Join Us in France Podcast

Recently I posted about our trip to Paris in April. Well now you can listen. Annie Sargent at the Join Us in France Podcast interviewed me about traveling with teens. If you are planning a trip to France anytime soon this podcast is loaded with episodes that will give you real, practical advice. Check it out at https://joinusinfrance.com/episode/20-tips-for-visiting-paris-with-teenagers/

Paris is Always a Good Idea

For the first time in almost a decade I recently returned to Europe. This time was different. I wasn’t with students, not doing research. This time I returned for a family vacation, and not for a grand tour but for hardly anything more than to sink into Paris. Somehow Paris has become the city I have returned to almost more than any other, anywhere, for visits. York, Maine might edge it out, but barely. There’s a big world out there so why return to the same places, right? But Paris seems to pop up for me all the time. This time it was to show the kids, two teens, a little about art, food, travel, and culture and for my wife and I to run around one of our favorite places. As usual, food took center stage. Here’s a few of the highlights:

    1.      Arrival dinner, we exhaustedly stumbled over to Rue Montorgueil. So many choices, but we headed to the landmark L'Escargot Montorgueil with its giant, gold snails. With no reservation we got scrambled up to a table with its own staircase above the foyer. Totally private, it turned out to be a great place for us to relax and just have a family dinner at the end of a big travel day. Service was stellar as was the food – escargot, mussels, veal chops, beef bourguignon, foie gras, steak tartare – we went all in on a real French bienevenue! It was a spectacular start. The highlight was likely the foie gras, somehow seared on the outside just enough to yield a crust, but not enough to melt it. That’s no easy feat.

    2.      A hot dog under the Eiffel Tower. What? But what if they hollow out a nice, crusty baguette and fill it with the hot dog? Something to be said for blending cultures.

    3.      We snuck away for a night in Luxembourg for (very) old times’ sake and had some wonderful food experiences. Brasserie de Cercle had a wonderful Kniddelen mat Speck, essentially large, simple dumplings in a cream sauce with nice chunks of fried speck. Delicious! We also returned to Giorgio’s, now Onesto, but essentially the same. The Bolognese remains delicious but the pizza is special. We had a lunch at a sausage stand next to the road in Bereldange and it reminded me of being 14!

    4.      After a long walk and a few hours in the Louvre we dragged ourselves to my favorite place to eat in Paris – Chez Denise, not far off of Rue Rivoli. This is a classic bistro, no frills of any kind, simple service, crowded space, one menu scrawled on a large chalkboard. This place was made somewhat famous in Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations, season one, episode one. I’ve read that fame has ruined it, but I disagree. It was not filled with tourists, the menu has not been simplified (or translated), and it remains delicious. We started with the house terrine. Two massive slices, rich, meaty and carnivorously delicious. Our entrees were stuffed cabbage, a braised fish, lamb chops and lamb brains. Every dish was spot on. Each of us swooned with happiness with each of our choices. We ate everything. We finished with mousse au chocolat that had the kids saying it was the most amazing thing they’d ever eaten. It was a flawless French ending to a perfect French day.

    5.      Berthillon ice cream never gets old. 

    6.      Each day we walked past a Chinese noodle shop. Each night there was a line outside. Each walk past we had to stop and watch the noodle stretchers do their work by hand in the front window. After a few days of this we had to eat there. Les Pates Vivantes proved to be wonderful. We each got different dishes – soups, fried noodles and noodles of different sizes. Each dish tasted like sunshine. Fresh, crisp, bright and flavorful. There’s a reason this place is full all the time. Great, no nonsense service and perfect, filling, delicious food.