Paris Holds the Key to My Heart

October 25-November 2

Bonjour! Before reading about our adventures in gay Paris, I thought a soundtrack may be helpful to set the scene. If you are a child of the 90s like me (or the parent of a child of the 90s, like I know many of you reading this are), you might understand why this song was stuck in my head all week.

However, if you want something a bit more classic, you can't go wrong with dear Edith Piaf.

Ok, now that we've set the scene...

Paris is the quintessential European city. It has everything you imagine--gorgeous sights, amazing food, romantic strolls under the stars, a lack of open container laws, a wealth of open holes into sewers...what's not to love! We also faced our fair share of challenges in Paris. Since this is the longest we have spent in one place in a minute, I thought it best to break up our adventures into the categories below. Peruse at your leisure, like a stroll downs the Champs-Élysées, and enjoy.

Nogent-sur-Marne (aka the good, the cat, and the ugly)

Like many of our adventures on this trip so far, we were lucky enough to have a Trusted Housesitters gig awaiting us in Paris. This was one of the first sits we booked back in August, and it is the only sit we have booked where we were offered the sit straight-away, without the host requesting a video call to get to know us (RED FLAG). Before I get into the dicey parts of the stay, I need to speak to the lovely neighborhood of Nogent-sur-Marne, where we stayed. As you may know, Paris is HUGE. Each arrondissement is it's own little village, with a personality and culture all its own. Though we were outside the major districts, we could easily walk to the RER (local train line) in about 15 minutes from the apartment, and could easily access the city within 45 minutes. In a way, it felt like living in West Seattle back home--we had easy access to the city via public transport, but we were also outside the major hustle and bustle.

Nogent-sur-Marne is adorable, with many little shops and cafes we got to explore. We quickly found a bakery around the corner, and I started most days by walking down to get a baguette (or two) to make jambon-beurre sandwiches to take with us for the day, or to have with soup for dinner at night. We ate at least a baguette a day, and I can honestly say I don't think it was enough. The bread in France is truly magical.

I also have to say that Daisy, the cat we were caring for, was one of the sweetest pets we've stayed with so far. She greeted us at the door every time we came home, and she constantly wanted to be in the room with us. She followed us around the small apartment anytime we got up, and she slept by us each night, sometimes even waking me up for pets. She also is the spitting image of my childhood cat, Abby, who passed a couple of summers ago. It was really lovely to get some cuddles from a kitty like Abby again.

Ok--now to the dicey stuff. About a week before our arrival in Paris, we heard from our host who wanted to arrange a call to go over logistics. I said we were available anytime throughout the week, and let her know our travel plans for getting into the city. We didn't hear back about a time to chat until I reached out twice more and suggested a time specifically. During the call, we got a chaotic rundown of Daisy's care and some of the quirks of the apartment. This should have been my warning of what was to come.

The apartment was small, which we expected, and cluttered to the point of dirtiness, which we did not. It was an old building, so we knew we'd have small spaces (bathroom, kitchen), but we did not expect the dinginess that met us when we opened the door the first time. There was a small toilet room (closet) separate from the rest of the bathroom, which reeked with the stench of decades of use. We unfortunately discovered that you could not flush the toilet more than once within a 30 minutes span, so we had to warn each other when we needed to use the bathroom. The shower did not have a door or curtain--not even the strange half-glass wall that many European homes have--so Calvin had to rig up a paracord with some trash bags to allow us to shower without sitting down. This shower curtain was essential, as Daisy's litter box was right next to the shower, in between the tub and the sink (if you have never experienced the horror of wet cat litter, consider yourself lucky).

The cramped kitchen was--quite frankly--filthy. I was so looking forward to shopping in Parisian markets and doing some cooking during our stay, but I quickly learned that was not going to be possible. There were dirty dishes stored inside the oven, and every surface was covered with stuff. There was barely a place to chop or cook, and nothing felt clean enough for me to feel good about preparing food. In fact, we had two a couple people visit to service the water heater nestled above the stove a few days into our stay. According to them, there was nothing wrong with it except extreme dirtiness.

