Dans les Landes

On their final day in Paris, Karen and Scott had a few last sights to see together, so Liz, Tom, Peter and I stopped at a little tapas cafe I'd been dying to try. It's called Dans Les Landes, in the 5th arrondissement, and we all fell in love with it pretty quickly.

The Landes region, where the restaurant gets its name, is in Southwestern France, so the food served up here has a Southwestern flair.

Not only is this little restaurant clean, stylish but laidback, and friendly, the food was fantastic. I couldn't help snapping a few photos to commemorate our first (and certainly not our last) visit there.

Fried Polenta

Stuffed Mussels

Chicken Wings!

A French take on the Caesar Salad

Fried Calamari in a wooden shoe

Charcuterie

More Sightseeing with Guests

The rest of our week was spent exploring Paris with our friends.
Of course, this included a trip to the Eiffel Tower,

...a relaxing stop by the riverside,

...a visit to Montmartre and Sacre Coeur church,

...a stop at the Moulin Rouge,

...sampling various pork products, for which France is so famous,

....a view of Hotel des Invalides, where Napolean is buried,

...and a ride on the Bateaux Mouches tour boats down the river Seine!

All in all, we think we gave our first time visitors a good overall introduction to the City of Lights, and our old, faithful return-guests a few new sights to see.

Parc des Buttes-Chaumont

Our adventures with visitors continued the next day with the arrival of Liz and Tom. Since this was Karen and Scott's first time in Paris, they decided to spend the day on the tourist trail, visiting the Champs-Elysees, and the Louvre. Liz and Tom, veteran visitors to this city, were ready to see something new, so we all went to the beautiful Parc des Buttes Chaumont in the northeastern part of Paris. We visited this park with our friend Mark in February, and we wanted to see it in all of its green, springtime glory.

Liz and Tom in the park

The view of Sacre Coeur from the top of the hill in the park.

Walking up and down the hills of the park really works up your appetite. Luckily, this little luncheonette sits at the edge of the park. Rosa Bonheur is like a gourmet cafeteria, surrounded by outdoor picnic tables. Choose your wine, (ours a chilled Provence rose), and your snacks (octopus salad, thinly sliced Serrano ham, olive and fig tapenade, goat cheese drizzled with olive oil, duck rillets and a bag of sliced baguette).

After lunch we strolled through the vibrant Belleville area, stopping for Chinese bubble tea. We made our way down to the Canal St. Martin to watch the tour boats go up and down through the locks.

A little ways up the canal, we were of course ready for a rest, and stopped at a waterside cafe for a cold Grimbergen Blanche.

On the Right Bank

Day two with our guests...

The next day, our guests awoke thrilled to see more blue sky. The 75-degree weather prompted us to take them on a nice tour of the Ile de la Cite and the right bank to explore some treasures over on that side of the river.

We started with, of course, a trip to the park at the Place des Vosges. This beautiful square has shown up in our Caroleter blog more than once, and will likely appear again. It's one of our favorite spots in the city; not only because of its tranquil beauty, but also because of its proximity to L'As du Falafel, our favorite take-out falafel sandwich shop! But on this glorious day, the L'As du Falafel was....gasp...closed! So we settled for King Falafel which didn't hold a candle to our fave.

Who said food portions in Paris are small?!

Our next stop was to walk by the Centre Georges Pompidou, the famous modern art museum. The plan was to take a look around inside, but upon seeing the two-hour wait and knowing the beautiful weather can change at any moment, we opted to ooh and ahh over the outside of this interesting building.
The front of the Pompidou Center


The back of the Pompidou Center


We passed by the small park surrounding the Tour Saint-Jacques, which is the only tower left standing from a church that used to be in this spot but was destroyed shortly following the French Revolution.

On to Notre Dame, a "can't miss" sight. We love the back of the cathedral even more than the front!

Scott and Karen enjoying their first day of Parisian sight-seeing.

Chateau de Versailles

The week before Easter, we were lucky enough to have four good friends from the USA come to visit us! First to arrive were Scott, our good friend from Bucknell, and his girlfriend, Karen. On their very first day in France, we decided to get rolling with a trip to Versailles to see one of France's top tourist destinations. Although we were not the only tourists with the idea to visit some of the most well-known gardens in France on a blue-sky, gorgeous, sunny day, the 2-hour wait didn't get us down!

A gorgeous golden gate surrounding the entrance that really speaks for Louis..."Welcome to Versailles! Stay Out...."

The inside of the chateau is filled with interesting historical treasures to see. Gilded ceilings, marble statues, the Hall of Mirrors and Napolean's throne, just to name a few!

The Chapel

While the inside is historical and stunning, on a beautiful, April day, the gardens at Versailles are the place to be. We were there for the 3:30 "Eau Musicale" show, which is when the fountains are turned on and classical music is played throughout the massive garden.

The view of the garden through a palace window. Not a bad view, but they couldn't see the top of the Eiffel Tower.

We've learned all too well that the French love to "pique-nique", and that's just what they did on the banks of the enormous, T-shaped canal that runs through the garden. We followed suit, even adding a short nap on the grass before heading back to Paris.

It's Official...

We've finally moved to Paris! After 7 months of living on campus at HEC, we decided we were finally ready to say goodbye to Jouy-en-Josas, and experience life in the big city. We found another HEC couple moving out of their apartment, and we jumped on the opportunity to move right in. The owners are a very sweet couple from Touraine, in the Loire Valley area, and have invited us down to visit them any time. We'll definitely have to take them up on that!

The apartment is a studio in the 15th arrondissement (neighborhood/district). It's three metro stops from Montparnasse Bienvenue (the large train station we use to travel between HEC and Paris), and it's one block away from Rue du Commerce, which is a fun, lively cobblestone shopping street filled with stores and restaurants.

A close-up view of La Tour Eiffel from our window!

Entrance Way

Our little white pull-out futon saves a lot of space in a studio. It's surprisingly comfortable, too!

Did you notice the washer/dryer AND the dishwasher? You can't see the full-sized (for France) refrigerator, but believe me when I tell you it's a major improvement from the mini-fridge we had in Jouy!

Bathroom

It's hard to get a good night-time photo of the view, but one of the best parts about our new home is the view of the Eiffel Tower sparkling once an hour every night. It really reminds us that we're truly in Paris! The skyline view is gorgeous too. Since we're on the fifth floor, we see all of the rooftops and chimney pots and the big, blue sky. It's nice to have fresh air breezing through the open windows, and not a view of an air shaft or the neighbor's kitchen window.

Right below our windows is this view of an incredible house on the ground level. The large windows in the ground actually are skylights into the kitchen! It also has an enormous patio and garden. The pictures don't do it justice, but this house really makes you drool if you're into amazing Parisian homes. We'll take the studio for now, but in a few years.....

More to come...photos of our neighborhood