Paris Starbucks, Ladurée, and Hermé

I’ve been out foraging for provisions on our first morning in Paris. I was ready to head back to the apartment when I realized I had forgotten to get coffee when I was in the supermarket. I had been out for quite awhile, so even though we were in Paris, I decided to go to a Starbucks. – Yep, that’s right, Starbucks.  There was one just down the street on the corner.

Inside the Starbucks, there was a line, just like any Starbucks at home.   But that was where the similarity ended. Quite a few of the drinks on the menu board didn’t have the same names as the ones I’m familiar with. Continue reading “Paris Starbucks, Ladurée, and Hermé”

First Morning in Paris – Buying Bread

I’ve been out foraging early on our first morning waking up in Paris. The item at the top of my foraging list is buying bread. In French, that would be “pain.” It doesn’t sound like “pain,” though, when it’s pronounced.   It rhymes with “pan” as in “frying pan,” but instead of the hard “n”, you make a nasally sound so it ends up sounding something like “panh.”

After checking out my bread buying options, I decided to go into a “Kayser” boulangerie to get my “panh.” I went in, looked around, then got in the short line with other early risers waiting to be helped. They had all kinds of bread in there. Continue reading “First Morning in Paris – Buying Bread”

First Morning in Paris

Huh?   Wha..? Where am I? Oh!… I just woke up after our first night’s sleep in our Paris apartment.   We landed yesterday around noon, got situated in the apartment, took naps, went out for awhile, had dinner, came back here and conked out.

We tried to stay up late enough so that we wouldn’t wake up at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning and be wide awake. It seems to have worked, because we both slept the whole night through, and I feel pretty good this morning. Certainly good enough to go out and do some early morning foraging. Continue reading “First Morning in Paris”

Dinner at Aux Crus de Bourgogne

It’s our first night in Paris. We arrived earlier today, and we’ve managed to stay awake long enough to take a walk, see the immediate neighborhood, and settle into the restaurant we’re in now. The restaurant, Aux Crus de Bougogne, specializes in Burgundian cuisine, so my beautiful and demure Better Half ordered beef bourguignon. I ordered tagliatelle carbonara.

We were waiting for our dinners to arrive, enjoying the atmosphere inside this very comfortable restaurant. It was still early for dinner here, so the restaurant wasn’t very busy. Everything was peaceful and quiet, except for some giggling coming from a table close to ours. Continue reading “Dinner at Aux Crus de Bourgogne”

First Look at Montorgueil, Paris

We’ve arrived in Paris, settled into an apartment, and rested up.  Now we’re ready to go check out our new neighborhood — Montorgueil.  It’s pronounced, “Mohnt – or – gull-oy” without the “ll.”  What I mean is, for that last syllable, pronounce the start of the syllable as if you’re saying “gull”, as in “seagull.”  But pronounce the last part of that syllable as if you’re saying “oy” as in “Oy Vay.”  —  “Mohnt-or-guoy.” It’s a hard one, that’s for sure.  Go ahead and work on that for awhile.    Meanwhile, we’ll get out and about and see what this part of town is all about. Continue reading “First Look at Montorgueil, Paris”

Introduction to Our Paris Apartment

After a long flight from Los Angeles, we landed at Charles de Gaulle airport, just outside of Paris.  We managed, without too much trouble, to take a bus from the airport to central Paris — to the Arc de Triomphe, to be precise.  Our next task is to try and make contact with someone at the company that manages the apartment we’ve rented.  This should be interesting — a Paris apartment!

Continue reading “Introduction to Our Paris Apartment”

Using Les Cars at Charles De Gaulle Airport

Finally!

We’ve just landed at Charles de Gaulle airport, and we’re more than ready to get off the plane and move around. Our next steps after collecting our bags are to get from here to central Paris, find our accommodations, then get settled in.  We’ve read about Air France’s Les Cars bus service from CDG to the city, and we’re about to give it a try. Continue reading “Using Les Cars at Charles De Gaulle Airport”