Paris in January. A bit dark and gloomy. But probably better than Paris in July, all things considered. April in Paris... well, that's a song (and Count Basie album). Shoulder season is off limits for us because we teach. So we generally travel when everyone else does - during the summer. We visited cities that were hot and crowded. Until recently. For the second year in a row we decided to travel to Europe in January, in between semesters, the low-low season. The weather in Paris this January was pleasant if one wore a jacket and didn't mind overcast skies. The outdoor cafes were still open and plenty busy. But the tourist/cultural attractions were pleasantly mob-free. Is Paris still Paris in January? I'm pretty sure it is.
Saint-Germain-des-Prés
Mural birds take flight. The Atlas Cafe, on the café-lined Rue de Buci, around the corner from our hotel.
We stayed for six nights in Saint-Germain-des-Prés - otherwise known as the 6th Arrondissement (district) of Paris, near the Latin Quarter on the "Left Bank" (of the Seine River). Saint-Germain-des-Pres is best known for the writers, artists and intellectuals who lived and worked there in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a gathering place for existentialists and bohemians, some of them American ex-pats. Picasso, Hemingway, Sartre, Baudelaire, Richard Wagner, Oscar Wilde, Gertrude Stein, Simone de Beauvoir, Jean-Luc Godard, all lived and worked in St Germain, frequenting cafes still in operation, like Les Deux Magots – which has nothing to do with little white worms. Woody Allen's 2011 film, "A Midnight In Paris" is largely set in Saint-Germain-des-Pres. I am not sure that Saint-Germain-des-Pres's historic past tangibly effected our appreciation of the locale. But we did appreciate the bustling cafes, brasseries, little shops, galleries, museums, cathedrals, gardens, cobblestone streets, architecture, and easy access to most all of Paris's major attractions.
In Paris, cafés can be as famous as palaces. Among the most famous is the almost 140-year-old café Deux Magots. The "deux magots" in the name refer to two wooden statues, or magots, that sit on a pillar in the middle of the café. Saint-Germain-des-Prés is also home to another literary café, the 130 year-old, Art Deco-styled Café de Flore and to Paris's oldest café, Procope. The Café Procope is 338 years old, having opened in 1686.
Saint-Germain-des-Prés is a smorgasbord of art and architecture. The neighborhood includes the oldest church in Paris, Church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, and one of the largest churches in Paris, Church of Saint-Sulpice. It includes the Jardin du Luxembourg, Odeon Theatre, École des Beaux Arts and Musée Delacroix and shops and galleries galore. Just randomly walking the streets is a feast for the eyes.
Galerie Yves Gastou, a furniture and design gallery in Saint-Germain-des-Prés near the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts (art school).
Our hotel was located on Rue Grégoire de Tours. This is what the street looked like in 1866. In the 1930's, this street was home to Chez Suzy, a brothel that the photographer Brassai made famous.
Everything in Saint-Germain-des-Prés seemed to have patina. The neighborhood felt old and lived in. There was no shortage of tourists, but the area did not seem overrun.
We stayed at the Hotel Victoire and Germain on Rue Grégoire de Tours, located just around the corner from the cafe's on Rue de Buci. There were plenty of small cafe's and shops on Rue Grégoire de Tours next to the hotel too, including Becky's favorite Yoom Dim Sum (noodles), as well as Little Breizh Café (crêpes and galettes), Le Petite Prince (a store dedicated to the book), La Citrouille (traditional French cuisine) and Buci News (to name a few).
The Hotel Victoire and Germain is very small, just 16 rooms. It was modern and minimalist. We stayed for six nights. From the hotel’s website: “Located in the heart of Paris, in Saint Germain des Prés, the Hotel Victoire et Germain attempts to perpetuate the literary tradition of the Latin Quarter by recreating a confidential atmosphere…” I am not sure what that means.
More about the hotel later.
Musée Delacroix
Window washer at un atelier d'artiste. We visited the Musée Delacroix in St Germain. The museum is located in painter Eugène Delacroix's last apartment and studio; he moved to this location in 1857 and remained until his death in 1863.
