Great report & taking notes. Loved the "land of Barack Obama " comment. Hopefully, the Europeans are happier now with our current President. Last time I was in Paris staying in the Marais,- several young Parisians were out in the street making "George Bush" comments in the glow of the moonlight. We had our windows open. We told them we were American and that started it! (I had forgotten that until you mentioned BO.)
Hope you had a chance to visit the Rodin Museum. It is lovely. I have put the Picasso on my list.

grommet19, great trip report. You sound like you were reasonable what you could manage to see on this trip. We are always saying we will save that for next time.

Really enjoying your reports,we are leaving for Paris May 10th,can't wait..it's our 5 trip
Elaine

You've made me hungry to go back soon.

I agree with crefloors---I need a Paris fix!

Our first tip to Paris we also stayed in the Montparnasse-Raspail neighborhood. The restaurants were wonderful, and now every time we are in Paris we do wander back to that area.

Your report is written with beautiful details. Can't wait for more.

Enjoying your report and making notes for our return trip in September.

No matter how you spell it, a delightful report!

Ha ha. You'd think I'd have my two Bara(c)k spellings straight by now!

Thanks for all the nice comments. My husband can't believe I'm spending so much time writing this report but I really enjoy it. I get to have my dream job of travel writer for a few days.

I need to prepare for company this afternoon but will hopefully have some time to continue this later on. A bientot!

Day 5

Tuesday. Yet another beautiful day. We were glad it rained for a couple of days at the beginning of our trip – it made every sunny day that followed that much better.

Decided to go to Monmartre, making a stop at Notre Dame along the way (we had skipped the inside of ND a couple of days before because it was too crowded). Walked along Blvd. St. Michel again and bought a couple more scarves. We decided scarves make the perfect gift to bring back from Paris.

Got to ND around mid-morning and there was hardly any line to get in. Still pretty crowded inside but we enjoyed looking at everything. I’m glad we made a point of going back to see it. We weren’t in the mood to wait in line to climb the tower though, so we skipped that.

Walked to the St. Michel station and set off for Monmartre. Amazingly, this was our first and only metro ride of the week. We were a little confused about what route to take at first, but finally settled on the RER C to Invalides and switched to line 13 to Place de Clichy.

It was nice to get away from central Paris and explore another neighborhood. We walked up Rue Caulincourt over the Cimetiere Monmartre. I got a little confused reading the map but we figured if we just walked east we would find the Sacre Coeur eventually. We wound up in a nice neighborhood near the Abbesses metro and decided to have a quick lunch. We stopped at a boulangerie and bought sandwiches – a croq monsieur (a simple ham and cheese sandwich, but the cheese is melted on TOP of the sandwich rather than in it – yum!) for me, and ham with cheese and veggies on a baguette for DH. I also bought a box of strawberries at the grocer next door. Strawberries are in season now and delicious – every single berry is perfect without a single bruise. I don’t know how they do that! We found a small park right off Rue des Abbesses, sat on a bench and enjoyed our lunch. Watched a cute toddler chasing pigeons.

Continued on to the Sacre Coeur, which was just a couple of blocks further. Climbed up the hill and successfully fought off the pushy bracelet salesmen. The sky was perfectly blue behind the dome – couldn’t have been more beautiful. Hung around in front of the church for a while and took pics. Didn’t go inside though.

After we’d had our fill of the views, we walked around the church, through Place de Tertre, and enjoyed the views looking down the very steep, narrow streets on the other side. It reminded me a little of San Francisco. Then we stopped at the picturesque Maison Rose, a café that Renoir used to frequent. We sat outside – I had my afternoon café crème and DH had his afternoon glass of red. Then walked on down the hill, passing the Moulin de la Gallettes along the way. We picked up some pastries for dessert – I had two mini macarons (one lemon and one café – not bad) and DH had a caramel éclair. Eclairs became DH’s favorite dessert.

We took a detour though the cemetery on our way back to the Place de Clichy station and admired the amazing tombs and gravestones. Not like the cemeteries I’m used to back home! Then we metroed back to Invalides and took the RER to Gare Austerlitz, because we wanted to check out the Jardin des Plantes. We decided to go the menagerie while we were there, as we are huge animal lovers. I know it’s not a main attraction but we have trouble passing up a zoo on a beautiful spring afternoon. Not as impressive as the National Zoo, of course, and there were a lot of screaming kids, but we enjoyed several of the exhibits. They have a snow leopard there, which was amazing to me – it’s one of the rarest cats on the planet! Also a very active family of North China jaguars – mom, dad and baby. The visit was worth it just for that.

