We completely adore Will and Meg's other friends, and are now planning our next adventure together with Pavel, Paige, Anna, Darcy, Elizabeth, Sanne and Andy. I couldn't be more pleasantly surprised with how things went! We got to see the Van Gogh exhibit at the Atelier des Lumieres, having missed the Klimt exhibit from last year. It was a spectacular and moving combination of light, music and art. I highly recommend visiting this amazing museum. The closest thing to it is the Meow Wolf in the US.
We started with a two night stay before the other guests arrived, and our hostel type room actually had a private shower after all, which we dearly loved. It was close to a grocery store, and we were able to keep to our budget on food and hotel costs, which was a nice surprise. One favorite memory, figuring out how to drink French wine in a room with no glasses. We got creative, and bought glass jarred French yogurt for breakfast and then rinsed them out. The desk clerk always was happy to uncork our wine for us. Why yes, I was a girl scout:) Then onto the several nights in the large Airbnb with our newfound friends, in the Marais district, which was also right next door to a Monoprix department/grocery with full wine and liquor departments.
With an hour to spare, we rounded up Sanne, Meg and Andy and the four of us went to get our first nights happy hour for the full group. We had two full kitchens in our 4 BR and the other 2BR had a third full kitchen. No single kitchen seemed to have full sets of silver, glassware or plates, but between them, it all worked. We had an extravaganza of wine, whiskey, cheeses and salted meats, olives and FOIE GRAS. I know it's socially reprehensible, I know it's cruelty, and I love it anyway. I spent the next hour cutting baguettes, cooking smelly cheese for the jam and slicing cheeses and meats. In the kitchen, in my element and doing what I love as a contribution to people I love. We ended with a funny game of Cards Against Humanity and someone else had a deck similar to that but with sexier answers:)
We had bubbly wine, red wine, and an extraordinary conversation about how we each met and knew Will and Meg. We were off to a very good start! Richard and I had breakfast in most mornings, others ate out the entire time. We had some very good cappuccinos and long walks to go see Les Halles, and the Christmas Market that was set up there. There was Raclette in a Christmas booth, and a lovely pot of Foie Gras in another that came home with me. We then walked around and Sanne showed us an amazing dragon clock on the side of a building. We then stumbled across a Chinese Dragon team that was practicing as well. There is alway something magical when we travel and this trip had an abundance of magic. And glitter. Lots and lots of glitter.
The Eiffel Tower was incredible and although we had been there twice before, it was a really inspiring and emotional moment to sing Happy Birthday to Will at the top of the Eiffel Tower. People walked as much or as little as they wanted, and either Uber-ed or rented bikes to get around. We went to the Louvre and got an incredible photo/gif of all of us jumping in front of the IM Pei glass pyramid. The young woman who offered to take our photo was from Guatemala and had just graduated college and gifted herself this trip to Paris as a celebration as well.
Then we were on our own for a lot of the time. We had certain set times to meet as a group, and one was a fabulous birthday dinner at an incredible, old school French restaurant. https://www.lecoupechou.com/ Meg and Will spent a considerable amount of time at dinner sharing with us who we each are for them, and there were tears galore as we did the same for them. Standard and well prepared French fare in an authentic and very old timbered and stone building with a walk in fireplace downstairs. We followed that up with Jazz in the Latin quarter at http://www.caveaudelahuchette.fr/ It was an amazing evening, with white rocks and glitter thrown in to boot:) And then we finished with cocktails in two different places. The Experimental Cocktail Bar and Jefrey's. Both were extremely interesting and delicious. By then it was just Elizabeth (my cocktail twin as we like the same sorts of drinks), Anna and Darcy and I. Everyone else had called it a night.
We finished off our personal stay with two additional nights in the St Germain district. There was an indoor market down the street with cheeses, meats, fruits and vegs, an Apple store and delicious restaurant options as well as a very welcome Marks & Spencers market! We had never seen one outside of the UK, and it was nice that we had a grocery store one block from the hotel. Three for three for each of the places we stayed.
We were able to meet Meg and Will one final time at our favorite oyster place of all time. Opium, la Cabane. The same incredible host as last November, great seafood, and "white bacon" on toast with pink peppercorns. And champagne. Because who doesn't like champagne with oysters? It was one of our few opportunities to recreate something we had previously enjoyed and experience zero disappointment. Meg found some amazing jewelry to bring home as souvenirs. As Meg said, it was an EPIC adventure! And we are planning our next one for 2020.
Have a very happy New Year and do what you dream of doing!
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