Paris is addictive. This was my fifth time and each time has been a very different experience. This visit was an opportunity to live more like a local — to eat and drink in local restaurants and bars, to have picnics in the gardens, and to explore the less trodden paths.
I never grow tired of seeing Paris, nor eating French food. And naturally, we ate croissants every morning for breakfast, baguette, cheese and wine every day for lunch and more wine, bread and cheese with dinner every night. Thank God we were only there for 5 days.
On our first night in Paris, Dylan and I went on a Seine river cruise that we received as a present.
It lasted for 2.5 hours during which we had a 4 course meal with wine and enjoyed beautiful sunset views of all of the most beautiful buildings in Paris, and of course, once dark, the sparkling Eiffel tower.
To me, that is one of the prettiest sights in the word.
Our friends Caitlin and Sam joined us from the UK a couple of days later. Even though we had only left Australia one week earlier it felt like we had been gone for ages, so it was nice to meet up with friends on our travels. We also hadn’t seen them for 8 months so it was exciting to enjoy Paris together to celebrate Caitlin’s birthday. It was a perfect week of baguettes, cheese, wine and wandering the streets and parks of Paris.
One of our may park lunches
We all stayed in a small flat we booked through Airbnb in the 20ème arrondissement. It’s a grungy, artistic area of the city with plenty of restaurants and bars (and boulangeries). The arrondissement surrounds the beautiful Père Lachaise Cemetery.
This leafy garden cemetery is a quiet place hidden from the bustling streets of the neighbourhood beyond its moss-covered walls. As you wander through the cobble-stoned pathways, you can find the tombs of famous writers (Oscar Wilde), musicians (Edith Piaf, Jim Morrison), painters (Pissarro, Delacroix) and composers (Chopin).
Tomb of Edith Piaf, french singer, songwriter and actress — perhaps best known for her song ‘la vie en rose’
While staying in the 20ème arrondissement we went to a few of the local restaurants and bars which all had great food and wine. One bar had live jazz music on the Sunday afternoon — it was a warm evening so the crowd was spilling out onto the sidewalk, sitting in those iconic French rattan bistro chairs, soaking up the sunshine, drinking beers and smoking cigarettes.
Caitlin with a purchased record
Going to restaurants was a great opportunity to practice speaking French even if it was challenging recalling long lost vocabulary and verb structures. We had a great night out at a restaurant called L’Office near our Airbnb where we had a delightfully sassy waitress who couldn’t really speak English. She relished in my efforts to speak French throughout the evening, for which I was not at all helped by my increasingly inebriated friends.
We found a local boulangerie down the street from our apartment where we ordered our croissants, pain au chocolat and baguettes every day. We enjoyed them with a coffee in our little flat. It was the perfect start to every day. During our time together we explored Paris by métro and by foot. The métro is fairly formidable with 16 lines and 303 stations, but it’s great for getting from one side of the city to the other. However, we preferred to walk where we could. Paris in late Spring is exceptionally beautiful and while we were there the weather was phenomenal. It was perfect to explore the little laneways, stop for a coffee or an afternoon aperol spritz, discover market stalls with fresh produce, and stumble upon traditional French dishes being cooked in the streets.
Tartiflette — a traditional dish from Savoy in the Alps made from potatoes, reblochon cheese, onions and bacon
While we were in Paris we were fortunate to be able to meet up with one of Dylan’s work colleagues for dinner one night, and then also again on our last day. On the day we arrived in Paris we went with Christian to a traditional French bistro where we had a delicious meal. On our last day in Paris he very kindly picked us up from our Airbnb, took us to his house for a delicious lunch and then dropped us at the airport.
Dylan and Christian playing ping pong (complete with GitLab swag)
He had a table tennis table at his house so Dylan was very happy to be able to play ping pong again. Christian was very generous and it was great to be able to spend time with one of Dylan’s work colleagues.
Remote working can be very isolating and it is only through a concerted effort that people are able to connect with each other.
We were grateful for Christian’s invitation and are really looking forward to meeting more GitLabers as we travel around the world.
