Paris
When one thinks of travel to Europe, Paris is one of the first places that comes to mind. Today, Paris comes to mind for a much sadder reason. On November 13, 2015, six locations in Paris were attacked by the extremist militant group ISIS. Our hearts broke for the “City of Love.” Although changing our facebook profiles will not do anything to help the French people, we all want them to know they are in our thoughts.
The city of Paris is amazing and romantic. It draws tourists there year round, and I believe it will continue to do so. Having a degree in Culinary Arts, I was excited to go to Paris for the food, and in 2013 my husband and I went for our second anniversary.
We arrived on the day of our anniversary and stayed in a petit hotel just north of the Latin Quarter by the opera house. When we set down our things and opened the window, we heard a live concert starting in the Place de la Bastille. We walked out to the area where a rock concert was going on for gay pride.
Just before dusk we started walking down past Notre Dame to this great restaurant called Terroir Parisien. We did not have reservations, but there were two seats at the bar right by the open kitchen. Incredible, rich and elegant dishes were followed by our favorite dish, a brioche french toast dessert.
Parisians have a reputation for being rude but the bartender and two servers who waited on us made us feel welcome and forgave me for my broken French. We considered going there for every dinner, and even later regretted that we did not do just that.
The next day was sight seeing day. We found another gem for food in the crepes cart by the metro station for the Eiffel Tower. The young man running it was from southern France and although he spoke perfect English let me practice and gave me tips for improving my French. The crepes were perfectly crispy on the outside and served with traditional ingredients like lemon and butter.
In just a couple days, we were able to go to all the major tourist sites of Paris. Unfortunately, my husband was done with the harshness of the Parisian people. While half of them were rude and unwilling to give the Americans a chance, we found another half that appreciated us trying to speak French and be unusually polite “Americans.”
The “City of Light” I believe is a must at least once in your life.
The city of Paris is amazing and romantic. It draws tourists there year round, and I believe it will continue to do so. Having a degree in Culinary Arts, I was excited to go to Paris for the food, and in 2013 my husband and I went for our second anniversary.
We arrived on the day of our anniversary and stayed in a petit hotel just north of the Latin Quarter by the opera house. When we set down our things and opened the window, we heard a live concert starting in the Place de la Bastille. We walked out to the area where a rock concert was going on for gay pride.
Just before dusk we started walking down past Notre Dame to this great restaurant called Terroir Parisien. We did not have reservations, but there were two seats at the bar right by the open kitchen. Incredible, rich and elegant dishes were followed by our favorite dish, a brioche french toast dessert.
Parisians have a reputation for being rude but the bartender and two servers who waited on us made us feel welcome and forgave me for my broken French. We considered going there for every dinner, and even later regretted that we did not do just that.
The next day was sight seeing day. We found another gem for food in the crepes cart by the metro station for the Eiffel Tower. The young man running it was from southern France and although he spoke perfect English let me practice and gave me tips for improving my French. The crepes were perfectly crispy on the outside and served with traditional ingredients like lemon and butter.
In just a couple days, we were able to go to all the major tourist sites of Paris. Unfortunately, my husband was done with the harshness of the Parisian people. While half of them were rude and unwilling to give the Americans a chance, we found another half that appreciated us trying to speak French and be unusually polite “Americans.”
The “City of Light” I believe is a must at least once in your life.