Now that I'm back from my inaugural trip to the City of Lights, I wanted to share a recap of what I did during my European adventure.  Nine days was a nice amount of time to immerse myself in the local culture and get a high-level Parisian perspective.  We stayed in the fashionable and hip Le Marais district that's dotted with historic buildings that predate the revolution, boutiques, trendy shops, restaurants, bakeries, art galleries and museums.  We chose this neighborhood because it was close to most everything we wanted to do and had easy access to the metro (subway system).  The squad and I planned a few activities prior to arrival for the things that we definitely wanted to do but we still allowed a few days to play-it-by-ear so as not to overwhelm ourselves.

 The Eiffel Tower 

 View from the top of the Eiffel Tower at night

 Arc de Triomphe

Notre Dame

We split our time between day activities and night activities, with lots of walking and eating in between!  Many of our days consisted of visiting a point of interest, grabbing a bite to eat while out then returning home to relax before we began our evenings.  Evenings typically included dinner, mixing it up with the locals, a visit to a cocktail bar and/or dancing.  We even found time to slip into a live music venue, Les Disquaires, for some funk and soul in the Bastille area.  We climbed the Eiffel Tower (well climbed halfway then took a lift to the top), strolled the Champs-Elysse at night to admire the lights and shops, traversed neighborhoods like Montmartre and Pigalle, rambled through the Louvre to find the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo, and got our fashion fix at the Yves Saint Laurent museum.  There are a number of low and high end boutiques in Paris for both men and women.  In fact, I was really impressed at the number of boutiques that catered to men only in Paris.  And of course we did some shopping.

 Venus de Milo

Eiffel Tower during the day

Mona Lisa set behind bulletproof glass at The Louvre 

If cocktail bars are your thing then Paris won't disappoint, there are quite a few bars for you to explore.  From tiki bars to speakeasies, there is a place to grab a great cocktail and meet new people or just vibe to great music.  The beauty of old buildings in Paris is that there are strict rules about the types of renovations you can make so you'll find many places are on multiple levels, bathrooms are tiny and below ground level, narrow staircases or tight spaces are very common.  It's a little different than the States where we prefer space and lots of it, but you adapt.  The live music scene is pretty cool in Paris too, quite a few jazz clubs and piano bars as well as world music venues. 

As you might imagine, food in Paris is A-MAZING.  There were a couple of places we stopped by due to time constraints and they weren't as good but overall we were able to put those out of our minds and find really great places to dine for the majority of our trip (a list of recommended restaurants are at the end of this post).  Of course we had French food but the diversity of cuisine was so tempting we ended up eating quite a bit and venturing beyond French cuisine.  Every bite, including dessert, was worth it. Thankfully we found a gym that offered day passes to help us counteract the effects of too many croissants and baguettes.  A number of Americans have set up shop in Paris and the food is very delicious.  It's a pleasing blend of American sensibilities paired with French cooking techniques.  Of special note is the fried chicken from Ellsworth.  The chicken is brined then coated with a breading.  The chicken is then served with a homemade buttermilk ranch sauce and sour pickles.  The chicken is crispy and well seasoned.  It was so tasty!! 

Seafood at Restaurant L'llot in Amboise

Venison at Restaurant L'llot in Amboise

 Fried Chicken at Ellsworth

Menu board at Les Borgresse

Paris is a fast-paced, bustling city so we decided to take a break and head to central France to the Loire Valley.  We hopped a train and were transported out of the city in about an hour.  The Loire valley is noted for it's historic towns, vineyards, fruit orchards and chateaus (country houses or castles).  We rented a car and visited the towns of Tours and Amboise and they were beautiful.  Steeped in history, one can't help but wonder who traveled those narrow, medieval streets thousands of years ago.  There are about 22 chateaus in the Loire valley, we were able to see 3:  Chateau Royal d'Amboise, Chateau du Close Luce and Chateau Chenonceau.  The homes are rich in history and each has it's own unique story of the aristocrats who lived in them so long ago.  These jewels of the central valley have been well preserved for visitors to see and appreciate. 

Chateau du Close Luce: Leonardo di Vinci spent the last 3 years of his life here