When: April 22 // Weather: 80 and sunny // Real life: Day 2 in Paris
^^My Audrey Hepburn “bonjour, Paris!” moment.
In Paris, I learned to embrace air dried, “undone” hair. I wish I could say it was my choice to let go of my perfectionist tendencies, but it was actually because our electrical outlet converter ended up being too weak for hair tools. C’est la vie, right?
Day 2 in Paris was another GORGEOUS one. We started out in Saint Germain, which is somehow quaint and fancy at the same time. All the shops were closed because it was Sunday (don’t worry, we went back!), but that meant we could just wander the streets without distraction. We walked to the Musée Rodin, which took awhile because I stopped to take a photo of every cool door I saw. Turns out there are a lot of cool doors in Paris.
The Rodin museum was absolutely amazing, and it made me wonder why it got no mention from any of the many many friends who offered recommendations for our trip. I may be looking for new friends, so if you enjoy good art, wine at lunch, and early bedtimes, please send me your headshot and resume.
Next up was lunch (with wine, of course), then Place de la Concorde, which was high up on my list of must-sees because I have been obsessed with Gene Kelly and An American in Paris since I was a kid. I know the movie was just on a sound stage in California, but still. I had tried to convince Kristin to learn all the choreography before our trip, but weirdly, she did not follow through.
Our next landmark was Notre Dame. I took a whole class on Gothic architecture in college, and I finally got to see this baby in person! It’s a tad more impressive when it’s not in a PowerPoint slide. I’m glad we were there on a Sunday because we got to hear the organ and the bells. (Quasimodo, is that you??) We found Shakespeare & Co. bookstore by accident (although we had both heard of it), and it is quite possibly the coolest bookstore ever. I don’t think I can ever go in a Barnes & Noble again. Barnes & Noble doesn’t have a cat.
We ended Day 2 with one of our fancier meals, on the terrace at La Rose de France. It was almost perfect, except for the table of Americans next to us who were discussing politics. EXCUSEZ-MOI, WE CAME HERE TO GET AWAY FROM THAT.
Those were all the big things from Day 2, but I know I’m missing some of the little things we saw and did along the way. Did I mention Paris is full of magic at every turn?