The City of Lights: A Travel Guide to Paris

The New York Times has a travel series that I adore (and reference frequently) called "36 Hours in ______," where, as one would expect from the name, they offer a guide for two days in various locations. M. and I have this beat with our "19 Hours in Paris" guide. Our trip to Paris was actually not supposed to be 19 hours. As happens sometimes with travel, we received a lovely email from Air France hours before we left for the airport (and were scrambling to make sure our liquids met carry-on requirements) saying that our direct flight to Paris had been *GASP* cancelled. We had been re-booked on a new flight routed through London, during the closing day of the Olympic ceremonies nonetheless, which would now give us a mere 19 hours in Paris before we would need to hop on another flight to our final destination: Dublin, Ireland.

After realizing that there were no other options and we had to make the best of this, we made a quick decision that we would complain when we got back, sleep very little, and simply enjoy our very limited time in one of our favorite cities!

Paris was a whirlwind, but Paris is Paris and, thus, even those mere 19 hours left me loving that city of lights. That's the beauty of Paris. You can be there two years or two days, have a detailed minute-to-minute plan or none at all and you will still leave feeling full; sated by rich French foods, melodic French language, architectural beauty all around you, history overflowing from every corner, and gardens, flower shops, and bookstores at every turn, and just when you can't possible be filled with Paris anymore--your belly distended, your feet, in the heels you have worn to feel tres chic, throbbing-- you will turn a corner and spy the Eiffel Tower at night and feel renewed once again...

Accommodations:
We had planned to get a hotel, but the more I read blogs, the more I wanted to rent a real life Parisian apartment that was not in the middle of a tourist district, so that is what we did. I would completely recommend doing this if you should find yourself in Paris. Several sites work well for this: Homeaway, Airbnb, and Haven in Paris seemed to have the best selection for our purposes. The place where we stayed was beautiful, despite the fact that we hardly enjoyed it since we pretty much threw our bags there and slept for a mere two hours that night! There was a view of the Eiffel Tower twinkling at night, gorgeous French doors overlooking a quaint street in the 10th Arrondissement, herringbone floors, and incredibly detailed crown molding and other architectural details. Even the elevator had all of the quaint little touches that the Paris of my dreams required. Lovely.

Eat:
Cafe Flore and Les Deux Magots: Right next door to one another, these two locales provide delicious food and great people watching.
A macaroon at Laduree: There are many locations, and you will be sure to stumble upon at least one in your travels.
A hot chocolate at Angelina's: Rights across from the gardens, this is the perfect stop for a warm beverage...
On this blog's suggestion, we ate at Cafe Central on an adorable street near the Eiffel Tower in the 7th Arrondaisment. French food is so delicious. So is French wine.

See:
We headed right to St Germaine for a bite to eat at Cafe Flore and walked around this neighborhood before proceeding to walk in a giant circle where we saw the Louvre, Jardin des Tuileries, Les Invalides, Place de la Concorde, Pont Neuf, Champs Elysee, took a spin on one of the many gorgeous old carousels in Paris, strolled along the River Seine, wandered the Ile de la Cite, and ended our night rounding the corner from where we ate to see a spectacular and unexpected view of the Eiffel Tower. Everyone was out that night picnicking and drinking wine on the grass in front of the Eiffel Tower and we strolled along thinking that is the lovely thing about Paris. Even without a plan, and with a mere 19 hours, it is impossible not to fall in love with this beautiful, historic, romantic city of lights...