THOUGHTS FROM AN AUNTIE TRAVELING WITH HER NIECE

First, let me tell you that my niece is not your typical sullen 16-year old.  She is delightful, smart, and curious about everything.  I wasn't nervous about this trip until a good friend of mine asked if I was stressed about being in charge of my niece's safety.  Umm, no, not until right now, I thought.

Last night in London - hotel splurge - loved it!

And, I really wasn't.  I'm a seasoned traveler and raised by two parents who were very safety consciousness.  I say my prayers and then try not put myself in tricky situations.  Meaning, I don't walk down dark streets, hang my purse on my chair in restaurants, stand too close to subway/tube doors, stay out too late (mostly because I'm an early to bed, early to rise girl), etc.  Of course, bad things can happen no matter what you do to take precautions, but so far so good in my travel experience.

A no agenda day in London

I looked for the least stressful way of doing things on this trip.  For instance, we flew non-stop from Phoenix to London which, while more expensive, was easier than a connecting flight.  And instead of flying to and from Paris out of London, I knew it would be less stressful and far more fun to take the train.

Nancy Mitford Plaque on Curzon Street

We also stayed at hotels which included breakfast--a huge time saver and made for an easy start to the day.

Typically when I travel, I'm all about getting up early and hitting the road.  This time I booked later trains, didn't rush through breakfast, spent one day in London and one day in Paris without an agenda.  This all helped reduce stress and tiredness.  And I wanted my niece to experience the joys of wandering through neighborhoods and parks without a schedule or plan.

James Purdey & Sons holds the Royal Warrants for guns and rifles 

My niece also needed a break from a lot of decision making, so I made a rough outline of our trip based upon her interests, and presented her with just one or two daily choices.  First trips to Europe are overwhelming so I tried to keep her her head from spinning too much!

Last night in London dinner at Rules

I booked ahead special restaurants for first and last nights in London--The Wolseley and Rules (a family favorite).  Favorite Paris restaurants were booked once we arrived in that gorgeous city (although my favorite, Cafe Constant, doesn't take reservations).

Fortnum and Mason window shopping

Last night visit to Fortnum & Mason

A joyful trip to two beautiful cities with a delightful traveling companion.  I really couldn't have asked for more.

PARIS WITH A 16 YEAR OLD - Part II

We headed out to Versailles for a look see.  The temps plummeted that day and we were not properly wrapped up.  But, hey, we were at Versailles so who cares?

         I must have taken 20 pics of these gorgeous halls and ceilings so I will share a few with you.

                           No matter which way you look, gorgeous colors, designs, texture, art...

      Clean lines in cool colors in the entrance halls and then a bit more embellishment once inside...

                                                      I love these window latch details

It was freezing--not kidding.  Our teeth were chattering so we quickly posed and then headed back to Paris.

                    The rest of our trip was spent wandering the streets of Paris, going to museums,

                                            eating French delights, and people watching.

                                               And, a trip to Berthillon's is always a must!

                                                    Love the doors in European cities

For our last night in Paris, this brave 16 year old tried escargot (snails).  She didn't love it but she's glad she tried it.  I ate them up--they were served in a pesto sauce--so delicious.

           Now, back to London for one more night and then home.  Our trip wrap-up is up next!

PARIS WITH A 16-YEAR OLD Part I

                  After four nights in London we were off to Paris!  This girl was excited.

We immediately left our hotel, the always wonderful Hotel Relais Bosquet and walked straight to the Eiffel Tower.

                                                                   Happy, happy!

              The next two stops were for me--Angelina's for thick, creamy hot chocolate......my niece doesn't care for chocolate.  I know, right?

And then to Longchamp to look at this gorgeous bag (which I later bought at my favorite Paris department store, Le Bon Marche.)

I mentioned that I added one new place to visit for myself on this trip so we are walking to

the Musee Marmottan which is found in a little neighborhood on a pretty street--it was raining so I was lucky to get this quick snap.  What a spectacular permanent Monet exhibit--worth the visit.

            Of course, the Lock Bridge is now a must-see.  Can't remember what the actual name is for this bridge.  Note:  Thanks to Mary and to my niece, the name of the bridge is Pont des Arts.

                                                The Code of Hammurabi - The Louvre
The Code of Hammurabi was on my niece's must-see list.  I'm sure you know exactly what it is--I'm embarrassed to say I had never heard of it or at least I didn't retain the information if I had studied this way back in the day.  It is a code of laws dating back to around 1754--before Christ.  Pretty cool. This is tucked away in a part of the Louvre that I had never been to.

                                                                     Amorino's
No, we didn't share three ice creams--we met up with a friend of my niece who is lucky enough to be doing a study abroad in Paris.  Wouldn't that be fun?

                                                        Back later for Paris II.....

PARIS REDUX

I know this is out of the blue, but a friend of mine pointed out that I had neglected to give some basic information about traveling around Paris. And since friends of mine just returned from France, Paris is on my mind again. And it's always fun for me to review a trip--so here is some basic information.



We flew into Charles de Gaulle airport and on the advice of travel guru, Rick Steves, we took a taxi (50 Euros) to our hotel. Given the fact that there are about two escalators in the entire city of Paris, I was happy to pay for a taxi and not schlep luggage up and down a myriad of stairs in and out of metro stations. On our return, also on the advice of Steves, we took Blue Van back to the airport--less expensive (35 Euros with tip) and very reliable.


