A quick weekend getaway to Paris - Part 1

We had some guests visiting from back home in Los Angeles, Michael and Hugo. They were doing a quick 2 day stay in London, then a 3 day stay in Paris. A little too short a time to see everything, but they were doing it over Easter break as Hugo is a teacher, and that was the only time they had to do it. They certainly squeezed in a lot however in the short time they were here.




When they were heading off to Paris, we planned to tag along for a long weekend, as it was Good Friday here in London, and that's a day off.

The puppies went to stay with my dear friend, Andy, and his girlfrend, Kent, and their roommate, Ryan, for a weekend of being spoiled rotten. Andy et al would love to have dogs, but having a dog and working full time in London, can be a bit of a challenge. This way, they get to have a fun weekend enjoying the dogs without having the lifetime commitment.

The weather was very cooperative, and we took the train down to St. Pancras International train station, and caught the Eurostar to Paris - a very easy 2.5 hour trip.





























Tony and I stayed at a very cute little hotel in the Marais called, Hotel Jacques de Molay. It is in a very old section of Paris, and though the hotel had all of the modern conveniences, you could still see the old wooden beams exposed in the ceiling.

We hooked up with our friend Lisa, who lives in Paris, for a nice afternoon wandering around simply enjoying the afternoon. The Marais is home to Paris's Jewish quarter, and we stopped in for a piece of some wonderful cheesecake.










Paris is such a wonderful city to stroll around, and it was such a beautiful afternoon, that it was fun simply to just take it all in.











We stopped in at a couple shops looking at the fun and unusual French products. One skincare/bath/room product place had some wonderful hand cream that smelled like oranges. They also had a room deodorizer that we didn't smell. Those French have products for everything.









We eventually met up with Michael and Hugo at Tony's favorite restaurant, Au Petit Tonneau. We were sad that Chef Marie, who is a fixture there is limiting her presence these days, but the food was still terrific, and it was a wonderful evening.





After dinner, we wandered the few blocks over to the Eiffel Tower. We caught the last few seconds of it sparkling. It is always an impressive sight, and a great way to end the first day of our weekend in Paris.

Tony's 50th Birthday Celebration - Day 3

This is the day that we've been planning since the start of this whole Tony's 50th Birthday idea. Tony wanted to have dinner at his favorite restaurant in Paris, "Au Petit Tonneau", so we have reservations waiting for us that evening.

To start the day, Tony wanted to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Unfortunately, it was closed due to bad weather. It was fun however to see the park in the winter to contrast with how it was this last summer. It is still a beautiful area with the exception of the annoying street vendors. I even took a picture of Tony in the same spot that I'd taken over 10 years ago when we first visited Paris.




Because of the bad weather, we decided to head indoors to see Galleries Lafayette to see how the Parisians enjoy Christmas. And they enjoy it a lot. There is this amazing iron and glass ceiling, and beneath it a beautiful Christmas Tree. And everywhere tinsel, Garland and flowing Champagne.

We had to stop and enjoy the extravagance. We were in Paris afterall. . .





There were these great creepy puppets in the front windows of Galleries Lafayette. Enough to give kids nightmares. I kind of liked them however. Nothing says Christmas like creepy spooky puppets.





In our quest to do something despite the weather, and maybe it was the influence of the creepy puppets, but we ended up going on a small semi-controlled Parisian shopping spree. Tony bought some new clothes for his birthday, and I bought a shirt. It seemed like the thing to do in Paris.



We then made our way to Angelina's Hot Chocolate - home of the most amazing Hot Chocolate on the planet. It really is awesome. Evidently, we weren't the only ones thinking that this was the thing to do on a rainy afternoon, as the line was very long. It took almost an hour to get in to have our delicious cup, but it was well worth it in the end.







At last, it was time for dinner. We made our way over to Au Petit Tonneau, and found Lisa waiting for us. We all ordered the Chateaubriand, which is absolutely delicious. And heaps of their amazing Potatoes au Gratin, or what we call "Cheesy Taters".






The climax of the evening was when the lights dimmed and Chef Marie brought an Apple Tarte Tartin out to Tony with candles on it. Tony actually got teary-eyed. I think I even caught the staunch and very parisien Matre D crack a smile.

Chef Marie holds a special place in Tony's heart. She looks a bit like his mother did, and that may be part of it.

Of course, the Tartin was as amazing as one would expect. . .

Paris!

Tony and I got up before the sun, which is actually very difficult to do at the moment, and made our way to St Pancras station to the Eurostar terminal to take the first train over to Paris.

This trip, we decided to drop the dogs off with a dogsitter so no friends are watching our place this weekend. We plan to meet up with our friend Matthew and have a grand old time visiting this magnificent city.




It was an easy train ride from London to Gard du Nord in Paris, and from there an easy metro ride to our hotel.

We couldn't check in, so we dropped off our luggage and headed across the street to the grocery store to grab a quick Almond Croissant and Cafe Grande Creme before heading out for a day of walking sightseeing in Paris.

We'd been to Paris before, and had hit most of the major sights, so this trip was going to be a bit more relaxed.

We decided to do the Latin Quarter Walking Tour from Rick Steve's book. It is a very old section of Paris, and it is quite picturesque.

We visited St. Germain des Pres, a largest church in Paris. It is magnificent and very, very old. I believe it is older than Notre Dame, and just as impressive on the inside. They had a magnificent organ that someone was playing. Soo cool.


For Lunch, we stopped at a cute sidewalk cafe that Rick recommended and had a Croque Monsieur (a grilled cheese sandwich with ham) and a glass of wine. It felt so French.

We ultimately made our way to Saint Sulpice Cathedral.

If you saw "The DaVinci Code", this is the church that features at the beginning of the film where the fictional Priory of Scion met and hid a clue regarding the location of the Holy Grail.

It turns out that the book takes a lot of liberties with reality, and there is a plaque inside the church explaining how much Dan Brown distorted the truth.

There were a lot of other people who must have been visiting this site for the same reason, as they were all taking pictures of the Obelisk and the Calendar line that Dan Brown turns into the mysterious "Rose Line" in the book. It is an amazingly beautiful chuch with a massive organ that would be wonderful to hear sometime.

We met up with Matthew and his 89 year young mother at Sainte Chappelle Church.

From there, we headed off to dinner at Tony's favorite Parisian restaurant, Au Petit Tonneau. They may have just opened for dinner as we were the first customers in the restaurant.



We also met up with, Lisa, an expat blog buddy of Tony and a friend of hers who was visiting from Las Vegas. The restaurant is a classic small Paris restaurant, that has absolutely wonderful food - the potatos gratin is amazing. Marie the owner/chef is a wonderful gracious woman, and a fantastic chef.




Tony and I decided to treat ourselves to the Chateaubriand. DELICIOUS!

It was a wonderful dinner with lots of french wine and talk and food.






After dinner, we made our way over to the Eiffel Tower to see it at night. It made for a wonderful evening. A perfect end to our first day in Paris.