This Time Paris Was Intentional

My husband and I began planning our October trip back to Paris in early May. We decided to spend almost three weeks in France, bookending our trip in our favorite city, Paris. We wanted to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary in a city and country we love outside of our beloved USA.

We thought about hiring a travel agent, and decided that part of the joy of travel is actually planning the trip ourselves. We had some minor travel challenges and learned our way out of them (though we still confused about the toll booths in France).

Tourism in France is still plagued with the aftermath of the terrorist attacks. We were not concerned to alter our plans. We registered with the State Department (Smart Traveler Enrollment Program) so if something changed dramatically we would be notified and can change our plans.

I happen to be on the American Airlines website one evening and noticed that fares were down dramatically as a result of the attacks on France. I asked my husband to take a look at the fares and confirm that they were in fact reflective of round trip prices. We took advantage at the moment, without an itinerary, picked dates/flights and booked our direct travel. You know what they say ‘Strike while the iron is hot!’

The next step was to build our itinerary: Five nights in Paris, three nights in Normandy, four nights in Loire Valley, and three nights back in Paris. Doesn’t it sound fabulous! I researched and researched over weeks, places to stay and reserved the following:

• Apartment rental through Cobblestone Paris (our go to Paris rental company where you are guaranteed exceptional service and great locations) – Le Gourmet Du Marais  with a wonderful kitchen located in the middle of Le Marais
• Bed and breakfast in Honfleur at La Petite Folie with the most attentive hotel manager, Mr. Erwan Quero. Once we arrived in Honfleur, we just couldn’t find the place. We called and he said, stay there and I will come get you. We were around the corner and he came running for us. Who does that! Since we stayed in one of their apartments, each morning delivered to our door was a beautiful French breakfast basket filled with fresh croissants, baguettes, yoghurts, local jams and other goodies (they also included my request each morning for hard boiled eggs)
• Boutique hotel in Amboise at Le Pavillon Des Lys located in the center of town within walking distance of the town’s sights and sounds. Highly recommend the weekend’s farmer’s market with fresh everything including cheese, meat, fish, fruits/veggies, flowers and clothes. I purchased six (6) scarves for $35!
• Hôtel du Jeu de Paume – decided to come back to Paris a day early and since our apartment was not available, we selected this unusual hotel to stay. The building is a rehabilitation of a former royal real tennis court, built under Louis XIII, at the beginning of the 17th century.  The lobby evokes the colors of Mondrian, and the famous chairs of Verner Panton cut bravely with the old beams of the real tennis.
• Apartment rental through Cobblestone Paris – Le Voyage En Isle up a never-ending flight of winding stairs. This very cute (small) one bedroom was on the Ille st. louis and very accessible to walk to either the right or left bank, or simply wander of both islands. We had many sunny days and eating lunch on or near one of the bridges by La Seine was a delight (ham/brie on a baguette with french butter is always delicious).

The next step was transportation. We decided to take a train from Paris to Rouen (leave a little earlier and purchase train tickets at the station at either a kiosk or wait on-line). You do not need to purchase tickets in advance as there is a surcharge from the US consolidator). We rented a car in Rouen from Enterprise and checked and double checked that we reserved an automatic.  Most rentals in Europe are manual.

We didn’t want to experience a Seinfeld moment where they had our reservation but didn’t hold our reservation for an automatic.

Neither Mark nor I wanted to learn how to drive a stick in France. Our initial idea was to drive through Normandy, head down to the Loire Valley, return the car rental, and train back to Paris. After getting comfortable with driving in France, we decided to drive back into Paris. With voice activated GPS it was a breeze to find the rental return location. If you have driven in NYC, Paris is just a little bit crazier with all types of urban motorcycles.

Fun facts about travel in France:

