Paris (April 2022)
I was lucky enough to be selected by someone in my company, no one ever really told me how I was selected, to go to Paris, France to help out with the latest roll out of SAP within Schlumberger (the company I work for). Of course I said yes, they wanted me there for 2 weeks and of course I said yes and being the smooth operator that I am I asked my boss if she would let me take a few vacation days at the end of the work trip. Being the kind lady that she is, she also said yes.
Since I did not fully document every day as most of the days were work days, this post will probably have less words and less stories but I will try to give a good detail of what I saw and did on the trip. And yes, Rebe did join me on this work trip 😉.
I arrived on April 6th, worked April 7th and 8th so I guess the 'fun' started on the 8th with dinner at La Coupole with my coworkers Jen, Herb and friend Troy. After dinner and drinks it was time to go out on the town and after failing to find a club we ended up at De Voltaire à Rousseau for a few drinks. Seemed like a really cool local spot for a late night drink.
April 9th
Since the 8th ended on the 9th there was a late start with good brunch at Les Frangines, from there we decided to go see some of the touristy things in town. You know, Eiffel and Arc de Triomphe etc. Then an attempt was made to go to the museums (me going to d'Orsay and my coworkers to the Louvre) but you can't just show up at a Paris museum on a Saturday at 4pm and expect to get in. With that busted we ended up eating an earlier dinner at H.A.N.D. (Have a Nice Day). There was also some late night drinks at the Skybar at the Pullman hotel.
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| Eiffel Tower |
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| Arc de Triomphe |
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| Tullieries Gardens |
April 10th
Brunch at LouLou Montmarte to start the day at 1pm-ish, followed by a jaunt to d'Orsay where I actually planned ahead and got a 4pm ticket to see the museum. Really unique museum that is housed in what was formerly a train station. Dinner was with the rest of SAP team from Houston at Crêperie Port-Manech, this was 2nd creperie of the week and was inferior to the better one that I will mention later. I went to the good creperie with Jen on the 7th.
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| Sacre Coure |
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| d'Orsay |
April 14th
Rebe arrived, but this was also the night the SAP team had picked to go to dinner at Georges atop the Modern Art Museum (which I heard was good by the way). The views of the city are amazing from up top, you can see just about everything. Sacre Coure to Eiffel and it was sunset so it was just an amazing light, but sadly the building is covered in glass so camera pics didn't really turn out amazing.
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| View from within Georges |
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| SAP Crew |
April 15th
After work we went over to the Les Helles area for drinks, but our friends were a little late so Rebe and I decided to check out a giant church that was just outside the train station called Saint-Eustache. Tired of waiting on our friends we when over to Cité Island (where the Notre Dame is located) to eat dinner at Au Bougnat on the recommendation from a friend. It was a quaint place, okay food but really nice staff.
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| Saint-Eustache |
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| Cherry Blossoms |
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| Notre Dame still under construction |
After dinner we checked out the Notre Dame and along the construction fencing there was a lot of history about the church and a ton of information about the construction, discoveries from the fire and the rebuilding. That church is such an iconic place and in such an iconic location.
We finished the night in Florida (a restaurant) with some drinks.
April 16th
Originally this was supposed to be the weekend where we would go to Giverny and Versailles, but for some reason the tour group cancelled our tour. Maybe someone didn't want to work on Easter weekend or maybe someone caught COVID but either way we were now on our own in trying to figure out what to do with our Saturday.
We started the day off in Montmarte for brunch, this was the same place I came with my coworkers the week before because it was that good. From there we headed over to Palais Garnier to do a self guided tour of the the famous opera house. This was was like a palace and truly deserving of the name. I'll let the images speak for themselves.
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| Main stairs |
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| The actual theatre |
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| The "look at me" hall, the place to see and be seen |
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| Main facade of the opera house |
We walked over to the Tullieries Gardens and then the Grand Palace caught our eye so we walked over to check it out, but it was closed so we went into the Petit Palace instead. Since we had late night plans we made our way back to our hotel to rest and then out to eat at the absolute best creperie in town, La Crêperie de Josselin. This was my 2nd visit, I knew I had to bring Rebe here and in my 2nd visit it did not disappoint. We were actually waited on by the owner's (who is from Josselin and not named Josselin) son. Apparently not ordering dessert or coffee after a meal means you did not like the place but this night Rebe and I had got tickets to the Moulin Rouge. We told the owner's son that we needed to go as we had tickets to a show and that we'd come back for dessert tomorrow.
The show a Moulin Rouge was a mix of Cirque and C-budget off broadway song and dance. I wouldn't call it an amazing show but it was definitely fun and definitely worth a visit. The only complaints we had were the lip-syncing/dubbing and maybe the dancers could have been in sync with each other a little bit more.
