Honeymooning: Paris Part I

I'm so pumped to start sharing some of our honeymoon with you guys! If you follow me on Instagram, you've already seen tidbits from the trip. There is SO. MUCH. MORE though. I think between the wedding and this trip, I've accumulated more photos this month than I ever have in my life. I'm loving it.

To keep things easy so you guys can just get down to ogling at our travel photos, I've split up Paris into three parts. This post is dedicated to some quick hits on where we stayed and most importantly, where we ate! 

Cankles

As soon as we got into our Airbnb, Eric complained about not feeling well and slept straight into the next day. When he woke up, his ankle had turned into a big, black tree stump from an infected blister. It was disgusting. We quickly had to learn about Parisian doctor house calls, navigating the European pharmacies, and Eric was on house arrest for a couple days. In sickness and in health!

Canal district

We stayed in the hip canal district in the 11th Arrondissement in Paris. The downside is that it was ~20 minute cab ride to any tourist attractions. The upside was that it was quiet, beautiful, green and full of amazing restaurants.

Markets

I LOVED the French produce markets and bakeries. Everything is so fresh. Since we were stuck inside the first couple days, most of our meals came from the market. I'm not complaining about it. See my amazing avocado sammie below.

Holybelly

It took days for us to get into this restaurant between closures and them not doing take-away. When we finally did, it was so worth it. This place is like a little piece of Brooklyn in Paris, which was a nice change of pace. If you go, you must get the bourbon butter pancakes and a "Flat Walter White". 

The Louvre

The Louvre was the first sight we headed to as soon as Eric could hobble out of the apartment. It was a sanctuary from the cold, rainy weather – why do people like April in Paris again? And, as soon as they saw Eric stumbling around outside, we got to skip the two hour queue and head straight to rent a wheelchair! Perhaps his stump leg wasn't so bad after all. The royal palace that houses the Louvre is phenomenal. It's gigantic with the most amazing architecture. And those glass pyramids. Oh, I'm obsessed. The museum itself though is pretty overwhelming. Am I the only one who gets tired after 15 minutes in a famous art museum? Hoards of people, wing after wing of art work, and every description was in French (pro tip: fork over the $7 for the audio tour). Luckily we got our close-up of the Mona Lisa, so we can check this one off the bucket list!

Siseng

Another amazing restaurant in the canal district. This place puts burgers on sticky buns. GENIUS.

Cheese and Bread

It's true that they eat a TON of bread and cheese over here. It's like a dreamland. We almost got sick of it, then we'd eat a loaf of bread and cheese for breakfast.

Baby Bottles

Since I had to spend so much time cooped up for the first part of the honeymoon, I was able to convince Eric to go to Le Refuge des Fondus. It had a bad Yelp score, and perhaps worse, it's known for serving wine in baby bottles. It ended up being one of the most fun experiences we had on the trip. Ladies climb over the tables to get to their seats, you gorge yourself on melted cheese, and baby bottles make cheap wine taste so, so good. Plus, you sit so close to people, it's hard not to make friends. We ended up meeting an awesome couple from Atlanta who spotted us dinner after it looked like Eric had dined and ditched me (turns out the atm ate his card when he ran to get cash to pay for the meal!). In return, I bought a few rounds of mojitos topped with the best marshmallows I've ever eaten. French drinks are so weird.