Ooh la la, By the time we got to Paris on October 8, 2023, Peter was still weak, but he was no longer contagious. The City of Lights always has a healing effect on us, and Peter was ready to enjoy our favorite city in Europe! We’d been to Paris several times and had already seen the major sites, so on this trip, we chose to stay in a completely different location and spend our days just walking around the city, lounging at cafes and enjoying “La Vie Bella.”
Maison Albar Hotel – Pont Neuf
In the past, we’d stayed at hotels or Airbnbs in the 3rd (Le Marias), 4th (Il de St Louis), 5th (Latin Quarter), 8th (Champs Elysses) 15th (St. Germain du Pres), and the 16th (Eiffel Tower) arrondissements. On this trip, we ended up staying in the 2nd arrondissement, Les Halles.
We originally booked the charming, very “Parisienne” Hotel de Lutece on Ile de St Louis because Monica had always wanted to stay there, even though we knew the rooms would be tiny and it would take effort lugging ourselves and our bags to and from the room. However, by the time we got to Paris, we’d been on the road over a month, and we no longer wanted to work so hard just to enjoy a hotel. So, we cancelled the Hotel de Lutece and rebooked at the more modern Maison Albar Hotel – Pont Neuf in Les Halles.
The hotel was in an excellent location just off the Seine, but there were problems from the get-go. We didn’t receive the room we reserved and had to downgrade to a much smaller room. Then, the room’s ceiling started leaking, and the hotel had no choice but to offer us the rooftop suite. So, we ended up liking the hotel a lot!
We became regulars at a few restaurants just outside the front door. We particularly liked Le Chien Fumes and Mimosa, where Peter had his evening nightcaps.
Pompidou
On our second day in Paris, we went to the Pompidou for the very first time. Monica ended up staying there all day.
Au Pied du Cochon
For dinner, we walked over to Au Pied du Cochon restaurant, which is a tradition for us when in Paris. While the restaurant’s name translates to “Pig’s Feet” we refer to it as “The Pink Pig” because of the giant neon pig on the front of the restaurant. Thankfully, Peter managed to get us past the long line at the entrance…wink wink.
Meandering around Paris
We spent our third day walking along the Seine to the Louvre, enjoying Tullies Park, and being part of the bustle on the Champs Elysee’s until we go to one of our favorite restaurants, Fouquet.
Later that evening, we walked past Notre Dame (still under construction from the awful fire) to a restaurant Peter likes in Ile de Saint Louis, for dinner.
One our fourth day, we headed over to the left bank and walked around the Latin Quarter to Shakespeare & Co, and then went to St. Germain Du Pres to revisit Hemmingway’s hangout’s (because Monica is his groupie.) like Brasserie Lipp, Café Flores, and another favorite, Le Deux Magots, for lunch.
On our final evening, we went to a one-man show called How to be Parisien in One Hour hosted by a French comic who pokes fun of stereotypes and answers questions about Paris. It was a lot of fun.
We had our final dinner, once again at the Le Chien Fumes, the beautiful little bistro next to our hotel.
We were sad to leave Paris, but excited to move on to Switzerland. We discussed coming back for several months in the future. Paris, je t’aime!