• It is more helpful to turn on voice activated GPS in your rental car before you get lost (in English of course). And if you get lost, so what it is France!
• If traveling by car on any autoroutes on France, look for the  toll gate marked by a green downward-pointing arrow or one with a toll collector. Many toll booths do not accept US chip credit cards.
• If you think exploring the Montmartre area around Sacré-Cœur will be both interesting and help you avoid the big stair climb in front of the church, you are most definitely wrong on one count. The Abbesses metro stop in the neighborhood nearby is the climb out of hell, a never-ending winding staircase. Plus you have multiple steep flights of stairs to go before you are at the Sacré-Cœur Basilica. At one point, I started to cry and said to Mark, I can’t do another flight of stairs, I’m calling Uber. I am happy to say that I didn’t give up. I climbed all those stairs.
• • A big bonus of all the stair climbing and walking is that the long walk you considered back home is no longer long enough.
• In France, you can find milk and eggs on the shelves and not the refrigerated section of the market. At first, you think this can’t be right, but the eggs and milk are completely safe and delicious.
• If you don’t speak French, then master the following when you enter a shop or restaurant: Excusez-moi, je ne parle que d’un peu de français or Excusez-moi, Je parle un petit peu français. Mark thinks this is the only thing I can say in French! I do speak a bit more as I was a French minor in college.
• Billy Crystal was wrong. After almost 3 weeks in France, it is how you feel darling not how you look! Next time, I need to invest in a good pair of walking shoes. My fabulous looking shoes killed my feet (thank goodness for moleskin).
• If you have to go (to the bathroom), find a bistro with outdoor seating and walk to back as if you own the place. Open your eyes for a staircase – toilets are often located one floor down or one floor up. Don’t ask anything and just go.
• Your US Starbucks card doesn’t work in France. I know while in France, why even go to Starbucks. Most of the time, I went to a local café or bistro, but sometimes you need a quick espresso and old habits…
• If you plan on doing a big shop, take your passport or write down the passport number and keep in your wallet for the shopkeeper to fill in the tax free form. It is the only way to get VAT back. I forgot mine once and luckily the shop was only 2 metro stops for me to go back.
• Inexpensive gifts can be found at Monoprix, local mega-chain with a wonderful assortment of giftable toiletries and speciality food items.
• Restaurant reviews can be found at La Fourchette, Paris By Mouth, and My Little Paris.

We arrived in Paris early morning on an uneventful flight. The flight was not crowded so we were both able to spread out. Even with the help of some drugs, I was not able to sleep. We arrived at CDG and thought to take UBER to our apartment. For some reason the app at the airport didn’t work so we took a cab.

Lucky for us we were able to gain access to our apartment early – a one bedroom in the heart of the Marais. The apartment was in a great location, beside the kitchen the apartment was a bit industrial in decor, and not as fabulous as the one we stayed the year before. We unpacked a bit, then headed out for food. We stopped for crepes at one of my favorite crepe places – BREIZH CAFÉ, where they serve buckwheat crepes to perfection. We got turned around a bit at first, the aftermath of a long sleepless flight. It took us about a day to get our barring.

We love, love, love being in Paris. You can have a day filled with an agenda, or simply wander the streets or along la Seine and delight in all that surrounds you. Walk, walk, and  walk    everywhere, though taking the Metro is quick, easy and safe too.   Walk  through the beautiful Jardin des Tuileries in the 1st , Jardin du Luxembourg in the 6th, or any of the pocket parks located throughout Paris. We arrived at the tail end of fashion week, and got to see a fashion show in the  Le Jardin des Tuileries.

We were in Paris for the Jewish high holidays. We had the opportunity to tour La Synagogue De La Victoria in the 9th – The Great Synagogue of Paris, the day before Erev Yom Kippur. It is the largest synagogue in France. Built in 1874 by the chief architect of the city of Paris, Alfred-Philibert Aldrophe, with the financial support of the Rothschild family, the synagogue provided Parisian jews with a place of worship that reflected the community’s tremendous demographic, economic and cultural development at the end of the 19th century. It can seat over 1,800 people, and since its inception, services have been conducted according to the Ashkenazi-Alsacian tradition.

Since we were not attending services, I wanted to make my own Rosh Hashanah table setting in the apartment.So on Erev Rosh Hashanah, I walked to Rue de Rosiers where I could find holiday challah. There are three authentic Jewish bakeries. I chose Florence Kahn for no reason other than when I walked by La Boutique Jaune de Sacha Finkelsztajn, the line was down the street. Well, here too.

So I waited and waited and waited, 45 minutes in total. They provided all of us waiting with mini corn beef sandwiches! When I finally got to the front of the line, NO MORE Holiday CHALLAHS! Twenty minutes more and they will have some additional. Mark (who did not wait with me the entire time) said no more waiting. So I purchased a regular long challah and honey cake. They gave me a few egg rolls that I improvised as my round challah. Also while waiting in line a young yeshiva student gave each of us two candles that i used as my Shabbat candles for the holiday blessing. Oh, and I bought honey and apples too.

We were in Paris for the Nuit Blanche celebration, which is held the first Saturday in October. It is an all night arts and cultural festival throughout the city. The premise is simple: for one night only, let art take over the city, and let the city be in its thrall. An ever-changing roster of artistic directors takes over different portions of the city every year, commissioning hundreds of works that are all about finding new ways for citizens to interact with the urban space.

