a glass of champagne. (19,5€). Seemed like a popular bistro to hang out for drinks or coffee.
• Printemps (yes, the department store) (9th Arrond. - 64 Boulevard Haussmann) They have a restaurant on one of the top floors where we had one of the most delicious desserts (also with a glass of champagne) I have ever eaten. It was a chocolate fondant cake topped with a salted caramel ice cream. The ice cream was pretty sublime. I have had dreams about this dessert.
• Gallerie Lafayette (9th Arrond. - 40 Boulevard Haussmann). I mention this for two reasons. They have a cafeteria-style restaurant that offers many different choices for a quick/good lunch with different “stations” like a fruit bar, salad bar, pasta station, grill station, etc. However, my sister’s favorite station was the “beverage bar” that in addition to a soda fountain, they offered 6 different types of wine (and also beer). She loved the whole “wine on tap” option!
• Crêperies (14th Arrond. - Rue du Montparnasse) this street in Montparnasse (and some surrounding streets) is filled with crêperies offering both savory and sweet crêpes.
• EXKi (14th Arrond. - 82, Blvd Montparnasse) we stumbled onto this organic ready-made eatery (eat in or take-away) during our last couple of days in Paris and wish we had seen it earlier. They have several locations throughout Paris, including multiple locations at CDG (bon!). My lunch was some kind of middle-eastern-inspired chicken dish cooked in phyllo (very yummy) with a small side salad that consisted of peas, celery, onions, and cucumbers with a tangy ginger dressing. They had a good variety of freshly made salads, sandwiches, soups as well as a selection of hot dishes and quiches. I also enjoyed a delicious iced citrus mint green tea.
• Les Pâtes Vivantes (9th Arrond. - 46 rue Faubourg Montmartre or 6th Arrond. - 22 Blvd St. Germain) was one of favorite meals in Paris. Hand-pulled noodles either “woked” with vegetables or served in a savory soup. We stumbled across this small restaurant after a long day shopping the “Grand Magasins”. The locals standing in line down the block was my first clue that this Chinese place was a gem (as were the aromas). We waited in line for over an hour, but it was well worth the wait! I love Asian food and this really hit the spot. It could have been spicier (I like it “hot”), but it was delicious and the meals are inexpensive. ~ 9,50€.
• Hung-Yen (5th Arrond. - 265 Rue Saint-Jacques) This was a great, inexpensive Vietnamese restaurant. We ate dinner here on a hot, balmy evening and the traditional Vietnamese salad (Bun Bo?) was the perfect choice. We also enjoyed their fresh spring rolls. Main dishes ~ 7,50€
• La Fontaine de Mars (7th Arrond. - 129 Rue Saint-Dominique). This was one of our favorite restaurants during our stay in Paris. We can’t wait to eat here again! My sister’s starter was a dish of poached eggs in wine, which was divine. I had a pâté, although good, I think I liked her starter better. We both had the cassoulet for our main dish and it was outstanding. This was one of our more expensive meals ~ 150€ for two. This was another restaurant I've had on my "list" for the past decade. Glad I finally got to enjoy a meal here.
I also enjoyed the macaroons and pastries from Pierre Hermé, and my daily baguettes, croissants and pain au chocolat from Artisan Boulanger Patisserie on the corner of rue Saint-Jacques and Port-Royal. And I pretty much ate my weight in yogurt while I was there.
WHAT WE DID:
Although a month seems like a long stretch of time to spend “leisurely” in France, it went by way too fast. We didn’t get around to doing more than half of the things on our “would be nice to do” list. But one of the luxuries of this amount of time was that we had very little “must do” things scheduled.
Our weekdays all pretty much started off the same: A pot of coffee (American style) served with a dose of heavy whipping cream. The French don’t have “half/half” which is what we use at home, so after using full-fat cream every day and feeling guilty about it, we started diluting the cream with skim milk to make us feel better about it! We had fun experimenting with different brands of ground coffee and I think Malongo was our favorite. We’d then power up our laptops and put in a good morning’s worth of work, sometimes working through early afternoon if needed. We didn’t always have a plan for what we felt like doing in the afternoon and sometimes we just headed out the door with no particular destination in mind. That was my favorite thing to do – just wander. And wandering often led to shopping, or a bottle of rosé at a café.
We literally walked miles and miles every day. Once we became more familiar with our neighborhood and its neighboring arrondissements, we used the Velib bike network to explore the city. We were a bit intimidated at first by the traffic and navigating through crowded streets and roundabouts, but we quickly built up our confidence and it didn’t take more than a day for us to get over our fears and bicycle around Paris like the locals. And we loved it!
