another cliché
travel blog

We got up and out to meet Chris and Ives at Cafe Eriu for breakfast. The walk through the Jardin Public was amazing—still early enough that the heat wasn’t intense, but also completely comfortable in the sun. So many. People were out running, playing with their dogs, etc. We both miss Bails. The cafe was adorable. The stack of blueberry pancakes tasted at least as good as they looked, while the sausage roll was a delectable cross between meatloaf and beef Wellington. The corn fritters (really corn pancakes) with eggs, grilled halloumi, and herb yogurt were also great. We walked back to the hotel, said our goodbyes before packing up and heading to the train.

We woke up around 8, but then lazed in bed. Got coffee from Kuro Espresso Bar, before wandering around and getting lunch at WOODKITCHEN. Payom had the lasagne bolognese, while Katie and I split the lasagna with goat cheap and spinach and a Caesar. L’alchemist, the coffee shop where we serendipitously ran into Guillaume’s mom and her class the last time we were in Bordeaux was literally around the corner, so we got coffee there before wandering around a bit more. Payom found some art he liked, we took another gander at the church, then headed back for a late afternoon nap.

We got a super tasty dinner at Papin, though Payom was feeling off and left early. The flies LOVED Katie’s black cod, so we all spent half our meal waving away the flies. Post, we got gelato from Gelato & Basta, then headed to bed.

We got up and out, grabbing coffee from Oscura before meeting up with Maud for tasting. Got into the van, then headed to GG in Pomerol. The tasting was a wine and chocolate pairing, and while the pairings themselves were fine, both the wine and chocolate themselves were fantastic. Payom ended up with a couple cases, and we sent a couple bottles home as well. We then went into the village of Saint Emillion, walked around a little bit, and got a huge lunch from L’Enver du decor, and a coffee from Café Blanc, a super cute little coffee shop with Cuphead-like branding. Coffee was surprisingly good. They also had photographs up on the walls from all over the world, including a shot of snow-covered Bryce. Really neat to see how similar vastly different parts of the world can look. We tried to track down the chocolatier, but the shop was closed as the owner had to attend a baptism.

Post lunch, we toured a cellar (it was nice to get out of the heat), then went to Tour Saint Charles for more tasting. The vineyards themselves were stunningly beautiful with dry-fit stone walls built in the 1800s by Spanish workers, as the French had lost the knowledge of how to build such high quality stone walls. King Juan Carlos also gitfted a couple olive trees to commemorate the whole thing. Toured the cellars, tried the wine. It was decent, but not mind blowing. The charcuterie board served with the wine was just as good.

Following the tour, Maud was kind enough to get us a reservation at Les Planches Éphemère, an awesome lakeside spot, to watch the World Cup game, Spain vs. Argentina. They had Corona Zeros, which after a day of tasting sounded great (despite the fact that the pours were honest tastes, not full glasses like in Champagne). The chips, guac, mezze, and skewers were fine, but the location was incredible. They’d set up a huge screen right by the side of the lake where we watched the game.

Katie went home early to sleep, followed by Payom an hour or so later, before we finally turned in post-match. I made it back to the hotel room and in bed before Katie woke up, giving her a bit of a surprise when she woke up to check on me being home!

Woke up, said our goodbyes to Amanda, Aran, Li, and the kids who were off to the Louvre, then headed to the train station. The trip was fairly uneventful, though barely AC’d. Katie was sat next to someone with terrible breath, and the combination of heat, smell, and motion was deeply uncomfortable. Once at the staton, we missed the tram, so took a taxi from the station to the hotel. We showered off quickly, then headed out to meet up with Payom, Chris, and Ivee at Bar a vin. We then went to Madam B for dinner, then sat at Les Trois Pinardières for a nightcap.

Woke up slow, waking up at 8 but lounging in bed till 10. Got a quick bite and coffee from the hotel before walking the suitcases to the station. Katie and the girls went to Moët & Chandon for one last glass of champagne before heading out. The train was uneventful, following the Marne for some of the trip, giving us some views of the vallée de la Marne and the surrounding hills. Neat to see all the hills planted with grapes and the flat land with other plants (allegedly sugar beets and what looked like corn, despite our tour guides insistence that all the corn was imported). Once we arrived at Gare de l’Est, we said goodbye to Nicole at the train station, then took cars to our hotel, Pavillon Faubourg.

I got a quick workout in, then we departed for La Grande Épicerie. We didn’t make it far, however, ending up at Charlotte Chenais. Katie ended up making a purchase, but not before Charlotte herself dropped by. Post acquisition, we headed back to the hotel before heading back out for dinner.

