Wonderful Memories of "Our" Neighborhood Cafes

We got back from Paris a week ago. Seems like another world, or that we were never there. That's the frustrating part of travelling. Thank goodness for photos and this blog!

We had an amazing time and stayed on budget. All in all, with all our shopping, eating, passes, apartment, and airfare, it cost us about $2500 each for two weeks in the City of Light during the Summer. That means if you save $105/month for two years, you're there! This also includes planning ahead and being willing to buy your airfare and pick your apartment well in advance, like 6 + months in advance.

Since we stayed on budget, we ate out the last couple of nights in Paris, not wanting our experience to end and to be sure the fridge was cleaned out. As I mentioned before, we knew we'd get consistently better food and service in our own neighborhood.

Brasserie l'Harmonie

The menu on the chalk board

The first night in Paris, we staggered into  l'Harmonie, sitting our extremely jet-lagged selves in their nice restaurant and was extremely satisfied with the food and the waiter. I'm pretty sure I wrote about this in an earlier blog. One of our last nights, we went back and sat outside. The food wasn't quite as good (but still way better than our dinner near Pompidou) but the waitress was extremely friendly and the whole experience was satisfying.

Cafe le Bistro - our neighborhood bistro

Our final night, we opted for the bistro just two doors down. We'd eaten dinner there before and had a pleasant afternoon snack on another day.

Mike unwinding after a hard day - LOL

We felt like family there, especially since we always got a friendly wave and "hello or "Bonjour" when we dragged our tired carcasses off the subway and walked by the bistro headed for our apartment!

Stefan and Mathieu - the nicest waiters in Paris

So the last evening, I asked to take their pictures. They'd been so friendly and fed us well, I wanted to immortalize them!

Thank you Stefan and Mathieu for making us feel at home and not like tourists. We'll be back!!

For more information about having an awesome vacation in Paris, visit my website: ParisMadeSimple.com.

In Love with Paris - As Always...

Canal St. Martin Near our Apartment

Paris is amazing - as always. We arrived a few days ago and are settling into a bit of a routine.

We've been doing a lot of shopping for food because even in the local supermarket we can't possibly eat all the yummy food we want. We've been indulging on good cheese, meat, Haribo candy you can't find in the states, good confit, excellent cheap wine, and many other things.

I've managed to navigate buying our Navigo passes (much cheaper than the tourist transit pass - Paris Visite), buying more minutes on our cell phones, and buying a universal charger for my laptop. Yes, I forgot my laptop charger at home.

Canal St. Martin Near our Apartment

Mike on our Terrace at 10pm

Our apartment is AMAZING as it's huge, well equipped, and very convenient. My wonky body needs a softer bed, but other than that, this is heaven! We've greatly enjoyed our little outside terrace too.

The weather is quite variable this week - sometimes warm, others cold, then sprinkling! But at least it's not 90 degrees because I've done that and it's not as easy to be a tourist then.

Wonderful Young Woman at the Organic Market

Luckily, it's sales season and everything is on sale. So what a time to shop! I personally haven't bought anything big (three scarves) but Mike and Megan have dropped some Euro on very nice clothes!

Entertainment on Sunday Afternoon, rue des Rosiers 

We've visited the Marais, including the rue des Rosiers area, shopped around the Pomplidou Center (the  modern art museum) and had a nice dinner near the Eiffel Tower. We explored the Champs de Mars last night, discovering 8 disco balls around the circumference and then a really big one UNDER the Eiffel Tower. With some research, I've discovered this year's theme for Bastille Day (France's Independence celebration) is DISCO! OK, I think that makes me feel old, but we're plotting our way to enjoy the celebrations which go on until the wee hours.

The Paris Opera House, Place de la Bastille

Excellent Dinner at Cafe le Bosquet

  

The Golden Eiffel Tower at Night

GIANT Disco Ball Under the Eiffel Tower

The Ever Interesting Pompidou Center

A Light Snack in the Afternoon!

For more information about planning a great time in Paris, visit ParisMadeSimple!