Some of our “planned” activities included a trip to Versailles to explore the gardens, the Grand Trianon and Petit Trianon and Marie Antoinette’s Hamlet. We’d been to the Chateau before, so we were interested in seeing the other sights and my sister particularly was interested in the special fashion exhibit at the Grand Trianon. You can read about this visit on my blog (http://shertology.blogspot.com/2011/...long-with.html).
We also visited Château de Fontainebleau (http://shertology.blogspot.com/2011/...ainebleau.html), the Eiffel Tower (http://shertology.blogspot.com/2011/...ur-eiffel.html), Georges Pompidou Centre (http://shertology.blogspot.com/2011/...on-of-art.html), Musée National du Moyen Age (The Musée de Cluny), and the flea markets at Les Puces de Saint-Ouen (http://shertology.blogspot.com/2011/...-in-paris.html). My sister and I are both knitters, so we enjoyed shopping for some lovely yarns at La Droguerie (9 - 11 Rue du Jour, 1st Arrond.). We accumulated a LOT of stuff in 30 days, although in our defense, most of it was for gifts. Even so, we had to purchase an additional suitcase and pay for two additional checked bags going home. Was it worth it? Absolutely!
We also took a day trip to Reims to visit the cathedral and take a tour at Veuve Clicquot. Our trip to Reims was kind of last-minute, so we didn’t have a lot of options available for tours and although I kind of balked at spending 75€ for a “private tour” at Veuve Clicquot, I can tell you it was absolutely worth it. There were only 4 of us on the tour which lasted 2-1/2 hours. The tour was focused on their vintage champagnes and included 5 glasses of champagne. We tasted two vintage whites and two vintage rosé champagnes and then the fifth glass of champagne was our choice based on our favorite. I absolutely fell in love with the vintage 1990 white champagne and purchased 3 bottles to enjoy for my 50th birthday next year. I loved learning more about the region and the champagne house (particularly its history with Madame Clicquot).
Of all the experiences we had during our month in France, by far, my favorite was taking two culinary classes at Lenôtre. My sister and I both took a French Macaron class (http://shertology.blogspot.com/2011/...t-lenotre.html) (in English) and I also took a croissant and pain au chocolat class (http://shertology.blogspot.com/2011/...ts-butter.html) (in French). I loved both of them and can’t wait to return for more classes. I am a fairly accomplished cook and baker, but I am always interested in learning new things and both of these classes delivered on that goal. I learned things from Chef Philippe that aren’t written in the recipe, but tips he shared with me during both classes. It’s these “best practices” that I hope will lead me to a successful replication of the delicious macarons, croissants and pain au chocolat that I made in France in my home kitchen, using American ingredients.
Our re-entry into our life in Seattle has been a bit tough. Gone is the sunshine (we were in Paris during one of the hottest Septembers on record), our afternoon rosé, our morning yogurt and pain au chocolat. I miss the lifestyle of riding a bike or walking to shop for dinner groceries. I’m not ready to give up my Franglish speaking and it will probably take a couple of weeks before I stop telling bewildered cashiers “merci, au revoir” as I exit the store.
Here are links to some of our pictures from our trip:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/...103%3A87640111
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/...03%3A229893322
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/...3%3A1793755511
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/...103%3A99219508
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/...03%3A427914168
ABOUT US:
Our group included me, my sister, and my husband (who joined my sister and I for only 8 days). We are all in our mid to late 40’s. My sister and husband both used FF miles to secure their coach tickets from Seattle to Paris on American Airlines, while I had to purchase my ticket. I purchased my ticket in February 2011 and paid the most money I have ever paid to fly to Europe ($1,288). When my sister and I booked our tickets in February, my husband was unsure of his Fall schedule (he is a full-time student), so his ticket was booked much later and we were able to use FF miles for his ticket (which took some of the sting out of my very expensive ticket).
WHERE WE STAYED:
We rented an apartment we found on Homelidays (http://www.homelidays.co.uk/paris-05...-121011en1.htm). The apartment was in the 5th, very close to the Luxenbourg Gardens and 1-1/2 blocks from the Port-Royal RER B stop.
The apartment was quite spacious (68 SM) and had 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, with a nice living and dining area and well stocked kitchen. The best feature of the apartment was the terraces. We had 3 three terraces on one side of the apartment, plus a smaller terrace on the backside of the apartment that was primarily used to dry our laundry. We absolutely loved the location and its proximity to shopping, restaurants, markets, etc. We paid 3200€ for the month (30 days), which I think was a definite bargain. The apartment is definitely an older apartment. It’s in a rather non-descript building that was probably constructed in the 1950’s or 1960’s. It could use some updates (like newer, more comfortable furniture in the living room), but the beds were comfortable, the linens were clean and it was completely functional for our use during the month we stayed. Most importantly for our needs, we had great WiFi access (which we needed for work) as well as other amenities we require, like a hairdryer, washing machine (and dryer, although it didn’t work very well), ironing board and iron and a very functional kitchen (including American style coffee pot as well as European espresso pots (like Moki).