In case you've forgotten your French art history (like me), Delacroix is regarded as the leader of the French Romantic movement in art.
This museum displayed many of Delacroix's early works including small oil paintings, pastels, and sketches. His most famous painting “Liberty Leading the People” is hung down the street in the Louvre.
Abbey/Church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés
The Abbey/Church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. It's the oldest church in Paris. Originally built in the 6th century, it was long part of an important Benedictine abbey. In the 9th century, the church was ransacked several times by the Vikings and ultimately destroyed by fire. Around the year 1000 the reconstruction of the "modern" church started and it was eventually dedicated in 1163.
Jardin du Luxembourg
Jardin du Luxembourg in Saint-Germain-des-Prés. The gardens are rather drab in January, but were close to our hotel and worth a visit. When we visited, the most popular attraction was the pond where a dozen or more mostly-middle-aged men were sailing their model boats. Well, crafts of all types. Including a priest with a homemade vessel that was cobbled together from anything that could float, including soda bottles.
Some history: In 1612 Marie de Medici (Queen of France) bought an estate in in Saint-Germain-des-Prés and transformed it into the "Luxembourg Palace" surrounded by acres and acres of royal gardens. The gardens were made to resemble the Boboli Gardens in Florence. Today, Marie's garden is a popular summer hang-out. Orchards, rose gardens, an apiary, the Medici fountain, a playground, tennis courts, puppet shows, pony rides, cafes, a museum, and a pond.
Church of Saint-Sulpice
Saint-Sulpice is the second-or-third- largest church in Paris, depending on your source.
One thing is for sure: Notre-Dame is the largest.
The Church of Saint-Sulpice is located in Saint-Germain-des-Près.
Construction of the church ran from 1646 to 1745. It has iconic mismatched towers. Very arty.
The da Vinci Code (both the book and the movie) set some of its action in this church, based on the supposed secret meanings hidden in the architecture.
Saint-Sulpice was where the S&M enthusiast the Marquis de Sade and the poet Charles Baudelaire were baptized. It also hosted the wedding of author Victor Hugo, who wrote "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame."
The church is home to one of the most magnificent organs in the world, according to organ enthusiasts.
There is a wondrous gnomon, or sundial, set into the floor. According to the Atlas Obscura, "the gnomon found in the Saint-Sulpice Church in Paris is a wonderful piece of old-fashioned technology built in the early 1700s to determine when Easter falls on the calendar."
Linen Lux & the Paris Déco Off
Lampshades over the City of Light at Place de Furstemburg, which, depending on who you ask, is either the smallest square in Paris or just an overachieving roundabout.
Linen Lux Paris/Paris Déco Off happened to be happening, partly in our neighborhood of Saint-Germain-des-Près, while we were in Paris in January. As I understand it, the Paris Déco Off is when European home decor companies open up their Paris showrooms and hold events to debut new textile collections. It's a celebration of fabulous fabric. It's an annual event with multiple locations in the city. Of course, it is a bit niche. For the average person, the main attraction is the 200 or so oversized "lampshades" hanging above a half-dozen-or-more streets. Each lampshade is about the size of lawn chair and made from a different fabric. The event lasts for five days.
I am not really sure what the Institut de France is, even after reading about it.
According to Wikipedia, it’s a French learned society, grouping five academies. It was established in 1795. It’s the self-proclaimed “protector of the arts, letters and sciences.” OK.
It’s located on the Quai de Conti in the 6th arrondissement and faces the Louvre.
This impressive building was being restored in January.
I love the decorative scrims put over scaffolding in Europe – the ones printed with what is hidden underneath.
Notre-Dame Cathedral
Constructed between the 12th and 14th centuries, Notre-Dame Cathedral is the largest and most visited monument within the Paris city limits.
More than 13 million visitors pass through the grand gate of Notre-Dame every year.
This means the Cathedral welcomes around 35 thousand visitors a day.
the view from the top is spectacular.
