Amazing how in a few days, our December visit to Paris is now last year!

Happy 2025 to everyone.  Another year of the blog and at year’s end it will be ten years ago I started this baby.  LOL—not much growth, but I love our small circle of friends. I feel like I am writing for family!  It is my blog family and all the best for this new year!

Back to the trip…We left off on Wednesday, December 4^th….

Thursday, December 5, 2024

The time spent here just flies by way too quickly.  The good thing is when we arrive home, it’ll be time to dive into baking and preparing food ahead of time for Christmas and knowing my boys will be arriving!

Today is a normal lazy-but-not-lazy day for us. We have the car so we’ll head to the Cimetière in Montparnasse to visit Danièle, Yves, and my husband’s cousin, Zazi.  It is a calm place, this cemetery, with a blend of new Head stones mixed with historical and, at times, decaying structures to mark those who have left us.

Autumn leaves surrounding the grave of Vincent’s aunt, Daniele and her husband Yves.

There is a ton of history in the cemetery..

…and we head out to explore Paris by car.

I did a bit of tidying up, we stayed for a while and spoke of fond memories then we were off again. This time to Rue de Rennes for a bit of shopping. We parked the car at the usual garage (I’ll be covering that in another post), and headed over to FNAC so Vincent could buy some novels in the French language.  Then we stopped at Sophie Sacs.

FNAC is such a great store and there are many throughout France. It’s Best Buy on steroids but with books and journals and all sorts of great items!

Let me tell you about Sophie Sacs in case you hadn’t read past posts of mine.  I didn’t discover this mecca of leather bags and accessories.  My friend, Barbie Snitzer, recommended this shop years ago and I have been going ever since.  If you are planning to head to Paris any time sooner or later, and you are not into luxury or designer bags, you must head to this shop.

The fact Sophie Sacs has been at this location for years is proof that not everyone wants a luxury bag. I have quite a few bags from this shop and it is always a pleasure to head here.  The owner is so nice!

The owner is such a nice man and he always has a smile on his face.  This time around I treated myself to a brown leather crossbody bag. At €45 it was a great price and it is a beautiful bag that holds quite a bit.

This brown cross-body bag is perfect for running errands and holds quite a bit!

After getting back in the car, we decided to drive around.  I know this may sound odd to some, but my husband loves driving in Paris.  It is where he grew up from childhood into adulthood.  He loves Paris.  It makes him happy to return.   It is a perfect way to view the City in it’s everyday situations. We even drove to the street named after my husband’s grandfather.

I always get a kick out of seeing this street sign. It’s so cute!

With the car now parked for the remainder of the day, we walked around the sixth arrondissement as a form of exercise. We headed into Eglise St. Germain des pres again because I wanted to light more candles.  Stopped into a religious shop to purchase rosaries for both my sisters and sister-in-law and headed back to the hotel to relax before heading to Allard for dinner.

The rosaries were packaged nicely.  As soon as I arrived home, they were sent off!

In Paris, one cannot visit enough churches. I lit a lot of candles!

Forget “Where’s Waldo”–Can you spot the Eiffel?

Allard remains one of our favorite restaurants in Paris.  It is old-school and elegant; a step back in time.  And, naturally, the food is always excellent.  The perfect end to another fun day.

Somem shots of the interior.  It’s very elegant and old-school.  

Vincent started out with the Frogs legs and I had the lentil veloute with duck foie gras. My veloute was excellent.  As usual, my husband loved the frog’s legs.

My choice of main plate was the sweetbreads. I had the same during our 2023 visit. So very delicious!

While he had the seared beef with peppered sauce. 

The wine was excellent..

…as was dessert.  Floating Island and some kind of ice cream. 

A brisk walk around the corner to the hotel and it was back for a good night’s sleep!

Friday, December 6th, 2024

As our visit winds down, today is a busy one. Actually, this is the most ambitious day we’ve had in Paris in years!  Vincent did manage to get tickets in advance for the Opera Garnier.  In all the years I’ve been to Paris, I had never been here and it certainly did not disappoint.  The building is gorgeous.  It is that place where you can stand still and visualize patrons of the opera and ballet during the Belle Epoque era dressed in their evening finery out for a night of entertainment and to be seen.

