My first Paris trip was in February 2007. Just after a break-up, it seemed the city of love was the perfect place to go and it was. I traveled with my friend Steffi who lives in Germany and her colleague picked us up from the airport and treated us to our first Parisian dinner – I still remember the escargot. Afterwards, we had a decent drive to get to our hotel and after a few glasses of wine (and probably still jet lagged) I fell asleep in the back seat. After some time had passed, I heard Steffi exclaim “Jess Look!” and when I opened my eyes I gasped at the most eye-catching, beautiful, sparkly site I have seen – The Eiffel Tower. I smiled from ear to ear in amazement and awe of this incredible monument.
Flash forward to 2014 and now a newlywed, Kevin asked which city I would like to go first…. it was an instant reply – to the city of love and actually be in love, this was a no brainer.
One of things we enjoy together is travel and every time we travel we use airbnb. If you haven’t heard of it, it is a website where you can rent a local person’s house or a private room and have more of a local feel to your trip versus staying in a hotel. We always have fun finding our place to stay and enjoy recommendations from the host on must-go places to visit. Kevin handled all of the details for our Paris trip including our place to stay, which was walking distance to Sacre-Coeur!
Each morning we would find a restaurant and begin our day with le petit déjeuner.
This was round two. After half-way through the first, my handle broke and the capp went all over the table, including Kevin´s lap. We received this round on the house!!
The small breakfast included a cappuccino, croissant and orange juice. This gave us the energy to walk and boy did we (as a side note, if you plan to visit Paris, make sure to pack comfortable shoes!). We saw some of the touristy spots:
Arc de Triomphe
Notre Dame Cathedral & Love Locks Bridge
Musee du Louvre
Eiffel Tower
Boat tour on the Seine River
In addition to travel, another thing we love to do together is eat and we love us some food! This is a major topic of conversation, especially when the hangrys hit (ya know when you are so hungry for food that you become angry). Admittedly, I am guilty of this on a regular basis and luckily Kevin is tuned-in when it`s about to happen. We went searching for dinner one evening and found a pizza restaurant that was pretty decent with good food and wine. Pizza is my absolute favorite food and greatest weakness.
[A tip to our Charlotte friends, by far the best can be found at Portofino´s on Park Road – order a large cheese “triple well done”, say hi to Andrew for us and tell him Kevin and Jess sent you. You´re welcome.] The pizza is so good, I arrived to Germany at least 5 pounds heavier then the last time Kevin saw me and it was worth every calorie.
For our final night in Paris, we set out to find the same pizza restaurant, which was a wild goose chase lasting well over an hour.
Enter the hangrys.
We found ourselves in a neighborhood and heard the sound of beautiful music. As we got closer, the sound was coming from an Italian restaurant, so we made the decision to stay, ordered a bottle wine and placed our order. When the cheese pizza arrived and I took the first bite… I certainly was not prepared for what came next.
Remember Eat Pray Love, the book by Elizabeth Gilbert? Good movie and even better book which describes the pizza she ate in Naples: “I always thought we only had two choices in our lives when it came to pizza crust—thin and crispy, or thick and doughy. How was I to have known there could be a crust in this world that was thin and doughy? Holy of holies! Thin, doughy, strong, gummy, yummy, chewy, salty pizza paradise.” Once I read that description of the perfect pizza, I knew someday I would taste it.
This is EXACTLY what I had…. in Paris! Which further confirms this really is the city of love and since it is an easy 4-hour train ride, we are excited to return. And yes, we will be going back to that Italian restaurant, for the melt-in-your-mouth unbelievable mind-blowing goodness.
Additional Paris Moments:
The subway – easy to use and our feet were grateful
Favorite place for le petit dejeuner
My sweet love
The most expensive capp (not knowing until it was already ordered), 9€ = $12.25
This is a happy Kevin!
To the left (not pictured), the driver stopped the car in the middle of the road, got out and greeted the wall with a golden shower. Disgusting.
Doesn`t this look like it should be a postcard? This is a top picture for us…
Near the Eiffel Tower, a wall of the word “peace” in at least 10 languages.
To leave you with one last thing, a pact was made on this trip. For every city we visit, we will purchase something for our home as a reminder of each and every trip. We found our Paris item when we were walking to breakfast. I saw this painting of a girl with her dog and fell in love, except I wished the dog looked like ours from back home. After breakfast, we went back to that spot and shockingly, what I had pictured in my mind the artist already had it created! Some things are just meant to be…
Mustard+Bananas 