The New York Times wrote in 2024: For nearly 900 years, since construction began in 1163, the great Gothic cathedral had been a constant and gravitational center of Paris, holding time at bay. Before the fire it attracted some 13 million global tourists a year, more than the Eiffel Tower or the Louvre or St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
Mary Queen of Scots was married at Notre-Dame, Joan of Arc beatified, Napoleon crowned.
The cathedral contained one of the oldest surviving wood-timber frames in Paris, employing around 52 acres of trees that were cut down in the 12th century.
Each beam is made from an individual tree. For this reason, the lattice of historic woodwork was nicknamed "the Forest."
The forest burnt like a match on April 15, 2019.
Ongoing restoration work in 2019. Speculation is that this work may have caused the fire. The (green) copper statues on the roof of Notre Dame represented the twelve apostles and four New Testament evangelists. They were fortunately removed for restoration just days before the 2019 fire.
Becky on the roof outside a room with very small doors. Inside the room you can see some of the oak beams that were added to the cathedral between 1220 and 1240. This part of the roof was destroyed by a fire a few months after this photo was taken.
On April 15, 2019 (about three months after our visit) the spire and much of the wood framed roof collapsed after a raging fire that captured the world's attention. This catastrophic fire burned for several hours and it took more than 400 firemen to contain the blaze.
The fire was probably caused by an electrical short circuit or stray cigarette butt.
It would take five and a half years to repair and rebuild the heavily damaged parts of Notre-Dame. This has been described by some as a "miraculously" short time.
Notre-Dame reopened to the public on December 8, 2024.
It took about 250 companies, 2,000 workers, and $900 million to rebuild Notre Dame. At the peak of construction, 600 workers labored daily. Each hidden beam was reconstructed by hand as it was 800 years ago. The entirety of the cathedral was reenforced and deep cleaned.
After visiting the Cathedral, we visited the Crypte Archéologique de l'ile de la Cité - The Archeological Crypt of Notre Dame, located at the opposite end of the square facing Notre-Dame Cathedral. The museum houses parts of what's left of ancient Paris from 1700 years ago (building walls, coins, glass etc). These ruins were discovered in 1970 while excavating for an underground parking lot. During the cathedral's restoration after the fire, other significant and ancient artifacts were found.
Île de la Cité
A pano image of the Sainte-Chapelle Cathedral.
Notre-Dame cathedral is located on Île de la Cité. The Île de la Cité is one of two islands in the Seine and was once the site of a Roman fortress. The Île de la Cité encompasses about 56 acres and is connected to the mainland by nine bridges. Some of Paris's most visited monuments are on the Île de la Cité, including the medieval Palais de la Cité also known as the Palais de Justice, the residence of the Kings of France until the 14th century and Paris's judiciary center/courthouse, the Sainte-Chapelle Cathedral (a royal chapel within the Palais de la Cité) and the adjacent Conciergerie (a prison which operated from 1380 to 1914) and the Hôtel Dieu (possibly the oldest continuously operating hospital in the world).
The exterior of Sainte-Chapelle Cathedral.
Interior of Sainte-Chapelle Cathedral.
Sainte-Chapelle Cathedral is a kaleidoscope of stained glass. It was built in the 13th century by King Saint-Louis to house his collection of religious relics. Sainte-Chapelle is now visited for the spectacle of its stained-glass windows, among the most significant in the world. There are 15 windows that are each about 50 feet high, with 1,113 separate scenes taken from the Old and New Testament.
Left: Palais de Justice.
Right: La Cour des Femmes in the Conciergerie. The Conciergerie is adjacent to Sainte-Chappelle Cathedral. From The 10th to the 14th centuries, it was the main palace of the medieval Kings of France. It was used until 1358 when Charles V moved into the Louvre. It was then converted into a prison. During the Reign of Terror (1793/94), 2,700 people passed through the Conciergerie on their way to the guillotine.
The Louvre
The Louvre is the world's biggest art museum. In 2019 it had over 9.3 million visitors per year.
It has 380,000 pieces of art ( I counted).
The Louvre was built in 1190. Not as an art museum. It was a fortress/palace until 1793. Then it was eventually repurposed as an art museum.
What more can be said about one of the greatest art museums in the world? Well, lots.
The Louvre is big. It's the equivalent of 35 football fields. The museum's five floors, including two underground levels, cover about 782,913 square feet.
The Cour Carrée (Square Court) is one of the main courtyards at the Louvre. The wings surrounding it were built gradually, as the walls of the medieval Louvre were progressively demolished in favor of a more modern Renaissance palace.
A museum security guard daydreams about her upcoming trip to Miami. Working as a security guard in a museum is really dull. I know. I've done it.
The Louvre displays about 35,000 pieces of art and stores the rest. that's a lot of art to watch after.
Chinese-American architect I. M. Pei's "Pyramid" is in the main courtyard (Cour Napoléon) of the Louvre, surrounded by three smaller pyramids. The large pyramid serves as the main entrance to the Louvre Museum and was completed in 1989.
This 34-foot golden sculpture is named "Throne." It's the work of Kahei Nawa and was part of the citywide exhibition called "Japonismes.” It was displayed in the main Pyramid.
The undulating glass and wire canopy/roof of the Islamic Art Wing exhibition space in the middle of the museum’s Visconti Courtyard.
Standing at the top of a staircase, the Nike of Samothrace looks down over her admiring crowds. One of the most revered artworks of Hellenistic Greek art, the Nike has been on display in the Louvre since 1866.
Slightly less famous - “Le chat mort” (the dead cat) by Théodore Géricault, 1820.
Hand gestures. Young people engaging with art. Or maybe just discussing the advantages of DoorDash over Uber Eats. Pier Francesco Sacchi's "Four doctors of the Church" (ca. 1516) serves as either the topic of conversation or a backdrop.
Hand gestures. The Louvre has some of the best-known paintings in the world. The museum's big three are the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, and the Nike of Samothrace. But the Louvre also has paintings that are just “tons of fun” like “Study of Hands,” c. 1715, by French painter Nicolas De Largillière.
This massive painting, “Miraculous Draught of Fishes” by the French painter Jean-Baptiste Jouvenet (before 1706), is about 13 feet by 22 feet unframed. The people in this painting are literally larger than life. The largest painting in the Louvre is "The Wedding Feast at Cana" which is about 20 feet by 33 feet.
Guess what is behind this crowd of people? Hint: It's the museum's number one selfie backdrop.
The empty gold frames in the Louvre are part of the museum's frame collection, which includes around 9,000 frames in total. You know a museum has mucho square footage when they display empty frames.
Tuileries Garden and Musée de l'Orangerie
Above: There are three St Germain bridges that cross the Seine: Pont Neuf, Pont des Arts, and Pont St Michel. Pont Neuf is the oldest bridge in Paris and links St Germain to the tip of Île de la Cité. Pont St Michel takes you from St Germain to the very middle of Île de la Cité. These locks of love, were on the Pont des Arts, a pedestrian bridge, which takes you to the Louvre.
Left: Tuileries Garden chair - One of Paris's many famous landmarks, the Tuileries Garden covers 55 acres; is bordered by the Louvre (to the east), the Seine River (to the south), the Place de la Concorde (to the west) and the Rue de Rivoli (to the north). The garden/park design is much the same as it was when it was first created by André Le Nôtre in 1664.
Not surprisingly, the park is rather barren in winter. Though the mallard ducks were enjoying themselves in a Tuileries Garden pond. They dyed their hair green to match the color of the water and empty park chairs.
Musée de l'Orangerie is not far from the Louvre, at the opposite end of Tuileries Garden, next to the Place de la Concorde. The building that houses the Musee de l'Orangerie was originally built to overwinter potted orange trees from the Tuileries Garden.
It now houses Monet's eight water lily murals and also has rotating exhibitions.
Monet donated the murals to Paris in 1922 (in lieu of taxes, the tale goes).
Little did he know that the murals would become one of Paris's most popular selfie desinations.
