for the final leg of our family vacay, we flew to paris. paris has been called many things: the city of light, the city of love, and some go as far as saying it’s (possibly) the greatest city on earth. there’s a reason why people have nearly nothing but good words to say about this global city — after all, traces of its influence can be found in just about everything, from politics and entertainment, to food, fashion and the arts. so it was almost a no-brainer for us when we initially planned the trip that we had to step onto french soil. luckily, france is spain’s next door neighbor. i didn’t mind going a second time because there’s just so much about paris that i have yet to see and discover. plus, this time around, we had help from a local frenchman. :)
since we would be left to ourselves to explore the city for four full days, pinky and i made sure we mapped out a game plan before leaving for europe so we could make the most of our parisian adventure. the itinerary we put together was very detailed, mind you — apart from the obvious sightseeing, we made sure there was time set aside to attend sunday mass, and for some with deep euro-pockets, shop (yikes!).
flight en route to paris…i whiled away time with some sudoku
» DAY 1: THE AMAZING RACE, PART UNE
our first day in paris was like an episode right out of “the amazing race”. the first thing we had on our agenda was a dinner cruise by the river seine. after we settled in our hotel, we set out for the seine. if i were to continue with the amazing race theme, let’s just say we faced our first “roadblock”: we didn’t exactly know how to get there. we were just a few hours into our adventure, and we had yet to establish our bearings in the city. having a language barrier made it even more difficult for us. in a twist of lucky coincidence, a fellow filipino worked as a bellhop at the hotel we stayed in, so we at least got some help hints from him — he gave us some directions on which bus stop to go to, and what bus number to take. we tried to make sense of it, and then we were off. our brood got lost looking for the bus stop, despite having some teammates (brother monty & brother-in-law keith) who were innately good with directions. at one point, we thought about just taking the subway. problem was, there was no one at the ticket booth and none of us understood how to operate the ticket machines. with time running out, we even attempted to hail a cab…that didn’t go so well either, and we thought that would be the easy route. long story short, we eventually found the bus stop after half-an-hour or so (or what seemed like forever) of walking, got on the bus, and reached our “pit stop” at solferino. it was a mad dash to the boat, only to miss it by a couple of minutes. we were so close, we literally saw it float away from us. boo-hoo! luckily, we got to reschedule the dinner cruise for the following day. with everybody thrown-off schedule on day 1, we had to improvise and switch things around in our itinerary. we decided to just spend the rest of the evening leisurely walking the streets of paris. later that night, i met up with philippe and we headed off to see our good friend, guillaume, at his apartment. it was like “LA’s RPG” all over again (read: the “rina-philippe-guillaume” tandem was formed in LA when guillaume came to visit us every year for 3 years) …only this time, we had our happy reunion in paris. :)
(1) with the elephant at musee d’orsay
(2) by the banks of the seine river
(3) arc de triomphe du carousel at the louvre
(4) the magnificent louvre by night
» DAY 2: MASTERING THE PARIS METRO, 101
after getting some coaching from philippe the night before on how to take the subway, we braved the metro on day 2 from our base station at boissière, each armed with a subway map. must say, we mastered it pretty quickly…soon enough, we were hopping from line to line and getting by quite fantastically (and conveniently) around paris.
since it was a sunday, we started our day off by attending the international mass service at the notre dame cathedral, one of france’s most well-known churches and home to victor hugo’s fictional character, quasimodo (the hunchback of notre dame). it was the first time for all of us to go inside the church — the last time my parents, pinky, keith and i were in paris, we only got to see the outside at night.
the notre dame cathedral in the ile de la cite is one of the finest examples of french gothic architecture
after church, we headed to quartier chinois (france’s chinatown) to meet up with philippe. he invited our family to have lunch at their family’s asian restaurant, where we feasted on vietnamese spring rolls, fried shrimp dumplings, and stir fry noodles, just to name a few. the food was so good, to this day, we all still drool just thinking about it (at least i still do).