After leaving the zoo we wandered through the gardens. The orange, white and red poppies in front of the natural history museum were gorgeous. Then we exited the garden and wandered through the 5th Arr. toward home. This neighborhood had a unique feel that I really loved. When we reached the covered outdoor market on Rue Mouffetard, we found the perfect place for a late afternoon stop – the Restaurant de Mouffetard.

We sat outside and ordered wine (white for me, red for DH). We noticed that the first item on their slate was “Oeffs cocotte au fois gras” (hen eggs with fois gras). We decided that we HAD to have this. I think the waitress thought we were a bit odd to order this dish at 5:30 in the evening, but we asked politely and she complied. Thank goodness! It was the most delicious thing we’d eaten all week. Two perfect fried eggs floating in cream, with just enough fois gras to flavor it. Add some fresh herbs and a baguette to mop it up, and you have heaven on a plate. DH said he was glad to be sitting down when he tasted it, or he might have passed out.

We ordered two more glasses of wine and basked in the afterglow of this culinary wonder. Watched people shopping for produce across the street and nibbling baguettes from the busy boulanger as they walked past. Listened to neighbors chatting with each other in French as they shopped. If I had to pick a favorite moment of the whole trip, this was it. Regretfully, we eventually had to get up and head back to the hotel.

We changed and got ready for dinner, and walked right down the street to Vavin Café. We’d passed it several times during the week and finally decided to try it. It always seemed busy outside so we figured it must be good. We sat inside – the restaurant was kind of sleek and cozy at the same time. Had a very nice meal. A bottle of red wine, and DH had chicken kebab with some tasty eggroll-type things on the side. I had sesame-crusted salmon over mushroom risotto. Once we finished our meal, we took the rest of our bottle of wine to a table outside and watched the nightlife on the street. Our waiter was very nice. I would recommend this restaurant if you’re staying near Rue Vavin.

Went back to the hotel and had some chocolate and salted caramels from the Grande Epicierie for dessert. Realized we had only one full day left – c’est dommage! Watched some soccer on TV before going to sleep.

End of a wonderful Day 5.

grommet- I'm really enjoying your trip report. I'm betting that after this trip, your DH might be more inclined to try another. Rome? (my fave).

I've never had foie gras - and never had any interest in trying it, but now you've picqued my curiousity! Perhaps while in Paris I'll get the urge to try it...

Sherhatfield, I had never had fois gras before either and like you, had never wanted to try it before. I'm not a big fan of the way it's made but figured I'd make an exception for Paris. I'm glad I did!

Sarge56 - Yes, Rome is high on my list! We need to recover financially from this trip first though

Day 6

I’d been wanting to check out the Rue Cler market, a pedestrian-only shopping street near Hotel des Invalides, all week. So we headed there first on Wednesday. It wasn’t quite as lively as I expected. It’s probably got more happening on weekends – we’d originally intended to go on Sat. morning but were foiled by the rain.

At any rate, we’d come there to shop and so we did. I bought some more perfect strawberries at the greengrocer. We found a lovely and affordable chocolate shop and bought a bunch of chocolates to take home. The chocolates were delicious – the best we’d had other than Pierre Herme. I can’t remember the name of the shop offhand but I can find it for anyone who wants it.

We went to another shop that sold all kinds of food made with honey – it was very touristy but the sales lady was nice. I bought a bottle of honey and some honey mustard. My old Rick Steeves book said there was a nice epicierie on Rue Cler but we couldn’t find it. I guess it closed. Oh well. Our last stop was the bakery, where we bought our lunch. I got a goat cheese quiche and DH got a salmon sandwich with egg. I chose a chocolate meringue for dessert and DH got another éclair.

We walked from Rue Cler to the Rodin Museum. Bought tickets and took our lunch out to the garden. Lovely and everything was delicious. After eating, we strolled through the gardens and then the inside of the museum. Like all the museums we visited on the trip, it wasn’t too crowded. The building itself is a beautiful house and I loved the feel of it. I was amazed at the shear number of sculptures – Rodin was a busy man. Also enjoyed the sculptures by Rodin’s protégé and mistress, Camille Claudel.