The apartment was located on the 7th floor (with an elevator) and could sometimes be a bit noisy from the city sanitation department across the street early in the mornings (although this probably only affected the front bedroom). But generally speaking, it was a fairly quiet location and is in a family-oriented neighborhood. I wouldn’t hesitate to rent this apartment again in the future if we needed this much space. When we first booked this apartment in February 2011, we had two additional travel partners joining us, but they ended up canceling (and not contributing to the apartment), so we actually had a place that had one additional bedroom that wasn’t used, but we definitely used it – it became our “dressing room” and I also used the desk in this room to work at.
FAVORITE FOODS / MEALS:
Since I love to cook, we balanced our restaurant meals with those eaten at our apartment. Generally speaking, if we ate out for lunch, we’d have dinner at the apartment and vice-versa. I’ve listed here some of our favorite places we found, most of them by accident. For years I’ve kept a “restaurant list” on Paris and honestly, we didn’t want to have a very “structured” visit, so we adopted more of a laissez-faire attitude and didn’t make a lot of restaurant reservations for that very purpose.
Food Highlights:
• L’As du Falafel (4th Arrond. - 32, rue Rosiers) I love their Falafels here. Especially their hot sauces – very good!
• Le Cristal Brasserie (5th Arrond. - 96 Boulevard Port Royal) This was our favorite neighborhood brasserie. Loved their “plats du jour” including a spectacular “poulet au raisins” (roasted chicken with grapes, some yummy sauce and served with some delicious potatoes (kind of reminded me of hash browns) – Plats du jour are usually 9,50€ - 13,5€.
• Mavrommatis (5th Arrond. - 42 Rue Daubenton) Excellent Greek food. We had the fixed priced menu for 35€. My sister had the “Trio of Lamb” and I tried the Moussaka. Both were excellent. For our starter, we both had the Mezzes platter which was a selection of different “spreads” like hummus, an eggplant spread, roasted red pepper, served with flatbread. For dessert, we both had the crème brulee with Uzo. Très yummy!
• Brasserie de l'ile St. Louis (4th Arrond. - 55, Quai Bourbon) This place has been on my “Paris restaurant list” for over a decade and we stumbled on it by accident (and ate there not knowing it was on my list!). We both had the “plat du jour” which was poulet presse with duchess potatoes - 26€. This dish was to die for. Seriously delicious!
• Café de la Rotonde (6th Arrond. – 105 Blvd. Montparnasse) We ate here twice. We wandered down the street and found this place one sunny and warm Saturday evening. We had no idea of its famous spot in literary and art history (famed hangout of Matisse, Hemingway, Fitzgerald). The details are fuzzy (too much rosé? But I believe we had the fixed price menu. 39€. Excellent seafood and we loved this place for dining on the terrasse (aka sidewalk) and people watching!
• Le Petit Broc (14th Arrond. - 206 Boulevard Raspail) We ate here twice for “brunch” on Sunday. It’s a block from Café de la Rotonde. They do offer a brunch fixed price option (29€) but that always seemed like too much food for us. Instead, we both ate a croquet madame (excellent) accompanied by a glass of champagne. (19,5€). Seemed like a popular bistro to hang out for drinks or coffee.
• Printemps (yes, the department store) (9th Arrond. - 64 Boulevard Haussmann) They have a restaurant on one of the top floors where we had one of the most delicious desserts (also with a glass of champagne) I have ever eaten. It was a chocolate fondant cake topped with a salted caramel ice cream. The ice cream was pretty sublime. I have had dreams about this dessert.
• Gallerie Lafayette (9th Arrond. - 40 Boulevard Haussmann). I mention this for two reasons. They have a cafeteria-style restaurant that offers many different choices for a quick/good lunch with different “stations” like a fruit bar, salad bar, pasta station, grill station, etc. However, my sister’s favorite station was the “beverage bar” that in addition to a soda fountain, they offered 6 different types of wine (and also beer). She loved the whole “wine on tap” option!
• Crêperies (14th Arrond. - Rue du Montparnasse) this street in Montparnasse (and some surrounding streets) is filled with crêperies offering both savory and sweet crêpes.
