Dragged out of bed at 8:30am and headed to a promising looking coffee shop nearby, Big Shot, which did end up being very good. Then after regrouping I went to the Musee de Malliol, which had a temporary exhibition of photos by Robert Doisneau. Maybe best known for the famous photo of the kiss at Hotel de Ville. (It was hired actors!). Some very amusing photos, my favorites being a series depicting reactions to the painting of a nude derrière through a window, see below. After a lunch at Chez Germaine, back for a brief nap and then across the street to the Distillerie de L’Arbre Sec. This was featured in Earful tower podcast and you can craft your own gin with a small still and various botanicals. I opted just for a brief orientation, and Lucille who provided it was a student of oenology had worked in Bordeaux and was very much in to it. They had a whole wall of different herbs etc. Here is the link to the episode if you want to know more https://theearfultower.com/2024/12/02/check-out-this-fun-new-gin-distillery-workshop-in-paris/

After that is was off to look at Pl. Dauphine and then to St. Germain. Some food at Avant Comptoir du Terre and then over to Rue de Montorgueil for a little more dinner. All in all a solid first day.

My AirBnb is small, but a great location within a few blocks of the Louvre-Rivoli metro stop and near Chatelet and Montorgueil. Fun discovering new places in a new but nearby neighborhood.

After an easy 10 hour flight from Seattle, it took about an hour and half to get through the passport stamping routine at CDG. From there an easy ride on the RER to Chatelet and then a walk to AirBnb. Excellent surprise party for Sharon put on by Darren for her 50th birthday at Amatxi, a Basque restaurant that he privatized for the evening. Food kept coming out and lovely natural wines for tasting. I eventually hit the jet lag wall and had to head home, but very fun first evening back.

Headed down to the metro for 2 stops to the dreaded Chatelet station and then on to the RER B for the airport. Train came immediately so was at the airport by 7:00am. Amazingly, the airport has seen some improvement since the Olympics and for the first time ever there was not a long and slow line for passport stamping. They still have only one person doing it, but the machine takes care of the actual computer part and then you just wait to get the stamp. Anyway, smooth flight on Air France, with 2 empty seats next to me (adjust your seating a day or so before flight if you want this). Global Entry continues to be good with no wait at all to get through Seattle customs and immigration.

So, thinking about the trip, visiting London was interesting and the transit etc. is really good there, just scan your Apple Pay or credit card and when you have done a certain amount of trips per day the rest are free. Yes, things are expensive, but I had a free ticket, using points, and a free Hyatt room using points so it was reasonable for me. Bruges was lovely and I would highly recommend a few days there. Using the Eurostar was very easy and much preferable to dealing with an airport. About 2:15 to Brussels and then a local train that left immediately to Bruges included in the ticket price. Lovely old town, mostly car free, lots to see and do and good restaurants.

Lille was not as interesting to me, nice old town, surrounded by more modern things. Partly might be that the weather was very cold and grey. I would not feel a need to revisit.

Paris is always a good idea, to borrow a quote. As a regular I’m now free from the tourist musts, and can just be a flaneur and also revisit my favorite spots. Food wise, it continues to be a bit of a challenge with almost all French restaurants having exactly the same items on the menu. There is a surge of ethnic places that are quite good so some variety is possible, but getting a quick meal if you are Gluten Free is very challenging. Spent some time looking at Apartments to purchase and did not find anything I really liked, but it does reinforce how good the Fractional in which I own a share is. The location, layout and condition of the apartment are all excellent and the expenses low since they are shared 12 ways, but, the schedule is fixed so that is a limitation. All in all an excellent trip with no major mishaps! Stay tuned for the next one!

The last day is always bittersweet! Spent time packing and organizing and of course cleaning. Friend Pam came in from Seattle and helped her get to her AirBnb and then a nice lunch. After that, back to organizing, some walking and the dinner with Pam and John R at Colimacon. Heard about this restaurant from a French instagram poster, HelloFrench, and her father runs the restaurant. Excellent meal with good bottle of Chateau Neuf. Off to CDG at 6:15am tomorrow morning for flight back to SEA.