Although we had tickets, we did wait a few minutes on a line and once we entered, I was mesmerized at how beautiful the Opera Garnier was..

It was nice to see such well-behaved children on a field trip. It’s also wonderful to see that France really allows children to be exposed to all things cultural. 

I want this flooring in my house.

Because of the lighting and my outdated iPhone, it was difficult to take photos..

The stairway is magnificent

This is my jam. The costumes. It was such a great surprise to see. These are from Giselle!  Aren’t they beautiful?

And more costumes!

I could have stayed all day here but we had things to do and places to see. Off we go…

I look like a million bucks in my cheap Temu coat!  Off we go!

We headed back to Printemps and Galeries Lafayette for  VAT tax refunds.  The process was easy and I am not going to go into detail on this post because it is a long description.  I will broach this subject in my next blog post. And yes, you can get an immediate refund at stores.  To be continued.

Leaving Printemps after receiving our VAT tax. I have a lot to tell you about that but I’ll explain more in the next blog post!

We headed back to the hotel to drop off items that we purchased and to change because the weather took a change for the warmer!

How warm was it?  I got rid of the coat and wore a blazer!  

We walked over to yet another church: St. Germain l’Auxerrois. The church was built in the 13th century, making it older than me.  Seriously, I have spent so much time in churches during this trip that I started to grow wings and a halo formed around my head!

The Church was beautiful and it gave me another opportunity to light candles.

With this being a very busy day, we headed to the Bourse de Commence housing the Pinault Collection.  The building is beautiful. Subjectively, the “collection” is questionable in my strong opinion.  I love art.  Modern art, up to a point.  Some of this was just not art and I will let you decide for yourself.

Sorry not sorry but I can’t call this great art.

I did find this interesting and liked it though.

The Bourse is a beautiful building though.

With the day buzzing by, we hailed a cab and headed over to the Pantheon.  I had been there years ago and wanted a refresher.  It did not fail to please and I got to see the crypt of Alexandre Dumas, my favorite author.

I LOVE the Pantheon.  From Foucault’s Penddulum, which is completely mesmerizing to the beautiful sculptures to the infamous crypts. It’s a must-visit and I am glad we returned!

My favorite author of all time–Alexandre Dumas.  I thanked him for his great novels!

The afternoon sun was fading into twilight as we made our way back to the hotel to enjoy an aperitif or two before heading out to dinner.  Tonight, it is dinner at La Jacobine.  Okay. I have a little backstory about La Jacobine.  It was recommended on a video by Les Frenchies (a husband and wife who live in Paris).  We had been to other restaurants they have recommended and had wonderful meals.  I wanted to go here.  My husband was not looking forward to dining here because steak frites was not on the menu. Hey—bone marrow and kidneys weren’t either but I didn’t care. I just wanted to have dinner here.   It is a small place.  Reservations are needed.

Let’s say I am no Jacques-Henri Lartigue when it comes to photography.  La Jacobine is so charming. This tiny restaurant is housed in a passage at the end of Rue St. Andre des Arts.  Reservations are a must!

We were led to our table (which my husband loved) and proceeded to order.   He was, however, happy to see escargot as a starter.  He ordered it and enjoyed every little snail.  I had the foie gras mille-feuille with fig jam.  Allow me to say this is one of the top three entrees I have ever had in my life.

The foie gras mille-feuille with fig jam was, hands down, one of the best entrees I have ever had.

Vincent loved his escargots!

We both had tagines.   Duck tagine for me and Chicken tagine for him.  Both were off-the-charts incredible.  I was thrilled because the stress I had to go through thinking if Vincent didn’t like the meal, I would never hear the end of it.  Suffice it to say, La Jacobine was such a success that we will be back and have since been recommending it!

Our tagines were incredibly delicious.  As you can see, we ate with gusto!

We had an inexpensive bottle of wine and it was really, really good!

Wait! This ambitious day was not over.  We walked over to Notre Dame. We were not aware that our trip to Paris would occur during the reopening of the cathedral. It was impossible to get close to the structure but it was fun.  The crowd was in a good mood and I was able to get decent photos of the church.  Too bad I could not gain entrance to light a few candles.

