Thursday
We got in on an overnight flight, and got to the hotel around noon. We had napped a bit, but nothing substantial. We both felt the mental lag was overcoming the excitement of arrival, so we decided, after unpacking, to take a 1-2 hour nap, and then push ourselves to go out and enjoy until we collapsed, thereby effectively - hopefully - adjusting ourselves to Paris time.
Once we awoke from our accidental 4.5 hour "nap", we threw on some clothes and began walking around town, observing the area and looking for a place for dinner. We were HQ'ed in Marais, which it turns out (I did little research ahead of time), is one of the best districts in all of Paris, especially for the little blonde shopper. The narrow, winding alleyways are as close to the positive Parisian stereotype as you could get. The weather was absolutely - and literally - freezing (nothing like seeing "0" on the weather report), so we were bundled and moving to stay warm. But it was not unbearable, and very romantic. It stayed that way throughout the trip: freezing, but romantic.
Marais includes or is next to (I forget the logistics) Bastille, so 2 Metro stops away - which are so conveniently close together - from our hotel was the Bastille memorial monument, in the center of a traffic circle. It's very beautiful, and is surrounded by lots of happening Marais restaurants and bars. Eventually we popped into a place for dinner, began practicing our French with the waiter, and dined a truly Parisian diner. (It was here, after my first bite of our appetizer, that I got it in my head that we should try and jot down everything we ate at meals. We got about 95% of it down, some items without their French names.)
Le Reveil (Thursday dinner)
Bottle of Bourgueil
Tartelette (baked tuna, peppers, and cheese, on bread)
Chicken and potatoes
Andouillette (pork sausage) and potatoes
Some cheeses
The food was absolutely fantastic. It must be said that as a hater of all things seafood, I ate the Tartelette appetizer with no knowledge of it's tuna contents, and swearing to Amber that it was pork. Once our waiter confirmed that it was "thon", which is tuna, I sprinkled a little crow upon my bites. Not only was the food amazing, but the waiter was extremely nice, pleasant, happy to converse, help out, and joke around. A great start to the trip.
We also set a standard, followed until the departure flight back to NY: no matter how full we were or how much we ordered, we would eat more, drink more, order more, and shove some dessert in at the end. Once we left Le Reveil and walked around some more, we stumbled upon a small crepe joint:
At a crepe place (Thursday night)
Crepe Nutella
Crepe Sucre (sugar)
Delicious, obviously. We wandered around Marais, Bastille, and St. Paul for an hour or so, Amber getting very revved up about the following day's shopping potential, which was a major objective of the trip.
Friday
Instead of setting an alarm, we thought we'd just wake up 10 minutes before our free breakfast period ended, throw on some clothes, and dash down in a rush. This was all before our brains could effectively turn on the language cortex, so when they asked which room we were in, in French, on arrival, we almost passed out.
Les Jardins du Marais (our hotel) (Friday breakfast)
Eggs, ham, croissants, cheese, cereal, coffee, tea
So, so very good. Three days in a row of an excellent breakfast.
Once we put on our faces, we head out to go window shopping in the local area. Shopping had been on Amber's agenda ever since she first dreamed up a trip there, so I knew there would be a day of sacrifice. Months ago, the prospect of spending a chunk of a day shopping brought tears of pain and sadness to my eyes. But surprisingly, be it from the cold-but-pleasant weather or just the overall exoticness of the situation, it was very enjoyable. Every time we popped into a shop, it was "bonjour" with a smile. And most spoke English but it was a last resort; we tried to keep it on the francais tip as often as we could. In our experiences, as long as we made any attempt to speak something in French before resorting to English, we were welcomed warmly; no stereotypical French attitudes at all.
We first sought a close-by chocolate shop, and picked up some super-expensive-but-very-good (though not Jacques Torres good) chocolate. Amber began her hunt for a wallet replacement, picking up the exact lingo necessary for the day's hunt: ports de carte. The next few hours are a blur, but they were spent in those classic winding Parisian alleyways, popping in and out, mentally calculating prices in dollars, and then politely declining.
