So when my friend Laura emailed me and said she was going to be in Paris for business, I said I will be right down. After all, it was Mother's Day (US) weekend so what better way to treat ourselves! Travelling from London to Paris is a breeze on the Eurostar - 186 mph, through the chunnel and in Paris in 2 hr 15 min.
I left Friday morning after dropping the kids at school and was in Paris by 1:30. I will admit I was a little nervous traveling by myself...had to train from our house to Paddington, jump on the tube to the Eurostar station, then the Metro in Paris to our hotel stop. But I did it, didn't get lost and didn't ask for help! Confidence restored! Although I did pop my diamond earring off on the Eurostar but a nice woman saw it and alerted me...that could have been a bad start to the weekend!
St Pancras International
Laura's hotel was a block away from the Tour Eiffel...great location! I checked my bag and went to meet my old volleyball teammate, Paige Bradley for a glass of wine and a crepe at a nearby cafe. It was fun to catch up after 20+ years of not seeing each other. Paige is living in Paris (again) with her husband and small kids. It was fun to get her perspective on living abroad and she is my go to person on all things France now!
Laura and I had dinner in the Latin Quarter Friday night---I had the classic steak with pepper sauce and delicious frites! After dinner we strolled though the St. Germain and Sorbonne areas-bustling with people! We ended up walking all the way back to our hotel along the river-it was lovely and about 4km! We walked off our dinner!
Notre Dame
On Saturday we power shopped! It was a beautiful sunny, spring day. I knew I would come back to Paris so it was nice not to feel pressured to see every museum and touristy attraction. We shopped the Rue du Passy for hours...bought shoes, scarves and clothes! We stopped and had a lovely lunch at a cafe and some great people watching. Laura and I decided that every young French family is ridiculously good looking and charming. And style is effortless and funky. Lucky for me, Laura is fluent in French (French major actually) and knew her way around like an expert. She also is a french history buff and was able to give me all sorts of facts!
Spring in Paris
Ahh cheese!
That evening we strolled the Champs Elysees on our way to a new restaurant Laura had read about in Bon Appetit. We were on the very posh street with Gucci, Prada, YSL, etc...people watching at its finest! We popped in to a chic cafe and had a couple of glasses of wine before our dinner at Le Bal. Le Bal was very good but had a limited menu. 3 entrees to choose from so you better like one of them. It was very contemporary and off the beaten path, down a little side street. The area (don't remember what is was called) was up and coming and turning from a transvestite haven to a trendy neighborhood. We had the best asparagus with a hard boiled egg that was ah-maz-ing!
I wish I could say we drank this bottle of Dom...but I just LOVE the color of the bottle...note the hair...this is after the hair debacle of 2012 (another blog post!)
Laura left early the next morning back to Seattle so I strolled along the Seine and tried to walk my way back to the Gare du Nord. It was a long walk, with my heavy bag filled with new purchases, so I ended up jumping on the Metro to catch my train home.
All in all it was a lovely weekend. Paris has a new friend in me...I will be back. Can't wait to go with Pete (alone) and take the kids!
I think I may have to delete this link... serious Europe Envy ;) Love that you are already travelling so much - but I wouldn't expect anything less from you :)
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