Our week-long trip to Paris in November 2018: The Catacombs and their fascinating history, Père Lachaise Cemetery, Sacre Coeur and Montmartre, and exploring the delectable food of the Marais and Bastille neigborhoods.
We had never been to Paris, but always figured we would make it there someday. The food, the architecture, the history, the wine, THE CHEESE–there are so many reasons to visit. We found a good deal on a direct flight to Paris from Seattle over Thanksgiving week, and pulled the trigger.
Everyone has a different opinion on what you HAVE to see in Paris. We decided to follow the advice of the late Anthony Bourdain, who lamented that the worst mistake people make when traveling to Paris is to try to do too much. His advice? Just walk around and eat stuff.
We had six days, and there really is an infinite number of things to do, see, and eat in Paris. I made a list, and then whittled that list down, and then whittled it down some more. The Louvre Museum didn’t even make it onto our list, as it is way too big to see in a week and hoards of tourists pushing and shoving around the Mona Lisa with selfie sticks didn’t appeal to us much. The Palace of Versailles was the first thing I eliminated from my initial itinerary–as much as I wanted to see it, it was an entire day trip and I thought it would be too much for the limited time we had. The Catacombs were number one on my list (and did not disappoint).
Everyone has a different priority of what they really want to do and see, and to each their own. The best advice I can give when planning a trip to Paris, is to ask yourself “Is this attraction something I really want to see, or feel like I should see because it’s famous?” If it falls into the “should see” category, put it on a list of things to see if you end up having time. Be sure to leave some free afternoons for rest or spontaneity, and above all, PACK COMFORTABLE WALKING SHOES. Paris is a very walkable city, and you will be doing a lot of it. The best way to see Paris is on foot.
Day 1:
We arrived in Paris in the afternoon on an overnight flight from Seattle, and located the kiosks for the RER B train into Paris from the airport. Our apartment was located in the Marais neighborhood, which we chose for the cafes, restaurants, and nightlife.
Our route to our apartment required a transfer from the train to the Metro, but because we were exhausted and had luggage we exited the train station at Gare du Nord and called an Uber to transport us the rest of the way.
The owner of the apartment met us in front of the building and got us checked in. We had a reasonably priced studio in walking distance to lots of bars, shops, and restaurants with a cute courtyard view.
We unpacked, rested for a few, and then headed out to find dinner.
I had done quite a bit of research on restaurants in the area before we arrived, and chose Cafe De L’Industrie for it’s good reviews and reasonably priced French fare. The cafe was warm, cute, and busy. They had an English menu upon request, and even though not all the servers understood English and our French was very limited, we had no problem communicating. We had escargot as an appetizer, I had a duck leg confit dish with spiced honey, and Paddy had a hanger steak with au gratin potatoes. Everything was delicious. If you like clams you’ll like escargot. Just forget that it is snails and dive in.
We didn’t know much about French wine, so we asked the server to recommend one of their selections served by the glass. It was fabulous and very affordable. Wine is generally cheaper in France than in the US. You will often pay more for a beer at a bar than for a glass of wine.
Having gotten minimal sleep on the plane, we were pretty tired and didn’t make it past 8:30 PM. We woke up once during the night at 2:00 AM, took some melatonin and went back to sleep.
**Tip: bring melatonin to combat jet lag–the part where you are awake when you don’t want to be.
Day 2:
We had thought ahead and picked up a baguette, butter, ham, cheese, and coffee at the store the night before, so we had a delicious and economical breakfast in the apartment. I don’t know what the French do to their butter that makes it better than every other butter in the world (sorry, even you Ireland). Don’t leave France without slathering their butter on a fresh baguette.
My friend Jenny was traveling around Europe on a photography grant, and decided to meet up with us in Paris for the week. She met up with us at our apartment and we spent the day sightseeing together.
The Metro was very easy to navigate, and is pretty much just like New York or any other major city’s subway system. I was able to get Metro directions on my phone through Google Maps whenever I needed them. Tickets are sold individually for €1.90 each or in packs of 10 for €14.90. Note that you cannot use a metro ticket on the RER trains, but you can transfer from an RER train to the Metro on the same ticket as long as you don’t leave the station.
