Paris 2019

3 day guide to Paris

I´ve said it before, and I will say it again: France is my spirit country.  Besides Spain, it is the one place that I just love- love the food, the culture, the cute restaurants and terraces, the shops, the pastries and breads, the language.  I don’t speak a word of it, but it sounds nice.  Back in 2016, Luis and I visited Paris for my first time in France and have since been to Lyon, Toulouse, and Bordeaux.  This was our third time jumping the border in that direction, and I was just as smitten this time around.

*If you don’t feel like reading this whole post, you can scroll to the bottom for my recommendations on where to eat in Paris.

A weekend in Paris, France

FRIDAY

Our flight was very early, taking off at 7.25 am.  Considering the early RyanAir flight times, this wasn’t actually too bad because we didn’t need to get up until 5 am.  We landed by 9.30 am (at airport Beauvais), which is quite far, but there are frequent shuttle buses.

TIP: buy your roundtrip shuttlebus tickets online before you go because they are a)cheaper and b) you don’t need to wait in line.  

The bus took an hour, dropped us at a metro, and then we metroed to our Airbnb, which was right in the center of Paris.  Great location!  We wasted no time in going out to adventure.  First up, quiche.  We had a slice of quiche every day of our trip and this first slice was hands down the best one we tasted.  There was a line out the door of the place, so maybe that’s why.  Of course, no idea what the place was called but my recommendation is to eat as much quiche as you possibly can.3 day guide to Paris

With quiche in hand (but not for very long- we inhaled it), we headed for the Latin Quarter of Paris, which was about 30 minutes from our airbnb on foot.  The walk was beuatiful!  Grey, but not too cold.

3 day guide to Paris 3 day guide to Paris 3 day guide to Paris 3 day guide to Paris 

Love that Parisian style ^^

We had one thing in mind: lunch at Chez Gladines Saint Germaine, which we had tried for the first time 3 years ago and L O V E D.3 day guide to Paris

If you go, try to go during the week for their menu, which is a really decent price (just 11€ for a first and main course!).  Luis ordered this mushroom- egg thing for his first course:3 day guide to Paris

And we shared these two- Luis had the Basque Chicken, and I ordered this mushroom-cheese loaded veal dish.  I didn’t love the veal, but ate 3 kilos of cheese and mushrooms.3 day guide to Paris

With (very) full bellies (especially Luis, who ate ALL of his food and most of mine), we continued wandering through the city.3 day guide to Paris 3 day guide to Paris

We saw the Pantheon:3 day guide to Paris

There’s the Eiffel Tower in the distance!3 day guide to Paris

3 day guide to Paris

Yes we were in Paris with thousands of cute cafés and yes, we bought a big coffee at some franchise.  Shoot me.

From there, we walked to the Jewish Quarter (Rue des Rosiers), hoping to get there before things shut down for Shabbat.  I loved this little street and made Luis pose for pictures: 3 day guide to Paris

There was a cheese stand, which we sadly did not purchase from…3 day guide to Paris

Anyway, things were pretty shut down over in the Jewish Quarter, so we headed back to the Airbnb to rest before dinner.  We were EXHAUSTED from that darn flight at 7.20 am.  By 8.30 pm, we were ready for dinner and after walking for about 20 minutes, we settled on Mamie´s Burger which 1) looked good, and 2) was affordable.  We shared a delicious salad with croutons, blue cheese, walnuts, endive, and more, and a burger with a huge slab of blue cheese.  I loved both things, as well as this bottle of wine, which we drank gracefully and like a lady.3 day guide to Paris

(it was the cheapest bottle on the menu 😉 )

SATURDAY

After sleeping for like, 11 hours, we were up and ready to explore Paris on foot- by running!  We ran with one thing on my mind- find a crispy croissant or other similar pastry.  Mission accomplished.

3 day guide to Paris

This was from Ble Sucre and OMG get yourself 1 or 2 or 10 while in Paris.  It was busy, but we found a cute little table outside.  I felt so Parisian.

We walked through a beautiful farmers market, and then ran home (we ran about 40 minutes in total).  After showers, we were ready to start a second full day of eating- our first stop: HARDWARE SOCEIETE!  This was recommended to me on Instagram and it was in-cred-i-ble.  To be fair, it’s not ‘Parisian’ food and is actually an Australian-owned place, but SO GOOD!  And, even better, there was only a 10 minute wait.  We snagged a table by the window and enjoyed every last bite.3 day guide to Paris

We ordered two plates to share: the mushrooms with poached eggs on toast, and the salmon-egg scramble.  Both were amazing!3 day guide to Paris

Hardware Societe is right below Montmartre, which is the “mountain top” art village with amazing views, so it worked out nicely to be able to walk around after our brunch. 3 day guide to Paris 3 day guide to Paris 3 day guide to Paris

Those two guys were great, and drew a big crowd.

Once we meandered through the crowds, we were (ok, I was) ready for one of those beautiful pastries.  My only hopes for this trip were 1) quiche every day and 2) a pastry every day.  We had a pastry the first day too, but I don’t have a photo.  We stopped in Pain Pain because they have this beautiful warm lighting that just says ‘cooomeeeee iiiinnnnn! haaaveeee a passssssttttrrrrrryyyyy!’3 day guide to Paris

So we did.

Pain Pain paris Pain Pain paris

It was like a rum-chocolate, and much to my delight, there was a surprise inside!

3 day guide to Paris

Luis kept saying ‘que bomba!’, but the people next to us had THREE pastries, so we did well comparitevely.

Next on the itinerary was to see the Eiffel Tower. 3 day guide to Paris

I felt like a tourist sitting on the lawn of the Eiffel Tower- the only thing that would have made it more touristy was a bottle of wine (which they sell!).  

From there, we headed to the Louvre, but lest you think we are cultured people, we did NOT go in 😉 3 day guide to Paris

The sun was setting and it was a beaut – 

That night, we ate at my favorite restaurant- the supermarket!  Haha, just to save a bit of money.

SUNDAY

After another 11 hour night of sleep, we checked out of the Airbnb and headed out for a last day of exploring.  Our flight wasn’t until 9 pm that night, but the airport was far away so we had to get going around 5.30 pm.

We spent the day meandering and eating, starting with a cheese shop stop where we bought 3 types of cheese which I have eaten a significant portion of.

We had plans to have brunch at HolyBelly, but when we got there, the line was absolutely insane.  INSANE.

So we ended up having bites and nibbles all over the city.  First, a crepe, eaten like a Parisian 😉

Then, a coffee from Starbucks.  I know, we are terrible.

Then, a schwarma from the famous place in the Jewish Quarter: L’as Du Fallafel

And lastly, a spinach boureka from the Jewish Bakery called Sacha Finkelstein.

Mom, your bourekas are much better!

By the time we finished all of that, it was time to head back to the Airbnb to grab our things and then head to the airport.  When we got back at midnight, I immediately ate a solid portion of the blue cheese we bought, which I am proud to say I have made last over a week!

A QUICK GUIDE TO WHERE TO EAT IN PARIS, FRANCE

Places we went:

Places we would have liked to have gone: