Paris - city break for grown ups
When we arrived in Paris, it was just a short Metro ride to our hotel. Our treat was Le Grand hotel, which is in a great location, next door to the Opera, 2 minutes from Galleries Layfayette and across the road from the Metro. The hotel has history, attentive service and bags of character.
After a quick turnaround at the hotel, and we headed straight out for dinner. The restaurant was a suggestion from a French chef, who said that Chez Janou served the biggest and best chocolate mousse in Paris. Tables crammed in to this quirky French bistro, we had a great steak, duck casserole and plenty of well priced red wine.…… but we were here for dessert, and it was worth the wait! We ordered chocolate mousse for two, the waiter returned with a terracotta dish the size of a mixing bowl, he provided us with 2 spoons, and served one BIG spoonful onto a plate between us and walked away with a ‘servez vous’ .
Saturday was a walking day, we were determined to see as much as we could, as many sites and districts of Paris, leaving the Opera, Pompidou Centre, Place de la Republique, Marais district, to the Bastille, Ile St Louis, Notre Dame, down to the Palais Bourbon and back to Galleries La Fayette. As our tummies told us that lunchtime was approaching, and lunch was a lucky find, we stumbled across Breizh Café. It was queued out of the door, and people without reservations were being turned away, but next to the café was a small shop, with just one long table seating about 8. We so lucky to get 2 seats and then enjoy fabulous galettes and crepes all washed down with Bretonne cider.
The second night we decided to walk from the hotel, and just see what we found. In a small quiet square was a smart white restaurant, which maybe looked a little classy for us dressed in our ‘good’ jeans. The maitre d’ welcomed us through the bar to a quiet table. We were so well looked after, the food was perfect, the atmosphere grown up but friendly. Dessert is always the part of a meal I look forward to the most, and we weren’t disappointed in our choice. Desserts come in 4s…. 4 fruits, 4 ice creams, 4 classics, or our choice 4 chocolate. The picture hardly does it justice, but each of the 4 chocolately wonders was perfect.
Before our train back on Sunday morning, we walked along the Rue Saint Honore, perfect as wonderful shops were closed, so we didn’t fall prey to temptation, we contented ourselves with breakfast on the street and window shopping.
Paris is a perfect city break, easy to navigate, great to explore on foot, history, culture and wonderful food. What is on our list for next time? We checked out a lovely little hotel on Ile St Louis, and I loved the idea of staying there, an island within the city.
Top tip: Galleries Lafayette is chaos for shopping but head up to the roof for some of the best views in Paris, then pop down to the café for a glass of champagne to fully appreciate the stunning glass dome.