We left the museum and went in search of a café. Wandered for quite some time and finally found a small place on Rue St. Dominique, which was crowded with people on their lunch breaks. I can’t remember the name of the café. We sat outside – the sidewalk was narrow and there was barely room to sit but we made it work. Kind of a hectic place for a drink, and I was feeling irritable thinking about our trip ending soon. But once I’d had my afternoon café crème, all was well. We watched a busy patisserie across the street. There was an elderly homeless man sitting outside, and the longer we sat there, the more I empathized with him. When we got up, I went and gave him a coin and the remainder of my strawberries from lunch. He seemed very happy and it made me happy to help him.

Time for our last museum visit of the trip – the Musee de l’Armee and Napoleon’s tomb. DH is interested in military history and we seemed due for a non-art museum anyway. The Invalides complex itself is very impressive. We walked through the huge gate and bought our tickets from a self-serve machine. Took some photos in the big cobblestone square, which was virtually empty. We went inside the chapel, which was very pretty – much brighter than the other churches we’d seen, probably because there is less stained glass. Then we toured the WWI and WWII exhibits of the museum. I’m not big on military stuff but there were some interesting things to see. I especially liked all the photos and film clips from WWII – very powerful. We made no attempt to see and read everything. I think there was another whole wing that we missed, but no big deal. It was too much for one visit.

We loved the dome where Napoleon is buried. It’s hard to describe the grandeur of it. We stared up in awe at the paintings covering the inside of the dome. We were nearly blinded by all the gold leaf everywhere, and all the light and colors. Not exactly subtle beauty, but that’s not what Napoleon was about, I guess. I personally think the dome is a must-see. A fitting way to end our sight-seeing in Paris.

We walked slowly back to the hotel, enjoying the Esplanade des Invalides along the way. We stopped at the “tabac” on Blvd. Montparnasse and DH bought cigars (which may or may not have been Cuban) for his friends back home. We also bought several boxes of matches – the matches from this tabac have very funny pictures on them and cost 20 cents each. Great souvenirs. We walked along Rue Vavin and DH bought himself some more fancy chocolates – he’s a chocaholic. Finally, stopped at the wine shop across the street from the hotel and bought a small bottle of red. Drank it at the little table outside the wine shop, savored the evening, and then went up to get ready for dinner.

Our 4th wedding anniversary was April 23, the final day of our trip. So we saved our “big” dinner for the night before (April 22). We went to Le Florimond in the 7th Arr. – highly recommended by a good friend of ours and also in the Rick Steeves guide and here on Fodors. We had 8:00 pm reservations and took our time walking there.

The restaurant was as quaint and wonderful as everyone says. Great, friendly service. Very busy though (mostly with Americans, probably because of the Rick Steeves rec.) – I think they need another waiter! We had a nice bottle of Bordeaux and we both got the 36€ prix fixe menu. I had cream of smoked eggplant soup as a starter and fillet of turbot (white fish) with vegetables for my main course. DH had fois gras (he really wanted regular paté but it wasn’t on the menu) and fillet of beef with frites. For dessert, we ordered a strawberry Napoleon and a delicious chocolate pastry thing that I can’t remember the name of. Most of these items were from the slate. A word of warning – we couldn’t read the slate very well from across the room and didn’t realize that several of the things we ordered cost extra, above and beyond the 36€. The fillet of beef was an extra 10.50€! That came as a bit of a shock.

I loved everything I had but DH was slightly disappointed in his plat – he ordered the beef medium-rare and it was barely pink inside. DH also wasn’t in love with the desserts. That meant more for me! I didn’t let them go to waste. All in all though, a great anniversary dinner experience. DH forgave the meal imperfections simply because the meal was so pleasant. I did take special note of the check since it was our most expensive dinner -- 115€.

We considered taking a taxi back to the hotel for the first time all week, but then thought better of it and walked. We had gotten to know the route very well and we were champion walkers by that time.

Alas, our last night in Paris had come to an end. But we still had half a day before leaving the next afternoon! We planned to make the most of it.

End of Day 6.

This is great. I hope to have a romantic trip to Paris one day but I'm going to enjoy it in 2 weeks either way!!!

Thanks for taking the time to write this; I know what you mean about living the fantasy of being a travel writer.

I'm wondering whether when you went to Le Dome restaurant you were actually headed to the Bistrot du Dome across the street, which is the less expensive sibling of Le Dome.

Lovely trip report. Isn't Rodin Museum beautiful, what a perfect spot for a picnic. I laughed reading about your trip to Bon Marche, I was practically accosted by a security guard whilst I was taking a photo of that bread scupture, but I got it!

