An Early Start to Day 1 in Paris

Paris, France

We arrived in Paris at Charles de Gaulle airport around 5:30am. After gathering our luggage and getting our passports stamped, we took a taxi to our hotel and checked in. Of course, our room wasn’t ready that early, but the hotel was happy to store our bags and told us to check back around 11am.

We walked a couple of blocks down the street in the chilly and drizzly weather to Eric Kayser bakery for some coffee and breakfast. I had a pain au chocolat (of course!) and Matthew had a quiche – both were delicious! We then walked around the 7th arrondissement over to the Eiffel Tower. We got there a few minutes before tickets were going on sale for the ride up the tower, so we got in line. As the window opened, Matthew started to feel the effects of the long flight and no sleep, so we ditched the Tower and went back to our hotel, where, luckily, our room was ready. We quickly got our luggage upstairs (with help from the bellman) and settled in for a 2-hour nap. When we woke up and showered, we walked around the corner to Cafe Gallette for traditional buckwheat crepes. After lunch, we walked across the Seine to the Louvre, les Jardins de Tuileries, and Place de la Concord. As we crossed back over the Seine, we decided to buy one of the padlocks for sale to lock in our love on the bridge – so romantic!

Then it was back to the hotel for a quick rest before meeting my parents, Jeffrey, and Julie in the lobby for dinner at Le Grand Pan in the 15th. We took the Metro there and back – an easy ride but tricky to navigate once we got off the train in the 15th! Our waiter was the cutest guy named Arnaud – he spoke very good English, but we relied on Jeffrey’s French-speaking skills to help us order. I had a charcuterie platter to start then an haricots verts salad with foie gras and parmesan as my entree. Dessert was a white chocolate panna cotta with diced mango. Delish! Jeffrey spotted 2 French movie stars in the small restaurant – Vincent Lindon and Chiara Mastroianni – what a fun way to start our trip!

We arrived back at our hotel some time close to midnight, just in time to brush our teeth and hit the sack!