Mes amies á Paris!

This past Saturday, some of my best friends from Colgate, Eri, Emily, Emily and Caroline, arrived in Paris for the week. They booked their flight back in January so I've been anxiously anticipating their arrival! I was so excited to see them and so glad they were able to make the trip over! After a 2 hour flight delay, they arrived around 3pm. Later that afternoon we went out for a walk around Paris, had some Le Nôtre macarons and sat in the Place des Vosges park in the Marais.

Sunday morning, our first stop was the Musée D'Orsay. I had been wanting to visit and thought it would be a good Sunday morning activity. The Museum is housed in the old Gare d'Orsay, the train station built for the Universal Exhibition of 1900. Musée D'Orsay has a large number of impressionist and post-impressionist paintings by painters such as Monet, Manet, Degas, Rodin, Renoir and van Gogh. I really enjoyed Monet's landscape paintings, especially the paintings of Étretat, which I had just seen.

After a morning well spent at the Museum, we had worked up an appetite and headed to Le Voltigeur Bistro in the Marais, for a wonderful quiche lunch. With the beautiful weather, the café had all of their doors open to the streets with little tables spilling onto the sidewalk. From there we headed to my favorite park, Jardin Luxembourg for a relaxing afternoon in the sun. We spent some time sitting near the fountain chatting and watching the wooden boats in the fountain. To end the night we headed to a nearby bar to watch France beat Honduras 3-0 in their first World Cup game.

Me, Eri, Emily, Emily & Caroline

During the week, I would head to work while Eri, Emily, Boots & Caroline explored Paris.  Monday night we headed to the Eiffel Tower for a picnic dinner of bread, cheese, charcuterie, strawberries, and Champagne. The night was very relaxing and a great way to enjoy the Eiffel Tower and relax.

Picnics in the Park

Tuesday, while I was at work my friends had planned a trip to Champagne but due to the SNCF strikes, their first train was cancelled. After a crazy morning they were able to make the trip and get out of Paris for the day. They ended up getting back to Paris around 8:30 and we headed to L'as du Falafel for their famous falafel sandwich which did not disapoint! The pita was stuffed to the brim with falafel, tahina sauce, roasted eggplant, cabbage slaw, cucumber, tomato, parsley and topped with some spicy sauce. We meandered the streets until we found a place to sit and enjoy our meal. The next night we headed into the Latin Quarter for drinks. The weather was so nice we were able to sit outside and enjoy the night.

Paris nights

My last day of work for the week was Thursday and after we headed to Breizh Café in the Marais for a Breton region dinner of savory and sweet crêpes with cidre. I always heard good things about this café and its always packed with people, requiring a reservation to get a seat. They had a large selection of crêpes as well as four entree and four dessert specials on the board and an extensive cidre selection. Everyone enjoyed their crêpes and we left the café full and very satisfied!

After our delicious dinner

The week was going way too fast but luckily I had all of Friday and Saturday to spend with my friends...to be continued...