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| Inside Moulin Rouge |
April 17th (Easter Sunday)
Originally this day was supposed to be our Louvre tour, but just like our tour the day before it was cancelled. Maybe it was COVID, maybe it was Easter, either way we now had to come up with new plans for the day.
We started with breakfast from the cutest little bakery in Montparnasse, Artocarpus, where we collected an assortment of pastries to snack on while we walked around Paris in the morning. We then visited the local cemetery of Montparnasse which was a really unique and I believe only one of four cemeteries in Paris. We then made our way to see the Eiffel Tower during the day and walk along the Champs de Mars, but like everything currently in Paris, the Eiffel is currently being repainted in preparation for the 2024 Olympics.
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| Montparnasse Cemetery |
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| Eiffel Again |
While along the Seine we decided to take a river cruise to kill some time. It was a nice boat ride where the guide talked about the history of the city along the river and of course the history of the bridges which separate the left and right bank of the city.
We headed over to the Arc de Triomphe, and the line to go up to the top was WAAAAAY too long to dedicate the required time but we did admire it from below. Also the Arc de Triomphe is home to world's craziest roundabout, not to mention that for some reason the French give the right of way to the cars entering the roundabout. This alone adds chaos but now you add foreigners who do not know there is an underground pathway to the Arc de Triomphe in the center running through the 6 or 7 lane wide roundabout... *chef's kiss* best show in Paris.
We headed over to the Tuileries Garden, to stroll, people watch and grab a bit to eat at a cafe nearby. And since it was Easter Sunday we stopped by Église Saint-Sulpice (another giant church) for a look-see but they had an Easter Service going on so we sat in and respectfully waited for the service to end before going full tourist in the church.
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| Tuileries Gardens |
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| Saint Sulpice |
Dinner was again at Crêperie de Josselin, but not really dinner it was just desert this time. The owner recognized us from the night before and even gave us a couple of brandies for our loyalty and repeat business.
April 18th (Easter Monday)
That's right, the Europeans take Easter Monday off. Isn't that crazy!? Well, works for me.
We started the day with a walk to our local bakery for more breakfast pastries and headed over to the Panthéon. We were not able to book a tour but we did grab an audio tour to guide us through this place. So what is the Panthéon, well originally it was a church but the French authorities kind of hijacked the church to make it a temple to French history and as a place to bury famous French people. It is kind of empty but definitely an interesting extra place to visit if you have extra time in Paris. We also stopped at Saint-Étienne-du-Mont which houses the shrine to Geneviève, the patron saint of Paris.
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| Panthéon exterior |
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| Panthéon interior |
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| Saint-Étienne-du-Mont |
With this extra day and more time to research, we found this small chapel called Sainte-Chapelle, unlike other churches in Paris this one you must have a ticket to get into. Not only a ticket, but a time slot and do not miss your time slot because they probably will not let you in. It was commissioned by King Louis IX of France to house his collection of Passion relics, including Christ's Crown of Thorns and is just an astonishing piece of gothic architecture built in the mid 1200's.
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| Sainte-Chapelle lower floor |
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| Sainte-Chapelle upstairs |
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| Sainte-Chapelle upstairs rear window |
This evening we booked a food tour (Secret Food Tour) in the Montmarte area, we started near the Pigalle station and then walked up past the Sacre Coure and over to our first stop at Christophe Roussel for some of the most amazing macarons on the planet. They were so good, Rebe and I stated we would come back and the tour gave us a coupon. From there the tour led us to a small creperie shop were we could basically choose any type of crepe on the menu (mostly sweet selections) and finally we stopped at a small shop for baguettes and dessert before ducking into a wine cellar for meat and cheese selections accompanied by wine. It was not the most filling food tour I've been on, but it was well worth it and the tour guide shared some good French history too.
After the tour we caught a bus back up the hill in Montmarte to view the most picturesque street, well according to instagram...
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| Cute street |
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| Another restaurant in Montmarte |
Then it was back to the hotel.
April 19th
Work and dinner at Bouillon Pigalle
April 20th
Work and dinner at Ober Mamma, for some more amazing Italian.
April 21st
Some of you may know, but in case the rest of you do not, Rebe's dad worked at Disney World for 37 years and was actually working there when it opened. With that he still has some perks that he can share with the family and we were able to get tickets to Disneyland Paris. Maybe most of you wouldn't want to check out Disneyland Paris but if you know our history of amusement parks this was right up our alley.
Disneyland Paris has a very similar feel to that of the original Disneyland in California, both have a smaller more quaint feel than that of Disney World in Orlando. With that said it was still a great visit and a beautiful day in France for this activity. What else was cool was that you did not even need a car to get to the park, we took a subway from our hotel another station walked 5 minutes to catch another double decker train that literally dropped us off at the gate of the Park. I at least thought we would have to catch a shuttle from the train station to the park but no, literally walked out of the train station and straight into the park. This was just so convenient and moving around Paris via the subway and the buses is such a pleasure, well besides being stuffed in the train during rush hour.
