The view outside my window on Rua do Boavista, Lisboa, Portugal
This is absolutely one of my favourite cities in the world and I’m glad I’m back. However, I think all the gorging I did in Paris with very little vegetable intake is coming back to haunt me. That and stress recovery. Time to switch back to constant vegetables, fruits, fish and breathing in some salty Atlantic Ocean air at the beach to cure me of this.
Alright, so we made a brief list of places to hit while Paris. Of course, we’ve made time for just wandering around. Any suggestions or additions? Merci!
– Pompidou
– English language book store – Red Wheelbarrow Bookstore or Shakespeare & Co
– Notre Dame Cathedral
– lunch with Chris Hoover
– dinner or lunch with Eddie or Megan
– Eiffel Tower
– Black Writers in Paris hangouts
– Le Corbusier buildings
– Versailles
– Les Halles food market – Saturday
– one of the restaurants participating in Le Fooding
This past Saturday, my traveling buddy and I bought our Thalys train tickets for the Brussels to Paris leg of the trip. We scheduled the purchase about 3 months in advance because of the Thalys’ wonky ecommerce system. Riders aren’t able to buy tickets for their specific date more than 90 days in advance, completely the opposite of airline travel.
So, we put reminders in our Google calendars way back in Spring to purchase especially so we can jump on the cheap fares when dates first go on sale. Because of this, we were able bag the 25 euro Comfort Level 2 fares that usually vanish quickly. For a trip so short (1.5 hours at most), Comfort Level 2 is perfectly fine.
Next up: booking our Paris accommodations
Hi there folks! A friend and I will be visiting Paris the second week of September and I’m trying to get some recommendations as to in which neighbourhood we should stay. Neither of us has been to Paris before and don’t mind walking around or exploring. Here are some of our character profiles:
+ I would have just turned 31, she’ll be 40
+ both designers so would like some place artsy not touristy
+ don’t mind it being a little further out from the center but not too far
+ would rather rent an apartment than a hotel room
+ staying for 5/6 days
+ we can probably do about $150 – $200/night split between the two of us
+ plan on walking around food markets, shops, and lounging in the parks eating and drinking wine a lot
+ we’re both food people and would love to be near an area close to inexpensive (street), middle and expensive options
+ plan to cook in the apartment, especially for breakfast and a couple of times for dinner
+ don’t mind if there are some brown folks or queer folks around
We’re currently looking on airbnb.com with a few saved. I was going to expand my search to vrbo.com as well after this hellish week of MFA thesis is done.
I know there are at least 4 or 5 people I know who’ve been to Paris, even on a regular basis. After Paris, we’re going on to Lisbon, Portugal and will stay at my friend’s apartment so that’s all good. I can’t wait for this trip, I need a break from stress and the US for a bit.
Thank you so much for any help you can offer!
Brand New Somewhere 