Our host shares the small apartment with her young son, to whom she gave the one bedroom in the place. Her room (which was also ours for the week) was a mattress on the living room floor--perhaps the least comfortable mattress either of us has ever slept on (and that includes Cispus, for those who know what I mean). Our sheets were clean, but the comforter inexplicably smelled like dirt. Not dirty, but like dirt. Like potting soil. So our pajamas started smelling like potting soil. And since we were not confident enough in the cleanliness of the surfaces in the space to hang our clothes to dry, we didn't do any laundry during our week in Paris, which means our pajamas smelled like potting soil until we were FINALLY able to move into our next cat sit in Bordeaux, where I am typing this (thankfully clad in clean pajamas).

We would not have spent a whole week in Paris without this sit, and the time enabled us to do so many amazing things (as you will soon read). And as Cal optimistically put it early on in our stay, "Part of staying in people's homes is seeing how people actually live in other places--this is different from how we live, which is kind of the point." Our time in Nogent-sur-Marne was challenging, but it also did give us an authentic Parisian experience, and a home base with a sweet cat to explore the city beyond. So I will stop my complaining and move on to the adventures this apartment enabled us to have.

Flânerie (Strolling)

As we learned early on from our good friend Rick Steves, part of the Parisian experience is strolling without a set destination or purpose. This is similar to the leisurely afternoon spent at a cafe, ordering one thing and then letting the time pass, without an agenda or plan. For those who know me, you know this is a challenge. I love having a plan, and it is extremely difficult for me to simply wander without knowing where we are trying to end up, or at least that we are going in the "right way." But that is part of the point of this adventure--helping me let go of that planning and perfectionism and just see where things go. So we did our best to flâner while in Paris, though sometimes with a bit more structure than a true Parisian--I am still me, after all.

Our first full day in the city, we set out on the Metro to find the famous Marché aux puces de Saint-Ouen flea market. We elbowed our way past blocks of hustlers, their stalls stacked with counterfeit goods, and grew more and more concerned that this was all the market had to offer. Finally, we found the market proper--a collection of entire city blocks hollowed out into massive arcades full of every antique you could imagine.

We stopped for a quick galette for lunch, then got back on the Metro to head into the heart of the city, where we strolled past the Eiffel Tower and down to Rue Cler, the famous market street. Unfortunately, we were too late to see many of the stalls in action, but were able to stop for a glass of wine at a classic cafe and explore the shops that still did have some treats on offer. Along the way, we assembled a picnic of rotisserie chicken, roast potatoes, a baguette, some pickled artichokes and dolmas, and a bottle of wine, then headed back to eat our bounty under the Eiffel Tower. A perfect start to our Parisian adventure.

The next day, we decided to let Rick show us some of the classic sites through his "Historic Paris" tour, which starts at Notre Dame and ends at Point Neuf, taking us through the Latin Quarter on the way. The line for Notre Dame filled the square out front, but it moved quickly, and we listened to that portion of the tour before entering so we could be fully immersed when we were inside. Both of us had been to Notre Dame before the fire, and I remember just walking in on my first visit to Paris, so the crowds were a bit overwhelming. But the historic cathedral is of course as beautiful and awe-inspiring as we remembered, although in a slightly different way. Much of the art in the side chapels is modern, and the walls themselves seem to have enjoyed a thorough scrubbing down at some point.

From Notre Dame, we wandered down the Seine to see the incredible Deportation Martyrs Memorial, which is designed to make the visitor feel as imprisoned as those who were taken by the Nazis were themselves. The monument itself sits at the very tip of Ile de la Cite, the island on which Paris was first born. It's a triangular concrete courtyard which descends down to the water's edge, and invites visitors back toward an stifling, claustrophobic hallway and into the interior of the monument. A stark contrast to the soaring and spacious interior of Notre Dame just around the corner. We crossed back over the river to visit some of the famous book stalls along the bank, then further into the Latin Quarter. As we strolled, we found a restaurant with a special on oysters, which we simply could not resist--we have been on the hunt for oysters since our time in Ireland, but kept missing our chance (the place was closed, the oysters were outrageously expensive, the place was too crowded, etc). Here, they offered 3 oysters and a glass of wine for 12€, which, although not PNW prices, was exactly the type of splurge we were looking for. We sat outside in the afternoon sun and enjoyed our mid-walk break, people watching and generally marveling at the fact that this is our life.

