Put me in coach!

Paris in the Spring Time

Well, Cole Porter got it right and Ella Fitgerald sang it well. Paris in the spring time is indeed a magical place. Our late May trip was a success on every conceivable level. Many many many thanks to Rosie's Army (Jon, Judy, Amy & Karlene) for taking such good care of her while we were away. We absolutely couldn't have had such a carefree vacation without your support. So, with that, here are some of our trip highlights as well as some pictures to whet your whistle. To see a complete set of trip pictures, click HERE.

Day 1
We arrived at Casa de Coldiron (aka my college roommate Matt's and his partner Robin's lovely Parisian flat) to the smell of fresh pastries. After devouring the first of many pain au chocalat and taking a quick nap, we were off to Place de Vosges in the Marais for some tasty falafel and shawarma for lunch and afternoon site seeing at Notre Dame. Matt was then kind enough to take us to one if his favorite bistros along the incredibly hip Canal St. Martin.

Day 2

Slept late (no 6:45am toddler wake-up call!), devoured more pain au chocalat and headed off to the Luxembourg Gardens. After a lazy morning of reading and strolling around the gardens, we hit the streets of the upscale St. Germain neighborhood for some tasty lunch and window shopping. We then wandered over to the Musee d'Orsay for a bit of culture before returning to Matt & Robin's for a dinner party that they threw for us. Can that Matt Coldiron cook!

Day 3

French Open (Part I). One of the main reasons we chose this particular week to go to Paris was so that we could take in some live tennis at Roland Garros---the historic home of the French Open. We got to see several top players in action including Caroline Wozniacki, Sam Querrey, John Isner, and Novak Djokovic. Sadly we did not get to see Roger Federer as we had hoped but as they say in Paris, "C'est la vie." The grounds were gorgeous and between the excellent tennis and the 70 degree weather and sunny skies, we had a fantastic time. That night we headed back to the Canal St.-Martin for dinner at a well known Cambodian restaurant called Le Cambodge.

Day 4

French Open (Part II). The goal of getting center court back to back tickets on consecutive days was to ensure that we'd get to see both Roger Federer & Rafa Nadal. Due to some strange court scheduling we not only missed Roger on Day 1 of our Roland Garros adventure but were slated to miss Rafa as well. However, tenacious Marcee would have none of it. Using a combination of audacity, charm and broken french she managed to find two lovely parisians who were leaving the grounds early and gave us tickets to the court that Nadal was playing on. Marcee was literally jumping for joy and we had watched about a set of excellent tennis before bad luck intervened. Despite their socialist leanings, the French Open folks are actually more capitalist than I would have believed. Turns out that when our original seat holders left the grounds of Roland Garros they were required to scan their ticket receipt and then the French Open re-sold their tickets. So, after a considerable amount of protestation and feigning ignorance, we were gently but forcibly removed from our lovely Rafa seats by a swarm of stadium ushers. Again, "C'est la vie." Some Rafa was definitely better than no Rafa. Over the course of the day we also got to see among others Maria Sharapova, Marty Fish and Andy Murray. After tennis concluded, we returned yet again to the Canal St.-Martin for another chic dinner at the site of the acclaimed 1938 film Hotel du Nord.

Day 5

With two solid days of tennis behind us, we decided to take a break from watching tennis (sort of). Day 5 also marked the end of our time with Matt & Robin as we moved into the Hotel Gabriel Paris Marais. While the name is a bit deceiving (i.e. it's actually a 15 minute walk from the Marais!), the room was modern & comfy, the hotel staff couldn't have been nicer or more helpful and the location gave us easy access to a number of subway lines. After another leisurely morning (and more pain au chocalat---we ate them literally every day!), we headed to the Jean Novel designed Musee du Quai Branley. The museum not only has an interesting collection of African art and a MoMA like cafe but also has a stunning living wall. The museum is also just a stone's throw away from the Eiffel Tower. After hiking (nearly) to the top, we took a leisurely boat ride down the Seine to the Hotel de Ville where we took in some more tennis which they were showing on a gigantic big screen TV like they do at Madison Square Park here in NY. For dinner we returned to our favorite falafel & shawarma place in the Marais (which if I forgot to mention is the old Jewish quarter) and still more tennis this time from the comfort of our hotel bed:)

Day 6

We decided to fancy things up a bit and headed to the famous Cafe de Flore in the heart of St. Germain for a formal breakfast. To work off our hearty meal we walked over to the Tuilerie Gardens for some very serious napping, lounging and reading in an absolutely idyllic setting. Afterwards we went back to the Hotel de Ville to catch some more tennis on the big screen and then proceeded to do some window shopping in the Maris (which these days is sort of like Paris' version of SoHo/the West Village). After a dinner at a very cool pizza place called Pink Flamingo (they serve customers out of a VW van), we decided to get very meta and see Woody Allen's new movie ,"Midnight in Paris".....in Paris. The movie was the perfect night cap and after a lovely walk home from the cinema we called it a day.

Day 7

Day 7 was packed!!! We started off the day with breakfast at an open air market that Matt had recommended to us and a flea market that was beyond my father's wildest dreams. It stretched for blocks and there was old beat up modern furniture just waiting to be restored as far as the eye could see. After wandering around for a bit, we hit up an amazing show of Ralph Lauren's car collection at the Louvre and then returned the Tuilerie Gardens for a light lunch. To work off our meal, we decided to try out Velib, Paris' bike sharing system. Matt's partner Robin was kind enough to take us out for a spin along the Seine and we ended up at Parc de Bercy which proved to be very cool and modern relative to the other public parks we visited during our time in Paris. After our bike ride we headed back to the Marais for our 3rd visit to our favorite falafel & shawarma place and the proceded to Ile Saint Louis for Berthillon ice cream. We capped off our evening with a stroll down to the Pont Neuf and....more tennis at the Hotel de Ville.

Day 8

With our flight out of Paris leaving later that day, we packed up as quickly as we could, devoured our last breakfast of pain au chocalat and headed to Paris' famed Galeries Lafayette which struck me as what Lazarus must have been like it in its heyday. Three hours later we had not only picked up several presents for loved ones and eaten a full meal but watched still more tennis in the form of a replica of Roland Garros' center court that had been constructed on the roof for the run of the tournament. After a super quick trip to the Champs Elysee, we were off to the airport and our fantistic trip to Paris had finally reached its conclusion.

O-HIDE!-O

Rosie's new hiding game...also funny

Good for a laugh

Toddlers in grown up shoes...funny