Welcome back for Part 2 of my Paris trip recap.
On Sunday we headed out and walked through the Jardin de Luxembourg. They have bee hives there.
Saint Sulpice
We decided to stop for second breakfast at a little spot called Coya across from the Samaritaine Department Store)
It was so pretty on the inside and out. I bought a couple of souvenirs and we checked out the luxury brands.
Then we walked over to the Ile de la Cite. They have a flower market there and I could not resist taking some photos.
And of course we had to go and see Notre Dame, in its glory. There is still some construction scaffolding at the back, but the front and inside were back to normal after the fire.
Our Lady
Our next stop was the City Pharmacy in Saint Germain. I am not on Tik Tok but apparently everyone on there knows about the products that are only available in French pharmacies, and that this location has the best selection and prices.
While Megan and Cindy bought the things they wanted there, I walked over to Cafe de Flore to get in line for a table. This is apparently a hot spot, but as is typical, we were a little underwhelmed. The location is fabulous, but the food was only just okay.
We headed back to the hotel after that, rested, watched the Paris Saint Germain parade on TV, and then went for dinner. This is another Tik Tok phenomenon, Le Relais d'Entrecot. There are a couple of locations of this restaurant, including one right by our hotel. They only serve steak frites, you order your drink and tell them how you want your meat served (rare, medium, etc.), they bring you a salad, and then two servings of steak frites. Every time we would walk by a location, there was always a huge line. This time we got there before it opened for dinner at 6:00 and were seated without issue.
Since we had eaten early, we went for a little walk through Jardin de Luxembourg.
Baby ducks!
Meanwhile Dave and the boys were getting ready to fly over.
Q brought four stuffies! The Grinch was chosen for his ability to be a pillow.
We stopped in at Longchamps on Monday morning. I came back later in the week to buy something for myself. The store is so pretty.
Mid-morning snack
Then the boys arrived! I met them at the train station and walked with them to our hotel. Our AirBnb check in wasn't until 3:00 so we stowed their luggage at our hotel room and went to get lunch. There was a street nearby that seemed to only have crepe restaurants so we went there.
Thumbs up from Q.
White pants are always a risk but I thought I was doing okay, and then at lunch Q dropped his knife with Nutella on it and it landed on my pants!! It came right out so no harm done, but it was an eye roll moment.
Rested and get unpacked and then went back out.
I mentioned this in my earlier post, but the Flash Invaders App was a big hit. E was able to scan these little tiled creatures throughout the city and it was fun to find them and add to the count.
L'Eglise Saint Germain de Pres
Our plan for dinner was to meet back up with the girls and do an Eiffel Tower picnic, but first we had a drink at Les Deux Magots. This is almost next door to Cafe de Flore, but this place was much nicer, so if you have a choice, go with Les Deux Magots.
We bought our picnic supplies at La Grande Épicerie on Rue de Sevres. It has so many nice things. Then we caught a quick bus over to the Eiffel Tower.
What a nice evening.
The girls next to us wanted to borrow our wine opener but couldn't figure out how it worked, so Dave went over to help them. So helpful! Haha
We said goodbye to Cindy and Megan as they were heading back to Canada in the morning.
On Tuesday morning Q and I were up early so we walked down to pick up some pastries and breakfast groceries, and enjoyed it outside on the balcony.
Sadly our reservations for the Catacombs were cancelled due to a one day strike (the French!! *shakes fist*). We had received a notice via email but we still walked by in hopes it was open, but no such luck.
So instead E led us on a geocache through the Montparnasse Cemetary. We needed to locate five tombs to decode a clue for coordinates and then follow the coordinates for the actual cache. It was a really nice day and we enjoyed seeing the different tombs.
The geocache at the end.
Then we went to the top of the Montparnasse Tower for some views.
The cemetery where we had done the geocache.
They had some virtual reality goggles showing what Paris looked like in different times.
We took the train over to Notre Dame since we had entry reservations for 1:30. But first a quick lunch.
I had tried getting the boys to watch Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame but they weren't interested, and it is quite dark, but they still appreciated the building, just less intrigued by the gargoyles than I am!
I'm not sure if this is a new feature, but it seemed that each window inset had traditional artwork on one side and a more modern piece of art on the other.
We went on a hunt for more Flash Invaders and a Geocache and came across the Abbey Bookstore, opened by a Canadian, tucked away off the beaten path.
The geocache was located in another bookstore where we needed to ask to see the cache.
We had a long walk home, and although I was a little tired, the boys had lots of energy because they were finding Flash Invaders all along the way. I stopped in at a little shop to buy some fresh cherries, spinach, eggs, and a bottle of wine.
We found a delicious restaurant for dinner near our apartment - Il Etait Un Square. They specialized in burgers and tartare, which was perfect for us!
We walked over to Place d'Italie to get home. It was a happening place!