The rest of our walk took us past Shakespeare and Company, through the Place Dauphine, and on to Point Neuf for an incredible view of the Seine and the city. From here, we continued our stroll to the Louvre, and then on to the Place de la Concorde (where many of the executions of the revolution, include Marie Antionette's, were carried out). The sun was setting and the lights of the city were coming on around us--truly the perfect end to our day exploring the heart of Paris.

Eager to visit at least one full-scale market during our week (despite the fact that I could not do much cooking in our home base), we set out on Tuesday to see the Rue Mouffetard Market. Again, we assembled a picnic as we strolled, this time getting a sample of some classic French cheese (ranging from super stinky to not at all), some charcuterie, a pear, some eclairs, and of course a baguette and a bottle of wine. This day's scenic spot for our picnic lunch was the Luxembourg Gardens, which were in full fall colors. We sat on a bench, from which we could see the central fountain and the Eiffel Tower in the distance, and enjoyed our feast over a leisurely hour and a half. Along the way from the market to the Gardens, we stumbled on a cute square where I noticed several women around my age were taking pictures. As I looked around me, I realized we had stumbled onto the block where Emily in Paris lives! I joined in the picture taking, as I have been re-watching the series on the trains between our stays, and enjoyed the silliness of stumbling on something I wasn't even looking for.

Our final night in the city, we did one last stroll along the Seine. Armed with layers, a bottle of wine, and 2 paper cups, we strolled until we found an unoccupied bench with a view of the Eiffel Tower, where we could see it sparkle at the top of the hour. We sat and watched the tour boats travel the river, watched fellow couples strolling hand in hand, watched the city light up around us. This was one of my favorite strolls of the week, and it was the first time we really didn't have a plan beyond finding a beautiful place to be. As we watched the Eiffel Tower glitter into the night, I felt like I finally understood what it means to flâner.

Museums

We only visited 2 museums during our week in Paris (3, if you count Versailles), which might sound insane as there are so many incredible museums to see in the city. However, both Cal and I get very invested in museums, and we feel a drive to see everything we can and take in every detail, which is EXHAUSTING. We have learned we have to pace ourselves with museums, or go in with a very specific plan of what to see so we don't get bogged down in everything else. I enjoy audio tours for this purpose, as they keep me moving from room to room and help me feel like I am seeing everything I want. Cal prefers to set his own agenda, but with a time constraint. As such, we have started to divide and conquer, with a set time to meet back up at the entrance of the museum.

The first museum we visited was the Musée d'Orsay, after our lunch in the Luxembourg Gardens. We had to wait in a long line to get in, as we hadn't purchased our tickets in advance, but we both had our Kindles and the weather was fine, so the wait was fairly pleasant. I had never been to the d'Orsay, and I was eager to see the Impressionists. I set out with Rick Steves' audio guide to the museum, which took me through each of the floors and around to some of the most iconic paintings. I paused at several times along the way to spend more time with some of the paintings, especially the Van Gogh's, which continue to be my favorite every time I see a new piece in person. Cal set out on his own and especially enjoyed the Early 20th Century collection and a room in the corner of the ground floor with huge imposing canvases showcasing the work artists submitted to the Academy to prove their stuff.

The other museum we visited was the Carnavalet Museum, which is housed in an old palace and tells the story of French History through the centuries. Again, Cal and I split up--he started in the basement with antiquity, while I jumped ahead to the time of the Sun King, Louis the XIV, to gear up for our trip to Versailles later in the week. This museum doesn't seem that big, but the collection is MASSIVE. We probably saw about 1/3 of it in our 3 hours there, and by the end we were completely exhausted. My favorite part was the collection on the Revolution, which included several commemorative items from the period such as pins, dressers, plates, and jewelry that honored key moments from the Revolution. The most fascinating of these to both Cal and me were a pair of earrings from the Centennial in the 19th century, which depicted a pair of guillotines, one with the head of Louis XVI and one with the head of Marie Antionette hanging from below. Aside from the revolution exhibit, an entire floor of the museum is dedicated to recreations of period accurate sitting rooms. It's a joy to simply stroll from room to room taking in the collection as a cumulative object as opposed to individual items in cases. After our tour de force through the museum, we headed out as rain started to fall, finding our way to a small cafe where we could sit with a glass of wine and people watch.

You may be thinking, "You only went to two museums, and one of them wasn't the Louvre?!" Jokes on you though, because we did go just outside the Louvre two whole times, which I think counts.

