Paris, France
France & Portugal
May 2019
I planned a pretty neat trip for Scott and I this spring, which overlapped with our 10 years (of knowing one another) anniversary as well as my 30th birthday. We have spent the last 8 or 9 years together going primarily on camping trips (we’ve gone to some beautiful places) and are super low key people. So when we did our first trip to Europe last fall it was a bit surreal! And this trip was no exception. I kept having to pinch myself to prove it was really happening. And while this trip wasn’t as smooth sailing as our previous one to Scandinavia, it was full of incredible experiences I still cannot believe really happened.
First we headed to Paris for a few nights before flying down to spend the majority of our time in the south of Portugal. Interestingly enough, I’ve never pictured myself in Paris before, or ever looked into visiting. When I was brainstorming a trip overseas I began by looking for the best flight deal from LAX to Europe. Paris was the best by a landslide, and from there we could fly to most countries more affordably. So this is how we came to be in Paris :). I planned a few days to explore the city, feeling as if we should since we had come all this way. And although the hustle and bustle of Paris definitely got to us, it was an incredible experience I’m glad to have had. It is an amazing place to find yourself in the world.
Rather than breaking our days up with narration covering what we got up to, I’m going to do more of a photo heavy post and simply annotate underneath photos here and there. To be truthful, we learned a lot on this trip. We’ve never been city-loving-people, and have generally preferred lower populations and more natural scenes. So it isn’t a surprise that we felt pretty overwhelmed and at odds with Paris most of the time we were there (totally my fault, I should have been more intuitive about this). I’m sure we would have loved the countryside or mountains of France, but Paris, the big, beautiful, historic, and exciting city that it is - just wasn’t completely for us.
However, this doesn’t mean there weren’t moments we really enjoyed, and I’m happy to be sharing some of them with you through our photographs below :). I hope you enjoy our memories, and remember, travel is just as much about getting to know you as it is the area you’re visiting. You can still be immensely grateful for the opportunity to be in a place while feeling at odds with it. As we have learned - you push through the struggle and take notes for next time. See you in the next two posts as things lighten up when we get to Portugal’s algarve :).
(See the end of this post for a list of our favorite places.)
*Photos were taken by my husband Scott.
x Jessie
FIRST NIGHT + DAY 1
Our AirBnb.
The stairs winding down our AirBnb.
Oat milk latte Cafe Oberkampf, loved this place!
Healthy, hippie bites at Wild & The Moon.
Such beautiful facades.
Super cute and tiny Boot Cafe, more coffee and oat milk lattes!
Weaving back and forth on the Seine River, really loved the views.
DAY 2
Coffee at Fragments - super cozy place.
Ah, Ten Belles Bread! Some of my absolute favorite sourdough.
Marche Bastille farmers market.
Jardin des Plantes - I think this was my favorite place we visited.
Versailles - it was packed! But really surreal that we stood here.
Best travel bud.
DAY 3 (last day)
Ten Belles Coffee shop, favorite place we went! Kindest people, comfortable place, and really good coffee. (Also pastries for Scott and tasty vegan cookies for me.)
Parc des Buttes-Chaumont - little haven near our apartment. Reminded me of San Francisco :)
The view from outside our AirBnb. window.
Places we loved:
Our AirBnb
Ten Belles Coffee Shop (favorite coffee)
Ten Belles Bread
Cafe Oberkampf
Hank Pizza
Sol Semilla (favorite food)
Parc des Buttes-Chaumont
Jardin des Plantes
Marche Bastille
Mon Epicerie Paris
Bio c’Bon
Places on our list we didn’t get to visit:
Jah Jah
Le Tricycle Store
brEAThe Restaurant
Otium
Abattoir végétal
Love Juice Bar
Hank Burgers
VG Pâtisserie
Neighbors
Honor
Noglu