Above: from the museum's website, a space age-looking pano of the murals sans people.
The visiting artist at the Musée de l'Orangerie was a Portuguese/British woman by the name of Paula Rego. The exhibition was called Cruel Stories. This startlingly real, hyper realistic sculpture was on display and I believe it was part of Rego's exhibition. My notes say it was entitled "Lost Boy." But I never trust my notes.
Pompidou Centre
Pompidou Centre is the largest museum of modern art in Europe. It opened in 1977.
It was the first major example of an 'inside-out' building in architectural history, with its color-coded structural and mechanical systems (electrical, plumbing, climate) exposed on the exterior of the building.
The glass sewer pipes were fascinating. The French need to eat more fiber.
We were there at sunset and had great views over the city.
Musée de Cluny - Musée national du Moyen Age
Musée de Cluny - Musée national du Moyen Age displays art and artifacts in a medieval abbey, with 3rd-century Gallo-Roman bath ruins in the basement (Thermes de Cluny).
This museum, which opened in 1843, is home to the six mysterious Lady and the Unicorn tapestries (La Dame à la licorne).
This place literally shows off Paris's layers of history, from Roman to Medieval times.
Jacquemart-André Museum
Jacquemart-André Museum - The museum was created from the private home of Édouard André (1833-1894) and Nélie Jacquemart (1841-1912) to display the art they collected. When Nélie and Édouard Jacquemart-Andre were planning their Paris mansion, they visited Venice in 1893. In Venice, they bought a fresco by Giambattista Tiepolo. To this day it remains the crown jewel of all their art collecting. But it didn't fit perfectly into their Paris mansion. A young fellow, patting his dog, carelessly dangles his legs below the rest of the painting. No problem! Nélie or Édouard just cut a hole (rather crudely) in the marble moulding for the errant feet. In January 2019 an exhibition of mostly Caravaggio paintings at the Jacquemart-André Museum created long lines and an hour wait for admission. Our longest line in Paris. Wall to wall people - we could not get close to the art. But the rest of the museum was empty.
Walking tour of Marais
A Medieval (15th century) timber framed house.
Remnants of the city wall built in the 12th century by King Philippe-Auguste.
Walking tour of Marais - this was a very low key, English language walking tour. We saw Medieval (15th century) timber framed houses and remnants of the city wall built in the 12th century by King Philippe-Auguste.
We visited the Place des Vosges, the oldest planned square in Paris and the Hôtel de Sully, with its Sphinx and garden.
The Hôtel de Sully was built, with gardens and an orangery, between 1624 and 1630. Despite the word “hotel” in its name, it has never been a hotel. It was a mansion and is now offices for the Centre des Monuments Nationaux.
Sculpture in the Jardin de l'Hôtel de Sully. Built in the 1620s by the Duke of Sully, a finance minister and counsellor to King Henry IV, this garden is open to the public. The sphinx is a selfie magnet.
These unusual red doors belong to the Saint-Paul Saint-Louis Church in the Marais. The church was constructed from 1627-1641 and it was the first Jesuit church of Paris. Inside the church, you will find a Delacroix painting, "Christ in Agony on the Mount of the Olives."
During the walking tour we also visited the St-Gervais-et-St-Protais Church. This church was bombed via "long-range" artillery during World War I. The German's "Paris Gun" (as it was named) could propel a 230-pound shell longer and higher than any cannon of its time - up to 80 miles. The Paris Gun killed 250 people and wounded 620 in Paris. The highest single death toll was March 29, 1918, when a single shell hit the St-Gervais-et-St-Protais Church, collapsing the entire roof onto the congregation then hearing the Good Friday service. A total of 91 people were killed and 68 were wounded. The photo above is from 1918.
Le Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature
Le Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature (Museum of Hunting) - a quirky "off the beaten path" museum that has both classic and contemporary art and artifacts relating to the interchange between man and beast, including, but not limited to, hunting. Fascinating art, taxidermy and stacked cans of vintage pickled hippopotamus and rhinoceros stew (tastes like chicken).
