A Weekend in Paris (part 1)

Aweh, guys!

Merry Christmas everyone! All the presents have been unwrapped, cake was substituted for breakfast and Ripley took the greatest delight in biting me and my textbooks. He must be teething after I fed him and Spocky tuna for breakfast.

So, it is common knowledge that I have the best husband ever! He always finds ways to surprise me and this year it was no exception. He alluded to a life changing Christmas gift, one where my reaction would be “Oh my god”… So, I bugged him. My waking hours were now dedicated to guessing what my gift would be. After being incredibly annoying and guessing that it would be a trip, he finally caved and told me we were going to Paris! PARIS! Oh my god…

We would leave on Friday afternoon, stay at a hotel in the Latin Quarter and he booked us tickets for a tour of the Louvre, and we would return on Sunday. We even looked online and booked a spot at a Michelin restaurant! I have always dreamed about going to Paris, but it was something that always felt impossible for some reason, but now my dream was coming true.

On Friday, Hubby still had work, so I used the time to pack. We left at around 1PM and the GPS noted that we would arrive at 8PM, an hour later than anticipated so we had to cancel our dinner reservation. The drive was pretty uneventful. We stopped at a French petrol station and got some chips to snack on and found a pretty close approximation for Nik Naks.

The main reason we were so late was due to TRAFFIC! The French are crazy drivers and some of the roads don’t even have lines. And we thought South Africans were bad. We arrived at our hotel, the Hotel Des Grandes Ecoles, and we checked in with the friendly receptionist. It is located in the Latin Quarter which is a bustling district within walking distance to the Panthéon, Notre-Dame and the Louvre. Our room was clean and cosy with the wallpaper matching the curtains. It was très cute.

Once we had ditched the luggage, we set out onto the square. There were lots of pubs and restaurants with tables spilling out onto the street and people enjoying themselves. As we were walking past one, we were offered a table at La Vielle Tour. I felt a little uncertain about it, but Hubby accepted. The best thing about Parisian restaurants are their fixed price menus and bread and tap water arrived without asking for free. We got a starter, main and dessert for 22 euro each.

I ordered the frogs legs or “cuisses de grenouille” as the French would say, and they arrived in a tomato sauce with a side salad that had the most kickass Dijon dressing. The lady instructed me to eat them with my hands so that’s exactly what I did. They tasted like a less flavourful chicken, but the sauce was nice. For my main I ordered poisson du jour which was a whole perch with a wonderfully crispy skin and for dessert I had crème brulee. I had an Amélie moment when I cracked through the sugar.

Once we were done, we rolled out of there. It might not have been the Michelin restaurant, but it was awesome! We were pretty exhausted and knew we had a long day ahead of us so we decided to go to bed.

I think I shall leave this here. Expect part 2 soon!