weekend warriors // an escape to paris

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Well, bonjour! True to our word, we’re ready to begin playing catch up on our last year or so of travels. First up: a recap from last year’s festive Friendsgiving escape to Paris.

It’s a particularly apt time, as Carolyn just booked her airfare for this year’s friendsgiving fiesta. Keep reading to find out where we’ll be carboloading this season. We’ll be sneaky bloggers and make you wait until the end. But, hint: it’s a definite repeat.

You know, waiting until now to write about our weekend was actually a genius decision. If you’re also plotting a late fall escape to Paris to see the festive decor, then we have truly tested out the best things to do this time of year! When is Paris a good idea? ALWAYS. And when is it the best idea? When you’re with your best friends celebrating friendsgiving, le duh.

A quick weekend jaunt to our favorite city worked out particularly well, because we’ve all lived there (or very nearly there) at some point in our twenties. This eliminated any pressure to see anything touristy, and leaves all the time in the world to… eat and eat and eat. Biggest bonus? Returning to the City of Lights when you have more than just a student budget to work with is INSERT FIRE EMOJI HERE.

(Not that you should skip Paris if you’re on a student budget. It’s magical in equally as dreamy and wonderful ways on a dime, too.)

So, here’s what we got up to this time! While this little list works well for anyone who’s been before, we also filled up our weekend escape to Paris with tons of things that first-timers will love, too.

how we got there // Have you ever attempted to get yourself (and say, beaucoup du luggage and a few toddlers) from Charles De Gaulle or Orly to the center of Paris? Quelle horreur! We’ve found the transportation options to and from either airport to be sub par, quite honestly. So, for our quick weekend stay, we opted to take the Eurostar from London straight to Gare du Nord.

If you ARE flying into Paris, don’t despair! We’ve found that there are dependable airport shuttles, like GO Airport, that can get you from point A to point B without inducing a full fledged migraine.

where we stayed // After some lengthy browsing on AirBnb, we came across the Résidence Charles Floquet. We decided pretty much immediately to bump our accoms budget up to cover three nights with a view. Honestly? It was worth every penny-turned-Euro-cent. We’ve collectively stayed and lived in plenty of apartments, hotels, and hostels in France’s capital, but we’ve never had an experience quite like this.

Also, we want someone to develop a time machine so we can travel back to ~2008ish. We want to show those girls what the future holds 10 or so years down the line. Hostels are an absolute rite of passage, but damn, it would have been nice to know what we were ramping up to.

Whether it’s your first time or your billionth time in Paris, we wholeheartedly recommend splurging on this place, even if just for one night. There’s nothing quite like looking out the window at a glittering Tour Eiffel as you sip a glass of red… or just water, if you once again decide to be pregs over Thanksgiving (ahem, Ashley).

where we sipped // Upon arrival, we took a nice long loop around the city. Past the tower, all through the 7th, across the Seine, and suddenly, we had a flashback. We were standing on the Avenue George V, thinking back to our last visit together. Carolyn was hours away from getting engaged, and it was the day after Thanksgiving. We were heading to the Four Seasons George V to sip champagne, see Jeff Leatham’s annual decorations, and crash their staff holiday party. We obviously decided we needed to re-live at least some of the things on the list, so to the George V we sauntered.

JK it was cold, we had to pee, and we realized we were close to the George V. We half ran, bursting through the door sweaty and cold, thirty and bursting. We are complicated beings.

Luckily, the staff overlooked our shortcomings, and happily led us into Le Bar. Here, we sidled up by the fireplace, ordered a round of mocktails and cocktails, and exhaled. Paired with the knowledge that a killer apartment was awaiting us across the river, it was the perfect way to reunite with our favorite city.

A note: a few days later, we decided to try and recreate this magic at the newly opened bar at another famously, ahem, Ritz-y hotel in Place Vendôme. The staff was so insanely rude that we didn’t make it past the door. Joke’s on you, nerds. We prefer the Four Seasons anyway.

where we shopped // We window shopped our way all through Saint Germain, but we decided pre-trip that we were stocking our apartment kitchen with spoils from our favorite grocer: Le Bon Marché. We accidentally entered through the department store rather than the market, and we accidentally bought things for our homes/closets. But soon we were set right, stocking up on meat and cheese and chocolate, before sending Jeff home in a taxi while we carried on, enjoying a brisk but sunny winter’s day.

where we dined // Finding a non-touristy spot near the Eiffel Tower felt like a fool’s errand, but what else is Google for? After some sleuthing, we settled on Café Constant. It was jampacked with locals for a late lunch, but they ushered us upstairs to a cozy table in the corner, where we settled on four orders of soupe a l’oignon, and a basket of bread for la lazy bébé, s’il vous plaît.

While we loved this quiet brasserie, our best meal of the trip was the next day. We were wandering aimlessly around Saint-Germain, planning to stop for lunch at Chez Georges. It was our favorite find from our first trip to Paris together, and felt like the perfect place to revisit. Unfortunately for us, it was mysteriously closed for the day (though not permanently, from what we could tell). Rather than pick a place at random, we high-tailed it to the Île Saint-Louis, to another tried and true spot: Le Saint Regis. Here, we were given a massive booth, and tons of love and affection for our tiniest diner. We noshed on more soupe, steak tartare, their not-to-be-missed burger, and croque monsieurs. Plus all the frites and some bière pression, aussi et le duh.

On our final morning, we decided a pre-train brunch was a must. We strolled around our hood waiting for inspiration, until we finally stumbled upon Le Malabar. The website isn’t working for some reason, but it looks like the restaurant is still open. You can find it at 88 Rue Saint Dominique if you, too, are looking for a cozy little brunch spot.

Paris isn’t traditionally a brunch city, but this place is proof that that’s starting to change. Unfortunately, it’s been so long that we can’t quite remember what we all ordered… there may have been quiche involved? Pain perdu? Most importantly, we all left happy, but also sad, as it was officially the end of le weekend. Complicated beings, through and through.

And so! Where are we reuniting this year, you ask?? While we’d love to head back to Paris, Carolyn is hopping over from Philadelphia for a long weekend in London. With lazy baby #1 on a big kid school schedule now (waaah), Ashley is a bit more tied to home. Which really leads us to this suggestion: maybe the UK should just re-absorb the US, save us from our current hell, and then, to help us ease back in, combine cultures… and adopt Thanksgiving. Holidays for everyone!!!

…no? EITHER WAY. Keep tabs on us, because we can’t wait to be back together in just over one month.

xo!

ashley & carolyn