Day 2 – Paris: Rainy Day Shopping & A Night Out

I woke up before Stelios (which was shocking) at 9:30am and finally got out of bed around 10ish. Our hotel bed was SO comfortable.Today the forecast called for a clear morning and rain for most of the afternoon. We decided to make the best of it and walk around before the rain came.

We went to Peloton cafe again for coffee and tried to sit down and order a croissant at the bakery across the street but got yelled at by the woman working there because we had coffee from a different place. We tried to explain we just wanted to order food and were happy to finish our coffees first then sit down but were literally shooed away. It was very bizarre. We decided to venture away from that incident and then stumbled into the Jewish quarter where we came across the famous falafel place that I read about in several other travel blogs called La’s Du Falafel – it had SUCH a long line. I wonder if it’s worth the hype or just like any other falafel I’ve had. We weren’t really in the mood for falafel so we’ll have to add that to the list for another time.

Eventually we stopped for brunch at Au Bourguignon du Marais, a brasserie that was recommended to us by the hotel staff. We ordered the escargot, 2 French onion soups, and organic eggs in a mushroom wine sauce (it didn’t quite beat the egg dish we had last night at dinner but was still very tasty). My favorite was the escargot and Stelios loved the soup. By the time we finished lunch it started to rain so we decided to uber to the Galeries Lafayette Paris Haussmann for some shopping. I’m not sure what it was but I felt UNWELL and feverish in this uber ride and couldn’t wait to get outside in the cold fresh air. I tried to ignore it and hoped that shopping would be a good distraction.

I ended up buying a pair of Prada sunglasses & Fendi earrings. The Fendi earrings were my favorite, perfect to wear for the holidays or on a date night out to dinner. I also liked that they were from their new collection and there was only 1 left so it seemed like a sign! After my shopping splurge we walked across the street to the men’s store – Stelios was in search of a new wallet/card holder but didn’t find one that he absolutely loved. We ended up going to the rooftop of the Galerie to check out the view – it was very scenic with the Eiffel tower in the distance and there was even a restaurant/bar upstairs which was cool. However, then the rain started to come so we went back inside.

Travel tip: If you plan to shop at luxury brand stores bring your passport with you to take advantage of the VAT Tax Refund. You can get 12% of your money back. The Galeries de Lafayette are the easiest place to do this because they give you the form at the store and can get the refund on a different floor. Other stores may just give you the form and you have to get the refund at the airport which seems like a bit of a hassle.

After an afternoon filled with window shopping and some actual shopping, we went back to our hotel to get ready for dinner. Tonight we had reservations at Grains Nobles et Plus, a restaurant owned by a cute French couple – Anna who works the front of the house, and her husband is the chef. This was a spot I went to on my last trip to Paris and the food was delicious, plus you couldn’t beat the price! (4 courses and a wine pairing for $70 per person – we got a 20% discount through The Fork app)

Travel Tip: Download The Fork app (similar to OpenTable) and you’ll often get a discount if you book your reservation through there

When we got to the restaurant, the waitress said she recognized me from two years ago which was crazy and I told Anna that this was my second time here. She told me she was so happy that I came back and gave us a complimentary round of champagne as a welcome gesture. Also Anna only speaks French or Spanish, so I was speaking to her in Spanish (my Spanish is a bit rusty since I’ve been practicing Greek lately) luckily the waitress spoke English so she was able to help translate the gaps in our conversation.

For dinner we chose to do the surprise tasting menu. You could choose either fish or meat so I asked Anna if we could do 1 and 1 so we could try everything. It was a 4 course meal (appetizer, entree, cheese, and dessert) with a wine pairing for each dish – I really do love that cheese is often its own course in Paris. I really enjoyed the salmon tartare limon appetizer and Stelios preferred the caramelized salmon with spinach pie and veggies. However the best was the dessert – pure vanilla cream that contained no sugar topped with berries and served with a sweet white wine. This dessert is their signature dish and it hadn’t changed since I visited 2 years ago. Anna told us there was no actual sugar in the vanilla crème but that the sweetness in the dish comes from the wine so we took a sip and then a bit of the dessert and the flavor was out of this world delicious.

A little after midnight we decide to walk 20 mins back to our hotel. On the walk back it was clear that Marais was much more alive tonight compared to Thursday. We also witnessed a crazy fight on our walk back between a bunch of boys in their early 20s who were sitting outside at a cafe. One minute there was chatter and people sipping drinks and the next they were grabbing chairs and throwing them at each other – it was wild and there wasn’t a bouncer or anything to break it up. It lasted a good two minutes and then ended. Nothing like a bit of entertainment right up until the end of our evening.

Steph:
High- Luxury shopping & the Fendi earrings
Low – not feeling well
Buffalo – the long line at the Falafel place
Favorite dish of the day: Dessert at Grains Nobles

Stelios:
High – dinner at Grains Nobles
Low – the rude woman at the bakery
Buffalo – the bar fight that we witnessed
Favorite dish of the day: Caramelized Salmon