I’ve gotten a bit of grief from the peanut gallery that I haven’t given a detailed rundown of my Paris trip, so here goes. As a bit of background, with the exception of my last night, I stayed at a studio apartment owned by Blue Marble, the company through which I’ve done my bike trips to Provence, Tuscany, and Galicia. It was very centrally located in the 2ieme arrondissement, close to the Chatelet les Halles metro. I’ve been to Paris a number of times before, so really didn’t feel the need to do a whole bunch of touristy things — I really just wanted to unwind, decompress, see a few people, and see what it was like to travel alone. Aside from the bike trips, which are with a group, I really haven’t done much solo traveling.
I left New York on the day after Beaujolais day — the day when the Beaujolais Nouveau is released. My friend John has an annual party celebrating this day every year, and although I was sad to miss it, I was offered my own mini-bottle on the plane, so I felt like I was there in spirit. I was also excited to learn that my seat was upstairs on the plane — a new flying experience for me (next time, I wouldn’t mind a first class upgrade instead, but we’ll see). I arrived around lunchtime and was pleased to discover that Carlos, who led my Galicia trip, was not only closeby, but literally in the apartment next door. We caught up over a cup of tea and then I set out to do some shopping for provisions for breakfast and snacks for the week. I picked up the staples (bread, cheese, red wine) and then got the rest. After dropping off the goods at my apartment, I went to meet Robyn, a fellow food blogger who is currently spending a semester in Paris. While she’s there, she contributes weekly to Parisist. We had agreed to meet up for pastry at Ladurée on the Champs Elysées. We finally found each other and shared delicious pastry and coffee while chatting about her ongoing quest to sample all the pastries in Paris. I strolled home after dark and took in the lights of the city, and when I got home, recruited Carlos and his friend Catalina (which I may be spelling wrong, so please forgive me) to help me drink my bottle of wine. The jetlag finally hit and I headed off to bed.
More to come, but for now, Gothamist calls. I should have made more time to post over the weekend, but it was a bit of a whirlwind, with the first holiday party of the season, dinner with Mom, our monthly girl brunch, a great deal of time in the outer boroughs, some major paper purging (I can see my dining table!), and completion of the first season of Lost. Tonight, I’m off to join Jon for a close up view of Wheelhouse Pickles in the making.