(1) & (2) finding our way from cité station to porte d’ivry station
(3) the buddha that greets us at the asia palace restaurant
(4) millie, monty and i with our gracious host, philippe
(5) & (6) these babies are not called best-sellers for nothing!
our next destination was the artsy district of montmartre, where renowned artists like dali, picasso, monet and van gogh had studios before. we visited the basilica of the sacre coeur, the popular white-domed landmark located at montmartre’s highest point. as expected from an artsy city, the ambiance at montmartre was one of organized chaos — a lot of people were found comfortably laying on the grass, having a picnic, listening to street musicians, and savoring the warm sunshine.
(1) & (2) the basilica of the sacre coeur
(3) with first-timer, philippe
(4) blending in with the french: parentals rest by a park bench
determined this time to make it to our rescheduled dinner cruise at marina de paris - bercy, we set out for solferino (again!) early enough from montmartre. dinner was just okay, and admittedly, fell short of our expectations, but we still managed to enjoy our first dinner cruise as a family. this also gave us plenty of opportunity to snap photos of impressive parisian architecture that lined the seine river.
we had a three-course meal as we glided through the seine river past the eiffel tower and more of france’s haussmannian architecture
to cap-off our second night in paris, we walked along one of the world’s most famous streets, the avenues des champs-élysées. despite it being a sunday night, the city was still bustling with so much activity, parisians doing what they do best — dining al fresco in one of the many roadside cafes or shopping in one of its boutiques along its 2km stretch. before 11pm, we headed back to trocadero square near our hotel to catch the hourly light show of the eiffel tower.
(1) & (2) of course we had to stop by and see (note, i said “see”, not “buy”) one the biggest names in fashion, monsieur louis vuitton
(3) token famiy pic by the arc de triomphe
(4) & (5) wacky shots with a view of the eiffel tower from trocadero square
» DAY 3: THE AMAZING RACE, PART DEUX
first on the agenda was a visit to les invalides, more known to be the resting place of napoleon bonaparte and other military heroes who served under him. a bit of of what i like to call “wiki-trivia” (wikipedia+trivia): les invalides was initially built to serve as a hospital and retirement home for war veterans; later on, they put up monuments and museums to pay tribute to french military history.
(1) & (2) les invalides and its famous gilded dome
(3) & (4) tomb of napoleon bonaparte
(5) inside the church of les invalides
(6) flags of french-conquered cities are hung all around
(7) fire away!
philippe made lunch reservations for my family at truffes folies, a restaurant where most, if not all, of the dishes were made with the “black diamond” of the kitchen (read: truffles). nope, i’m not talking about chocolate truffles here (though i wouldn’t complain if that was the case either). instead, i’m talking about fungi or mushrooms that add that oh-so-yummy-and-sophisticated touch to any dish. i absolutely love truffles of this kind, so when philippe gave me the heads up about what kind of restaurant we were going to, i was psyched. i knew we were all in for a treat, so by hook or by crook, i made sure we made it to our noon reservations lest we pass up the chance on having one of the best meals of our trip. thanks to our handy map, monty and i took on the task of leading the rest of the pack in search of this culinary gem, tucked away in one of the side streets of paris’ 7th district. we got to the restaurant on the dot…panting, yes, but on time. as they say in france, “mission accomplie!”
(1) the secret potion: i wanted to hoard bottles of it
(2) in truffle heaven :)
(3) & (4) tomate mozzarella with truffle oil & rissoto with gambas
(5) & (6) traditional omelette with a twist & rissoto with black truffles
the second part of the day was a lot like “choose your own adventure” (ring a bell?). our family divided into three groups, and went our separate ways in exploring other parts of the city. philippe came straight from work to pick me up from the restaurant, and i spent the rest of the day with him. my parents, pinky and keith ventured back to ile de la cite to visit the la sainte-chapelle, a gothic church known for its stained glass windows. they also leisurely rested at a park behind the notre dame cathedral where they had the chance to people-watch and see how locals spend their afternoons in the city. monty, millie and pippo went to musee du louvre (louvre museum) and paid tribute to mona lisa, venus de milo, and nike (the winged victory), among many others. after their respective trips, the rest of my family rendezvoused at the latin quarter’s pantheon.