Use the ATM at the airport for getting Euro's. It is the least expensive way to buy currency. No need to arrive with Euro's at the airport. There is an ATM near the exit doors leading to the taxi stands. You will get the best exchange rate by using ATMs. And I always notify my bank when I am leaving the country so that I don't have any problems using my debit card.

We stayed at the Hotel Relais Bosquet in the darling Rue Cler neighborhood. Loved this hotel and loved this location. It was as if we were returning to our little home in a cozy little neighborhood every night. Of course there are a plethora of great little hotels in perfect little neighborhoods but this was just right for us.

For traveling around Paris we purchased a 7-day Metro card (22 Euros) and got our money's worth out of it. You just need to do the math to make sure it's worth the money (one ticket is 1.60 Euro). If you do this, be sure to bring a copy of a passport-size photo of yourself because you will need it for the card. You can just make a black and white copy of the photo, cut it out and tape it onto the card. I'm not kidding, it is that easy. You can also buy 1, 3, and 5 day Metro cards.

We either walked everywhere or took the Metro (probably why I didn't gain an ounce even though pain au chocolat was eaten daily). Taxis are not easy to get, only found at specific taxi stands and they are expensive.

It is always helpful to have a cheat sheet when you are dealing with a different currency. I print off one from here and then laminate it on a small card that fits in my wallet. It comes in handy when you are trying to figure out purchase prices. Unless you want to pretend (as I sometimes do) that foreign currency isn't real money.

Rick Steves is the travel guide I use most--I like his traveling philosophy (but not his politics which we won't go into here). So I always take one of his books and usually one other book such as Eye Witness, Frommers, or Fodors.

To avoid jet lag going to Europe, I sleep on the flight (after removing my make-up, slathering moisturizer on my face, and brushing my teeth--pretty much mimicking my bedtime routine to fool myself into thinking I'm going to sleep) and then once I arrive I get as much time outdoors as possible and don't go to bed until around 10:00 pm when I take two Tylenol PM, sleep, and wake-up ready to explore.

Still haven't figured out how to beat jet lag on the return home.

Happy traveling!

PARIS TREATS

Laduree, Pierre Herme, Poilane, Berthillon, all famous for first class French treats. What fun we had sampling the highlights from each of these shops.

Paris must have hundreds of patisseries and chocolat shops throughout its charming little neighborhoods. It seemed as if there was a boulangerie, patisserie, fromagerie, around every corner.

We tried macarons (french spelling), eclairs, tarts, cakes, salted butter caramels, baguettes, croissants, pain au chocolat, crepes, and ice cream.

It was too cold to buy cheese and have a lovely picnic in the park (although apparently not too cold to eat ice cream), so we didn't try any chunks of cheese, but the baguettes didn't really need anything extra.


Pierre Herme

First the macarons. I mentioned in a previous post that macarons had achieved cult status in Paris. I'm not kidding--there is even a National Macaron Day (March 20th, if you're interested). Macarons are brightly colored little pillows of almond powder, sugar, egg whites, and icing filled with flavored cream. My favorites were the lemon and caramel. We tried macarons from the two most beloved shops: Laduree and Pierre Herme. We both prefered Laduree but to be fair it may be because we ordered odd flavor cominations from Pierre's shop.

Citron Tart from Pierre Herme

Poilane is famous for its gorgeous round 8 pound loaves slashed with a P on top. We split a loaf and packed it in the suitcase to carry home. I have loved having sliced Poilane bread with butter for breakfast.

Poilane's store front

We paid a couple of visits to Berthillon's, located on the Ile Saint Louis, to try the caramel au buerre sale (salted butter caramel) flavor I had read so much about. The flavor was sold out the first time we went so we had the regular caramel instead. Oh my. It was delicious. The depth of flavor was surprising. We had to return to try the salted butter caramel.

On a bright sunny day lines of ice cream loving customers waited for scoops from any shop that sold the famous Berthillon ice cream.

We went directly to the original shop and waited for 30 minutes. I got the last two scoops of the salted butter caramel ice cream.

Hands down the best ice cream I have ever tasted. Both flavors. I loved both the regular glace Caramel and the Caramel Buerre Sale glace. The salt added is the fleur de sel coupled with salted butter.


Denise Acabo happily posed with us in her darling little A l'Etoile d'Or shop.

The last place on our list to track down was Denise Acabo's A l'Etoile d'Or candy shop. Denise is a charming character wearing braids and tartan plaid skirt. I had read that you must pay her appropriate respect before she shows you around her little jewel of a candy shop. We did and we were treated to a little tour of the best of the best.

I have never spent that much money on candy (in fact, I am not converting the Euros to dollars for that very reason). Of course, she sells what is considered the best Caramel-Buerre-Salé (salted butter caramels, the obsession continues) by Henri LeRoux exclusively at her shop in Paris. So we had to buy a few of those.

We also bought a few of the exclusive and expensive (of course) Bernachon chocolate (don't ask me what we were thinking, we must have been buzzing from a sugar high). I haven't even tried it yet--but since Bernachon is only one of a few chocolatiers to make its chocolate by hand I am guessing it will be excellent.