Misadventures in France 2010 – Part 8 – Paris!

At last, we arrived in Paris, the final days of our trip.

For this visit, we decided that we would stay in a different hotel than our usual and we made a pact not to eat in any of our regular restaurants as well.

We arrived in the early afternoon, checking into the magnificent Westin Paris at the Place de Vendôme.

My husband and I are loyal SPG, Starwood Preferred Guest, members and we had diligently saved up our points in order to stay at this amazing property. We have never done this before because the amount of points per night is the same as their property Bora Bora – crazy and we could never wrap our head around that!

We finally decided this was the year that we would bite the bullet and stay right on the Rue de Rivoli across the street from the Tuileries Garden. When we got to our room I was not disappointed. In fact, the view was magnificent and I mimicked Carrie Bradshaw's happy dance when she goes out on the terrace of her room in the Hôtel Plaza Athénée!

After a little misadventure trying to return the rental car, we hopped on the metro to do a tiny bit of shopping before heading back to the hotel to freshen up for the evening. This first night was a big night because it was the evening of the Paris Bloggers Meetup and I was excited to meet all my blogging pals in person!

Mr. Misadventures and I had a blast meeting everyone at our little apero and wished we could have stayed a little longer. But I was cognizant of the fact that it was Mr. Misadventures' vacation as well, and that he (a) isn't a blogger and (b) didn't know anybody, so I had made dinner reservations for that evening.

We headed off to Le Bistrot Saint Honoré a Bourgninon restaurant where I was under the false impression that I would be able to get boeuf bourguignon. That was not the case and I had to settle for beef with carrots while my husband ordered the second dish that he had been dreaming about for months, rognon (the first being the plateau royale).

Tired and happy on our first night, we headed back to the hotel enjoying the slight drizzle as our evening window shopped.

The next day we headed over to the Palais Royale enjoying the crisp autumn air as we walked around and took photos and visited the gardens. We did some shopping and discussed the ongoing strikes with store staff.

It was so interesting to see the difference in opinion between what the media was saying that “everyone” was complaining about in terms of the retirement plan versus what the people on the street, in the stores, and in the restaurants were saying.

In the evening we had tickets for a play at my favorite theater, Théâtre ÉDOUARD VII. The play was a single-act play called Le Prenom starring Patrick Bruel. The play was fabulous, the story of a brother and sister and a group of friends who have a lively evening when one friend plays a trick on another and takes it way too far. I highly recommend it to anyone who is in Paris!

The next day we did the grand boulevard tour taking us to some shady parts of town. It was a very long walk, great exercise, and interesting to imagine the state of the area when there horse-drawn carriages and people promenading on the boulevards.

Two-thirds of the way through the boulevards we changed course and headed through the Place de Vosges. We stopped for something warm to drink, as it was bitterly cold, and continued walking passing into the Ile St. Louis. With all the walking we did we were famished and stopped at the Brasserie de l'Isle Saint Louis.

I was skeptical thinking that it was going to be too touristy. Boy was I wrong. Nothing but locals and an incredible place for hearty brasserie food! The tables are community-style and squeezed in to fit as many as possible. The food is plentiful, the staff lively and the laughter contagious. We had so much fun and totally enjoyed ourselves!

We continued walking along the Seine until we hit Le Pont d’Arts where we enjoyed looking at all the love locks.

We crossed into the Louvre and through the Tuileries and headed back to the Westin so that we could do a bit of defrosting!

We had two more days left in Paris and tomorrow was going to be an incredible dining experience (more to come) so we took it easy for dinner that night in anticipation of Le Grand Véfour.

Stay tuned for the LAST post from my trip coming next!