We try to go to an "Atlas Obscura" destination every trip we take. Atlas Obscura wrote "Every seeker of the unusual loves a good taxidermy museum, and there are plenty of places in Paris that you can admire such zoological displays. Despite the wide variety Paris has to offer, none of them host a more theatrical and astonishing display than the Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature."
Installed in two 18th century private mansions, the museum opend to the public in 1964. Atlas Obscura writes: "Curated with a nod to the wunderkammers of old, each room of the recently renovated museum now features a wooden cabinet dedicated to a different hunted animal. Concealed in the cabinet drawers are bronze casts of the animal’s footprints and turds, depictions of the animal in its natural habitat, and a poem as a tribute to the animal. There’s even a room devoted to the mythical unicorn."
Musée d'Orsay
Musée d'Orsay is a museum in an old train station, the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. In Paris, the buildings that house the art are almost as interesting as the art.
Musée d'Orsay has lots of Impressionist art (Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir, Cézanne, Seurat, Sisley, Gauguin, and van Gogh). It exhibits art made between 1848 and 1914.
It opened in 1986 and has a lovely view of the city if you stand behind and look through the terminal's original glass-faced tower clock.
The list of the recognizable artwork in this museum is ridiculous: Édouard Manet's "The Luncheon on the Grass" as well as "Olympia," Vincent van Gogh's "Self-Portrait (1889)" (and 24 other van Gogh’s) and James McNeill Whistler’s "Whistler's Mother," to name a few.
A version of Edgar Degas’s "Little Dancer Aged 14" is also on display. When Degas died in 1917, 150 wax or clay sculptures were found in his studio. These statues had remained more or less unknown to the public while the artist was alive, except for "Little Dancer Aged 14" which Degas had shown in in 1881. The bronze version of Little Dancer in the Musée d'Orsay was made after Degas death.
Eiffel Tower
Eiffel Tower - It took two years, two months and five days to build the Iron Lady. It was inaugurated in 1889 for the World's Fair. It was supposed to be demolished 1908 (but wasn't). Today, it is one of the most-visited monuments in the world, with 7 million visitors per year. The tower has 1,665 steps. So wear good shoes.
Some fun facts:
The tower Eiffel Tower was originally copper-brown, but was painted bright yellow after a decade to protect it from the elements. It is once again a brownish color.
The Eiffel Tower has three viewing platforms.
It's covered in electric cables: Nearly 50 miles of electric cables cover the tower.
The Eiffel Tower has 120 antennas on top.
The Eiffel Tower is made of 18,000 iron pieces held together by over 2.5 million rivets.
The Eiffel Tower is illuminated by 20,000 light bulbs each night.
The Eiffel Tower at the time of the Worlds Fair.
Food and Lodging
The hotel’s café/breakfast area was subterranean - in the basement. It had no windows or natural light. The tables were tightly arranged in a small space to accommodate a crowd. We ate there once and thought the breakfast was just fine. Only one other couple was there at the time.
The hotel had no other public areas.
We stayed at the 16-room Hotel Victoire and Germain on Rue Grégoire de Tours for 6 nights. Everyone says that Paris hotel rooms are small. Our room may have been larger than some in Paris by a few square feet. We stayed in one of the hotel’s “deluxe” rooms. In fact, the hotel website said the room could sleep three. It had one king bed. The term "ménage à trois" is French after all.
The room was very clean. It had hard wood floors (which we like). It had exposed beams in the ceiling making the room feel “historic.” The room décor was very Scandinavian/IKEA/minimalistic. There was one framed piece of art in the room. There was no dresser for clothes, just two high shelves in the closet, which Becky needed a chair to reach. The closet had some room for hanging clothes. It also housed the safe and mini-bar fridge (good for chilling vin blanc). Other than the bed, there was no room to lounge, save one chair. But the bed was comfortable. The shower had good water pressure.
The walls were painted white except for the wall with the window, which was painted black. The room had one window with heavy black drapes. Because it was a lower-level room on the first floor (= second floor in Europe), the room was seemingly always in the shadow of the buildings across the street. Our only real disappointment might be just that – the room was a bit dark and gloomy (the black walls and drapes didn’t help).