(1) & (2) la sainte-chapelle: much of the chapel seen today is a recreation of the original, but 2/3 of the windows remain authentic
(3) & (4) stop & smell the flowers: look-alikes bond by the park behind notre dame
(1) & (2) the louvre ranks as one of the largest museums in the world, and is also one of the most visited, possibly because of mona lisa
(3) once criticized as an eye sore, the glass pyramid has become a notable feature of the louvre
(4) a perfectly juxtaposed view of the eiffel tower (from afar) with the luxor obelisk at place de la concorde
(1) & (2) the meet-up point: the panthéon in the latin quarter serves as a mausoleum for distinguished french citizens
my adventure in the city with a real-life parisian started off with a stroll along champs-elysees where philippe treated me to some monster macarons from ladurée. he then took me to one of france’s most popular landmarks (possibly a close second to the eiffel tower), the arc de triomphe, where i had the opportunity to go up for a spectacular 360-view of paris. we then headed to koetsu, where i treated philippe to a japanese dinner. it was also our belated celebration of his birthday.
off to the arc de triomphe with philippe for a breathtaking view of paris — fantastic views stretched out as far as the eye can see, from the long avenue of champs-élysées to the business district of la défense
koetsu dinner: miso soup, eggplant with miso, beef & shrimp skewers, and sashimi. おいしい です ね! (that’s “oishii desu ne!” for you)
» DAY 4: THE HOUSE THAT LOUIS BUILT
welcome to château de versailles!
for our last full day in paris, we planned on going to château de versailles — a UNESCO world heritage site for the past 30 years. the palace was the seat of the french monarchy for many years, during the rule of louis XIV. today, the royal palace serves as a museum of the history of france, showcasing sculptures, paintings, pieces of furniture and other celebrated art collections from the 18th century.
(1) king louis XIV greets you by the entrance to his royal palace
(2) despite it being a regular day, we still fought a huge crowd
(3), (4) & (5) the hall of mirrors is the central gallery in the palace, featuring gilded sculptures and chandeliers
(6) & (7) looking out to the palace’s amazing manicured gardens
after half a day in versailles, we headed back to the city for some last-minute shopping at galeries lafayette. we didn’t expect to stay long there, if it weren’t for the 30-minute queue we did just to get into the boutique of longchamp. yes, we were among many others, mostly asians, waiting in line to bag (no pun intended) some of those surprisingly so elusive le pliage purses. it was quite an interesting experience…and we thought people only lined up for the LV shop. a few shops down, we found a familiar-looking formation outside gucci too. before heading back to the hotel to get ready for dinner, we took the metro to the roland garros stadium as a request from my dad, the tennis fanatic. unfortunately, the stadium was closed that day, so we settled for some pics and sneak peeks from outside of court philippe chatrier. one day, i hope we’ll get the chance to take my dad to see its famed clay courts where many great matches are won.
(1) this way to the roland garros stadium
(2) souvenir shot outside the gates of the stadium
what better way to wrap up our french leg of the trip (and our vacay) than with a sumptuous french dinner in the company of our french amis. we invited philippe and guillaume to join us in thanksgiving for a very fruitful and amazing family escapade. we dined at le court-bouillon where we feasted on fine french food, from foie gras to beef fillet. guillaume also introduced us to sancerre (the rare red kind), and we toasted to the good life. santé!
(1) eat, drink and be merry
(2) RPG reunited in paris! :)
this officially ends my “project EU” travelogue. to my parents: maraming salamat, muchas gracias, obrigada, merci beaucoup, thank you so much for gifting us with this trip. i can only hope we can do more of this in the coming years. can’t wait for our next family adventure!
