Weddingbee Blog

Welcome to the final recap of our belated honeymoon / first anniversary trip to Paris! It has been wonderful sharing our trip here with you.

After eight days in Paris, we finally made it over to the Eiffel Tower…

But I am going to quickly rewind to the day before…

While planning our trip, Mr. Taffy realized that we would be in town during the French Open. He was really excited, as he loves tennis. We were able to order tickets for the final day, however the main stadium had already sold out. Remaining tickets, which were very inexpensive, would allow us into the general area, as well as the smaller courts surrounding the main stadium and a lounge where we could watch the match. We decided to go for it!

We took a very quick metro ride to Roland Garros, the site of the French Open.

That morning, Mr. Taffy and I woke up with really, really terrible sore throats. (Mr. Taffy had actually started to feel it the day before, while we were visiting Versailles.) I think I look about as rough as I feel in the photo below! We were very excited despite the sore throats, which ended up turning into bronchitis by the end of our trip.

We were thrilled to see the famous clay courts!

Mr. Taffy hides his sore throat better than I did…

Although I think the sunglasses helped.

The complex at Roland Garros was beautiful! It was very fun to do some people watching as well.

This is the lounge where we watched the final matches between Rafael Nadal and Robin Soderling.

The flowers were so beautiful and fragrant! We didn’t feel so bad that we weren’t in the main stadium… it was right next to the lounge and we could hear the announcers and the crowd, which was fun.

Ice cream helped to numb my throat!

Mr. Taffy really enjoyed the matches.

We took this in front of the main stadium.

I was obsessed with the awesome uniforms for Roland Garros! Love the orange details.

The next morning, we headed to my absolute favorite bakery, Maison Colet. We came here most days for breakfast…. mmm.

I wish I could go back today!!! mmmmm.

We had our usual breakfast of pastries, fruit, coffee, and my favorite: the crouque-monsieur.

The croque-monsieur is a French ham and cheese sandwich, toasted to perfection. We had many of these during our trip, but we thought that this bakery had the absolute best croque-monsieur of the city!

Oh crouque-monsieur, how I long to hold you once more!!!

The bread was so fresh, and the sandwich itself was so creamy! mmmm!

After breakfast, we went to a pharmacy, where I was able to communicate our intense sore throat symptoms. They gave us the most amazing solution- strepsils. These magnificent lozenges completely numbed our throats, enough so we could talk and swallow without pain. I wish I had known about these during the years I suffered before I had my tonsils out!!! Mr. Taffy and I went through an entire box in one day.

Once our throats were comfortably numb, we made our way to the Eiffel Tower! After seeing this beauty for days from afar, it was really awesome to finally see it face to face!

We were lucky to have such beautiful weather!!!

As we stood in the long line to enter the tower, I realized that I had not put sunblock on my feet. I stood in my shadow to avoid burning!

The view from the tower was wonderful! We loved seeing the green space in the front.

This was the first time that we could see the Seine River from the top of a monument.

It was crazy to look at the structure from such a close view!!!

We took one last beautiful glimpse…

Ate some more throat drops, then headed to the Galleries Lafayette to do some shopping. This gorgeous Art Nouveau department store, which was built in 1915, was absolutely delightful to visit.

The dome was incredible!!!

We also went to Printemps, which was wonderful—especially the home/kitchen area. We stopped for a macaron (or five)…

Then went to the top of the store, which had an excellent (and free!) view of the city.

Many more throat drops and one day later, we started our day at this charming cafe.

The flowers helped cheer us up, as we were feeling quite worse than the day before. The virus, which we started referring to as the French plague, was going strong.

Determined not to let the plague ruin our day, we headed to the fun, charming Le Marais district for more shopping. Did I mention that the Euro was very low during our stay in France?

We loved exploring the beautiful shops!

This fabric and trim store stole my heart. I wish I could go back right now!!!

I loved their beautiful collection of buttons.