Paris restaurants recommendations for food, ambiance, decor or just because:

• Poulette – 1st arrondissement – NYT recommendation for the best et onglet frites
• Cafe St. Regis – 4th for breakfast, lunch, bistro dinner or sitting outside with an espresso noisette and watching
• Les Fous De L’Ile – fun brasserie
• L’ilot Vache – next door to our apartment late night
• Chez Hanna for the best falafel in the Marais
• Roof deck atop the Au Printemps store for a bite or glass of wine
• Carrette – overlooking Place des Vosages
• Les Deux Margots – a bit touristy in the 6th but have a bite in this charming cafe frequented by Simone de Beauvoir,Jean-Paul Sartre,  Ernest Hemingway, Albert Camus, Pablo Picasso,  and Julia Child, to name a few.
• Outdoor markets, bakeries and  groceries are everywhere

Museums and tourist places we had planned to visit and those gems we found by wandering the streets:

• Louvre – We spoke with a very helpful customer information person who helped us plan our visit in the most efficient way. Every visit to Paris I have avoided this museum. This time, not. We went on a Friday evening when it was not as crowded. I finally got to see Mona Lisa, Milos Aphrodite, Nike of Samothrace, Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss, Sleeping Hermaphroditos, Venus de Milo, L’Astronome, and  the not too be missed Napoleon III apartment.
  • Afterwards, stop by Le Café Richelieu/Angelina for a much-needed shot of caffeine with their famous rich, thick and delicious hot chocolate.
  • Musée des Archives Nationales – housed in Hôtel de Soubise is one of the finest private mansions in the Marais district, with reception rooms decorated by Germain Boffrand and paintings by Boucher, Van Loo, Trémolière…The Musée des Archives Nationales permanently displays remarkable documents from the government archives as well as alternating exhibitions.
• Le Musée Carnavalet is dedicated to the historical legacy of Paris. The museum occupies two neighboring mansions: the Hôtel Carnavalet and the former Hôtel Le Peletier de Saint Fargeau
• Maison de Victor Hugo is a writer’s house museum located where Victor Hugo lived for 16 years from 1832–1848. It it located on the beautiful Place des Vosges, located in the Marais and the oldest planned square in the city, and the most beautiful planned.
• Topographie de l’Art – an interesting industrial space that housed a contemporary photographic exhibit entitled
• Place de la Republique – a small square where those that were killed in the October, 2105 attacks were remembered.
• Covered shopping passages: not as glorious as days gone by but worth a walk through:
  • Passage des Panoramas
  • Passage Jouffroy
  • Passage Verdeau
• White Night – Nuit Blanche – First Saturday in October, starts at sunset on Saturday and goes until sunrise on Sunday with a diverse set of artistic events and shows.

If you need a mani/pedi while in Paris, I suggest stopping by one of the ColorForever Nail Bars. The one in La Marais was clean and fun. It was interesting to talk about the upcoming US election in a combination of French and English. I chose the OPI color  Madame President (more about that at another time).

Next up was our trip north to Normandy. We spent all of our time in the Calvados department, which belongs to the region of Normandy. We arrived in Rouen on time and tried to call the car rental. I tried repeatedly on my phone and could not get through. The operator kept saying something in French! (Why I don’t practice my French more often is a question for another day). I went to the information desk and the lovely gentlemen did not speak English So after a few attempts, we figured out the French telephone system and I finally got through. You know the commercial in the US where Enterprise says they will pick you up, well in France not so much. She finally agreed to come get us (BTW, the car rental facility was about 15 minutes away from the train station. When we reserved the car, we were told it was walking distance.) Afterwards, we realized we should have just taken a cab.

So off we went. The agent at the rental facility showed us the car and put in our coordinates for our next destination – Honfleur. We left Enterprise and realized quickly we had no idea what direction we were travelling. We felt like we were driving in Circles. After awhile, we realized the GPS voice activation was not enabled, so once we flipped it on, all was fabuleux!

Honfleur is a shipping village located on the estuary where the Seine river meets the English Channel. What I remember most is the light, the beautiful French light reflecting off the water against the buildings that inspired many artists like Monet and Boudin. There is a wonderful bio/organic market on Wednesday and Saturdays where the produce was fresh picked and the fish just caught. The church in the center of town, L’église Sainte Catherine a Honfleur is France’s largest timber-built church with a separate bell tower.

We had two lovely dinners in Honfleur, with one night finding comfort in a ham/cheese/french butter/fresh baquette and red wine back at our apartment:

• Côté Resto – fresh seafood that literally tastes as fresh as the ocean
• Il Parasol for Italien – moules et frites along with veau citron

We spent a two days touring the Normandy area including the D-Day landing beaches; Juno and Omaha. We also visited  the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial. Even if you don’t have relatives buried there or served in the armed forces at the time, you can’t help but be
moved by the intensity of the experience along the shore line.

