Before Ben started his new job in Arizona, we decided to take one last shot at a vacation, so we planned a 10-day trip to Paris after the holidays. So, after a whirlwind tour of our families over the New HannuKwanMas season, we packed our bags and boarded our plane. Things have changed on planes a lot in the past few years; we had the choice of a dozen movies, twice as many TV programs, as well as a number of single-player and interactive games, including trivia playing against everyone else on the plane. Ben was still listed with the high-scores on our return flight.
We arrived at Charles DeGaulle airport in the morning on January 3rd. Our “de-planing” was temporarily delayed while French police came on the plane to escort off a passenger who was “threatening the lives of other passengers.” Needless to say, they were quite a bit more polite about it than if it had happened in the states. After navigating our way through the RER and Metro, we arrived at Francoise’s apartment. (Emily’s mom was an exchange student to France while in high school and Francoise was her host sister.) We had arranged to rent an apartment from one of her friends, and she walked us the 5 blocks there, where we promptly napped for the rest of the day. That evening we toured our neighborhood in the 13th arrondissement, which is south of the city center and is primarily aresidential area. We decided to have a casual french dinner wandering around the Place D’Italie eating a loaf of french bread and slices of quiche from a patisserie.
On the 4th we were up and out of the house by 9am in an attempt to miss morning crowds, and counteract jet-lag. It was a misty day, and I was quite grumpy. Unperturbed, Ben dragged me along to Montemarte and we walked up the zigzag stairs to the base of Sacre Coeur.
Ben said he had a surprise for me so to close my eyes; I secretly hoped it was a marzipan pomme de terre. When I opened my eyes Ben was on one knee with a ring. Don’t really remember what we said, but there were some shouts from a nearby group of people, and at some point I must have said “yes.” However, the ring didn’t fit. Ben had sneaked into my jewelry box and measured my rings, not knowing that I never wear any of them because they all used to be my grandmothers and are all too small. Even the best laid plans….
Just Engaged!
We explored the inside of Sacre Coeur, and enjoyed the misty view of the city, with the Tour Eiffel peaking out above the mist .
We celebrated at lunch with champagne and the plat du jour at a restaurant across from the Lapin Agile and the last remaining wine vineyard in Paris .
As a Christmas present, Ben’s dad and step-mom had given us money for a “nice meal” in Paris, and so we decided there was no better day to celebrate than today, so we called Benoit, the best restaurant that had been recommended to us. Their only reservation that night was at 10pm, and we took it. We arrived at Benoit on time and proceeded to have the best meal of our lives: smoked salmon with shallots and carrots, and duck fois gras with toast for appetizers, and it only got better from there. We started home just after midnight.
On the 5th we took our time waking up, but picked up a pain au chocolat on the way to Pont Neuf where we spent the morning walking around Isle de la Cite, touring Saint Chapelle and the Conciergerie. We decided to save Notre Dame for another day, so did some window shopping on the Isle de St-Louis, where we managed to find my pomme de terre.
We stopped in Charlotte (another recommendation) for the best hot chocolate in Paris – literally a pot of steaming hot liquid chocolate. We took a nighttime walk along the Seine and headed back to our apartment after buying a wonderfully gaudy temporary engagement ring that fit. We watched “North by Northwest” in French, and planned our next day.
The 6th was our day to do the Louvre, so we got an early(ish) start.
We spent the day touring the galleries (where we didn’t take a single picture we were so busy), and wandered home to check email and make “we’re engaged” phone calls.
On the 7th we headed off early to the Eiffel Tower.
It was the perfect day, bright but sunny. We didn’t have a long line to wait in since we’d decided to walk as much of the climb as we could (the first two “stories”). Beautiful views, a wonderful climb, and an amazing variety of foreign languages. After, we went to lunch at La Fontaine de Mars, another recommended restaurant where we had yet another meal. Ben convinced the maitre-d to sell us two of the napkins. We walked around trying to find a Fashion and Costume museum, only to find out it was closed. So we toured the ritzy shopping district, and caught a lovely glimpse of the Arc de Triumph.
On the 8th, we did a quick tour of the Musee D’Orsay before heading over to Francoise’s flat where we had been invited for a family brunch. We had a wonderful time with them, and got to partake of a French tradition: the first Sunday after the New Year, you have agalette de roi, a flaky pastry cake, and there’s a favre (formerly a bean, nowadays, a porcelain gimcrack) baked inside. Whoever gets the slice with the favre is the king for the day and has to wear a silly paper crown. I got the favre, and the dubious honor of having to wear the crown. After our lunch, we headed off to the Pierre & Marie Curie mineral museum which was closed for renovations, but allowed us a special visit with help from Francoise. It was still a beautiful sunny day when we had finished there, so we headed back to Montmarte to visit the artists’ square and buy gifts before heading home. That night we got Thai food from a local store; it was much more intimidating to speak French to a person who is also not a native-French speaker, but we fought our way through.
On the 9th we went straight to Notre Dame and began climbing the spiral staircases. The bell tower was magnificent, and there were very few other people there. We then made a quick tour of the Pantheon and then rushed back to the Place D’Italie in time to go on ourManufacteur des Gobelins tour.
This tapestry factory and school provided us with a 2 hour tour, all in French, that was fabulous. The tour was an off-the-beaten-path activity that was great preparation for seeing the tapestries at the Musee de Cluny the next day.
After our tour we headed back across town to visit the Paris School of Mines, and visit their mineral museum.
For dinner that night we went to L’Avant Gout which had been recommended by Francoise’s daughter. We had yet another exquisite French meal, and one of the best chocolate desserts I’ve ever had – chocolate mouse with a sweet red pepper sauce.
On the 10th we went to the Musee de Cluny, the middle ages museum that is in an old monastery. There we saw the Lady and the Unicorn tapestry series, and could truly appreciate the incredible detail and workmanship in it (as well as roughly calculate how long they would have taken to make – if our French was in fact as good as we thought it was). After the museum, we did a little shopping and bought me a pair of tres chic boots before checking into our hotel for the last night. Then we headed off to Le Timbre (the postage stamp), for our last meal in Paris, courtesy of Ben’s mom and step-dad. The restaurant is owned by a British couple, so we had an easy time talking about the menu options. The duck confit was to die for, as was the millefuille for dessert. Our last night in Paris we had a wonderful starry walk home, and fell asleep watching French game shows.