**Note: Keep your used Metro or RER ticket until you have excited the station. There are periodic ticket checks and you may be asked to show your stamped ticket to verify that you paid. If you do not have your ticket, you will have to pay a €35.00 fine. With RER tickets, you will need to put your ticket through the turnstile again when you leave to exit the station.
We figured we should see the Eiffel Tower first thing, and then spend the rest of the afternoon exploring Saint Germain and the Latin Quarter.
We didn’t feel the need to go up in the Eiffel Tower. It was pretty enough from the ground. There is a park behind it that is probably great for picnics in warmer weather.
We walked along the Seine from the Eiffel Tower towards Saint Germain. It was a bit windy, so we left the riverside and walked in between the buildings for wind blockage. We logged a lot of steps on my fitness watch (23,000 by the end of the day!). We could have taken the Metro, but felt like walking. Saint Germain is a bit more of an upscale neighborhood, and economic cafes and food options seemed a bit more limited. It is a beautiful neighborhood to walk through, however.
We eventually made it to the Latin Quarter, and were ready for a break. I thought maybe we could eat at the famous Les Deux Magots cafe, where Picasso, Rimbaud, Hemingway, and other famous artists and writers used to hang out. However, the casual cafe I was expecting turned out to be a fancy affair with waiters in tuxedos and high prices.
We eventually decided on Relais Odeon cafe, and they were more than happy to welcome Jenny’s dog Luna inside to sit under our table (Paris is a pretty dog-friendly city). The prices were reasonable for a nice lunch with table service. Paddy and Jenny had salads, both said they were really good. Paddy also ordered a pate, and I had the Croque Monsieur sandwich, which came with a small salad and fries.
We wandered around the Latin Quarter a bit more after lunch until our legs and feet began to complain.
When our feet had had enough, we parted ways with Jenny and took the Metro back to our apartment to rest up a bit before dinner.
That evening, I had made a reservation at Restaurant L’ Alivi, an adorable Corsican restaurant in the Marais. Our reservation was for 7:00 PM, which was right when they opened. We were the first and only people in the restaurant and for a short period of time wondered if a reservation had been necessary, until it began to fill up and people were being turned away at the door.
Once the food arrived, we knew why it was so popular. The shining stars for us were the appetizers. Paddy had a creamy bacon soup dish with poached egg and gingerbread croutons (Oeuf Mollet), and I had the chestnut soup with fresh sheep’s cheese (Velouté de chataigne). For the main dish, Paddy had veal with eggplant parmesan (Quasi de Veau rôti) and I had a chicken dish that was part of the day’s special. The main dishes were good, but I’m still thinking about that chestnut soup with the big, melty glob of fresh sheep’s cheese in the middle.
The only thing that made the meal less than amazing was the fact that the heat was turned up to about 90 degrees Fahrenheit, and with every table packed it easily reached 100 degrees. I was thoroughly enjoying my meal but could not stop sweating. The atmosphere was very romantic, but it is hard to feel romantic with beads of sweat forming on your face. Overall, we would absolutely recommend. Hopefully they can get their thermostat sorted out.
We were pretty tired and a bit jet-lagged, so after dinner we picked up a bottle of wine at the grocery store and relaxed in our apartment.
Day 3:
On our second full day in Paris, I had scheduled a guided, skip-the-line special access Catacombs tour. If you would like to visit the Catacombs of Paris, you have three options:
- Show up at your leisure, and wait in line (€13)
- Pre-purchase a ticket for a specific date and time on their website for quick-access (€29)
- Book a guided skip-the-line tour ($91.50)
After reading a lot of reviews, we opted for the guided tour. The tour was for 12:00 PM and included a two hour tour with a knowledgeable tour guide, including parts of the Catacombs that regular visitors do not have access to. This was by and far the best option, albeit more expensive. We booked through Tripadvisor.
