It is never easy to travel overseas, and I never seem to remember that until it hits me like a brick wall. I think this collision occurred somewhere in the Amsterdam airport. I am sure that it is a fine airport, but at 6am after flying all night from Indianapolis, it wasn’t so enjoyable. After an hour flight to Paris, lost luggage, a long train ride from the airport, metro trips to get our apartment key, Kirk’s first adventure on the street’s of Paris, and arrival at our less-than-anticipated apartment, I was hurting and hungry. We took quick showers and headed out to find something to eat. We found out quickly how amazing our neighborhood was, which we will talk more about later. One of the things we loved was the large assortment of great restaurants and for our first meal we picked something simple and quick - Italian. I know it is a bit boring to eat something so pedestrian for your first meal in Paris, but our stomachs were a bit confused, we were tired, and we wanted to play it safe. It was also a Sunday morning, so not everything was open. Kirk had a delicious pizza and I had pasta – nothing too fantastic, but still very tasty. After our stomachs were filled I needed a few hours sleep in order to function. Since our luggage didn’t make the Amsterdam connection, we had to hang around the apartment to wait for a call informing us of when the bags would arrive. At least we didn’t have to lug them around the metro (especially since our stop didn’t have an escalator). After a good nap my eyes were finally able to take in this amazing city!
And that is when the trip really began…
Our apartment was located just south of Boulevard Saint Germain on the Left Bank, near the Latin Quarter, and one block from Saint Sulpice and Le Marche Saint Germain. Saint Sulpice is such an amazing church, but we’ll post more about our visit there later. It was near a few different metro lines, which was quite convenient. Just south of the apartment was the Jardin du Luxembourg, which we were able to visit later in the day.
Only a few blocks from our apartment was one of the most famous macaron shops in the city – Pierre Herme. They actually do not call them shops but boutiques and that sure helps you develop the mental image of a dessert patisserie. This was an amazing intro into Paris’s delectable shops! Check out what other bloggers had to say about these macarons here. Enjoying these treats has been described as “eating money” due to their small size and high cost, but they were totally worth it for such a special occasion.
I didn’t take any pictures inside the boutique (didn’t want to be that big of a tourist!) so I found the picture above here.
With our macarons in toe we headed off to Jardin du Luxembourg. I wanted to eat a macaroon or two on the way but Kirk would have nothing of it! Instead, we sat in the green chairs and slowly savored sweet sugar heaven!
We then took a short walk to the Cluny Museum of the Middle Ages. We really liked it. Kirk is a big geek of that time period, having focused his literature and philosophy degree studies on that era. It was a great smaller museum that had a lot to see and learn but was not overwhelming for our jetlagged minds.
Our favorite room in the museum was one that had a variety of statues from Notre Dame and other cathedrals that had been damaged during the revolution. Most of the saints had their heads removed and were severely defaced, and the original heads weren’t discovered until a nearby excavation in 1977! How would you like to find those in your backyard? It was amazing how large the sculptures were, too.
That evening, after receiving our luggage and finally getting out of our travel clothes, we went to a classic brasserie in our neighborhood for a delicious three course meal. Over a three-hour dinner, we enjoyed beef carpaccio, lamb, the best bouillabaisse I have ever had (we’re talking white fish, salmon, clams, at least 50 mussels, and a broth Kirk could drink by the liter), dessert, and loads of fresh baguette and butter. By the end of the trip we affirmed that this was the best tasting butter we had the entire stay.
So despite a bit of a rough first day, we went to bed happy with full bellies and high expectations for the rest of the trip.
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