Amanda, Aran, and the kids had their own thing going, so Brittany, Connor, Katie and I headed over to L’Avant Comptoir. We had some light food and a couple glasses of wine before Connor and Brittany left for their dinner. Katie and I had a little more, then headed to Castor Club for a couple rounds. Both were great, as always. On our walk back to the hotel, Katie’s coworker who also happened to be in Paris for the BTS concer

Woke up, got a quick breakfast and coffee from the hotel. At 9:30am, the van arrived and we took a 20min drive up to Ruinart, stopping along the way for photos. Toured Ruinart, where they explained that each year they have one artist that they champion. This year it’s Tadashi Kawamata who does stuff like build bird nests out of 2x4s. We toured their production line and caves, then tasted four of their champagnes, their standard, a 2026, a 2016, and a 2009 rose.

[photo of the store with the bottles in a string of pearls configuration]

This was actually a staircase leading down to some of their older bottles, including one from 1929.

Post Ruinart, we grabbed lunch, then went to two much smaller producers. The first, P. Lancelot-Royer, produces only 25k bottles a year. None of us particularly cared for his wine (though we did find that despite being a fairly small producer, we can get it through K&L), but found it extremely cool that he and his father hand-dung an extension of his cellar using a pick and chainsaw.

The next place, ***-Gomet, the wine was much nicer. The wines were better, more interesting.

We recollected ourselves at the hotel, then got food from Le Sardaigne. Nothing remarkable, but after 11 “tastes”, a brie and ham pizza was pretty tasty. After that, we all went to bed.

Woke up and headed to the train station. Fairly short train from Paris to Épernay. Took a bit to figure out transportation from the train station to the hotel, less than a mile away. Between the luggage and heat, there wasn’t much excitement to walk it. Once we got settled at the hotel, some of us went out to Parrier-Jouët. I tried their Belle-Epoque, while Katie had their standard, and the other three girls had the rose. Each came in it’s own, specially painted glass. I also hadn’t eaten, so I ordered a chicken Cesar. It came in an organically shaped ceramic bowl, reminiscent of a KFC chicken bucket.

We went back to the hotel and got ready for dinner. The tour of Moët & Chandon was impeccable, getting to tour the cellars, getting a history of the house from Viktor, our guide. For dinner, the food was just as excellent as the wine. We got to talking with our host, who was due to drive the F1 trophy from Épernay to Belgium for the race the following day.

Woke up, got a quick coffee from Café Kitsuné. Then a food tour where we traipsed around the 2nd. Post-tour, we went to the parapharmacie in Les Halles, then back to the hotel to relax before dinner.

Dinner at 20 Eiffel was fine, got some good photos of everyone with the Eiffel Tower in the background before heading to Crazy Horse. Crazy Horse was a total blast. The opening number was just butts with tails and extremely reminisce of a horse’s ass, so it fit with the name.

Got up, grabbed breakfast at the hotel, then coffee from Le Peleton on our way to a cooking class all on sauces at La Cuisine Paris. The kids started with a ganache and caramel sauce, while we started with vinagrettes. Learend a few things, and made a bernaise.

Post class, we split up to do some shopping. Coincidentally, we were right next to Le Crêperie de l’ile St. Louis.

We got dinner at EnYaa, then met up with people for the Bastille Day fireworks over the Eiffle tower. We grabbed a spot in le Jardin de Tuilries. Then bed!

Time Shifter had us up at 5am, so we got an early start packing. We took Bailey on a walk, got lunch, and ran a couple errands. It all made for a super relaxed day. Around 5pm Julie picked us and the pup up and took us to tha airport.

[ image photo of bailey wanting to be packed and come along ]

Getting through the airport was super easy, despite all the warnings we’d seen recently about slowdowns with security. The Polaris lounge now has an actual dining room, so we sat down for dinner while watching the fog come rolling over the hills.

Our flight took off right around sunset and with the storms in the pacific made for some absolutely incredible views.

The flight was pretty easy and passed relatively quickly. Slept for half of it, watched most of Chernobyl. Dinner and breakfast were both pretty unremarkable.

Landing in Zurich we were immediately greeted by the heat. Fortunately, while the new EES passport control was definitely slower, the lines were short, so it wasn’t too bad getting through despite our relatively short layover. I pretty much slept through the entire flight, waking up as we hit the ground.

We picked up our bags, got in a cab, and figured we had just enough time to join the rest of the group on a boat ride on the Seine. We took a couple minutes to freshen up, and then grabbed a car to the quai. The boat was a beautiful classic Reinell.

Post boat ride, most people went to bed. Katie and I got a small bite, then hit the hay.