The hotel is located on a block-long street just barely wide enough for one car but nonetheless full of a mix of mostly young tourists and Parisians at night – literally, people were socializing on the street, mostly overflow from the bars, clubs and cafes that surround the hotel. In January on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights there was significant street noise from revelers until 2 AM or so (it was quieter on other nights). The window soundproofing seemed modern and as good as it could be. We dealt with the street noise easily enough - with late meals, plenty of wine and earplugs. But you would not want to open your hotel window on a hot July night.
Photos of our hotel room. Wide angle lenses and precise crops make a 200 sq ft room look gigantic.
Favorite meals: Fish La Boissonnerie; Le Christine and Semilla, all close to the hotel in Saint-Germain-des-Prés.
Also, for breakfast and lunch: Eggs & Co. (a gourmet American / multi-national breakfast eatery in tiny, historic rooms on the Left Bank) and L'As du Fallafel on Rue des Rosiers, a massive falafel diner, in the heart of what was once Paris's most vibrant Jewish neighborhood (ate here after our Marais walking tour).
Here is what the critics and guidebooks said about the restaurants.
About Le Christine:
"The restaurant has no prices after the dishes, but offers a fixed price depending on whether you eat just one course, or two, or three, or three plus cheese, or the seven-dish tasting menu (prices range from 27 - 65€). It may have been simpler just to put prices on the menu."
About Semilla (from the New York Times):
"More pretentious, more expensive, more trendy, more fashionably located, Semilla is not quite a bistro, not quite fine dining, not quite Parisian-feeling, but very nearly all of those. Among the restaurants discussed and mentioned here, it has no competition when it comes to the breadth of choices or vegetable preparation."
About Fish La Boissonnerie:
"Set amid chichi clothing boutiques and expensively curated concept stores, Fish's mosaic frontage and well-worn wooden fittings match the area's expensively understated charm - but without the price tag. The tiny venue is run by expatriate New Zealander Drew Harré and his Cuban business partner Juan Sanchez (they also own Semilla across the road), with Englishman Ollie Clarke in the kitchen. The cosmopolitan set-up makes the restaurant particularly popular with English speakers (front of house tend to be ex-pats, too) - but plenty of locals also come for the menu of fresh ingredients and confident flavours."
I would be remiss if I did not mention Paul. Paul is a French bakery-café chain with multiple locations in Paris (also in 47 other countries). Paul (not Paul's) was our go to for breakfast. Warm baguettes, crispy croissants. And there was a fromagerie next door. The Paul near the hotel on Rue de Buci also offered brunch on an outdoor terrace.
And then there is the world-famous Hermés, pastries and macarons, also in Saint-Germain-des-Prés. I never thought I'd like macarons. I was wrong.
We brought two souvenirs back from Paris - macarons and a bottle of 30&40 Calvados (apple brandy from Normandy) purchased in a shop that specialized in Calvados.
Our favorite night out involved Moose and noodles. The Moose was the local Canadian bar in the Odeon neighborhood near the Luxembourg Garden in St Germaine. It was one of the few places in Paris that one could go to watch American football and we were very lucky it was not far away.
On the night of January 13th there was an important New England Patriots playoff game against the Los Angeles Chargers. And I needed to watch it. Much to our surprise, so did a lot of other people in Paris. The bar was packed, standing room only, no way to get to the bar for a beer, no way to see the TV broadcasting the game.
We stood by the doorway for awhile and inched our way toward the TV. Then two strangers sitting at a table very close to the TV motioned us over and invited us to sit with them. He was a San Diego native and Chargers fan... who now lived in Japan. His girlfriend was Spanish and didn't like football. They were very friendly and great company. For the record, the game was so lopsided it made me feel bad to be watching it with a Chargers fan. The final score: Patriots won 41 to 28. After the game, we had late-night noodles at Yoom Dim Sum across from the hotel on Rue Grégoire de Tours. What could be more French?