Paris

Three great meals

/ Greg / Leave a comment

Admittedly, it’s not too difficult to simply stumble upon a great meal in either Paris or Lyon. With even a half an ounce of planning, you’ll have hundreds and hundreds of options at your fingertips. Our challenge was a little steeper as our plans need to be gluten free for one of us (thankfully, not me… I’ll take the entire bread plate, thanks). Over a two week period, we made three reservations and each gave us an outstanding dining experience.

Chez Marcel, Paris

You would walk right past this place if you weren’t paying attention. It is a quaint 30 seat bistro tucked just off the busy Boulevard Raspail. We arrived a few minutes before our 7:30 reservation and waited for the owner to arrive and let us in to the restaurant. As soon as we stepped foot inside, we knew we would be in for a great meal.

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Islands in the Seine

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A grey, slightly chilly March morning was a perfect backdrop for some wandering around Île de la Cité and Île Saint-Louis. I love Paris, and maybe it’s unfair to say this given how spectacularly beautiful Paris is, but those two islands and the views from both are, for me, quintessential Paris. So this will be a bit of a love letter in photographic form to the Seine and one of my favourite locations in the city of lights.

The Seine

Love letter might be the right term – especially on the Pont Neuf where so many have placed a “love lock” on this bridge.

Love locks on Pont Neuf

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There’s more than wine

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In the days leading up to leaving for France, the most common question asked of me was some variation on “How many wines are you going to try over two weeks?” No one asked me if I was excited to sample some French craft beers. While I have almost built entire trips around craft beer tastings, you just don’t do that in France. You could. Not that there isn’t an ample and growing beer community, but there’s really so much else that’s worthy of attention. So on this trip, while leaving most of my time to wine (I’ll be writing much more on that soon) I fit some beer in along the margins.

On a late morning (if there’s something I love about Europe, it’s the laissez-faire mentality to a moderate amount of morning drinking) where my wife was getting a few extra Zzzzzs, I popped into Académie de la Bière just down the road in Montparnasse from our hotel and enjoyed a just before noon amber ale from La Parisienne. Nicely balanced, my first craft beer in Paris gave me hope I’d find a few hidden treasures over the two weeks.

Beer at L'Académie de La Bière

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Cemeteries in Paris

/ Greg / Leave a comment

About five years ago, on a quiet Sunday morning in Uppsala, Sweden, I walked through a park-like cemetery and from a distance watched an older woman tend to the grave of her recently deceased husband. It is one of those moments that’s burned into my memory for being both terribly sad and incredibly beautiful. That morning, and through a few other visits to European cemeteries over the years, I have come to learn that some of the most beautiful parks in many foreign cities are in fact their graveyards.

While in Paris back in March, I made a two trips to cemeteries within the city. The first was a morning visit to the Montparnasse Cemetery in the same neighbourhood as my hotel.

Montparnasse Cemetery

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Returning to the 14th

/ Greg / Leave a comment

March 13, 2017 – Paris

This is the first time my wife and I have returned somewhere in our travels together. Ok, that’s not entirely true, but ruling out Philadelphia and Pittsburgh for football game trips, it’s true. Not only did we return to Paris, but we consciously returned to Montparnasse, the 14th arrondissement.

There is a very comforting feeling returning here. Our first visit in 2009 was a great one, and we loved the slightly out of the way, definitely not overly touristy, authentic Montparnasse. Returning here eight years later, not much has changed. Such is the way with great neighbourhoods. Boulangerie, fromagerie, wine merchants, restaurants, gorgeous parks – all still here. And all as lovely as eight years ago.

Luxembourg Gardens

Being back here in Paris, not even twenty four hours after arriving, I’m comforted. I don’t feel a rush to get out to see the sights – we did all of that the last time here. This visit, I’m envisioning a much slower pace. Lingering in cafes, strolling streets and parks just for exploration. Simple stuff really.

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There’s something about France

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As my wife and I were traveling back from Paris yesterday, while waiting for our connecting flight in Toronto, we spoke about how good it was to be back in Canada. For as much as I love to travel, I have always relished the feeling when my feet are planted back on Canadian soil. That being said, if there’s one place that could entice me to pack up and move, it would be France.

Two weeks ago after landing in Paris, even through the fog of jet lag, I knew instantly we were going to be in for a great trip. We spent about half of the trip in and around Paris based out of the 14th arrondissement where we had stayed back in 2009. The other half, we stayed in Lyon, a first for us. For the Paris part of the trip, we defiantly ignored the locations we visited on our first trip there – no Louvre, no Arc de Triomphe, and no Eiffel Tower except one distant view when we were exploring the Père Lachaise cemetery off in the distant 20th arrondissement. Instead, we lingered over drinks taking advantage of the spring warmth on outdoor patios, ate at cozy neighbourhood restaurants, and explored some quieter areas of the city.

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