Cute blue doors in Montmartre, near Clos Montmartre

We've been home for a couple weeks now and I can proudly say that I've finally unpacked the last of my travel gear and washed my last load of trip laundry. I'm finally back on a semi-normal sleeping schedule and staying up late enough to hang out with friends. Speaking of hangs, we had a great weekend of just that. On Friday, we first baked cookies, followed by pizza for Molly's pizza Friday tradition, and drank fancy mezcal cocktails made by her amazingly rad friends Katie and Jay (Jay's got a super cool Mezcalería in Chicago). On Saturday, we headed to Ellen Bennett aka THE Hedley & Bennett for a #bennettbrunch x #mollyontherange! It was potluck/cook together style, so I made a batch of Molly's silky smooth hummus from her book. Fyi, it's so good guys and you so need to make it asap. Lots of my favorite food friends were there hanging out like Adrianna, Lily, Karen, Billy, and Ellen's pet pig Oliver, too! On Sunday, after the weekend wore me out 'cuz I'm an old lady, Vienna and I decide to lay like broccoli aka veg out. We would have made Moses veg with us, but he had to catch a flight to New York, so he missed out. Speaking of travel... maybe now is a good time to catch up on our Four Days in Paris!

DAY 1

The minute we touched down in Paris, Moses decided he needed a break. We had just spent four days eating, walking, and exploring our way through London, and he was justifiably exhausted. But, I begged him to power through it and walk over to the Louvre with me. After all, four days in one of the most beautiful cities in the world just didn't feel like enough time to me and there were things to see and eat and do! So he begrudgingly followed me down Rue de Rivoli, looking exhausted, hungry, and generally less than thrilled. However, the minute the pyramids came into view, I saw a big ole smile spread over his face, and that was all I needed to know that powering through the day was a good idea. The Louvre is big and wonderful and overwhelmingly large, so plan accordingly. You can easily devote a full day to it. Moses and I saw the pieces we really wanted to see, enjoyed some chips and coffee, and then made our way over to the Carrousel du Louvre for some hot chocolate at La Maison du Chocolat, beautiful stationary at Delfonics, and homeware envy at Perigot. After that we strolled through Jardin du Palais Royal, sipping on matcha lattes from Café Kitsuné before grabbing hot bowls of udon at Kunitoraya for dinner.

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Drop off bags at Hotel (we stayed at Hotel Emile)

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Louvre
Shopping at Carrousel du Louvre, favorites included Delfonics, hot chocolate at La Maison du Chocolat, and Perigot
Café Kitsuné in Jardin du Palais Royal
Dinner at Kunitoraya

DAY 2

Steam scrambled eggs, thinly sliced prosciutto, and grilled bread--if you're looking for a good way to start your morning, I feel like this could easily be one of the best options. And that's why we started our morning at Buvette before strolling through the 9th, moseying our way over to Rose Bakery's pop-up market and up to KB CaféShop for oat milk lattes and people watching. After our much needed oat milk lattes (btw, why is it so hard to find vegan milk options in Europe!?!), we made our way up to Montmartre to take in Sacré-Cœur. It's one of my all time favorite churches and I love every last detail from the gothic stained glass to the breathtaking view of the city from the tower. I was so grateful to share it with Moses! After we soaked it all in, we peered into the cutest, tiniest little vineyard in Paris named Clos Montmartre, then hoofed it over to G. Detou and E.Dehillerin to get our (my) kitchen fix in. I debated about carrying back some gorgeous copperwares, but ultimately decided window shopping, or drooling, was more appropriate as this was only the second city of a our five city tour. Galeries Lafayette le Gourmet was a necessary stop after skipping lunch and walking around Paris all morning, and Moses and I ate our way through our share of macarons at Pierre Herme, truffle sandwiches at La Maison de la Truffe, and dim sum at Yoom. Who knew you could find so many treasures in a department store? To end the day, we walked over to the Tour Eiffel and admired it, all lit up, at night. I highly recommend you visit it at night--it somehow feels extra magical to me.

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Breakfast at Buvette
Rose Bakery pop-up market
Coffee at KB CaféShop

DAY 3

One of my favorite things about being in Paris, is that it is 100 percent acceptable to grab a baguette and tear off pieces to nibble on as you stroll. After a long stroll through Jardin des Tuileries, Moses and I picked up a baguette from Maison Eric Kayser and ate it while we waited in the line for tickets at Museé d'Orsay. Yes, we could have purchased our tickets online like we did for the Louvre, but I wanted to enjoy the experience of fueling up with a great baguette, some Échiré salted butter (taken from the breakfast buffet at our hotel), and a couple choux pastry balls. It was the perfect museé pre-game, in my opinion. As for Museé d'Orsay, it's honestly one of my favorite museums, because it has a great collection of impressionist and post-impressionist pieces, all housed in a gorgeous old railway building. After getting our fill of art and bread, we moseyed over to Colette for a light lunch and shopping before, of course, more shopping in Le Marais. Merci and French Trotters were two of our favorites and I could have spent the afternoon in Merci if it wasn't for our very early reservation at Tour d'Argent. Dinner at Tour d'Argent with our seat overlooking Notre Dame and the Seine, was honestly one of the best meals of my life. The service was over the top, the food was insane, and our private tour through their wine caves was just icing on the cake. Talk about a romantic evening, this was that.

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Stroll through Jardin des Tuileries

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Pick up monge baguette and choux pastry balls at Maison Eric Kayser
Museé d’Orsay

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Lunch and shopping at Colette

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Shopping in Le Marais: Merci, Le Labo, Maison Kitsuné, French Trotters, The Broken Arm

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Dinner at Tour d’Argent

DAY 4

Our fourth and final day didn't really go as planned due to many of the stops being unexpectedly closed. We had originally planned to grab breakfast at what seems to be a very hip/trendy HolyBelly, but it was closed. Instead, we enjoyed kimchee breakfast rolls and americanos at Ten Belles. Then we stopped at L'appartement Sézane, where I planned to spend a large chunk of my trip funds, but it too was close, so we hit up La Garçonnière and a few other shops before lunch at Frenchi To Go and a trip to Maison Eurpéenee de la Photographie. After that we picked up some treats at Jacques Genin for chocolates and caramels and spent the evening chatting with the bartenders at Little Red Door Paris, which if you're into mixology, is a must stop. For dinner, we intended to go to L'As du Fallefel, which was recommended by almost every friend we have, or Miznon, a few doors down, or maybe even both, but both were closed for a holiday so we had dinner nearby our hotel. To end the night, I online shopped my way through Sézane before we packed up our belongings for the next adventure! The best thing about Paris is, even if the day doesn't go as planned, the city is filled with so many treasures, that all is not lost! There's always a plan b, c, and d right around the corner!