Montmartre

My favorite day in Paris was spent exploring the beautiful neighborhood of Montmartre. Home to the iconic Sacre Coeur and a view that overlooks the city, Montmartre is also famous for the artists and bohemians who lived there during the late 19th and early 20th century. It was perfect to visit after we saw the collection at the Musée d'Orsay, since so many of the artists we saw--Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec, Renoir--called this part of the city their home.

We let ourselves sleep in and have a quiet morning, heading out a bit afternoon and making it to the Sacre Coeur steps just after one. We had visited the bakery that morning and made up jambon beurre sandwiches on fresh baguettes, which we ate on the cathedral steps overlooking the city. The weather was incredible that day--mid-60s and sunny--so we had an incredible view.

We waited in line to see the church, where a busker was serenading the crowd. Sacre Coeur was an interesting contrast to the more gothic and much older Notre Dame. The Basilica's constuction was completed in the 1920s, and the final decorations reflect that. There are surprisingly art deco stained glass windows, as well as an immense ceiling mosaic which is very modern for a cathedral so grand. Afterwards, we explored the neighborhood a bit, taking the chance to visit Place du Tertre, the windmill on Rue Lepic, the Dalida Statue, Le Passe-Muraille, and the Rue de l'Abrevoir. Everything in this neighborhood is pure Paris charm. There are more kitchy shops and touristy gimmicks than in other parts of the city, but every narrow street and every cafe feel so perfectly charming, it is hard to believe this place is still real.

One of the things I wanted to do while we were in Paris was a true afternoon in a cafe, where we ordered something and simply sat, enjoying the scene. We started this at La Bonne Franquette, a cute cafe across the street from the iconic Le Consulat, which is said to be a favorite haunt of many of Montmartre's famous residents. We sat outside and listened to a busker play French classics on guitar while we played cribbage and sipped wine. After a couple of hours, we continued our strolling around the neighborhood, making it down to the base of the hill to see the famous Moulin Rouge, and then back up to pay a visit to the apartment Van Gogh lived in while in Montmartre.

As the sun started to go down, we made our way once again back up the hill to Place du Tertre and found another cafe before our dinner reservation. Trying to be a true Parisian, I made our reservation for 8 pm, which meant we had some time before we had to get anywhere. We found a cute cafe on the edge of the square where we could watch the scene and ordered a bottle of wine. The cafe had blankets on the chairs to stave off the chill, so we were able to sit comfortably and people watch for a little while.

On the way to dinner, we saw a group of men playing Pétanque in an apartment courtyard, and then passed back by Sacre Coeur, where a crowd had gathered to watch buskers. The lights had come up on the church, creating a beautiful illumination of the white building in the night, and you could see all the lights across the city from our perch on the stairs. It was really magical to sit there and listen to the music while watching the City of Lights earn her name right in front of us!

Now to the main event--dinner. I had researched a bit online and found a place that was recommended by a local blog. The prices seemed reasonable, it was in Montmartre but off the beaten path, and most of all was not a touristy place. When we walked in, we both immediately fell in love with the small, intimate vibe of the restaurant. The whole dining room had maybe 12 tables, and there were two waitresses and one cook in the back. (I think one of the waitresses was the owner, based on how she managed everything.) The restaurant had hand-written the menu for the evening on a chalk board, which they were then bringing around to each table as they ordered. The waitress/proprietress kindly put everything in to Google Translate for us on an iPad, which was especially gracious as we seemed to be the only Americans in the place!

The restaurant had a special, like many French places, where you could get your choice of Entrée, Main, and Dessert for a set price. To begin, Cal had beet and hazelnut salad with fresh mozzarella, while I opted for the beef tongue carpaccio. (I know--an adventurous choice, but when in France! Plus I felt super cool when the waitress/proprietress confirmed that I wanted "beef" and then pointed to her tongue, and then told me it was super delicious--it was!) For our mains, Cal ordered sea bass with wild mushrooms, and I had the chicken, which was a breast stuffed with chevre and hazelnuts, surrounded by a sinfully delicious beurre blanc sauce. For dessert, we both got the cheese course, because (again), when in France!

The entire meal was accompanied by wine recommended by the waitress/proprietress to go with our various orders, and lasted about 2 hours. Everything was absolutely heavenly, and was exactly as I dreamed a classic French meal would be. It was the perfect end to an idyllic day.