Leaving the park was a short walk to the station, onto a literally empty train back into the city for dinner at Libertino.
April 22nd
The previous weekend we had a tour of the Louvre and Versailles scheduled but both were cancelled, luckily we had an extra weekend and room in our schedule to fit these MUST DOs into our trip. But today was the LOURVE, the building was formerly a palace and fortress and now the largest museum in the world. I cannot say I am an art buff and while I know a few things, when you go to big museum you really need an expert to show you where the good stuff is and to express the detail and history that goes along with it. Now if you have 3 days and love wondering around museums getting lost then you can do that, but if you are on a schedule or just don't have that kind of spirit get a guide.
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| Pyramids of Louvre |
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| Louvre |
The guide took us through the former courtyards that are now internal to the museum which now houses some statues that were originally at other French palaces. From there we moved to Napoleon's (the 3rd, not the most famous one) apartment inside the Louvre and then more housewares followed. Then we moved to the Marie de' Medici Cycle which is a room with 24 painting going over the life of Marie de' Medici (I only know of the Medici family because we visited Florence, Italy, the family was a big deal there).
From there it was Venus de Milo,Winged Victory of Samothrace, some crazy Versailles-esque hall, and of course Mona Lisa.
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| Neopoleon's Throne |
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| Venus de Milo |
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| Winged Victory of Samothrace |
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| The crazy hall with cases of jewelry |
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| Di Vinci's most famous but not most interesting work |
We stopped at a few more paintings before the tour guide left us in the museum, Rebe and I had another appointment/tour to visit the Catacombs of Paris.
We hopped on a bus to get us across to town for our tour of the Catacombs, we got there a little early so we acted all Parisian and stopped and grabbed a sauceless sandwich at a local bakery. Not sure how the French eat so much bread with so little meat and no sauce (mustard or mayo). But on to the Catacomb tour which started at a nondescript building in the center of the city. The Catacombs of Paris are not quite like the Catacombs of Rome, the Paris ones were originally mines and such but then were later converted into burial grounds. The first bodies were just thrown down there, and then there was an operation to clean up the catacombs and organize the bones into groups of when they were entered into the underground system. It is a very interesting place to visit.
This evening we were to meet my fellow co-worker Eugene for dinner but it wasn't quite time for dinner yet but there is always more to explore in Paris so we took the transit over to Luxembourg Gardens. The walk from the transit station had us walking by a pastry shop that sold lemon tarts so you know we had to get one of those. We enjoyed our tart in the park on a bench and proceeded to put our feet up for a second and take a nap like the rest of the people in the park. Still trying to figure out how the park was so crowded on a Friday afternoon...really need to get me a job in Paris. After the nap we had a stroll around to check out another beautiful park and this is also where the French Senate meets (not in the park, but in a building in the park).
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| Luxembourg Gardens |
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| Luxembourg Gardens |
From the gardens we met Eugene at Harry's New York Bar, the supposed birthplace of the Bloody Mary, French 75, Sidecar and Monkey Gland. We then moved over to another bar before having dinner at À la Châtaigne, a Corsican restaurant. Really cool to meet up with friends half a world away.
April 23rd
Last full day in Paris :(
We were able to rebook our cancelled tours from the previous weekend and today we would be heading out of Paris to visit the gardens of Claude Monet. Our tour met near the Eiffel Tower at 8am which means we had to get up quite early to catch the subway across town, luckily there was a shop near the meeting point for grabbing a quick bite to eat and a snack to take with us while on the tour. The van ride out took about an hour and while driving our tour guide gave us a quick Monet life history which was a bit bizarre to be honest, but hey no judging.
As you can see from the images, this place is just so idyllic. So serene, and we got there so early we got there before the huge crowds so early in the day it was almost as if we had certain sections to ourselves. After touring both gardens and his house we stopped at a shop for a bite to eat before walking through town and seeing the gravesite where Monet is buried.
The tour van picked us up and gave us a little more Monet history but then dropped us off for our tour of Versailles. Versailles is the giant famous palace built by the last of the French kings before the French Revolution. Another interesting history of the place, how it was used, the lack of bathrooms (but understandable given the age) and how the French people sold its contents but saved the building to serve as a museum just like the Louvre.
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| Front courtyard |
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| Hall of Mirrors |
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| King's bed/bedroom |
Also part of visiting Versailles is taking time to visit the gardens on site, just amazing. Pics below
After getting back to Paris we went to Montmarte again, last minute effort to get some more macrons before the flight home. Then it was back to Montparnasse for the last meal of the trip at Le petit sommelier which happened to be recommended to us by multiple people.
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