I wish that I could tell you about this lovely little courtyard, but I am not sure exactly what it was! I blame the French plague.

We headed to more shops, including the Adidas store, where I talked Mr. Taffy into these:

We stopped for lunch at mi-va-mi, which had the best falafel that we had ever had!

We loved the colorful interior.

Oh delicious falafel… you made me so happy!

Nom!!!!!

After more widow shopping, we made our way over to St. Germain area, admiring the peonies on our way.

I stopped inside this chocolate shop… I had to have something other than throat drops!

They were absolutely wonderful!

Before we devoured them, we had dinner at a lively cafe. All of the wine that we tried in Paris was incredible! Another good reason to go back…

After dinner (and still before the chocolates!), we had gelato at the shop next door to the cafe. The presentation of the cone was really fun!

We took our chocolates and barely caught the last boat of the night for a cruise on the Seine. It was a lovely, romantic way to end the evening.

Our next to last morning in Paris, I realized that I needed to enjoy as many pastries as possible before leaving. This raspberry concoction was a great start!

We headed over to the Opera Garnier, a stunning Neo-Baroque masterpiece!

I was thrilled to see The Dance by Jean-Baptiste Capeaux in person! (The Musee D’orsay had some studies of this piece as well).

The interior of the Opera house was incredible. We planned on visiting during a scheduled tour, which was very interesting and a great way to spend the afternoon. We learned that the Opera Garnier was the inspiration for The Phantom of the Opera. We later realized that the masquerade ball scene in Marie Antoinette was filmed in the main staircase that you see below. It was so fun to watch the film and recognize the structure!

We highly recommend visiting this amazing building!

Our favorite spots in the Opera were the Night and Day rooms. I liked Night, and Mr. Taffy liked Day.

The day room had tinted mirrors to mimic the sun. You can see Kirsten Dunst and crew exiting from the Sun room in Marie Antoinette as well!

The grand foyer was also used in the film. It did look very much like the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles.

The theatre was closed due to a rehearsal, so we did not get to see the Chagall ceiling. The rest of the Opera was so stunning, we did not really mind!

We ended the night at our favorite cafe, and enjoyed one last amazing french dessert. Oh yes.That one.

This concludes our trip! The flight home was pretty rough, as the French plague had turned into full blown bronchitis by then. I didn’t mind the suffering as much when I was on land, in my own bed.

Some quick observations about visiting Paris:

*Pick up a map that is laid out by arrondissement- you will never get lost! A French Canadian colleague lent us her copy, and it made navigating the city a breeze. This little book was a life saver.

*Save lots of money by eating breakfast and or lunch at your local bakery instead of your hotel or at a cafe. The food is way better, and a mere fraction of the price!

*We felt very safe overall, but Mr. Taffy did stop a team of two thieves from stealing a man’s wallet on the metro. He was preying on all of the tourists leaving the French Open. The victim (who we think was from Spain) had no idea that his wallet was being lifted. Definitely pay attention, especially if people on the metro are creating unnecessary commotion at the doors. (that was this team’s method) Also avoid all of the typical tourist scams… we were kind of surprised to see every single one listed in the guidebooks… some repeatedly.

*I would like to recommend our hotel, Hotel Bellvue Chariot d’Or, which was extremely budget friendly. (around $85 per night!!) Although it was very, very bare bones, it was immaculate and had a large private bathroom. The location was incredible—walking distance to everything (about 12 minute walk to the Louvre and the Seine). As long as you don’t mind plain and somewhat dated decor, it is a great fit for a thrifty travel budget. Staying here saved us so much, we were able to plan our stay for two weeks. To book this hotel, reservations are made through email.

I hope that you have enjoyed these posts. I am excited to return to the wedding recaps… starting with one of our favorite parts of the day—portraits!

Have you missed anything?

• Our First Glimpse of Paris
• Our Parisian Adventure Continues
• Mr. & Mrs. Taffy explore Versailles