We arrived a bit early and walked around the area for about 15 minutes, but it was raining so we eventually went to the Cafe Rendezvous tour meeting point and ordered a cup of coffee while we waited. The line for the standard self-tour of the Catacombs across the street was very long and we were glad we had not opted to wait in line in the rain. The line moves slowly, as only a certain amount of people are allowed in the Catacombs at a time.
**Note: The Catacombs requires descending 131 steps down and 112 steps on the way back up, so it is not recommended for people with limited mobility
Our tour guide was on time, and we walked right in past the long line of waiting people. There were some rules to follow: No selfie sticks or photos with flash, no touching the bones, no large bags, and if you have a small backpack you will need to carry it in front of you in the section containing bones. We had to go through security on the way out and in.
We descended the long spiral staircase and into the tunnels, with our guide stopping to explain the history of the tunnels along the way. The labyrinth of tunnels under the city dates back to medieval times, originally used for limestone quarries. In the late 1700’s, parts of the expanding city began collapsing. The tunnels were then reinforced. The working conditions for reinforcing the tunnels were dangerous, and most of the workers died by age 28 or went blind from working in continuous darkness.
Our guide led us to large areas of the Catacombs that required a guard to unlock gates to let us in and out. One of the unexpected and interesting exhibits were the sculptures done by a man named Décure. Décure created elaborate carvings in secret, and was sadly killed by a tunnel collapse while working.
In 1785, the city’s graveyards were overflowing, and something needed to be done to make room for new burials. Bones were dug up and transported to the Catacombs, creating sectioned “piles” for each graveyard. The femurs and skulls were arranged in front, sometimes artfully, and the rest of the bones were piled behind. Most have a limestone plaque stating what cemetery the bones are from and the dates.
It was eerie and surreal to be among so many bones. We only got to see a portion of them–there are a total of approximately six million corpses in the Paris Catacombs.
There is only a small section of the Catacombs open to the public, and exploring other sections is illegal and dangerous. It is easy to get lost and unable to find a way out. And if your flashlight dies, good luck. That doesn’t stop people, of course. There are “cataphiles” out there, who know secret entrances and exits, have large dance raves and dinner parties in secret rooms, and even built a fully functioning movie theater.
I won’t share all the secrets and history our tour guide gave us, you’ll have to take the tour for yourself. It is a very interesting place with fascinating history, and the tour was 100% worth the price of admission. Book this tour at least a couple weeks in advance, however. It sells out, especially during the busy season.
When the tour was finished, we were pretty hungry. We ended up having lunch at the Fourteen Cafe near the Catacombs exit. We each had a different salad, which weren’t amazing by French standards, but pretty good. I enjoyed the fresh anchovies on my Nicoise salad.
I was excited to try Parisian hot mulled wine as it was cold and we were going into the holiday season. This cafe was my first experience with French vin chaud (hot wine), and it left something to be desired. Instead of hot mulled wine, I got a cup of plain hot wine with a sugar packet and shaker of cinnamon on the side. It was still a nice winter warmer on a cold rainy day, however.
We were pretty tired after lunch and the weather was pretty crappy, so we headed back to the apartment to rest and read for a while.
For dinner, I had made a reservation at Au Passage, a little restaurant right around the corner from our apartment that was featured on the Paris episode of Anthony Bourdain’s The Layover.
Au Passage is a bit of a splurge, and is all small plates to share. The service was excellent, and all the waitstaff spoke English and were more than happy to help translate and describe the menu. We ordered five dishes and a dessert, all were works of art. Our favorite dishes of the evening were the scallop tartare and the veal sweetbreads. Neither of us had eaten sweetbreads before, but when in Paris! The sweetbreads are typically organ meat from the thymus gland and pancreas. These were lightly breaded and sauteed. The texture was a bit like tofu, and they tasted a lot like pork.
After dinner we met up with my friend Jenny again and went to La Fee Verte, an absinthe bar in the 11th arrondissement of Paris. If you’ve never tried absinthe, this is a great place to go. The absinthe menu at La Fee Verte is extensive, and they will bring an old fashioned water fountain over to your table with multiple spouts. You position your glass of absinthe under the spout with an absinthe spoon across the top and a sugar cube on top of the spoon. You turn on the spout so that the water drips slowly onto the sugar and dissolves it, draining through the grate in the absinthe spoon. This creates a “louche” effect turning the absinthe cloudy.
