Europe, Part Three
Paris?
For months - since February, to be exact - I had hinted to Nicole that we were going to spend a day or so somewhere. I was intentionally vague. Enough so that she could have interpreted it as just being a night at a nice hotel in London all the way to a trip to another country. I did specify that there would be a nice dinner and a decent amount of walking - more on that later.
To the train!
We woke up a bit later and took our time getting ready. We needed to re-pack our stuff into one bag and such. We decided to walk towards the Elephant & Castle underground station and get breakfast on the way.
More flowers along the way! Nicole loved how almost all the ground-level patios had well taken care of gardens. Interestingly, the majority of the plants were potted. Not sure if that was due to the soil or that most of these were rentals.
We pulled out Yelp a little too late and before we knew it we were right in the center of the Elephant & Castle shopping area. Lots of shops, but nothing that stood out for breakfast. We decided to try a little chain called Pret a Manger. I think Panera is probably the closest comparison. It was pretty good. The breakfast pastries in London and Paris were amazing no matter where we went.
We hopped on the tube and headed to Kings Cross station.
Yes, Potterheads, that Kings Cross.
Beautiful St Pancras International
The architecture in most large public buildings is not taken for granted.
It was not until we go to the ticket desk that Nicole found out where we were going. She had mentioned several times the past couple days how crazy it was to be in a different country and how she was so glad at least everything was in English. I was a bit nervous how she would react but I'd say she was cautiously optimistic. Well, enough so to smile for a selfie.
Finally in our seats and headed to Paris!! The trip to Paris was mostly uneventful. The train is pretty darn fast and amazingly smooth! We discovered that they love their wind farms in the French countryside!
Paris!
Immediately in Paris, we felt like it was very different - not in a significantly good or bad way, just different. It felt older with more distinct (perhaps gothic) architecture.
And wow, were there a ton of mopeds/bicycles/motorcycles. We thought there were a lot in London, but they seemed to outnumber cars and trucks in Paris. Crazy how they can go around all the cars and zigzag through stopped traffic in Europe - efficient, but crazy!
More two-wheel transportation devices.. and trees!
The Hotel!
After a decent (short in terms of what was to come) walk, we arrived at our hotel. I spent entirely too much time deciding on a hotel, but came up with the Hotel Design Secret de Paris. It was amazing! After checking in, the front desk attendant told us the secret was that they let you sleep in these famous Parisian landmarks. It was a bit silly, but the room was great. We stayed in the Eiffel Tower Room. The room even had mood lighting which was.. interesting.
Dual windows - I think to keep the noise out (or in?!) - overlooked a couple bistros.
Square toilet because I have no filter.. and it was weird.
An evening stroll
So after another ton of research, I found the perfect little restaurant for dinner. It was close to other things we wanted to see, and only a three-mile walk away! My thought process was that we would meander through beautiful Parisian neighborhoods on our way to dinner.
We probably walked closest to the 4.8 km path.
First of all, Paris is beautiful. The streets aren't like anything you see in the States. They do seem to blend together though.. after a mile or two. Also, in terms of prepping my lovely wife for this trip, I was more focused on us fitting in with Europeans, rather than being comfortable. What you cannot see from the map above is that most of those streets are busy and loud with tons of people.
Super cute alley with restaurants and shops.
We did find some hidden gems along the way, but we were unfortunately pressed for time so we had to keep up a good pace.
We were close to the restaurant by now, so Nicole is doing a good job hiding her anger.
More people hanging out, this time at the park in the middle of Place des Vosges.
A (belated) anniversary dinner
After a lot of digging and asking around, I decided on this great little bistro (née, bistrot) called Le Gorille Blanc. Nicole loves a good duck. My mission was to find the best duck confit in Paris and I was damn determined to do it. I also didn't want to spend $300 on dinner, so it required a bit more digging. A co-worker (thanks Cam!) mentioned his friends who live in Paris took him to this place and said it was the best duck in Paris. I was even able to make reservation online (for 7pm - of course they had openings).
We arrived right at 7pm, which turns out to be early for dinner in Paris. I was vaguely aware of this, but we had more to do after dinner, so this is how it had to work. The owner (I think?) was expecting us but still had to turn on the lights and music after we got there.
On the left is the special appetizer. It was sort of a quiche, though a bit less dense. On the right is bread.. of course there was bread!
Nicole's duck confit. Look at the skin!
I got the lambchop. I don't think I've ever had a lambchop cut like this. It was cooked to perfection, of course.
We weren't originally going to get dessert because we were stuffed. They convinced us to look at the dessert menu (without much resistance) and we saw panna cotta. We first had panna cotta at FIG here in Charleston and were blown away at how rich and light it was. It sounds like an oxymoron, but that is the best way I can describe it. This version was quite different, but every bit as good!
Seine and a tower
After dinner, the plan was to do a river tour by boat (thanks Nat!) and then maybe make it to the Eiffel Tower for the light display. Nicole had temporarily forgiven me for the walking, so we headed down to the Seine. This was the thing that blew us away the most about the whole trip. Thousands of people were hanging out along the river. Sure, there were some semi-permanent bistros set up, but the vast majority of these people were there on their own.
Here is a small sampling. Groups of two to maybe 20 gathered with as little as a bottle of wine and a couple of glasses, all the way up to picnic blankets and baskets with full dinners. It was the coolest thing! Also, I'm totally not that guy but no one was playing on their phone - it was amazing!
One of the many tour boats.
On a bridge (to Pont Neuf, I believe).
We ended up on the 9:45 tour, which was later than what I was originally planning, but turned out to be perfect. The boat departs from Pont Neuf, goes all the past the Eiffel Tower, and then back down around behind Notre Dame before ending back at Pont Neuf. It was perfect!
We're on a boat!
Close-up selfie!
Gorgeous sky! Did I mention we had amazing weather?!
Our first clear view of the Eiffel Tower.
The tour guide was kind enough to take our picture. Yes, of course they sell wine to-go before you get on the boat.
Notre Dame!
I'm too lazy to look this up, but basically a French king had all these politicians' faces put on this bridge because he was sure it would fail. Apparently it didn't.
We got off the boat at 10:45. This is important because the light show at the Eiffel Tower is every hour on the hour, for five minutes. We decided that if we didn't catch the 11:00 show, we just wouldn't see it - that's the negative of having just one night in Paris. To walk from Pont Neuf to the Eiffel Tower would have been 20-25 minutes. We decided to give Uber a try. We had a great driver who spoke slightly more English than we spoke French (which is basically none). He was a bit nervous about getting us there in time at first, but ended up dropping us off right as the show started, right in front!
OMG so close!
After the light show, we decided (or Nicole made the executive decision) to take the Metro back to the hotel. It was a hell of a day!