On Amber's list of things to do and places to go was a restaurant called Chez Omar. By the time we got there, they had closed for lunch, so we went to a different eatery very close by.
La Pierre du Marais (Friday lunch)
Vin Du Mois (wine)
Entre Cote Grillee (x2)
Crepe Nutella
Crepe Miel (honey)
Grand creme
It was the equivalent of an American diner, but with a French atmosphere. Excellent food again, and a nice place to warm up.
After some more window shopping, we decided to head towards 'The Golden Triangle', one-third of which includes the Champs d'Elysee and Arc de Triomphe, and another third of which includes mega-fancy shoppes, like Hermes and Valentino. By the time we got down there, it was getting dark and much colder, so it was still painless for me (and still joyous for others). The stores were extremely busy, but it didn't stop us from pretending we had tens of thousands of dollars to spend on a single dress for New Years. However, faking it (and ethics) did stop me from accepting free drinks while Amber drooled on the racks at Valentino.
A few more hours later, and a couple more numbed digits, we made our way back to Bastille, for dinner at Paris' oldest brasserie, Bofinger.
Bofinger (Friday dinner)
Cote du Rhone Guigal (wine)
Fois gras
Onion soup
Pork in beer
Venison
Macaroon
Concerto au chocolat
The guidebooks and online recommendations said it was a great place for a classic Parisian experience, and as far as we could tell, they were all right. The atmosphere is fantastic, our waiter was great, and the food was absolutely excellent. We sat close to two business-like gentlemen at one point, and a French couple at another, and we realized sitting very closely to other people is not bad at all when you can't understand what they're saying (and you presume they can't understand you either). Had we all been speaking English, it would have been too T.G.I. Friday's.
Saturday
Again we woke up 10 minutes before the end of breakfast. Scramble for the scrambled eggs.
Les Jardins du Marais (our hotel) (Saturday breakfast)
Eggs, ham, croissants, cheese, cereal, coffee, tea
We had been kicking around the idea of visiting Versailles on our trip, but we weren't sure as to how difficult it would be to get there. After analyzing the Metro map and realizing it would be covered on our pass, we checked with a desk clerk on the length of the train trip, and found it was going to be about a half hour from the hotel to the castle. We had done just about enough shopping the day before, and Amber was keen on learnin' some Marie Antoinette, so we headed southwest.
By the time we got to the town, over to the castle, and purchases tickets, we had about two hours to do the audio tour (which is pretty cool, having never had the opportunity to be a non-native speaker in such an environment). We saw the heart of the castle, but didn't have enough time - or nerves, as Versailles is very wide open and it was freezing - to go all the way out towards The Grand Trianon where Marie Antoinette romped.
(Skipped lunch)
When we got on the train heading back into the city, we were pretty exhausted. New York City can wipe you out on any given day and we lead relatively busy lives, but three straight days of travel and pseudo-tourism can really kick your ass, especially in Siberian climates. At that point, we were happy with some cheap, low-key time killers before our second attempt at Chez Omar, for dinner.
Chez Omar (Saturday dinner)
Algerian wine
Moroccan chicken appetizer
Chicken couscous
Beef couscous
We got there about 10 minutes before they were going to open, and the owner was kind enough to let us in ahead of the crowd. He seemed a little put off, but not badly. In no more than 15 minutes, it was packed; we can only assume he thought we were being shady little Americans trying to beat the crowd (when in fact we were looking to stay warm, and had been keeping busy next door for a half hour or so). By the time we left, the line to get in was out the door (it's a small place). The food was very good; French-Algerian / Moroccan. Highly recommend aiming for the minute they open, if you're looking to go.
I had it in my head, before we crashed for the last night, to go to a bar close for one drink, just for the experience. We had had a group of recommended places close to our hotel, so I picked the most appealing and we made our way. Of course, we (I) got lost and we spent a lot of time walking around, backtracking, and again, freezing. Amber stuck it out like a trooper and just as we were giving up and heading home, we found one of them. We stopped in, paid an exorbitant amount for a Heineken and a Bailey's, coughed through the not-yet-banned smoke, scanned the familiar barflies, and split. "Okay, that was nice, let's go." I really don't know what I expected. And of course, crepes on the way home.
