Girls Day in Paris

It took me 33 years, but I was finally going to France.  I wish I had traveled more before we had kids.  We did the tropical thing but never thought to backpack thru Europe. Ok, Joel had already done it.  So when I knew I would have the opportunity to wander Paris, I started  planning.  I knew there would be 10 of us all together.  Our parents aren’t young anymore and I knew  between MIL knees and my mom’s (who broke her leg and arm visiting me in MO), we would never cover what I wanted to see.  Then throw in three kids 7 and under and I was screwed!
But a ray of light presented itself when my parents send their itineraries.  My parents weren’t coming in until the 27th, so someone had to go to Paris to pick them up.  Dad thought Joel and I should drive in for the night and pick them up the next day.  Joel’s been to Paris a few times and really had no interest of going back.  How can you top being in Paris for the World Cup and  France wins!  I thought this was the perfect opportunity!!!  Girls Day in Paris!!  Rachelle and I could drive in to CDG and pick up my parents.  Say hi and then have Joel drop us off in the city!  Spend the day and hop the train home.  Joel would just have to pick us up from the train station.  So excited, we had a plan!!  And the kids would get to hang out with grandma Jackie and grandpa Bruce.
So  the day finally arrives.  I make the mistake of picking the night before to try out all the new drink recipes I had found.  LOL.  I managed to pull myself out of bed at 5am.  Mom and Dad’s flight was early, so we headed out as soon as we were ready.  I felt like crap.  But by the time we made it to the outskirt of Paris, I was feel great.  Must have been the excitement.  After some direction issues, we finally found my parents.  We got them load into the car and headed into the city.  We didn’t really have a plan of where we wanted to be dropped off.  Joel forgot to grab the charger to the GPS when we left Istanbul. So we were relaying on his cell phone. Thankfully, it works all over Europe. Thank you Ford!  We decided to head to the Opera House.  Figured that was a good starting point.  At one point the traffic was so bad and we were kind of lost, that we gave up and jumped out of the van.  Joel told his sister to make sure I made it back.  LOL.
So a side note.  Once everything was booked for our holiday, My SIL, Rachelle, and I started making a list of what we wanted to see.  Since most people don’t try to see all of Paris in one day, we tried to find something she hadn’t done but still catch things I wanted.  I came across this blog called Kiss My Spatula where she had posted 10 Reason to visit Paris in the Winter.  I shared this with my SIL.  Definitely something to remember when planning.  In the end we added 5 of her reasons to our list!

When we started out, thankfully there was a Metro station across the street so we could figure out where the heck we were!  We had our little map from my MIL but it took a bit to get used to finding street signs.  It was a fairly chilly morning. In the 40s and overcast.  It was VERY fog the drive in.  We dressed appropriately and stayed pretty warm.  I had to borrow Jocy’s new backpack for the day.  I was a cross between a middle age mom and an 18 year old.   But I didn’t care…. I was in Paris!

We walked a LOT!  I think Rachelle said about 8 miles.  That’s not counting our trips on the Metro.  Our first goal was the Opera House.  But on the way there, we hit one of our goals!  We were still a little out of it, so I am very happy I saw the store.
Stop #1 -  The Best Macaroons in Paris. Per Kiss My Spatula.  I was not a fan of Macaroons. We had some at the Hilton here in Istanbul and they were HORRIBLE!  But Rachelle had talked me into it.  So our first stop ended up being Pierre Hermes.


Score! I wish I had gotten a picture of the beautiful colors of the Macaroon display case.  We bought an assortment to take back with us and then we picked out two big one just for me and Rachelle.  They were about the size of a Moon pie!

 
I love historic architecture, so walking around I was like a kid in a candy shop.  Oh, how jealous I was of people that got to live there.  I was so excited to find out that many of the big pretty doors where actually garage door!  How fabulous!  I want one!  And how even more excited when I got to peak in a few and see a whole another world inside!  Damn you Ford for not having a plant in Paris!  LOL


Check out all the fun we saw!

