Lee's Travels: Paris

Ashley and I went to Paris in late January. It was a short trip (2 days), but we've been wanting to go for a long time. Hopefully, we'll get to go back several more times.

We used Marriott points to stay at the Renaissance Paris Vendome. This hotel is in an excellent central location near the Tuileries. We were able to walk to everything we wanted to see, and it was also 2 blocks from the Tuileries metro stop, which was convenient when we got tired of walking.

Day 1

Our flight landed in Paris around 10:30am. We took the RER train from the airport into the city, transferred to the metro line and walked to our hotel from the Tuileries metro stop. For the most part, this was a very easy trip. There were a couple of times that we had to haul our luggage up and down steps in the metro stations, but that was manageable when taking into account the cost of taking a taxi from the airport.

After checking in, we went out for a walk to see the city. Our first stop was the Tuileries...

Tuileries Gardens

The Tuileries are right next to the Louvre, so that was our next stop. We'll have to go back to the Louvre on another trip when we have more time to go inside. On this trip, there was so much of the city that we wanted to see we were content to just take pictures on the outside. We brought our tripod along, so this was our first chance to test it out...

Outside the Louvre

From the Louvre, we walked over to see the Seine...

Ille de la Cite

We crossed over the Seine from the Right Bank (Rive Droite) to the Left Bank (Rive Gauche) and into the Latin Quarter in search of lunch. I did some research before the trip on Paris restaurants, and the choices were overwhelming. I also wasn't sure where we would be at what time so we didn't have a strict plan on where to eat. In hindsight, this was a mistake. We walked around a bit not knowing what we were looking for. We ended up at a little restaurant called Cocotte Jolie. We got to choose 3 courses each for our lunch. This is very simple if you know French, not simple if you don't. The little French-English dictionary I downloaded for my iPhone was no help in deciphering the menu items. We placed our orders not really knowing what we were going to get. Ashley ended up with Pork Terrine for starter and Tagliatelle with cream sauce and ham for her main. I ended up with what I think was a Goat Cheese soup for starter and Sauteed Fish covered with a curry sauce for my main. We ended up switching our starters as I enjoyed the Terrine more than Ashley did. The soup was pretty good. We each enjoyed our main dishes as well. The high point of the meal was dessert. Ashley had a custard with pistachio ice cream, and I had a chocolate brownie covered with chocolate sauce and a side of ice cream. Both were excellent.

Lunch at Cocotte Jolie

Overall, we enjoyed the lunch, but I think we were both looking for a more traditional French bistro lunch. Had we walked a couple of blocks further before lunch, we would have gotten our wish. We stumbled on this street of cafes and bistros after lunch....

We would have had a nice choice of desserts from this patisserie as well...

Flowers for the romantics...

These oysters looked good as well...maybe next time...

After strolling through the Latin Quarter, we headed over to Ille de la Cite to see Notre Dame. Ille de la Cite is an island in the Seine where medieval Paris was founded. Here's a picture of us in front of Notre Dame.

Inside Notre Dame

Stained glass in Notre Dame

After a long day of traveling and walking around the city, we were pretty worn out. We stayed at the hotel for dinner and tried out the restaurant connected to it called Pinxo. We shared two main courses, duck with mashed potatoes and sauteed salmon over a braised mixture of leeks, cabbage, green onion and mushroom. Both dishes were excellent!

Day 2

On our second day, we set out from our hotel in the morning with the goal of walking down the Champs Elysses to the Arc de Triomphe and also seeing the Eiffel Tower. We first came to Place de la Concorde which is a plaza at the start of the Champs Elysses...

Place de la Concorde

Then we walked the whole of the Champs Elysses up to the Arc de Triomphe. On the way, we went in search of a cafe for a light lunch. Again, it would have helped to plan this out in advance, but we ended up finding a nice little place called Code Bar where we shared a croque monsieur. The Champs Elysses is truly a sight to behold with its cafes, restaurants and shops lining each side. It's a really wide street with wide sidewalks. I would like to see it in the springtime when the trees aren't bare.

View of Champs Elysses looking towards Place de la Concorde

At the end of the Champs Elysses, we arrived at the Arc de Triomphe...

We then took the metro to the Trocadero from which you have a great view of the Eiffel Tower...

Eiffel Tower...

Underneath Eiffel Tower...

After a short rest back at the hotel, we ventured back out and walked over to the Musee de l'Orangerie to see Monet's Water Lilies...

Monet's Water Lilies

For dinner on night 2, we had the concierge book a reservation at a place she recommended for us called Brasserie Le Vaudeville located near the Bourse (old stock exchange) and in walking distance from our hotel. This was the kind of experience we were looking for in our first trip to Paris. We both opted for the 3 course prixe fixe menu. Ashley got foie gras with toast as her starter, sauteed salmon as her main and creme brulee for dessert. I got onion soup as my starter, grilled lamb as my main and molten chocolate cake as my dessert. For wine, we had a carafe of Cote de Rhone. Everything we had was excellent. It was an all around wonderful experience.

Brasserie Le Vaudeville