We were in bed some time around 11pm / 12am. By about 4am, Amber was deeply regretting having espresso in her Bailey's. I too woke up eventually in the middle of the night (I suspect Amber was poking me to wake up and keep her company; she denies the allegations). We never really got ourselves adjusted to +6 hours, but by morning, it wouldn't matter.
Sunday
With 30 minutes to spare!
Les Jardins du Marais (our hotel) (Sunday breakfast)
Eggs, ham, croissants, cheese, cereal, coffee, tea
After grappling with my stupid, stupid stomach as we tried to pack and leave by noon, we finally made our way out of our hotel. Again suffering the effects of 'no plans', we had much time to kill between check-out and the airport. And again we wounded that time with some shopping, though dragging our bags around Paris - even on a beautifully sunny Sunday - was less than awesome, so we resigned to pitch camp at warm, insulated Charles de Gaulle.
Au revoir, Paris. Nous vous aimons.
Reviews
Films
The Golden Compass: (1.5/5) - Amber: "That was terrible." Eric: "I can't believe I broke my 'No Premiere Weekends' rule for this."
The Cooler: (2/5) - Amber: "That was cute!" Eric: "Didn't spend enough time being a gambling documentary."
Eastern Promises: (3.5/5) - Eric: "Not as taut as History of Violence, but tense and very interesting."
I Am Legend: (4/5) - [via txt msg] Amber: "It was good!"
National Treasure: Book of Secrets: (1.5/5) - [via txt msg] Amber: "It was bad."
Superbad: (3/5) - Eric: "Yeah, I guess. Not nearly as funny as Knocked Up."
Books
Then We Came to the End: (2/5) - Eric: "Sorely disappointed."
After Dark: (3/5) - Eric: "...a bit of a letdown, however I will pursue his other work."
Beowulf: (4/5) - Eric: "A fantastic illustrated graphic novelization of the story I have no interest in reading as the original, nor seeing as a CG film."
Bone Volume 3: Eyes of the Storm: (4/5) - Eric: "...this is where the plot starts moving forward"
We got in on an overnight flight, and got to the hotel around noon. We had napped a bit, but nothing substantial. We both felt the mental lag was overcoming the excitement of arrival, so we decided, after unpacking, to take a 1-2 hour nap, and then push ourselves to go out and enjoy until we collapsed, thereby effectively - hopefully - adjusting ourselves to Paris time.
Once we awoke from our accidental 4.5 hour "nap", we threw on some clothes and began walking around town, observing the area and looking for a place for dinner. We were HQ'ed in Marais, which it turns out (I did little research ahead of time), is one of the best districts in all of Paris, especially for the little blonde shopper. The narrow, winding alleyways are as close to the positive Parisian stereotype as you could get. The weather was absolutely - and literally - freezing (nothing like seeing "0" on the weather report), so we were bundled and moving to stay warm. But it was not unbearable, and very romantic. It stayed that way throughout the trip: freezing, but romantic.
Marais includes or is next to (I forget the logistics) Bastille, so 2 Metro stops away - which are so conveniently close together - from our hotel was the Bastille memorial monument, in the center of a traffic circle. It's very beautiful, and is surrounded by lots of happening Marais restaurants and bars. Eventually we popped into a place for dinner, began practicing our French with the waiter, and dined a truly Parisian diner. (It was here, after my first bite of our appetizer, that I got it in my head that we should try and jot down everything we ate at meals. We got about 95% of it down, some items without their French names.)
Le Reveil (Thursday dinner)
Bottle of Bourgueil
Tartelette (baked tuna, peppers, and cheese, on bread)
Chicken and potatoes
Andouillette (pork sausage) and potatoes
Some cheeses
The food was absolutely fantastic. It must be said that as a hater of all things seafood, I ate the Tartelette appetizer with no knowledge of it's tuna contents, and swearing to Amber that it was pork. Once our waiter confirmed that it was "thon", which is tuna, I sprinkled a little crow upon my bites. Not only was the food amazing, but the waiter was extremely nice, pleasant, happy to converse, help out, and joke around. A great start to the trip.