Nikki, you may be right about Bistrot du Dome. Wish we had figured that out!

Alas Toni, I didn't get the bread sculpture shot.

I am really enjoying your report. We are heading back in October. It will be our 8th trip to Paris together. I had to laugh about your macaron/eclair thing. My husband and I do taste comparisons; I go for the macarons and he likes the eclairs. His favorite eclair is the chocolate cream. I had so many favorite flavors of macaron I have to go back and try them all again. Keep writing. It's a great read.

Day 7

We had a 4:30 p.m. flight and had scheduled an airport shuttle pickup for 1:00 – we like to be early. So for our last morning Paris (which was also our anniversary!), we decided to splurge on breakfast outside the hotel (we were sick of the hotel breakfast room in the basement), then walk back to the Grande Epicierie to buy a few more things to take home.

We packed up, checked out of the hotel, and put our bags in a storage room downstairs. I wanted to have crepes for breakfast because, amazingly, I had not had any crepes the whole trip! DH got them for dessert on our first night but that was it. There was a little creperie right across the street from the hotel, but it was closed. Rather than go off in search of an open one, we decided to go to a patisserie at the corner of Montparnasse and Raspail, which also served coffee and had a few small tables.

DH had OJ and a delicious pain au chocolate with almonds. I had café au lait and decided to choose the craziest-looking pastry that they had. It was called a Brioche Suisse – covered in candied fruit these huge pieces of sugar. Hard to describe but I loved it. Good final breakfast.

One last stroll up Blvd. Raspail to the Bon Marche. We had plenty of time so we walked through the department store. Everything in there is so beautiful – every lamp in the lamp section looks like a work of art. Browsed through the furniture and kitchen appliances, etc. It’s certainly looks nothing like Macys in DC!

The Grande Epicerie was less overwhelming this time as we knew where to find things. We got more Dijon mustard and spicy olives, fruit preserves, fleur de sel, crazy banana candies in a banana-shaped tin, and some other unique items, as well as another Grande Epicierie shopping bag to give to a friend. (I had an interesting time explaining in French to the cashier that one of the shopping bags we were holding had been purchased two days before, while the other one was new and we wished to buy it today. Possibly my most involved French conversation of the week. DH was impressed.)

I also bought two more mini-macarons to enjoy on our walk back – one chocolate and one caramel. We stopped in the little adjacent park as soon as we came out, and I ate them.

We still had a couple of hours to kill, so we took a longer route back, browsing shop windows and stopping in a bookstore to buy some postcards. Wound our way to the Jardin du Luxembourg and strolled through one last time. Our final stop in Paris was a patisserie on Rue Vavin that I had been wanting to go to all week but never had the chance. I believe it was called Le Petit Gourmand. It had a beautiful window display with gigantic mountains of meringues.

I didn’t try the meringues, but took a chance and bought a box of macarons (there were 8 or 10 of them in the box, which cost 9€) to take home to my coworkers. It turned out to be a good choice – I opened them up the next morning at my office in DC and they were fantastic. Everyone loved them. Not quite like Pierre Herme but pretty close, even a day later.

We had just enough time to go back to the hotel and pack our purchases into our luggage before the shuttle came. I can’t remember the name of the shuttle service but it was recommended by the hotel. It cost 34€ for the two of us and was so worth it. Much more relaxing than taking the train and it allowed us to really enjoy our last morning in Paris without feeling stressed out about getting to the airport. We picked up a couple more people on the way to CDG, but that was fine as we had plenty of time. Had one more nice view of l’Arc de Triomphe on our way out of town.

We had an uneventful flight home. I must give kudos to Air France – their airline food is pretty darn good!

Now that I’ve been back for a few days, I have to say that my favorite memories are of our time sitting outside at cafés, and the food and drink we enjoyed at those cafés. The beautiful gardens were also a highlight, along with the fountains and statues. I can’t wait to go back and am already thinking about what neighborhood I want to stay in next. I want to try an apartment so we can cook some of that beautiful produce from the outdoor markets! It might be 10 years from now but it WILL happen eventually.

C’est tous! Thanks to everyone who hung in through this extremely long report. I’m sad to be finishing it because it makes the trip feel that much more “over.” But I’m sure I will revisit this report many times in the coming years to relive the experience. And I’ve still got photos to edit!

Questions, comments, and additional spelling corrections are welcome

Terrific report and sounds like a terrific trip! Thanks for bringing us along