Back to Paris

Last weekend we took advantage of affordable train tickets and some local connections and went back to one of our favourite cities: Paris. Early Friday afternoon we hopped on a train for Paris with our friend Laurence, a colleague of Erin's whose boyfriend, Fred, is a Gendarme living in Paris. Fred lives on a Gendarmerie base in the Paris suburbs and we were able to stay with him for the weekend, making Paris much more affordable.

Our inbound train had to be re-routed due to a tree on the tracks somewhere, and thus we were a little late arriving. Because of this we decided to stay in and take it easy, and cram our Paris adventure into Saturday and Sunday.

We got up relatively early on Saturday and had a nice French pastry breakfast before heading out. We had wanted to go see the Catacombs, but the line to get in was literally around the blocks, so we went with Plan B and checked out Rue Daguerre in the same neighbourhood, and fun street with some cool shops and cafés. After that we went to the Grande Mosquée de Paris, which has a café/restaurant attached, and had a really nice lunch. We had various Moroccan dishes, with a sweet mint tea, and some great pastries for dessert.

Afterwards, we walked through the Latin Quarter, Île Saint-Louis, and Le Marais before heading back to Fred's to get ready for our evening event, a dinner cruise along the Seine. While the dinner cruise may be a little touristy, it was still really enjoyable. We boarded the boat right near the Eiffel Tower, and the boat then goes upriver through all the main sights along the river, turning around on the eastern edge of the city before turning and heading back downriver, finishing up right by the Eiffel Tower, which at this point is all lit up in the night sky.

The meals were very good, and despite being on a boat, it felt more like we were in an elegant restaurant. There was live music from a jazz band, nice wine, and expensive dishes with portion sizes half of what we would get in a regular restaurant... yep, we're in Paris! After the cruise, we strolled around the city a little more before heading home.

On Sunday, Fred and Laurence took us to one of their favourite places for brunch in the city. It was this place in a very nondescript neighbourhood in the 19th or 20th Arrondissement, where we can't imagine tourists would ever go unless they were specifically looking for this place. The brunch has two parts. The first was an all-you-can-eat buffet of delicious pastries, baked goods like brownies and cookies, fruit and beverages. That would have been easily enough food, but they then offer you a choice of one of five or six prepared dishes, with things like an English Plate (with eggs, sausages, bacon), lamb or salmon. It was all very good, and filled us up for the rest of the day. We'd highly recommend this place, which is called La Bellevilloise, if you are ever in Paris.

Having to head back to Konstanz late Sunday afternoon, we didn't have too too much time to do much else, but we were able to head back to one of our favourite streets in Paris, Rue Mouffetard, where we spent another nice afternoon.

We arrived back in Konstanz late Sunday night, appreciating Paris even more. Every time we go there, we find something new which makes us love the city even more. And it definitely helps to have some local guides like Fred and Laurence to show us around!