Geo found a resto called, Chez Erwan, in the middle of nowhere, about 1.5hrs outside of paris that he really really wanted to try. The chef is this guy who used to work for Samsung, quit his job and started a restaurant. He isn’t classically trained at all… he just does whatever he wants which is refreshing and amazing to watch! Rules are meant to be broken here. He cooks completely solo, uses an old wood fire pizza oven as his oven, stove, everything. We ate then stopped by the Abbaye des Vaux de Cernay before heading back to paris. Not a bad little daytrip – and quite refreshing to get outside the city for a change.
South of France 2017
[note: really reallyy old post I'm just getting to... this is pre-move to paris] First father-daughter trip ever. We were in Paris for a week to check out Ferrandi, then we headed to the coast and made stops along Marseille, Nice, Cannes, Antibes and Monaco. We saw awesome stuff, ate amazing food and didn't strangle each other heh. Love you popsicle. Thanks for joining, supporting and encouraging me to follow my dreams. You're my #1 fan xo.
Moving to Paris
Bonjour de paris! I made it, I'm finally here and fairly well settled into my studio apartment which is in la 5ème (5th arrondissement). It's off the Seine river on la rive gauche (the left bank), a few blocks from the Notre Dame cathedral. Everything went very smooth, spent most of the week getting my place situated and taking care of misc errands like medical checkups etc and paperwork of course (the french lovee their paperwork). Huge huge shoutout to my mom for trekking across the world to europe with me to help me make the big move. She's quite the wonder woman and I don't deserve her.
Currently exploring the city and adapting to new everything before school starts. Miss and love you all.
First Paris Visit
Everyone has been asking but there really aren't any words that do justice for a city like Paris... all I can say is it's gorgeous and I love it.
Some things I noticed as a first time visitor:
Other than being effortlessly fashionable, the French are all about: bread, cheese, desserts, coffee and wine. It's interesting. Parisians walk super fast like, I-have-a-really-hard time-keeping-up fast but when it comes to eating they're super slow. Not in a bad way at all. I think it shows food is a huge part of their culture, they really enjoy it and the people they spend it with. Once you sit down you can stay as long as you like. Because of this tables are turned much slower if even turned at all so making reservations is highly recommended. In the US dinner is usually between 5 to 7pm. In France, 7pm is considered very early so make sure to check business hours on Google Maps beforehand. There were several times we showed up to restaurants assuming they were open and they weren't. We learned real quick haha. And sometimes we couldn't even get into a restaurant because it was completely booked. To summarize, making reservations in advance is highly recommended, especially for le week-end. You can use their version of Yelp, La Fourchette (The Fork) app.
Like other euro cities, cafe culture is strong in Paris. Boulangeries and pâtisseries exist pretty much on every corner which makes it difficult to choose. During lunch hours it's normal to see locals walking and eating at the same time, usually a baguette sandwich of some sort eaten straight out the paper bag. My favorite is watching the locals walk home with a baguette or two sticking out of their work bags or purses. Makes me smile every time.
Parks are very relevant and used by locals often, especially on the weekends. The bigger gardens like the Tuilleries and Luxemborg are tourist hotspots but it's just as normal to see the locals bringing their children, dogs and catching up with friends and family. Some are working out, some read books by the fountain, others take naps (literally some of the chairs are designed to lean back so cat naps are a-okay). Parks are a lifestyle here and I love that.
For those of you wondering, I don't speak any french. Non, other than the basics like bonjour, bonsoir, merci, au revoir, s'il vous plaît, etc. I have been learning on my own using an app called Duolingo and Coffee Break French podcasts which are on Spotify. It wasn't much but I found it helpful to have a little bit of knowledge and an idea for pronunciation. Also you hear french 95% of the time, so I learned some new words and phrases, yay! Hopefully once I move I learn a lot more with the help of french friends. Side note: if you are french and in Paris, let's be friends. Like for reals.
Maru Coffee
I don't know why but this place struck a chord in me. Probably because it's a cozy cafe with giant windows that lets that intoxicating LA light flood in... and the decor is ridiculously simple but still mod and homey (how do they do that?). But mostly because it's a cafe that was started by Koreans. I don't know, I guess I find that inspiring and empowering. I feel asians are a minority that are often left out or kind of forgotten so knowing there are Korean people doing super cool things like Maru, puts a smile on my face. Keep it coming guys.
Shop Johan
I swear, every single garment and product Laura brings into her shop is perfection. My friends and I have been visiting her back when she used to run the shop out of a garage and now she's all grown up, in this light and airy space. You can see the intentionality behind every decision of her carefully curated product mix and she supports local designers and small businesses, so you know it's the good stuff. Shop Johan is a must pitstop for all you minimalists.
Courier Coffee
Courier Coffee. Tucked around the corner from Powell's. They roast their own beans and on Saturdays, you can get small-batch Japanese shaved ice.
Find more of my Portland favorites here.