Sancerre on the Seine

Aug 2

Last Trip: April 2019

I don't know as much about Paris as I do other spots — I've only been a few times, for relatively quick trips, and these recommendations are simply what worked for me and my travel companions while we were there. It's also been a while: since my last visit, Notre-Dame burned and has been gloriously restored, so treat everything here as a starting point for your own Googling, and go see her reopened while you're at it.

For the trip highlighted here, I had the pleasure of traveling with my brother (Stevie) and sister-in-law (Kerri), plus young Connor and tween Caroline. It was the kids’ first European jaunt and they did amazing. They were curious, patient, respectful, engaged and engaging. This Auntie felt so grateful to be included and have her Auntierazzi nature appreciated at every landmark. Say: “Fromage!” (The family Christmas card was fire that year.)

Any City, Kerry-Style

A confession about my travel style: the checklist version of Paris holds zero appeal for me. My way into any city is the same everywhere — I eat, I stroll, I shop, I sit somewhere with a glass of something and watch the place go by until it feels like mine. Paris might reward that approach better than any city on Earth. Everything below is in service of it.

On our first day, we booked a custom walking tour with a wonderful guide — an art history student who took us wherever we wanted to go, on foot and by Metro, and handled every detail. A Day 1 tour like that orients you fast, and a good guide will load you up with recommendations you'll spend the rest of the trip cashing in: best wine shop, best chocolate shop, best spot for a romantic dinner. If you want her info, text me.

Our Adopted Home: Saint-Germain-des-Prés

We stayed at Hôtel Verneuil in Saint-Germain-des-Prés on the Left Bank, and I would stay there again without opening a single search tab. Authentic and cozy — with real emphasis on cozy, because we are not in America anymore, square-footage-wise. From the front door you can walk to the Louvre, the Musée d'Orsay, and the Seine. The lobby pours lovely wine, and the concierges are miracle workers who got us into wonderful restaurants at the absolute last moment. The street outside comes with its own entertainment: antique shop windows and street art you'll want to photograph before you've had coffee.

Bon à Savoir

A few things I learned so you can skip the learning. Carry an external phone battery, because maps and translation apps will drain you to zero at 2pm, precisely when you have no idea where your hotel is. Speaking of which: grab a handful of hotel business cards at check-in — hand one to any taxi driver with a "s'il vous plaît" and you're home. Walk right past the guys with the big bags of Eiffel Tower keychains. And on tipping: it's polite, never expected. I consider it my personal mission to single-handedly raise the perception of Americans abroad, so I stay breezy about menus (they don't really do substitutions) and show my gratitude in Euros — round up for a coffee, drop ten on a wonderful hundred-Euro dinner.

Where We Ate, and Sighed

*Not our greatest photo, but we had to capture our adopted French parents*

Two dinners from that trip live in permanent rotation in my memory. Les Antiquaires on Rue du Bac was so chic and dreamy that our whole table went speechless — and afterward you can stroll the Seine and see the Louvre glowing at night, which is a dangerous amount of romance (with your family) for one evening. Le Bistrot de Paris on Rue de Lille delivered gorgeous food, gorgeous wine, gorgeous everything.

“Le sigh” remains accurate.

And the wine. My favorite wine on this beautiful planet is Sancerre, and Paris is where I learned it comes in red as well as white. I stayed loyal to the white — crisp, mineral, refreshing — and drinking it in its home country felt like meeting a pen pal in person.

Sparkletown, Population: You

Please allow me to save you some time, money, and energy: skip going up the Eiffel Tower. The lines are punishing, the crowds are worse, and the Tower is far better company from a distance. (We were informed that even Beyonce could not skip the line. Well, then!)

Book a dinner near the Seine with a Tower view instead — do this long before you leave home, through your hotel concierge — because after dark, she sparkles on the hour, and watching that from a table with a glass in your hand beats any observation deck.

For the daytime version, walk to Castel Café. If you're facing the front entrance, take five giant steps to the left and look up: the most photogenic peekaboo of the Tower you will ever find, hiding on a side street. The café gets mixed reviews online, and I had a lovely time anyway. Americans can be picky.

The OG Sparkler

Crabbing about the queue, aside — it was this young lady’s only wish to climb to the top of the La Tour Eiffel, so climb (and elevate!) we did.

Caro was in heaven — figuratively — and likely closer to the palace in the clouds than she’d ever been.

Sometime, ask Connor about getting lost — for what felt like ten, full minutes — on the third-level platform.

Monsieur Crêpe

*Connor, age 9, digging into to his dream dessert*

In the meantime, Conny wanted a crepe. Who were we to deny him, post-potential-abduction?

After sliding back down the Tower, we scored a table at Castel Café and he recovered. We all did. (Auntie had at least two midday Sancerres.)

C'est la vie — and santé!

Montmartre: Peak Paris

*Ambling ivy and pink pigment — a girly pop’s strolling dreamscape*

*I’ll never not be obsessed with how this perches on the land*

Montmartre is the most gorgeous piece of Paris, and it's built for exactly my kind of day: one long stroll, uphill, with rewards along the way. Start at the bottom by the Moulin Rouge — photograph the windmill and keep moving — then follow the crowd up, up, up until the road delivers you into the artists' village where Hemingway and Renoir once haunted the cafés.

At the top: Sacré-Cœur and a view of all of Paris spread out below you. On the way, find the Wall of I Love Yous, and reward the climb at La Goutte de Lait, where I had rose and toffee ice cream worth every minute of the line.