• EXKi (14th Arrond. - 82, Blvd Montparnasse) we stumbled onto this organic ready-made eatery (eat in or take-away) during our last couple of days in Paris and wish we had seen it earlier. They have several locations throughout Paris, including multiple locations at CDG (bon!). My lunch was some kind of middle-eastern-inspired chicken dish cooked in phyllo (very yummy) with a small side salad that consisted of peas, celery, onions, and cucumbers with a tangy ginger dressing. They had a good variety of freshly made salads, sandwiches, soups as well as a selection of hot dishes and quiches. I also enjoyed a delicious iced citrus mint green tea.
• Les Pâtes Vivantes (9th Arrond. - 46 rue Faubourg Montmartre or 6th Arrond. - 22 Blvd St. Germain) was one of favorite meals in Paris. Hand-pulled noodles either “woked” with vegetables or served in a savory soup. We stumbled across this small restaurant after a long day shopping the “Grand Magasins”. The locals standing in line down the block was my first clue that this Chinese place was a gem (as were the aromas). We waited in line for over an hour, but it was well worth the wait! I love Asian food and this really hit the spot. It could have been spicier (I like it “hot”), but it was delicious and the meals are inexpensive. ~ 9,50€.
• Hung-Yen (5th Arrond. - 265 Rue Saint-Jacques) This was a great, inexpensive Vietnamese restaurant. We ate dinner here on a hot, balmy evening and the traditional Vietnamese salad (Bun Bo?) was the perfect choice. We also enjoyed their fresh spring rolls. Main dishes ~ 7,50€
• La Fontaine de Mars (7th Arrond. - 129 Rue Saint-Dominique). This was one of our favorite restaurants during our stay in Paris. We can’t wait to eat here again! My sister’s starter was a dish of poached eggs in wine, which was divine. I had a pâté, although good, I think I liked her starter better. We both had the cassoulet for our main dish and it was outstanding. This was one of our more expensive meals ~ 150€ for two. This was another restaurant I've had on my "list" for the past decade. Glad I finally got to enjoy a meal here.
I also enjoyed the macaroons and pastries from Pierre Hermé, and my daily baguettes, croissants and pain au chocolat from Artisan Boulanger Patisserie on the corner of rue Saint-Jacques and Port-Royal. And I pretty much ate my weight in yogurt while I was there.
WHAT WE DID:
Although a month seems like a long stretch of time to spend “leisurely” in France, it went by way too fast. We didn’t get around to doing more than half of the things on our “would be nice to do” list. But one of the luxuries of this amount of time was that we had very little “must do” things scheduled.
Our weekdays all pretty much started off the same: A pot of coffee (American style) served with a dose of heavy whipping cream. The French don’t have “half/half” which is what we use at home, so after using full-fat cream every day and feeling guilty about it, we started diluting the cream with skim milk to make us feel better about it! We had fun experimenting with different brands of ground coffee and I think Malongo was our favorite. We’d then power up our laptops and put in a good morning’s worth of work, sometimes working through early afternoon if needed. We didn’t always have a plan for what we felt like doing in the afternoon and sometimes we just headed out the door with no particular destination in mind. That was my favorite thing to do – just wander. And wandering often led to shopping, or a bottle of rosé at a café.
We literally walked miles and miles every day. Once we became more familiar with our neighborhood and its neighboring arrondissements, we used the Velib bike network to explore the city. We were a bit intimidated at first by the traffic and navigating through crowded streets and roundabouts, but we quickly built up our confidence and it didn’t take more than a day for us to get over our fears and bicycle around Paris like the locals. And we loved it!
Some of our “planned” activities included a trip to Versailles to explore the gardens, the Grand Trianon and Petit Trianon and Marie Antoinette’s Hamlet. We’d been to the Chateau before, so we were interested in seeing the other sights and my sister particularly was interested in the special fashion exhibit at the Grand Trianon. You can read about this visit on my blog (http://shertology.blogspot.com/2011/...long-with.html).
We also visited Château de Fontainebleau (http://shertology.blogspot.com/2011/...ainebleau.html), the Eiffel Tower (http://shertology.blogspot.com/2011/...ur-eiffel.html), Georges Pompidou Centre (http://shertology.blogspot.com/2011/...on-of-art.html), Musée National du Moyen Age (The Musée de Cluny), and the flea markets at Les Puces de Saint-Ouen (http://shertology.blogspot.com/2011/...-in-paris.html). My sister and I are both knitters, so we enjoyed shopping for some lovely yarns at La Droguerie (9 - 11 Rue du Jour, 1st Arrond.). We accumulated a LOT of stuff in 30 days, although in our defense, most of it was for gifts. Even so, we had to purchase an additional suitcase and pay for two additional checked bags going home. Was it worth it? Absolutely!