We also set a standard, followed until the departure flight back to NY: no matter how full we were or how much we ordered, we would eat more, drink more, order more, and shove some dessert in at the end. Once we left Le Reveil and walked around some more, we stumbled upon a small crepe joint:
At a crepe place (Thursday night)
Crepe Nutella
Crepe Sucre (sugar)
Delicious, obviously. We wandered around Marais, Bastille, and St. Paul for an hour or so, Amber getting very revved up about the following day's shopping potential, which was a major objective of the trip.
Friday
Instead of setting an alarm, we thought we'd just wake up 10 minutes before our free breakfast period ended, throw on some clothes, and dash down in a rush. This was all before our brains could effectively turn on the language cortex, so when they asked which room we were in, in French, on arrival, we almost passed out.
Les Jardins du Marais (our hotel) (Friday breakfast)
Eggs, ham, croissants, cheese, cereal, coffee, tea
So, so very good. Three days in a row of an excellent breakfast.
Once we put on our faces, we head out to go window shopping in the local area. Shopping had been on Amber's agenda ever since she first dreamed up a trip there, so I knew there would be a day of sacrifice. Months ago, the prospect of spending a chunk of a day shopping brought tears of pain and sadness to my eyes. But surprisingly, be it from the cold-but-pleasant weather or just the overall exoticness of the situation, it was very enjoyable. Every time we popped into a shop, it was "bonjour" with a smile. And most spoke English but it was a last resort; we tried to keep it on the francais tip as often as we could. In our experiences, as long as we made any attempt to speak something in French before resorting to English, we were welcomed warmly; no stereotypical French attitudes at all.
We first sought a close-by chocolate shop, and picked up some super-expensive-but-very-good (though not Jacques Torres good) chocolate. Amber began her hunt for a wallet replacement, picking up the exact lingo necessary for the day's hunt: ports de carte. The next few hours are a blur, but they were spent in those classic winding Parisian alleyways, popping in and out, mentally calculating prices in dollars, and then politely declining.
On Amber's list of things to do and places to go was a restaurant called Chez Omar. By the time we got there, they had closed for lunch, so we went to a different eatery very close by.
La Pierre du Marais (Friday lunch)
Vin Du Mois (wine)
Entre Cote Grillee (x2)
Crepe Nutella
Crepe Miel (honey)
Grand creme
It was the equivalent of an American diner, but with a French atmosphere. Excellent food again, and a nice place to warm up.
After some more window shopping, we decided to head towards 'The Golden Triangle', one-third of which includes the Champs d'Elysee and Arc de Triomphe, and another third of which includes mega-fancy shoppes, like Hermes and Valentino. By the time we got down there, it was getting dark and much colder, so it was still painless for me (and still joyous for others). The stores were extremely busy, but it didn't stop us from pretending we had tens of thousands of dollars to spend on a single dress for New Years. However, faking it (and ethics) did stop me from accepting free drinks while Amber drooled on the racks at Valentino.
A few more hours later, and a couple more numbed digits, we made our way back to Bastille, for dinner at Paris' oldest brasserie, Bofinger.
Bofinger (Friday dinner)
Cote du Rhone Guigal (wine)
Fois gras
Onion soup
Pork in beer
Venison
Macaroon
Concerto au chocolat
The guidebooks and online recommendations said it was a great place for a classic Parisian experience, and as far as we could tell, they were all right. The atmosphere is fantastic, our waiter was great, and the food was absolutely excellent. We sat close to two business-like gentlemen at one point, and a French couple at another, and we realized sitting very closely to other people is not bad at all when you can't understand what they're saying (and you presume they can't understand you either). Had we all been speaking English, it would have been too T.G.I. Friday's.
Saturday
Again we woke up 10 minutes before the end of breakfast. Scramble for the scrambled eggs.
Les Jardins du Marais (our hotel) (Saturday breakfast)
Eggs, ham, croissants, cheese, cereal, coffee, tea
We had been kicking around the idea of visiting Versailles on our trip, but we weren't sure as to how difficult it would be to get there. After analyzing the Metro map and realizing it would be covered on our pass, we checked with a desk clerk on the length of the train trip, and found it was going to be about a half hour from the hotel to the castle. We had done just about enough shopping the day before, and Amber was keen on learnin' some Marie Antoinette, so we headed southwest.