Headed over to the Jardin du Luxembourg this morning, nice to sit in the sun and spring is definitely showing itself there. After that a nice long walk down Blvd St. Michel to Rue de Montorgueil for lunch at Le Compas with some Americans who spend time in Hawaii and live in Santa Barbara. Excellent chatty lunch followed by a good walk. Then some downtime and off to St. Germain for light dinner at Avant compoirs. Tomorrow is packing and organizing for departure very early on Thursday.

Headed over to Montmartre for the morning. The best way to do this is to pass by the standard Abbesses and go to the next stop which is Lamarck-Calaincourt. From there it is a short walk to the Dalida statue at the bottom of Rue D’Aubrevoir. This is a super scenic street that gets you up to Pl.Tertre without having to deal with the crowds. After a walk around headed over to Sacre Couer and then to Hardware Society, an Australian coffee shop. From there, walked down Rue des Martyrs to Printemps. This store has a number of good restaurants on the 8th floor with and excellent view and good food. From there headed home to get taught how to use the keypad on our new smart lock properly. Turns out Code + short push on unlock button does unlock it and Code+long push locks it, so problem solved. Nice meet up at Deux Magots with a friend. Dinner at nearby Le Bucheron.

Bit of a low key day to day. Got up to a light but persistent drizzle, headed over to the new Copains location on Rue de Rozier just a few blocks away. Decent GF croissants and good coffee. Then to Bastille for the Sunday Market. Over to BHV to find a light bulb, then home for awhile and a late Steak Frites for lunch at Relais de L’Odeon. After that a little down time and evening walk with come Charcuterie for dinner.

There was a surprise market/brocante right out front today. Mostly junk, but still fun. Then off to the Independent Vignerons semi annual wine tasting. 100s of small producer offer their wines for tasting and for sale at reasonable prices. Léopoldine was stocking up and knew how it all worked, but tasted some chamapagne, some Bordeaux and some Burgunday. After a little over an hour of tasting headed to lunch, which happened to be GF pizza! Then it was back for a nap before meeting Sharon and Darren for dinner. Weather went into some pretty serious rain for awhile, but cleared up by the end of dinner.

Headed out to try a new to me Gluten Free bakery. Not sure how I missed this as they have multiple locations, including one about to open just around the corner. Anyway, found the closes open Copain and bought a few things to try and they were quite good. Then after some grocery and cheese shopping it was off to the Hotel de La Marine, to check that out. Restored apartments in a large building just off the Seine with good narration. From there, off to Les Invalides, which actually has three separate museums. I decided to save those for another day and walked the grounds. Stopped by the Rodin for a quick walk around the gardens. After lunch at a local bistro in the 7th, Tried to get into the Pinault, La Bourse, but they kept people waiting outside forever and then there were 30 school kids all with backpacks trying to get through the 2 person security check point and not being well handled. I think this is the second time in row I’ve walked from that museum, which although the building is cool is not very good anyway. Definitely not going to renew that membership if I can’t ever get in. Reminds me of being at CDG, not a pleasant experience. Back to the apartment for awhile and then to dinner at CC house. Cheese was well received! Raining now but not very cold. Lots of tents set up in front of the St. Paul area, so must be some kind of fair or market going on tomorrow. Lily generously gave me some tickets to the independent producers wine festival tomorrow, and event that happens twice per year. Will meet Léopoldine there, she know the terroir!

Today was an incredibly full day. Went to meet June P, another Francophile who belongs to the same facebook groups that I do, for coffee. Then to meet Yolanda Robins a realtor here who helps Americans with French real estate issues. From there, lunch at Cafe Charlot then to see an apartment in the 12th. 12th floor with a huge deck and great views, definitely a possible. After that, back home then, to see a studio in the 4th that was just listed then to meet Lily H., of Je T’aime, me neither blog for an apero, then off to Atelier Joel Robuchon for dinner with Léopoldine. Excellent meal if pricey! Luckily Mario Andretti was driving the bus home and made it back in record time!