Most absinthe has a strong anise or herbaceous flavor. I can’t drink a lot of it as the anise is a little much for me. If absinthe isn’t your thing, La Fee Verte has plenty of other beverages on their menu as well as food. We didn’t see the green fairy, but we had a good time.
Our final stop of the evening was Le Tiki Lounge, also in the 11th arrondissement, because if there is a Tiki bar, we have to go there.
Le Tiki Lounge was fairly empty, but had a few loyal patrons. Paddy and I both had the La Machete cocktail with tequila and hibiscus. It was pretty tasty. They also carry Hinano beer here, which is very rare in Europe. Obviously, this is because Hinano is from French Polynesia.
The downstairs has a secluded little hangout room which was empty but pretty fun. Overall, it wasn’t my favorite Tiki bar that I’d been to, but it had heart. We were a bit sad that they had sold out of their souvenir Tiki mugs. Maybe next time.
Day 4:
On Wednesday, we thought we’d start the day by exploring the nearby exploring Père Lachaise Cemetery. We knew Père Lachaise was a big cemetery, but we weren’t quite prepared for how big. It is also not flat, and even on the flatter parts the uneven cobblestones are hard on your ankles.
Père Lachaise Cemetery is a beautiful cemetery, however and definitely worth visiting. Everyone goes there to see the final resting place of American poet and musician Jim Morrison, but his grave is one of the least remarkable in the whole place.
It was a bit confusing to navigate, and we ended up using Google Maps a bit. We located Oscar Wilde’s tomb and the family tomb of famous French singer Edith Piaf.
We ended up stumbling onto a row of Holocaust concentration camp memorials that were very moving. Dachau, Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Oranienburg and Sachsenhausen each have a specific monument, and the statues on most of them are very sad, a realistic monument to the horrors of the WWII Nazi genocide.
We finally located Jim Morrison’s grave after a hike to the other side of the cemetery.
We were getting hungry and tired of walking around cobblestones, so we ended our tour there. There was a lot more to see, but we had seen all we wanted to.
It did take us a while to find our way out of the walled-in cemetery, and when we did make it out we didn’t know where we were in relation to the Metro. We were tired so we just called an Uber back to Oberkampf Street near our apartment to look for a takeout lunch.
One thing we heard that we should eat in Paris is a roast chicken. We had passed Boucherie Oberkampf on the way to the Metro earlier, and returned as we decided that today was chicken lunch day.
Chickens were twirling around in a giant rotisserie behind the counter, their drippings pooling on the bottom on a pile of small potatoes. We each got a whole chicken leg and a large side of the roasted potatoes for about €6 total. We also picked up a delightful thing with lemon curd and raspberries at a bakery for €3.50. Everything was delicious and it was a very economical lunch.
Later that afternoon, we got on the Metro and headed to the Montmartre neighborhood. We walked up a hill to the Sacre Coeur Basilica.
Paris is mostly flat, but this is an area that requires some climbing. Once we approached Sacre Coeur, we realized (thankfully) that the Metro had let us off halfway up the hill to the Basilica. We kept climbing, taking breaks along the way to rest and enjoy the view. It was close to sunset, and the afternoon sun lit up the Basilica beautifully. If you visit Sacre Coeur, try to visit on a sunny day around sunset. There are lots of places to sit and enjoy the view.
Eventually we made it to the Basilica, which was an impressive site inside and out. There were many signs inside the Basilica that said that photos inside were prohibited, but I noticed a lot of rude tourists clicking away on their phones anyway. There was a service going on, so we stayed on the perimeter so as not to disturb.
After touring the church, we continued past into the Montmartre neighborhood. We were expecting it to be a little touristy, but it was a lot more touristy than I thought it would be. Many tourist shops selling the same things and touts trying to get you to hire them for a portrait drawing on the street. Loud, embarrassing American tourists drinking wine on the cafe terraces.