We also took a day trip to Reims to visit the cathedral and take a tour at Veuve Clicquot. Our trip to Reims was kind of last-minute, so we didn’t have a lot of options available for tours and although I kind of balked at spending 75€ for a “private tour” at Veuve Clicquot, I can tell you it was absolutely worth it. There were only 4 of us on the tour which lasted 2-1/2 hours. The tour was focused on their vintage champagnes and included 5 glasses of champagne. We tasted two vintage whites and two vintage rosé champagnes and then the fifth glass of champagne was our choice based on our favorite. I absolutely fell in love with the vintage 1990 white champagne and purchased 3 bottles to enjoy for my 50th birthday next year. I loved learning more about the region and the champagne house (particularly its history with Madame Clicquot).
Of all the experiences we had during our month in France, by far, my favorite was taking two culinary classes at Lenôtre. My sister and I both took a French Macaron class (http://shertology.blogspot.com/2011/...t-lenotre.html) (in English) and I also took a croissant and pain au chocolat class (http://shertology.blogspot.com/2011/...ts-butter.html) (in French). I loved both of them and can’t wait to return for more classes. I am a fairly accomplished cook and baker, but I am always interested in learning new things and both of these classes delivered on that goal. I learned things from Chef Philippe that aren’t written in the recipe, but tips he shared with me during both classes. It’s these “best practices” that I hope will lead me to a successful replication of the delicious macarons, croissants and pain au chocolat that I made in France in my home kitchen, using American ingredients.
Our re-entry into our life in Seattle has been a bit tough. Gone is the sunshine (we were in Paris during one of the hottest Septembers on record), our afternoon rosé, our morning yogurt and pain au chocolat. I miss the lifestyle of riding a bike or walking to shop for dinner groceries. I’m not ready to give up my Franglish speaking and it will probably take a couple of weeks before I stop telling bewildered cashiers “merci, au revoir” as I exit the store.
Here are links to some of our pictures from our trip:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/...103%3A87640111
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/...03%3A229893322
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/...3%3A1793755511
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/...103%3A99219508
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/...03%3A427914168
Oct 12th, 2011, 06:14 PM
#5
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Not sure why my blog links aren't working - it's http://shertology.blogspot.com
Oct 12th, 2011, 07:51 PM
#6
The photos were great. I wish I could get mine together as fast as you did. We were in Paris from 9/27 to 10/5. Wasn't the weather fabulous? The best of any our trips to France.
Loved the "wine on tap." Something we haven't experieanced.
30 days in France is a dream, the most we've done is 14 days. Can't wait to read about the Riviera portion of your trip.
Loved the "wine on tap." Something we haven't experieanced.
30 days in France is a dream, the most we've done is 14 days. Can't wait to read about the Riviera portion of your trip.
Oct 12th, 2011, 11:31 PM
#8
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>>The link to your apartment does not work, either.<<
Unfortunately, Fodor's reads the whole unbroken string of characters into a link (including the brackets). Might be worth their either re-programme to ignore punctuation marks next to a URL, or putting a hint/tip somewhere to people to leave spaces either side. Or one can copy and paste the URL and take out the brackets manually.
Unfortunately, Fodor's reads the whole unbroken string of characters into a link (including the brackets). Might be worth their either re-programme to ignore punctuation marks next to a URL, or putting a hint/tip somewhere to people to leave spaces either side. Or one can copy and paste the URL and take out the brackets manually.
Oct 12th, 2011, 11:33 PM
#9
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http://www.homelidays.co.uk/paris-05...-121011en1.htm
Looks very nice. I'd love a hammock on a balcony like that.
Looks very nice. I'd love a hammock on a balcony like that.
Oct 13th, 2011, 11:30 AM
#12
oh how lovely - a whole month there. you lucky things.
and you seem to have made the best of the opportunity.
thanks for posting all the links to restaurants etc. - I'm compiling my list for our much shorter trip in March.
and you seem to have made the best of the opportunity.
thanks for posting all the links to restaurants etc. - I'm compiling my list for our much shorter trip in March.
Oct 13th, 2011, 06:03 PM
#14
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sherry - thanks for a great reminder of lovely days in Paris.
we too just returned, and are feeling the loss of the rhythm of our week in Paris. Oh, how I would love to spend a month there!
Zhou really did it properly, with cooking and baking classes, en francais, wow!
we too just returned, and are feeling the loss of the rhythm of our week in Paris. Oh, how I would love to spend a month there!
Zhou really did it properly, with cooking and baking classes, en francais, wow!
