Hello, we got home last night and am now back at work, yuck!
I don't do trip reports but just thought I would share a few moments from our 5 days in Paris.
We loved our apartment just off Boulevard Raspail, it was a studio of 30 meters. I will do a review of this apartment...it was near Montparnasse which has tons of bars/restaurants/bistro's etc..
The morning we got there about 10 am, got to the apartment fine and met Didier there. He explained how everything worked and left. We walked to the Latin Quarter thru Luxembourg Gardens, took only aboput 20 minutes, weather was lovely. We stopped at many bars and had drinks and wine yum...then strolled down Rue Moufftard, picked up some quiche and a chocolate tart and headed back to the apartment at about 6pm...we took a nap and woke up not sure what time it was...I asked my husband what time it was and he said 8:30pm...I remember thinking that's great just in time to go out to eat.
We showered and dressed and headed out the door. Walked up to Boulevard Monparnasse and thought it was a bit quiet out but then came upon a bar called the Shannon pub that was buzzing with people. Went in had a drink and I asked the barmaid what time it was and she said 3am!!!!
Needless to say we were shocked at the time but laughed our heads off and proceeded to stay there having drinks until 5:30 am!! Everybody was so friendly! We were very hungry by this time, no really? Anyway asked the barmaid if there was anything open and she took us outside and pointed to a couple of places which I was amazed anything was open at that time.
We went in and it was packed. I think its a chain called Hippopotamus? My husband had french onion soup which was wonderful and I had en brochette of chicken/lamb/beef/sausage with frites and salad and a side of bernaise...I was in heaven. This was by far not the best meal we had but at 5:30am I could have eaten my elbow! It was really good though!
We wandered everywhere in the next few days, loved the Les Halle neighborhood, went to the Marais area, Ile St. Louis one night, beautiful..I think we liked the Latin Quarter and Monmarte the best though.
Monmarte has a real village feel and was cozy, just the right amount of people. MY husband bought me a lovely antique silver and garnet bracelet there. I can imagine it can get really touristy in the summer though.
We had a really tiny little cafe/bar next to our apartment where we went everyday. One evening we went there about 10pm and he closed the bar and drew the curtains and turned the music up full blast with just us a few of his friends and girlfriend and started pouring the pastis like it was no tomorrow...and some other green stuff as well...my husband was dancing with an older gentlemen who spoke no english listening to a combo of The Clash and Edith Piaf!!!
He started bringing out bread and some absolutely sublime spread that tasted like tuna and something,cheese and nuts and some kind of hard salami. We didn't leave until 2am!! It was a blast!
We cooked mostly breakfast at our apartment, the eggs are so lovely, got fresh baguettes everyday...had a great little supmarket next to us. The wine was so cheap and so good. We did not spend over 5 euros for a bottle red or white and every single glass we had out was so good!
We had the most lovely meals, ate three times at a restuarant near us called Montparnasse 138...three courses for 18 euros. It was wonderful...we had foie gras and bone marrow and duck and lamb and tart tatins...
We found the metro very easy and most of all everybody we met was great, very friendly and a lot of fun. Can't wait to go back and spend more time.