By the time we got to the town, over to the castle, and purchases tickets, we had about two hours to do the audio tour (which is pretty cool, having never had the opportunity to be a non-native speaker in such an environment). We saw the heart of the castle, but didn't have enough time - or nerves, as Versailles is very wide open and it was freezing - to go all the way out towards The Grand Trianon where Marie Antoinette romped.
(Skipped lunch)
When we got on the train heading back into the city, we were pretty exhausted. New York City can wipe you out on any given day and we lead relatively busy lives, but three straight days of travel and pseudo-tourism can really kick your ass, especially in Siberian climates. At that point, we were happy with some cheap, low-key time killers before our second attempt at Chez Omar, for dinner.
Chez Omar (Saturday dinner)
Algerian wine
Moroccan chicken appetizer
Chicken couscous
Beef couscous
We got there about 10 minutes before they were going to open, and the owner was kind enough to let us in ahead of the crowd. He seemed a little put off, but not badly. In no more than 15 minutes, it was packed; we can only assume he thought we were being shady little Americans trying to beat the crowd (when in fact we were looking to stay warm, and had been keeping busy next door for a half hour or so). By the time we left, the line to get in was out the door (it's a small place). The food was very good; French-Algerian / Moroccan. Highly recommend aiming for the minute they open, if you're looking to go.
I had it in my head, before we crashed for the last night, to go to a bar close for one drink, just for the experience. We had had a group of recommended places close to our hotel, so I picked the most appealing and we made our way. Of course, we (I) got lost and we spent a lot of time walking around, backtracking, and again, freezing. Amber stuck it out like a trooper and just as we were giving up and heading home, we found one of them. We stopped in, paid an exorbitant amount for a Heineken and a Bailey's, coughed through the not-yet-banned smoke, scanned the familiar barflies, and split. "Okay, that was nice, let's go." I really don't know what I expected. And of course, crepes on the way home.
We were in bed some time around 11pm / 12am. By about 4am, Amber was deeply regretting having espresso in her Bailey's. I too woke up eventually in the middle of the night (I suspect Amber was poking me to wake up and keep her company; she denies the allegations). We never really got ourselves adjusted to +6 hours, but by morning, it wouldn't matter.
Sunday
With 30 minutes to spare!
Les Jardins du Marais (our hotel) (Sunday breakfast)
Eggs, ham, croissants, cheese, cereal, coffee, tea
After grappling with my stupid, stupid stomach as we tried to pack and leave by noon, we finally made our way out of our hotel. Again suffering the effects of 'no plans', we had much time to kill between check-out and the airport. And again we wounded that time with some shopping, though dragging our bags around Paris - even on a beautifully sunny Sunday - was less than awesome, so we resigned to pitch camp at warm, insulated Charles de Gaulle.
Au revoir, Paris. Nous vous aimons.
Reviews
Films
The Golden Compass: (1.5/5) - Amber: "That was terrible." Eric: "I can't believe I broke my 'No Premiere Weekends' rule for this."
The Cooler: (2/5) - Amber: "That was cute!" Eric: "Didn't spend enough time being a gambling documentary."
Eastern Promises: (3.5/5) - Eric: "Not as taut as History of Violence, but tense and very interesting."
I Am Legend: (4/5) - [via txt msg] Amber: "It was good!"
National Treasure: Book of Secrets: (1.5/5) - [via txt msg] Amber: "It was bad."
Superbad: (3/5) - Eric: "Yeah, I guess. Not nearly as funny as Knocked Up."
Books
Then We Came to the End: (2/5) - Eric: "Sorely disappointed."
After Dark: (3/5) - Eric: "...a bit of a letdown, however I will pursue his other work."
Beowulf: (4/5) - Eric: "A fantastic illustrated graphic novelization of the story I have no interest in reading as the original, nor seeing as a CG film."
Bone Volume 3: Eyes of the Storm: (4/5) - Eric: "...this is where the plot starts moving forward"