Paris, je t'aime!

I think the Gargoyles are up here!
(c) PipPepPop

As Blair and Serena once agreed in Gossip Girl's season 4 trip to Paris, any great duo must divide and conquer the city to make the most of it.

From the Gossip Girl episode 4.1 into to the 'Belles du Jour' episode:

"Serena's locked down the left bank 
and become a muse to us all. 

Meanwhile, Blair rules the right bank, 
storming the shops and consuming the 

classics and sampling sugary snacks like 
a modern Marie Antoniette."

-- Gossip Girl

I recently returned from a whirlwind 4 days in Paris with two of my best girlfriends from college. While I have yet to pick my favorite bank to rule, we packed a great deal into our brief travels before we traveled to Italy. It was pre-fashion week, it was cold, and it was like walking onto the set of a movie. Bons baisers, I'm in love! Here are some photo highlights and lessons learned from Paris.

1. Everything looks like it's part of a movie scene

The beauty of European cities cannot be described. Every small and charming cobblestone street looks like it was meticulously put together for Matt Damon to be chased down. Some of these buildings are 300-400 years old. They've withstood countless plagues and wars and they're still standing. despite the VERY cold temperatures of about 20 degrees F, I was excited to walk all over and uncover each new arrondissement. 

(c) PipPepPop

(c) PipPepPop

2. The people of Paris are warm and delightful
Over the years, I've heard my share of stories from friends that Paris is not the friendliest city for Americans. I was happily proven wrong. We met kind locals everywhere, from the shopgirl who spent three hours patiently helping my friend and I decide on dresses to museum guides, taxi drivers, waiters, and the hotel staff.

Breakfast. (c) PipPepPop

I have to thank the kind man with the Addidas gym bag who kindly guided us to the opposite metro platform and narrowly saved us from heading toward the soccer stadium instead of our hotel. I also misplaced my camera for a day, and fearing the worst, resigned myself to never seeing it again. At the end of the day, I discovered it in the hotel breakfast room, right where I had left it when I snapped a photo pf my breakfast.




3. The food is amazing! Try it all!

Macaroons & tea at Nescafe
(c) PipPepPop

 As mentioned above, my breakfast was 100 times more exciting from the morning the plane landed in Paris. Gone were my usual oatmeal or cereal and milk combos. I welcomed fresh from the oven pain au chocolat, fruit, yogurt, fresh juice, and cafe au lait.

I had a variety of lunch and dinner dishes ranging from cheese plates (yes this was most of my dinner one night), beef burgundy, fresh salmon or shrimp sandwiches, croque monsieurs, chicken provencale, pate, salad with haircot verts, escargot.... and now I am starving. French food is amazing, as is all of the bread.  For dessert, there were chocolates, champagne, mousse, crepes, macaroons, and one night, we had a beautiful green absynthe cocktail.

4. The BEST view of the Eiffel Tower is from the Arc du triomphe!

The Champs
(c) PipPepPop

With French Glamour
(c) PipPepPop

This happened completely by accident, but we ended up at the arch roundabout at the end of the
Champs Elysees at about 5 in the afternoon. We thought "What's another 600 or so steps (total, not each way) when we already can't feel our toes?"

It came down to choosing between the Eiffel Tower and the Arc in terms of what we could handle physically after doing some serious hiking through churches and museums earlier in the day. The walk was perilous, but we trudged upstairs (inside thankfully) and emerged at the top of the arch as the sun was tucking into the Seine.

5. Visit a new cafe every day, but return to old favorites!
We did some touristy things, like visit the cafe from the charming movie Amelie. It was a lot of fun. We also found some great places in our neighborhood and became locals there ASAP. I tried all 3 of the roses offered at one restaurant (not in one sitting; one each time I visited).

  

LEFT: Caf Amelie from the movie. CENTER: The street is THIS big!  RIGHT: The Sacre Coeur- aka the Castle on the Hill. I went on my only paid public bathroom trip here. I'm happy to report I've seen many worse bathrooms than this. All Photos (c) PipPepPop

6. Talk to Everyone, Shop Local
The most amazing moments from the trip were chats we had with the locals. We stopped in every bookstore, boutique, shoe store, haberdasher, etc.. and even a department store.

PHOTO CAPTION: I fell in love with the vibe of this Gatsby-inspired cocktail 
bar and restaurant down the street from our hotel. (c) PipPepPop

7. Be Silly! Selfie it! Goof Around for Pictures!
Some of my favorite trip pictures were making silly faces at Notre Dame or posing in front of the Eiffel tower. If helps if you have a selfie stick, which I received as a present from a friend. It served us well on the trip because we never needed to ask a stranger to take out pictures!

Eiffel Tower
(c) PipPepPop

 

Group selfie outside Shakespeare and Company. (c) PipPepPop

8. Sleep when you're home! Make every minute count

Me and the Mona Lisa
(c) PipPepPop

'Single Ladies' dance.
(c)PipPepPop

While I am the first to admit jet lag can hit me hard, I trudged through my first day in Paris to fall asleep for a reasonable 6 to 7 hours. The next morning, we hit the Louvre hard, and it was worth the early rise. We climbed out of a cab at 8 am and got in line outside the glass dome to wait like it was a red carpet premiere or Disney World. We headed right for the big ticket exhibits, the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo statue. After, we perused paintings from various centuries and took in one of the best things, the royals jewels dating back to King Louis!

Photo captions below: (LEFT) The Louvre before opening. (RIGHT) Gems from Napoleon's family.