It was unfortunate, because Montmartre is a very cute neighborhood. I’m sure there is more to see beyond the main tourist area, but we didn’t venture far.
We ducked into a cafe called Aux Petit Creux to have some beer and vin chaud and wait to meet up with Jenny. The vin chaud here was delicious. Very spicy and a little sweet and with an orange slice floating in it. My mulled wine in Paris dreams were fulfilled.
Jenny met us and we had another round of drinks and then headed down the big hill in front of Sacre Coeur towards the Pigalle neighborhood. Sacre Coeur was gloriously illuminated at night as well.
Pigalle is the red light district, but also home to the infamous Moulin Rouge and Paris’ other Tiki bar, Dirty Dick.
We walked down Boulevard de Clichy past tourist shops, adult shops and strip clubs. If you are looking for tits and a souvenir shot glass, this is a one stop shop.
We made it to the Moulin Rouge for a photo op. I had waffled about booking tickets for their show, trying to determine if the price was worth it or if it was too touristy. Ultimately, we decided not to drop the dough. I have had a few friends say they really enjoyed the show, so maybe we’ll check it out next time.
If you are looking for a cabaret show in Paris, Moulin Rouge isn’t the only option. Lido and the Crazy Horse are two other large production cabarets and there are other, smaller productions as well.
We’d had our fill of the sights of Boulevard de Clichy, so we made our pilgrimage to the last stop on our Montmartre/Pigalle neighborhood tour: Dirty Dick Tiki bar.
Dirty Dick was a bit more classic. It was dark and loungey, with a drink menu that was a bit more extensive. The bartenders were friendly and welcoming. Jenny and I shared a volcano bowl, because drinks that are on fire are exciting. When it arrived, the bartender poured cinnamon on the flame to make it flare up dramatically. A+ for presentation!
The volcano bowl was boozy and delicious, with real fruit juices. We were also very excited that they had one last souvenir Tiki mug available, which we purchased. We were there early in the evening, but around 6:30 it started to get very busy with the after-work crowd. Overall, we enjoyed Dirty Dick more than Le Tiki Lounge, but both were really fun. I forgot to ask the bartender at Dirty Dick about the origin of the bar name.
We were tipsy and hungry, and after dropping some dough on a Tiki mug and a volcano bowl we wanted something inexpensive for dinner. We had seen Phil Rosenthal rave about L’ As Du Fallafel on I’ll Have What Phil’s Having, and multiple people had told us to go eat there as well. In fact, on my last day of work before our Paris trip, my boss wished me well and left for the day. He then called me from the parking lot to tell me to make sure to go to the fallafel place.
We took the Metro back to the Marais neighborhood and located L’ As Du Fallafel. The dine-in part of the restaurant was full, but the line was not so long. Unfortunately, they didn’t allow dogs and Jenny had Luna with her. They did however have a take out window, so we ordered to go.
Jenny and Paddy had the fallafel sandwich, and I had the Schawarma sandwich. It was packed full of veggies, sauces, and roasted eggplant. The eggplant was a delicious addition. The only bummer was that there was no where outside to sit. We ended up walking all the way back to our apartment to finish eating, about a 15 minute walk. It wasn’t ideal. The sandwiches were amazing though. Go to the fallafel place.
Day 5:
Our original plan for the day was to get up early, get in line to climb the 387 steps to the top of Notre Dame Cathedral, and then on to more sightseeing. However, after the crazy amount of walking we had done in the last three days, we were tired. Sometimes, you need to get over your FOMO (fear of missing out) on major tourist attractions and realize that all that matters on a trip is that you had a great day. We scratched all of our touristy day plans, and ended up having the best day of our whole trip.
We slept in, and then walked down to the Bastille neighborhood, stopping at a bakery along the way for a snack. We went to Foot Massage by Bansabai and treated ourselves to a 30 minute foot massage to restore our worn-out feet.
Feeling refreshed, we wandered around Bastille. We poked around in shops and markets and tasted cheese.