Although you couldn’t get close, Notre Dame was beautifully illuminated.

Nothing like a selfie in front of Notre Dame after lots of wine.

Place St. Michel on the way back to the hotel.

Back to the hotel for a well-deserved sleep.

Saturday, September 7th, 2024

Our last day. As soon as we woke up, I packed everything.  I cannot pack at the last minute.  We headed down to breakfast to enjoy our last breakfast then, in the rain, walked over to get the car.

Our last breakfast.  I ate so much smoked salmon I started to grow fins and scales.  Seriously, Hotel Buci had a great breakfast spread!

We drove to Musee Marmottan. The former home of Paul Marmottan, this museum houses a large collection of paintings by Monet.The biggest surprise was the exhibition of Trompe-L’œil from 1520 to the present.  It was absolutely mind-boggling!

My man Monet.  THIS museum is another must-see. I cannot believe in all the years I have been going to Paris, this was my first time here!

Beautiful pantings..

A couple of Monet family photos.  His daughter was gorgeous!

The Trompe l’oiel exhibit was fantastic. I could have spent hours here!

Back to the car and to sunshine.  We decided to take a last drive through the city.

Back outside and happy.  This was the only day I wore a good amount of makeup.  

Why aren’t Christmas trees in the USA sold with built-in stands the way they are in France?

A festive Eiffel Tower outside a restaurant.

Dior never looked more beautiful!

All of Paris had a touch of holiday embellishment!

And as we started to enter the area around the 6th arrondissement, streets were blocked off because it was…………the reopening of Notre Dame and Donald Trump arrived.  I swear to God that sub-human is a hemorrhoid up my…………. I will not say anything else.

I must say, though, that the Parisien police are in great shape!

It was quite the spectacle.  Police officers everywhere.  Roads and streets blocked and cut off to traffic.  Luckily, Vincent knows every street in Paris as was able to get us back to where we needed to be.

Pont Neuf was blocked off from traffic..

Crowds all over the 6th.

Due to the outpouring of people to visit Notre Dame, or to catch a glimpse, it was a sea of humanity all through the sixth. And police officers.  And police vans. As we walked from the hotel to the restaurant for our last dinner of this trip, it was quite the sight.

I was tempted to ask an officer if he could drive me to Samaritaine Dept. Store.  My husband was not amused.

In 2023, our « last » dinner of the trip was at Chez Fernand Christine. We decided to make this a tradition with being our last dinner of this year’s trip. The restaurant is charming.  Small.  The staff is the best.  I started out with bone marrow and then with kidneys.  Vincent had his escargots and steak frites.  We were both very pleased. We ate everything and even made room for a Creme Brulee to share.  And then it was back to the hotel.

Basically a repeat of the meal we had in 2023.  For him, escargot (again) for me, bone marrow (again)

I swear we are predictable diners.  For him, steak frites.  For me, kidneys–I just can’t get enough of them!

More wine..

And a pleasant server who understood my feelings toward the LOUD Americans at the table across from us!

Sunday, December, 2024

Our flight was at one in the afternoon, but we left very early to anticipate weekend traffic and crowds at the airport. CDG is not the best airport to navigate and the crowds can be horrific at times.  And wouldn’t you know, early on this Sunday morning, there was an accident on the way to the airport and traffic crawled for quite some time.  This is specifically why getting an earlier start to any airport is necessary.

One last glimpse at the flowers in the lobby of Hotel Buci that were changed every day.

Surprisingly, the airport was not crowded when we arrived.  We made our way down to the VAT kiosk (not all stores have instant VAT refunds. I’ll write about that in the next post) and the process was easy-peasy.   Checking the baggage was quick.  TSA was quick.  Customs was quick.  It was a 1,2,3 experience—which is not the norm.

Duty-free was all decked out for the holiday season.

With some time to kill before heading to the gate, we did some duty-free shopping. This is a great way to get rid of extra euros.

How can anyone not resist this?

With light rain and no delays, we were off. And back home!  Just. Like. That.

Ready to Board!

And just like that–our week is over!

Thank you for reading about our trip!  Hope you enjoyed and Happy New Year!