The French Rendezvous

The adventures of last night had me a little shaken but I was now set to explore Nice. After a quick breakfast of croissants and coffee we headed off to Villefranche-sur-Mer one of the many coastal towns away from Nice. The place was Instagram worthy with clear blue waters and private yachts docked at the shore, small cafes along the coast. But as a person who loves sandy beaches the beach was quite disappointing, the shore line was smaller than what we see at most places. After a quick exploration we headed back to Nice. The beauty of Nice is that everything is within walking distance. We spent the rest of the day just walking around Nice, exploring the narrow streets. Just like every holiday that I plan my food list for Nice was just as long as my must see places list. If you're in a coastal place it is mandatory to try some seafood so my friend and I headed to 'George's Roll Seafood' to try their famous lobster rolls. The fresh crab, lobsters in the rolls smothered in a rich sauce had us licking our fingers in the end. For dessert we had Gelato from Fenocchio’s the most iconic gelato place in Nice. After lunch we headed to the Nice beach to enjoy the breeze and the clear waters. The pebbled beach at Promenade des Anglais was a little difficult to get used to, but beautiful none the less. My hungry belly wanted a snack and we headed to the nearby market to buy fresh fruit from the vendors, the peaches and plums were huge and juicy and had me wishing I had access to this back home. After a few more hours at the beach we gathered our things and went home to get ready for dinner. Nice is a small town where people from all over Europe come to spend their summers and hence there was no shortage of fancy restaurants. It was the ideal way to end the first day.

Paris, the city of love, the city of dreams. It's a city that had me mesmerized growing up. The first day in Paris happened to be my friend's birthday and as she wished our first stop was the Eiffel Tower, we had a picnic laid out in the gardens and enjoyed a bottle of proseco with some French cheese. I had to pinch myself every time I looked at the Eiffel Tower, I couldn't fathom the magnitude of the monument. I felt like I was in a dream and couldn't take my eyes off it in awe. There was so many places to see The Louvre, The Champs Elysee, The Notre Dame (what remained of it), the tourist attractions of Paris list went on. But of all the places we went to my favourite had to be 'Latin Quarters', this small street behind the Shakespeare and Company. The live music, the artists painting on the streets, the river Seine flowing on one side, the smell of fresh bread from the patisseries had all my senses tingling. I picked a cafe, bought a panache (famous drink of beer and sprite) and enjoyed the ambiance while my friends explored Shakespeare and Company. There is a joy that I get by walking around a city and just looking into store windows, watching people walk by, taking the sights in. Occasionally you see a place that meets your fancy and you walk in just to discover a hidden gem. Paris was full of these hidden gems. The city was growing on me and I could see myself just walking around the city, along the Seine with no agenda for hours, maybe days. Soon we headed back to the hotel to celebrate the birthday with a night out in Paris. Paris nightlife is quite well known and it did not disappoint from buying a drink at a fancy bar at Pigalle to walking into a strip club near Moulin Rouge, Paris had something to keep us going the whole night.

The next day we decided to explore the artistic side of Paris. We started our day by having pancakes at Breizh Cafe. Le Marais is a district that embraces this side of French creativity and encourages artists to take to the cobblestone streets and share their work publicly. In and around the plazas is where you’ll find much of the action, with solo artists and bands setting up their individual slices of the streets from which to make music. The Place des Vosges is another popular plaza in Paris that is full of live opera singers that gather beneath the trees in unified celebration of their craft. The streets had beautiful street art on the walls that had us wanting to wander around the area more and see what new artworks we could find. We ended our walk on the other side of the river back at Latin Quarters where we had lunch. We decided to go back to Champs Elysee and walk towards the Arc de Triomphe to get a better look. Champs Elysee was crowded with tourists but I knew I had to go the 'Galeries Lafayette' before I went back home. As I walked into the store I felt like I had walked into a wonderland, my friend and I couldn't stop talking about the clothes, the brands and even the fancy bathrooms that it had. I was glad that I had decided to step in. After a long walk we reached the Arc de Triomphe and we soon headed back to the room to rest our tired feet.

The last day in Paris and there was still so much to see and explore. We decided to start the day at Montmartre, exploring the most talked about place in Paris. The cobbled streets, the view of the Sacre Coeur, the artists, the cafes.... the charms of Montmartre had us spellbound. The heart of art and cinema in Paris, the beauty of this place lived up to our expectations. We ended the exploration at the top of the hill at Sacre Coure, the views of Paris from the top were mesmerizing. The church did not fail to amaze and the wait in the line to get in was worth it. We soon headed down the hill and decided to spend the last few hours in paris alone doing our own thing. I decided to just walk around Montmartre, had a quite dinner and headed back. Before we knew it we were heading back home with the hope of returning to Paris again.

The food in Paris is something that deserves a paragraph of it's own. The food that comes to anyone's mind when they think of Paris is ofcourse the financiers croissants, cakes and coffee. The cafe culture in Paris is admirable, people spend hours on street cafes where the chairs face the road and just people watch while sipping on coffee and enjoy a hot croissant. But the food ofcourse isn't limited to that. Paris has a whole food game to be discovered. The desserts I tried in Paris was no short list, there was everything from a macaroon from Laudree , choux pastry from Popelini,Pistachio Chocolate Escargot from Du Pain et des Idées, Gelato at Berthillon and hot chocolate from Cafe Angelina. In the list of savoury dishes there was snails in a butter garlic sauce to a vegetable layered bake called Ratatouille. On another day I tried frog legs (which tastes better than chicken) and some French onion soup. French food is rich buttery and has so much history linked to it. The beef bourguignon, duck confit, foie gras are just some of the few iconic French food. The cheese and baguette with some french wine is the perfect picnic food.

Paris was nothing but magic, right from the vibe at Latin Quarter, to the street arts at Montmartre. The food had my heart content and me shighing with satisfaction at every bite. Paris is an experience and with the open mind and time it can teach you so much.