Oh yes, THE CHEESE. We ducked into the Fromagerie Laurent Dubois on Rue Saint-Antoine and tasted some of their amazing cheeses. We purchased a creamy one to eat with breakfast the next morning, and were tempted by a firmer cheese infused with black truffle. We weren’t sure if we could bring it back through customs. I read the customs guidelines online and it seems that firmer cheeses that are sealed well can usually be brought back to the US. The friendly shop staff vacuum-sealed it for us and we did manage to get it back home.
**Note on US customs: Soft cheeses are not allowed through customs. Fruit, vegetable and meat products are not allowed into the US unless they are canned, and no beef products from Europe are allowed in at all. If you are bringing something back, ALWAYS declare it. The worst that can happen is that you get it taken away. If you don’t declare and they find it, you will face a $10,000 fine. More info here.
We ate lunch at a restaurant called Au Bouquet Saint Paul, mostly because they had a cheese and charcuterie plate on the menu and we wanted to keep sampling cheese. I had a shrimp and avocado appetizer as well, which was sort of like guacamole with mayo and shrimp with a side salad.
After a nice lunch with wine we did a little more shopping and poked into a little bakery to get some pastries to go. I wish we had had more time to sample more of all the gorgeous French pastries that were on display in all the bakeries, but there are really only so many pastries one can consume in a week. We got a chocolate eclair, a chocolate ganache thing with a chocolate flower on top, and a pistachio “escargot” pastry. The eclairs in France are a fraction of the size of the eclairs in the US, and with much more flavor.
Later that evening, we did have one touristy item on our agenda: a champagne tasting boat tour on the Seine. Tourism that involves sitting and drinking champagne while sightseeing was exactly the kind of tourism that we were in the mood for that day.
I had booked the tour through Viator. It was a one hour river cruise on one of the tour boats open to everyone. However, if you booked the champagne tasting cruise you got priority boarding, a private area at the front of the boat, and a sommelier pouring you glasses of three different champagnes while pointing out the various buildings and historical sights along the way.
The tour departed from the front of the Eiffel Tower at 6:00 PM, which we had not yet seen lit up at night yet so that was an added bonus. We arrived a bit early, so we sat and had a drink in a heated tent near the boat dock.
The champagne tour was nice, and the sommelier was liberal with his champagne pours. I think that for sightseeing you would see more of Paris from the Seine in the daytime, but whatever. We were mostly there for the champagne.
When the tour ended at 7:00 PM, we rushed off the boat to catch the hourly Eiffel Tower light show that happens on the hour after dark. It was impressive–both with the light show and with just the regular nighttime illumination. Seeing the Eiffel Tower at night was the highlight of the sightseeing tour, even though it wasn’t actually part of the tour.
After the tour we were hungry (and a little buzzed). I had researched Spanish restaurants in Paris for a little change up from French food, and we took an Uber back to the Marais for dinner at Le Jamoncito.
Le Jamoncito is a small, adorable little Spanish tapas restaurant tucked in a small side street in the heart of the Marais nightlife. The restaurant owner was welcoming, and more than happy to recommend his favorite dishes when we asked. Before we knew it we had a slew of dishes being brought to our table, all of them were amazing.
At the recommendation of the restaurant owner who was serving us, we ordered a selection of cured Spanish ham, a dish with octopus and potatoes (pulpo a la gallega), a white fish and roasted red pepper salad, fresh anchovy toasts, and another cured ham toast with tomatoes and olive oil. We LOVED all the French food we had in Paris, but the Spanish tapas at Le Jamoncito ended up being our favorite meal of the trip. The food was delicious, the atmosphere was adorable and romantic, and the owner was very friendly and obviously proud of the food he served.
After dinner, we walked around the Marais a bit. Some of the streets had Christmas lights up, which was fun to see. Overall, it was a great day.
Day 6:
On our last day, we figured we should do some last minute touristy stuff. Our first stop was the Notre Dame Cathedral. It was extremely foggy, so we didn’t bother trying to get to the top to see the gargoyles and the view. I can’t say I’m super sorry about not climbing all those steps, but I have heard the view is great.