 

 

We stopped at some of the beaches and was awestruck by the memorial radiating from the shores – Les Braves Memorial of Omaha Beach.

As we drove through the small towns surrounding the D-Day beaches, we imagined what it must have been like for the allied forces marching through the countryside to defeat the German army.

Other places to visit in the region:

• Bayeux – a small town made famous for the tapisserie de Bayeux. Tapisserie de Bayeux is an embroidered cloth nearly 70 metres (230 ft) long and 50 centimetres (20 in) tall, which depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England. It has survived intact for over 9 centuries! To preserve the integrity of the embroidery, photography was not allowed. This image is from the museum website:

  

  • La Catherdrale de Bayeux was the original home of the Bayeux Tapestry and is a national monument of France.
  • La Reine Mathilde – a lovely looking salon de thé located in the center of town. The proprietors can be a bit off-putting but the pâtisseries are divine.
  • Prix Bayeux-Calvados des correspondents de guerre – a haunting photographic exhibit of refugees arriving on boats, “Les Boat-People de la grande Bleue”

• Deauville  –  an upscale seaside resort known since the 1800’s for its grand casino, horse races and American Film Festival.

We were now on the road again. This time heading south to the Loire Valley and the lushness of the countryside and the magnificent châteaux of the Loire Valley. We stayed in Amboise, in the Indre-et- Loire département of the Loire Valley which was conveniently located to the places we wanted to visit in the eastern part of the valley, right along the Loire River.

Here are the places we visited:

• Château de Chambord is epic and spiritual. Once a royal residence (can’t imagine), it is now a national treasure to be discovered. The double-helix staircase is monumental and seems to go on forever. The outside terraces offer magnificent views of the park and surrounding gardens. When we visited the gardens were under construction and we were not able to immerse ourselves in their splendor.`

  

• Musée de la Résistance, Déportation et Libération – Blois. This small museum is a place of memory and tells the story of the french resistance and deportation of Jews and others. This was my first experience seeing a Nazi flag in person, and it made my stomach and heart ache.
• Château de Chenonceau is my favorite and sits alongside and across the  River Cher. Walking towards the château you are sheltered by a long stretch of over hanging trees that open up into the expanse of the grounds. Known as “Château de Femmes” or “the castle of six ladies” for the succession of powerful French noblewomen of Chenonceau, who each made an impact on the castle. The history books say that the château we see today was built-in 1513 by Charles XVIII of France. But this doesn’t tell the whole story. His wife, Catherine Briconett, known as a woman of great taste, played a large part in the design. During WWI the wing over the river served as a military hospital for the wounded, and during WWII, the boundary between Nazi occupied Vichy France and Free France was marked by the River Cher. The Château of Chenonceau was in Free France, and its forest land across the river was in Nazi held France. The bridge wing across the river was used by the Resistance to cross from Free France to Nazi occupied France. The Nazis deforested their side of the river to enable them to more accurately track and capture those who succeeded in crossing. Trees were replanted, so the far bank is again wooded. A memorial plague for those that served and died is surrounded by fresh flowers in the colors of France.
  

 

• Château du Clos Lucé et Parc is a small château in the city of Amboise, France. The place is famous for being the residence of Leonardo da Vinci. He was a remarkable man and the château and park is filled with his inventions, sketches, drawings, sculpture, writings, a living workshop and his philosophy. The park brings to life his drawings and includes some of his inventions. 

• Château Amboise is a  grand 15th-century residence of King Charles VIII and houses the tomb of Leonardo da Vinci. I skipped this and went shopping instead.

I had stopped for coffee @Eight o’clock coffee on Rue Nationale, and purchased kitchen linens at  NJ2 on Rue Nationale.

Restaurants:

• Le Patio – amuse bouche
• Restaurant L’Ilot – small, cozy and feels like home. Co-owned by the chef and the manager/waitress who was the most entertaining, and made me laugh throughout dinner. Everything was delicious and prepared with cream from the soup to the dessert (not so wonderful for someone who is lactose intolerant)!

It was time to travel back to Paris. We (more me than we) decided to cut our time in Amboise and return to Paris a day early. The few days and nights were spent exploring by foot. Paris is a beautiful city filled with life and amazement. Yes it is crowded and yes the weather is not always sunny, but its Paris, so “Amusez-vous bien à Paris”

Nous espérons y retourner!