If you have been following DesignDestinations, you know that Sue Schroder took a long dreamed about trip to Paris with teenage granddaughters and lived to tell about it.  In fact, last week and this, she shares her experiences and what she learned during this magical week.  Enjoy!

by Sue Schroder, guest blogger

Overview of what we scheduled

Saturday

First day fully conscious: Chocolate and Pastry Tour of tiny shops in the Marais, one of the oldest neighborhoods in Paris. Our guide, Amanda,  was a super-knowledgeable ex-pat American teacher and we spent the morning tasting wares of some of the official best in Paris. https://lacuisineparis.com/

— Afternoon cheese-making demo and tasting in the relatively new Cheese Museum; https://musee-fromage-paris.com/en/

— Dinner at Le Perraudin, a traditional restaurant with street-side terrace. We enjoyed it so much, we went twice. Reserve in English on its Website. leperraudin.fr

 Sunday

2.5-hour walking tour with an excellent Paris Muse guide, geared for teens 13 and older to explore historic Paris, including Notre Dame, the Ile de la Cite, Shakespeare and Company, the Sorbonne University, and more; https://parismuse.com/

—A concert at Sainte Chapelle and its glorious 15 soaring stained-glass windows. https://www.sainte-chapelle.fr/en

Monday

Louvre Museum visit geared for teens with Paris Muse guide; 

Afternoon wine and cheese tasting through LaCuisine for the parents; for the girls and me, cruising Galleries Lafayette department store and taking selfies under its breath-taking stained glass dome, built in 1912. The store has a catwalk where visitors who brave the line can stand seemingly in mid-air with the dome above and the bustling store below.

Tuesday

Shakespeare & Co Bookstore (book addiction runs in the family; Catacombs tour; sunset guided tour of Eiffel Tower; 

 Wednesday 

Day trip to Giverny, artist Claude Monet’s home and the garden; 

Thursday

Musee D’Orsay, a converted train station housing a wonderful collection of Impressionist art and featuring an amazing  temporary exhibit: Art in the Street, nearly 230 works exploring the spectacular rise of the illustrated poster in Paris during the second half of the 19th century. Think the iconic works of masters of the poster, including Toulouse-Lautrec.  

Afternoon, Montmartre and Sacre Coeur Basilica; 

Evening, Seine boat tour

 Friday: Depart

Reviews and take-aways from a post-trip QnA: 

Q: Ernest Hemingway described Paris as a movable feast. How would you describe Paris?

Lila: 

(It has) everything. You could be going for a slow stroll around all the buildings and eating traditional baguettes or you could be running around hopping from train to train and going to the McDonald’s that has such an insane amount of options. 

Norah: 

A beautiful clash of contemporary and traditional cultures and styles that created a uniquely beautiful and diverse atmosphere.

Q. What is your most vivid memory? 

Lila: 

There was a market in the side street of Paris and it looked so cute and out of a movie. It made me want to learn French, move to Paris and get all my groceries from there. Also that first night when we were eating outside and it was so magical. 

Norah: 

The little streets. They made Paris feel so intimate

Q. What did you eat in Paris that you have never had? What would you order again or try next time?

Lila: 

— Beef Bourguignon: I would order it again 

— Croquettes — fried cheese balls. They were amazing I would definitely recommend 

— Beef tartar:  I didn’t realize it was just completely raw meat I thought it would just be undercooked a bit. It was good but the texture was too much and It felt so wrong

— Snails: They were really good. I would recommend 

Q.  How did Paris change you?

Lila:

 I think it really makes me want to learn another language and reminds you of how powerful language is. I also really appreciated the innovations of Paris and the simplicity of Chicago public transportation. It really made me think where I want to live and what I want from a home city.

Q. Advice for friends traveling there?

Lila: 

Maybe just know where you’re going and lower the volume when you speak so people don’t judge and you don’t look like obnoxious Americans.

Also having a journal was really nice because I was able to write anything down and it was nice to think over everything and write down observations. Also then you looked really cool and mysterious if you just wrote in your journal on a park bench.

Q. If you were creating a must-do/see list for friends visiting Paris, what would be your top 5 recommendations?

Lila: 

Pastry tour, Seine cruise, Eiffel Tower, Musee d’Orsay

Norah: 

Pastry tour,  Classical concert at Sainte Chapelle,  Eiffel Tower sparkle, Angelina’s, walking tour of historic Paris 

For me, the unplanned moments were often the best:  

— Being there as the girls visited their first French cafe, sampled the first Beef Bourguignon; explored the top of the Eiffel Tower at sunset then sprawled on the Champs de Mars’ green expanse at its base, taking pictures of ourselves, drinking/tasting faux champagne and waiting for the Tower’s mesmerizing sparkle once it was dark.

— Discovering a picture-postcard bistro tucked away on a tiny side street as we trudged home exhausted one evening and climbing its twisty narrow stairs to a low-ceiling, all-red dining room with shutters open to the street below; 

— Savoring a last-night-in-Paris dinner at a last-minute find by the girls’ food-loving dad: Le Polidor. It was oddly famiiar and a menu note explained why: it was where the scene of Owen Wilson’s character, Gil, meeting  Ernest Hemingway was filmed for the movie “Midnight in Paris,” which we watched before our trip. https://www.polidor.com/en/home/

 Ultimately I hope our trip opened the rich travel gateway for Lila and Norah.  I believe they, too, will find as Mark Twain wrote: 

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness….Broad wholesome, charitable view of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all of one’s lifetime.”

Sue Schroder is a former journalist living in Grand Rapids. A patient advocate for cancer research,  a volunteer school tutor, and a travel addict, she believes that the seeds which determine who we become are planted in childhood. Nurturing the blooms is a joy.