Day in Paris VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Was very excited when we stumbled upon the Champs Elysees Christmas Market!  We did a little “window” shopping.  I found Elly the cutest Hello Kitty earmuffs!  We kept seeing signs for Hot Wine.  Since we were drinking a bunch of wine anyways, it is France, we decided to give it a try.  We got a cup to share….. which turned out to be a good idea.  Hot wine is…… kind of gross.  Worth trying, but would definitely not buy it again! LOL 

Next we headed to Chez Janou . A suggestion from Kiss my Spatula.  Who doesn’t want  to eat the best Chocolate Mousse in Paris!!!!   It was a bit harder to find.  We didn’t realize it would be off the beaten path in a cute neighborhood.  Nothing touristy about this place.  We got there about 2:30pm and it was PACKED!  No one spoke English, which was fine, since Rachelle and I had enough French to get by.  I was tired at this point, so my brain was having translation issues.  My brain was going from English to Turkish and the back to English to try to remember French.  It has been 10 years since my last French class!!  LOL. They squeezed us into this little table next to two guys.  My backpack barely fit under the table.  But it was nice and cozy.  After much discussion if we want to have something more substantial to eat, we opted for Chocolate Mousse and a half bottle of wine.  Now when the bottle of wine arrived, it sure looked like a whole bottle.  The guys next to us were asking the usually basic you’re a tourist questions.  One of them spoke decent English.  He asked where we were from. Rachelle told him New York, and of course NYC.  Its been a bit since she left, but she just said yes.  I said I living in Istanbul.  He gave me a crazy look.  Either my accent was too thick (I was drinking on an empty stomach) or he really had no idea about anything outside of France.  We tried everything, but gave in as our dessert arrived and just said America.

Now I totally regret not getting a picture.  No where did it say on that blog, exactly what you were getting.  I bowl of Chocolate Mousse the size of two heads!  We were so shocked we started giggling.  Just utter shock at the size.  Even the guys next to us couldn’t get over it.  So we both managed two helping, because YES it was the best Chocolate Mousse I had ever had.  OMG.  If I lived anywhere near there I might be 400lbs.  What we discovered was it is all the Mousse you can eat.  And it was only 7 Euros!!!  Finally the rush left, and we were one of the few left.  We had a really enjoyable time getting a sugar high and getting drunk!  If you find yourself in Paris, this is a must go!
 
Afterward, we were numb and on a high, so we continued on our mission.  Next was E.DEHILLERIN.  It was so busy that I didn’t get a chance to take any pictures, but I was like a kid in the candy store!  I loved all the cookware!  Rachelle got a pic, which I need to remind her to give me, but I could have emptied our bank account 4 times over in that store.  I was drooling over the beautiful copper pots.  Le sigh.  My MIL told us to pick up a whisk for my FIL.  He has a slight obsession with them.  We almost got him one as big as his head, but it didn’t have a price tag.  So we went with one as big as Nate’s head. LOL!  I picked up a meat thermometer in Celsius.  I’m still working on the whole converting thing.  And my SIL bought the kids a Eiffel Tower cookie cutter.  The staff was wonderfully helpful.  And the prices were pretty good.  If I ever find myself back in Paris, I AM buy a pot from them!!!

We had two more goals on our list, to hit up two resale shops and find Passion fruit Éclairs.  Unfortunately, I was just too tired to enjoy the shopping. Plus in Europe, they like to sweat you out of the store!  After wandering the city all day, I had been properly dressed, I had gotten used to the cold.  So walking into these stores with the heat on 80, was not shopping encouraging. We did managed to look for Rachelle a black jacket.  We found a few potentials but nothing truly fit right.  I found a few cute sweaters but they were still a little to pricy for me.  We never found the passion fruit Éclairs.  I guess we wrote down the address wrong.  And it was not of my Paris app.  Dumb me had left my Vodaphone card at home and was stuck with a Lock SIM card.  So I couldn’t do anything .  After our last attempt, we headed back toward the Louvre.  We had seen some shops earlier that had what we wanted.  Jocy really wanted a beret. 4 for 10 Euros worked for me!  LOL.  I wanted a sparkly Eiffel Tower but they had to be plugged in.  Which is fine for Turkey but not when we moved home.  In the end I didn’t get one.  I got myself a coffee mug and some beautiful prints.  The girls got berets, Nate a soccer jersey and  I found two gorgeous silk ties with fleur de lis on them!

It was time to head back to catch the train. 

Unfortunately, the ticket machines did not like my credit cards.  If going to France, make sure you get cards that have the security chip in them.  It makes your life much easier!  So I had to go wait in line to buy them.  Because of the LONG line, we missed the train.  Boo.  But we finally got tickets for the next train in 45 minutes.  We grabbed dinner from the food stand and froze our butts off in the train station.  We were exhausted from being up since 5am but as SpongeBob say, “BEST DAY EVER!”. LOL.   I am so glad that I got to hang with my fav SIL in Paris for a day.  As she has since mentioned, I think this needs to happen in ever foreign city we go to! 

We made it back to Caen after 10.  Joel was waiting at the train station to take us home.