Versailles

On Friday (Happy Halloween!), we made the trip out to Versailles. It took us about an hour and a half by train/walking, and when you turn the corner and see the massive palace ahead, you can really see how this place sparked a revolution. We had our timed tickets and were armed with the Rick Steves audio tour, which took us through the main rooms of the palace over the course of about 2 hours. Both of us studied Louis XIV in music history classes in college, because in addition to his building of Versailles and the French court, he had a massive influence on music at the time. This meant that we got to see some iconic paintings that we had studied in college, now adorning the walls of the very palace where the Sun King lived.

Versailles in HUGE--we went through the main rooms covered on the tour, but did not go into any of the of the temporary exhibitions or extra features simply to keep from getting overwhelmed by it all. Even in the off season, the palace was packed with visitors, but we were able to move around fairly easily and see everything we wanted. The Hall of Mirrors is exactly as awesome and lovely as you imagine, but one of the details that struck me was exactly how on display the royals were. There was a daily ceremony where the court would come and watch the king wake up (from a display bed separate from his actual bedroom) and do his daily prayers. The royal family would eat with an audience, and at night they would fight over who would hold the candle and hand the king his pajamas as he dressed for bed.

Another detail I loved was early on in the visit, while going through the history of the palace, you can see some paintings that belonged to Marie Leszczyńska, the wife of Louis XV. She had become obsessed with China and commissioned several paintings depicting idyllic Chinese villages. Then, she claimed that she painted them herself, and gave them to her lady in waiting upon her death "to remember her by." These paintings were only then given to Versailles back in 2019 by the family of the lady in waiting!

One thing that struck Cal while walking through the rooms of the palace was how you can tell the age of the building by the floors. Unlike other palaces that are now museums--such as the Louvre or Victoria and Albert--the floors at Versailles are made of wood in contrast to all of the marble, and have warped and become uneven in places, showing their age and originality to the building. It is also interesting to think of the vast palace completely looted and empty during the revolution, as the rooms are now filled with period furniture to recreate the grandeur of the height of the monarchy.

Once we got our fill of royal rooms, we went out to the spectacular gardens to eat our lunch. We finished our tour with Rick at the Apollo Fountain, which depicts Louis XIV himself as the sun god, pulling a chariot, completely covered in gold. From here, we continued our journey around to some of the musical fountains (it was the last day of the season to catch the fountains before they were shut off for the winter), and then on to Trianon.

The Grand Trianon was built in 1670 by Louis the XIV as a refuge from the attention of life at Versailles (which, of course, he created himself), as well as a place for him to continue his affair with Madame de Montespan. The Petit Trianon was built by Louis XV to house his mistress, Madame de Pompadour, but quickly became a haven away from the spotlight of Versailles for Marie Antionette. In addition to the Petit Trianon (which is, despite its name, of course a palace unto itself), Marie Antionette had the Queen's Hamlet added on to this part of the estate. Designed to look like a rustic village with thatched roofs and a working farm, there is a deeply entrenched historical rumor that the queen came out here to "play pretend" as a farm girl. In reality, it was a place where she would walk, bring guests, and could serve as an educational opportunity for the palace children. This part of the estate really felt like Disneyland--several of the buildings served no purpose other than aesthetics--but it certainly showcased how far the royals went to create the reality they wanted for themselves.

After all this, we barely scratched the surface of what we could see at Versailles--we walked around the Petit Trianon and Queen's Hamlet, but did not go inside or make our way to the Grand Trianon. Still, by the end of the day we broke our record with 20,752 steps!

Final Reflections

Our week in Paris was the longest we have stayed put in a while, and it was nice to spend some time really exploring a single city. But Paris is huge, and there is so much we still did not have a chance to see. I think you could go to Paris a dozen times and still not experience everything, and I am happy with the balance we struck over our days there. We saw the big sights, enjoyed long afternoons in cafes, walked around many neighborhoods, and ate amazing food. We studied both art and history, became experts on the Metro, and did our best to never feel rushed. We will probably return to Paris someday, and I look forward to what else we can see. But overall I am extremely pleased with the week we spent in the City of Lights (even in an unfortunate apartment), and I am happy to say, Paris je t'aime.