NEW YEARS IN PARIS

Wow. Can you believe we’ve been in France for over 3 weeks already?!? Our first day in Paris (that’s in todays post) already feels like forever ago! I guess since Ken has been SO busy at school and I’ve kept busy getting the logistics sorted and getting our new home organized – the time has flown by!

The day we landed in Paris was a total fog. After a 9 hour flight that I didn’t sleep a wink on, I thought for sure I’d crash as soon as we got to our hotel. But I always find that adrenaline kicks in, and you can’t wait to explore! Also, since we landed at about 8am Paris time, our hotel room wasn’t ready, so we were essentially homeless for the afternoon and had no choice but to explore. Luckily, we had adrenaline on our side and we didn’t have to nap in a park – haha! That first day was pretty quiet. We got some breakfast, wandered around close to our hotel and had an early night in. Good thing too because jetlag had me wide awake at about 2am the next morning. We made good use of our early rise and got a head start on breakfast. We were told Angelina’s was a must see and were warned of the lineups, so we made sure that was our first stop of the day. Sure enough, there was a lineup, but it didn’t take long to get through.

We had one of the best breakfast we’ve has in France to date here. It was SO good. We didn’t try their famous hot chocolate because we were both itching for a good coffee, but we saw another table order it and OH MY! It looked like hot fudge. We will certainly have to pay another visit when we are next in town.

Plaid coat – Shein.com – & (similar options here, here and a short version here)

Jeans – H&M (Similar here and here)

Shoes – Really old (Similar option here)

Handbag – Gucci Soho Disco

It drives me crazy that my jeans rolled up on one leg! When I asked Ken later in the day why he didn’t tell me my jeans were messed up, his response was “I wasn’t sure! I thought it was a trend thing!” Haha – poor guy. 

Above is another look at Angelina’s. They do they most amazing pastries and goodies. They are even wrapped up beautifully. We were mesmerized watching them tie pretty bows on things while we waited in line for breakfast.

With our bellies full of croissant and scrambled eggs, we hopped on the metro to explore the area of Saint Germain. That was the area we stayed in last time we were in Paris and really loved it. 

Of course we had to make a stop for some macaroons. This was just a random shop we stumbled upon. There was a line outside the door so we figured it must be good! We got a stack of macaroons which Ken quickly polished off in the park. He allowed me a few bites of each one but while watching me closely to make sure I wasn’t taking too big of a bite 🙂

Mid afternoon is Paris – it’s wine o’clock! We made our way back to the same street we sat on two summers ago. We both remembered sitting there all that time ago, wondering when we would ever make it back to Europe and what the coming years would look like. Who knew we’d be back in the same seats, living in France not even two years later! I certainly had no idea we would end up so lucky.

After our wine, bread, sugar and hours of wandering, our 2am wake up was starting to catch up with us. We took a quick uber home for a power nap before heading out for New Years celebrations! If our jet leg wasn’t already bad enough, staying up well past midnight on new years, drinking champagne was sure to screw us up! And oh boy did it. We just couldn’t get over that jetlag! It took me well over a week. My body really had no idea what was going on – haha. But counting down to midnight in Paris was definitely worth it. The city was full of excitement and buzz.  We decided to avoid the crowds and find a quiet spot to sit outside, order a bottle of champagne and count down to midnight. We ended up sitting next to a very friendly guy who Ken was able to chat with in French. He was surprised at how well he could hold a conversation – the guy even told him that his French was very good! He was quite pleased with himself 🙂

Ah, Paris. You are oh so exciting.

Xo, Andrea