Celebrating 5 Years!
Kevin & I recently celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary with an incredible trip to Europe!! We love traveling together – and to new places especially. We actually met while road-tripping to New Orleans from Virginia, so you could say adventures are at the core of our relationship! Past trips have included our honeymoon in Thailand, Argentina, Costa Rica, and local getaways as often as we can! We wanted to enjoy the culture, food & wine of France, Spain & Portugal for this milestone. We kicked off two weeks of adventure with 4 days in Paris! I love sharing what we did, tips & recommendations here – partly as a reminder to myself of the incredible time we had, and to share our adventures with you! I am always grateful to friends and family that share recommendations with us, so here goes returning the favor!
Part 1: Paris
Kevin & I have both been to Paris before, so we were able to skip out on the pressure to do a lot of the main ticket items. We spent a lot of our time walking the streets taking in French architecture (and the language! I love just listening to it!), eating croissants, and drinking champagne by the Seine. We tend to *overbook* our trips with activities, so this vacation was intentionally less structured. I didn’t have time to plan everything down to the minute & it was actually nice to be able to decide what we wanted to do based on how we were feeling. My allergies were remarkably terrible in Paris haha so that definitely slowed us down a little. We also unfortunately arrived the week after the Notre Dame burning, but besides that, our trip went off without a hitch!
Where To Stay
We booked all of our lodging for this trip on Airbnb & all of our apartments were awesome! Our Parisian flat had a beautiful view of the street. It is always my goal when choosing lodging to never forget where we are, so a quintessential view of French buildings was a win! We chose to stay in the 6th arrondissement near the Musée d’Orsay and were able to walk to almost everywhere we wanted to visit.
Above: Jardin des Tuileries // Below: Trocadéro
Highlights
- Rue du Buci: We spent our first night snacking on charcuterie, sipping on rosé & people watching at Café Jade. We walked to the Louvre to see it lit up at night (magical). Then walked back to Rue du Buci for more drinks and to watch the street performers!
- Taking Erik Kaiser coffee & croissants to go and enjoying them by the Seine.
- Walking the Jardin des Tuileries all the way to the Champs-Élysées! Followed by taking in the view of the Eiffel from Trocadéro & then picnicking on the lawn – We brought charcuterie & wine & enjoyed every minute of it.
- Other fun stops: 59 Rivoli (artists’ residence), Pont Neuf, Marché Saint-Germain
- Favorite sweet treats: crepes, crème brûlée, pain au chocolat, macarons
Above: St. Chappell Cathedral // Below: Luxembourg Gardens
Museums, Parks & Cathedrals
- St. Chappell Cathedral is famous for it’s gorgeous stained glass windows – it was beautiful & worth the visit! Get tickets online ahead of time & beat the line! (True with just about anything in Europe!)
- One of my favorite afternoons was spent strolling & reading at Luxembourg Gardens. We also picked up some macarons to enjoy from Pierre Hermé that were just heavenly!
- We only went to one museum while we were in Paris & it is still one of my favorites: Musée d’Orsay! Home to a remarkable collection of works by Renoir, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Monet & Degas, to name a few.
- Promenade Plantée – the Paris Highline – We loved strolling down this park built on top of the Parisian rooftops! It was so beautiful & romantic! It was also right next to Rue Crémieux – “Pastel Street” – which was a must see for me!
Above: Promenade Plantée // Below: Rue Crémieux
Restaurants & Bars
- We spent one fancy night out getting dinner at Kong & drinks afterwards at the Earnest Hemingway bar at the Ritz. It was fun to get all dressed up and do something we wouldn’t normally do!
- Our friends had recommended Académie de la Bière for mussels & frites and a great selection of local & international beers – we loved the vibe there!
- Some of our favorite meals were at restaurants recommended by our Airbnb host that were nearby – if it says “local favorite” we’re in!
iPhone Shots
Above Left: Lourve at night! // Above Right: Drinks, people watching & street performers on Rue de Buci // Below: Dinner at Kong
Above: Coffee & the Seine! // Below: Dinner at L’Académie de la Biére
Stay tuned for recaps from our other stops: Barcelona & Lisbon!
