After a year and a half of remote work and pandemic life, it felt so good to take some time off and get out of the country for a week. I last visited France with Rémy in 2017, when we took a road trip through cities in the north with his mom. Since we got married in 2019, our intention was make the trip every year together to see his side of the family that lives there. But then, COVID.
Fun fact: Rémy has French citizenship and is fluent in French, so it’s a thousand times easier for me to navigate the culture/language/geography when he’s around. I studied French in middle school and high school, and I’m somewhat conversationally functional if incredibly awkward. But I’m not GREAT at French, so I’m feeling determined after this recent trip to figure out a course or something I can take to speed up my improvement in speaking and reading. If you’re not fully in the conversation, especially with family, because you can’t understand what they’re joking about, it’s definitely harder to feel connected.
The main point of this trip was to attend Rémy’s cousin’s wedding near his family’s hometown of Milon-la-Chapelle. But we needed a vacation, too, so we spent our first two nights in the heart of Paris at the Renaissance Paris Vendome Hotel (thanks to a generous family discount). I loved it for the elegance, the location (near the metro, the Tuileries and the Louvre) and the option to visit the spa and fitness center.
We took the time to visit certain landmarks – the Musée d’Orsay, Jardin des Tuileries, Jardin du Luxembourg, Notre Dame. But per our usual approach to quick city trips, Rémy and I embarked on a fast-paced eating and drinking tour of Paris while walking tens of thousands of steps in the process (I have a sturdy knee brace to keep me going at the moment).
Our favorite food and drink finds in Paris:
Le Select Montparnasse for lunch on their lovely patio in a more upscale neighborhood (see featured photo). They had the most gorgeous salads I’ve ever seen – we opted for niçoise and salad with chèvre chaud (hot chèvre cheese on toasted bread).
Café Père Tanguy for another patio lunch. This bustling spot sits on a slant in an uphill stretch of Paris, along with a few other cafés. I loved the toasts here – like grilled eggplant/zucchini/peppers on toast with salad.
Loup for dinner. We wandered in without a reservation and there was room for us inside. The vibe is both funky and classy, with a mix of American-type foods (Caesar salad with chicken, for example, which you’ll see on menus everywhere) and the more classic French foods (I tried rillettes for the first time and loved it).
Ibrik Kitchen for dinner. This new, hip spot features a Balkan-style menu with small plates like feta and baguette, fried cauliflower with spices, and souvlaki (chicken skewers).
Maison Galland for eclairs. This little patisserie is loaded with brioche, sweet croissants and all sorts of dessert-type breads.
Maison Arnaud Delmontel was our other destination for bready snacks – croissants and baguettes to take for the second leg of our trip. It smelled heavenly.
Etienne Marcel for happy hour wine and small, complimentary dishes of popcorn. Perfect for sitting on a crowded patio by the street and people-watching, while feeling like you’re part of the mix.
Le Petit Vendome for a cheese plate and espressos to stave off jet lag. We picked three cheeses that arrived as giant slabs along with baguette. Our first “breakfast” in the city.
My favorite thing about all of these experiences is that we were never rushed by servers. That’s not part of the French culture, since table turnover isn’t a big part of the restaurant business model. Once you settle in, you’re there to stay. So soak it in.