Both the interior and exterior of the cathedral are very impressive and intricate. It is free to go inside the cathedral (you only have to pay if you want to climb to the top). Signs showed photography allowed without a flash, at least that I saw. There was a choir singing when we entered, so we sat for a few minutes and marveled at the acoustics. It was really beautiful.
After Notre Dame, we walked a block over to visit the Conciergerie. The Conciergerie building dates back to medieval times when it was built as a palace. It was later converted into a prison, and was the primary prison during the French Revolution. It’s most famous prisoner was Marie Antoinette, who was held in the Conciergerie for several months prior to her execution in 1793. Admission is €15.00
The Conciergerie was pretty interesting, but of all the things we saw and did in Paris, it was probably the least exciting for me. If you are short on time and trying to whittle down your sightseeing list, you might consider cutting this one out. I would recommend the Conciergerie to someone who is very interested in the history of the French Revolution and medieval architecture. If that’s not your thing, consider skipping it.
Later in the afternoon, we ventured out again to the La Defense Christmas market. I really wanted to see a European Christmas market, and La Defense was the only one open, having just opened the day before. (Most of the Christmas markets in Paris don’t open until after December 1st). I read that it was the largest and best Christmas market, albeit a bit far from the city center.
On the way we got off the Metro and stopped at the Arc de Triomphe for a quick photo. The Arc de Triomphe is one of the largest tourist attractions in Paris, and you can climb to the top if you like. We just opted for a quick photo op from the street.
La Defense is the modern business district of Paris, with modern skyscrapers. It is a bit of a metro ride away from the main tourist areas of Paris, but not too far. There is also a huge shopping mall there. If you are looking for history and culture in Paris, La Defense is the opposite experience. La Defense is a very modern and commercial part of the city.
The Christmas market was in full swing on it’s second night. After passing through security at one of the multiple entrances, you can wander around rows of huts selling various gifts and foods. There were quite a few food stands as well selling soups, sandwiches, Mexican cuisine, churros, crepes, vin chaud (hot spiced wine), and other items. We shared a foie gras sandwich and then got some vin chaud and walked around.
We ended up purchasing some truffle oil products. Many vendors had tasting samples to try. Overall, I think I enjoyed myself more than Paddy did. Christmas markets aren’t really his thing.
There were some Christmas light displays to wander around in as well.
By the time we made it back to the Metro, we were tired and ready to sit down and have a drink. The Metro was a bit crazy as it was rush hour, which made the ride back a little claustrophobic.
We ended the evening with beers at Le Black Dog, a heavy metal bar in the Marais that was on Paddy’s list of bars he wanted to visit. It was small and crowded, but the bartenders were friendly and we managed to snag the last table.
We were to fly out the next day, and I received an email that evening notifying us that our direct flight back to Seattle was cancelled and we were on a later flight with a layover in Los Angeles. We didn’t get our reserved two-seat row selection that we had paid extra for, and got home at 3:00 AM Sunday morning instead of 11:00 AM Saturday morning. We weren’t pleased, to say the least. I contacted Air France to get a refund of our reserved seat fee, and to our surprise we got our reserved seat fee back plus €600.00 each! Apparently, there is a law within the European Union that passengers are due compensation if a flight is cancelled or delayed for reasons other than weather.
*Pro tip: If your flight is cancelled or delayed in Europe, always check to see if you are due compensation. A friend of mine said he has received €200.00 before for a flight that was delayed over two hours in Europe.
We absolutely loved Paris. There were a lot of things we wanted to see and do that we didn’t have time (or make time) for, but I have a feeling that we will be back someday. We would love to see France’s wine country as well, and explore more of French cuisine. There is also so much history and beautiful architecture to explore in Paris. Having spent a week there, I would absolutely agree with Anthony Bourdain’s advice. Don’t try to pack too much in. Pick one or two things to see/do for each day, and fill the rest in with spontaneity and wandering. Walk around and eat stuff. You won’t be disappointed.
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