We recently got back from Paris, where we arrived just in time for historic rain and, yes, flooding! We have impeccable timing. While we didn’t get to see everything we had hoped to see, what we did see was exactly as charming and as dreamy as we had hoped for.
One of the things that made our stay so special was the lovely Airbnb apartment we rented in Montparnasse. We highly recommend it for anyone traveling to Paris, as it’s centrally located, near a metro station, within walking distance of a whole bunch of great restaurants, and completely comfortable. I chose it because it has a tiny rose garden. The owner of the apartment could not have been nicer. We arrived to fresh croissants and baguettes, which we promptly devoured with a bit of raw honey.
I wrote my parents an email on our first and only sunny day there, which I’ll include here:
We are having fun in Paris! Last night, we went to a restaurant called Spring. My friend Kim just came to Paris a few months ago and she recommended it. She told me to say hi to her friend Jonathan who is a sommelier. He was delighted and he said that he loves Kim even though she doesn’t drink wine. They all took a picture with me to send to Kim:
Afterward, we walked through the courtyard of the Louvre.
Today, we had lunch at a little cafe called Madame. It was delicious! The waitress’ dog was there, which I thought was very sweet because he was so well behaved. But then I took this picture of him and ten seconds later he peed on that wall!
We still had coffee before leaving:
Then, we tried to go to the Luxembourg Gardens but just when we got there a thunderstorm rolled in! So we ducked into the Musee du Luxembourg, where we saw lots of Monets and Degas’ and other paintings. My favorite things were these birds in the gift shop:
Then, we decided to walk to a store I read about called Merci. Halfway there, we ran into a little stationery store where I found a card that reminded me of Auntie Shirley. I promptly forgot it was in my hand and walked off with it. When I returned to pay for it (flustered), the shop owner gave me a discount for “being so kind.”
By the time we got to Merci and I took this photo outside, they were closing! They were very rude about it, in fact. But at least I got a good picture out of it:
And while we were waiting for our Uber, this dog and his owner walked up to a bakery and the dog just waited outside while the owner went in for his bread. He didn’t move at all! We’ve seen a lot of very well-behaved dogs off leash here. I don’t know how they do it, but I wish they’d teach Kona.
We just got back from a delicious hole-in-the-wall Chinese place where they make their own noodles. We saw the guy pulling them. We ate them too quickly to get a photo.
And now we’re back in our cute apartment to go to bed! I had to take a shower because my feet were black from all the walking we did today. I think we walked about eight miles in total, so at least we’re burning off some of these calories.
More Parisian adventures to come!
Love, Joy
