We rented an apartment on 78 rue St-Louis-en-l’Ile via Paristay.com, so most of the stops we made were around the island of Saint-Louis. It was the perfect space for three people complete with a loft bed, a bathroom, a fully-equipped kitchen and a sofa bed in the living room. The neighborhood in itself is one of the most coveted in Paris because residents are on their own island on the Seine River, away from the hoopla of the city but right by most necessities and all kinds of luxury.

Thank you so much for traveling with me this past week!

Day 1

- Le St-Regis Brasserie, bistro filled with smokers on rue St-Louis-en-l’Ile off quai de Bourbon
- Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris, RER C to St-Michel Notre Dame
- Patrick Allain Fleuriste, beautiful flowers on 53 rue St-Louis-en-l’Ile
- La Taverne Du Sergent Recreteur, bistro with a nice prix fixe on 41 rue St-Louis-en-l’Ile

Day 2

- Boulangerie Saint-Louis, fresh bread every morning on 78 rue St-Louis-en-l’Ile
- Cacao et Chocolat, hot chocolate on 63 rue St-Louis-en-l’Ile
- Eglise St-Nicolas, rue de Pontoise
- Le Panthéon, #10 to Maubert Mutualité, €8
- La Paillote D’or, Vietnamese food with friendly service on 30 rue des Carmes
- Jardins et Palais du Luxembourg, RER B to Luxembourg
- Eglise St-Sulpice, church with Delacroix frescoes, #4 to St-Sulpice
- Le Prestige de l’Alimentation, Moroccan-owned grocery store with everything we needed on 67 rue St-Louis-en-l’Ile
- Aux Anysetiers du Roy, bistro with English-speaking waiters on 61 rue St-Louis-en-l’Ile

Day 3

- Musée du Louvre, #7 to Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre, €8.50, closed on Mondays
- Cafe Med, good duck confit, crepes and pasta lunch options on 77 rue St-Louis-en-l’Ile
- Le Sarrasin et Le Froment Creperie, crepes to eat-in or take-away on 80 rue St-Louis-en-l’Ile
- Eiffel Tower, RER C to Champs de Mars-Tour Eiffel, €11 to the top
- Le Tarbouche, Moroccan restaurant with as good tagines as their service on 81 rue St-Louis-en-l’Ile

Day 4

- Musée d’Orsay, RER C to Musée d’Orsay, €7.50, closed on Tuesdays
- Jardin des Tuileries, via an underpass after crossing the Seine from Musée d’Orsay
- Obélisque on Place de la Concorde, right outside Jardin des Tuileries
- Champs Élysées, a tree-lined pathway all the way to the Rond Point with brand-name stores along the way
- Arc de Triomphe, #1, #2, #6 or RER A stop there, €8 to climb the top
- Marché Franprix, small grocery store on 135 rue Saint-Antoine, #1 to St-Paul
- L’Epicerie, beautifully-packaged oils, jams, vinegars and mustards on 51 rue St-Louis-en-l’Ile
- La Ferme Saint-Aubin, cheese, sausage and wine shop on 76 rue St-Louis-en-l’Ile

Day 5

- Sacré-Coeur Basilica, the highest point of Paris, #2 to Anvers and up the Montmartre hill
- Montparnasse Tower and Montparnasse Cemetery, #4 to Montparnasse
- Paris Chinatown, #7 to Porte de Choisy on avenue de Choisy and avenue d’Ivry
- Thai-Vien, affordable Vietnamese, Laotian and Thai food on 56 avenue de Choisy
- Place de la Bastille, #5 to Bastille
- Les Halles, historically a food market and now an ugly shopping complex, #4 to Châtelet-Les Halles
- Eglise St-Eustache, a church that looks abandoned inside, right by Forum des Halles
- Glacier Berthillon, home-made ice cream shop at €2 a scoop on 31 rue St-Louis-en-l’Ile
- La Petite Scierie, foie gras shop on 60 rue St-Louis-en-l’Ile

Day 6

- Château de Versailles, RER C to Versailles
- Le Domaines qui Montent, sells wine at the same price as the producers’ on 136 Volatire Boulevard, #9 to Voltaire
- Le Caveau de l’Ile, bistro with friendly staff on 36 rue St-Louis-en-l’Ile

Related post/s:
We rented via ParisStay.com
Paris photos on Flickr
Versailles photos on Flickr
Day 5: Sacre-Coeur, Montmartre, Les Halles, Berthillon Ice Cream
Day 4: Musee d’Orsay, Jardin des Tuileries, Arc de Triomphe
Day 3: Louvre Museum, Eiffel Tower
Day 2: The Pantheon, Jardin du Lexembourg, Saint-Sulpice
Day 1: Arriving in Paris
Planning a trip to Paris

We woke up earlier today to catch the 10am train to Versailles. My father wasn’t feeling well so he opted to stay in and wait for us in the apartment. Not wanting to deal with drama our last full day in Paris, my mother and I left for the RER C train to Château de Versailles. The ride was less than forty minutes; the walk from the train station to the château was less than ten. We joined the queue for the “A” entrance and paid €8 each for individual passes to the Grand Apartments, the Hall of Mirrors and the Queen’s Suite.

And grand it was! The Château de Versailles is sumptuously gaudy, yet impressive. The frescoed ceilings, the Rococo woodwork and all the marble tell you how preciously the monarchy lived. They loved themselves, too, because there are murals and statues of Louis XIV and Marie-Antoinette everywhere. Our favorite was the exhibition of Louis-Nicolas van Blarenberghe’s gouache paintings. He was a battlefield painter and he produced detailed accounts of what he saw during the wars. We used the magnifying glasses attached to the paintings to look at the details–obviously Flemish in style and skill–of his miniature soldiers, animals and weaponry.

After walking inside the château, we braved the cold and visited the gardens, over 815 hectares in total. Trees and plants were pruned to shape and there are fountains at every turn and even more statues of gods and mermaids on every corner. Apparently, they all dance to classical music in the summer.

We went to the cafe downstairs before we took the train back to Paris and ate a quick bite of horrible pizza and instant tea and coffee. We picked up my dad from the apartment and we started off again to Voltaire Boulevard to buy some wines to take home. Les Domaines qui Montent sells bottles of wine at the same rate as their producers. I walked in and told the super-friendly bearded guy to help me pick four bottles of French wines. He gave me a Bourdeaux, a Côtes du Rhone, a Burgundy and a Cabernet-Merlot blend.

A couple of hours later, we went to Le Caveau de l’Ile for dinner to celebrate our last night in Paris. I was surprised that my father wanted the frog’s legs (meron nyan sa Ilocos!) with the squid and my mom wanted the duck. I chose the lamb chops with the salmon tartare.

Everything was delicious. We also ordered a bottle and a half of Côtes du Provence rosé–yes, I drank most of it–and black currants sorbet for dessert. We walked by the restaurant this afternoon and saw that the menu posted outside was in English and we figured it was “safe.” As expected, the waitress spoke English and was very accommodating to us and to the other Americans that came in after we did.

We toasted to our week in Paris. I half-joked at how we will never go on vacation together again because my dad is so maarte. But if you put all the father drama aside, I have to admit that we all had a good time. I liked spending time with them; sharing a new city and at the same time getting lost with them. We all experienced something new and we were together as a family in a country we’ve never visited before. We wished kuya could have joined us but I think we had a good time because we wanted to show him that we’re that kind of a family–the B family.

Au revoir, Paris!

Related post/s:
Versailles photos on Flickr
Paris photos on Flickr
Day 5: Sacre-Coeur, Montmartre, Les Halles, Berthillon Ice Cream
Day 4: Musee d’Orsay, Jardin des Tuileries, Arc de Triomphe
Day 3: Louvre Museum, Eiffel Tower
Day 2: The Pantheon, Jardin du Lexembourg, Saint-Sulpice
Day 1: Arriving in Paris
Planning a trip to Paris