15 July
1pm - Land in Paris, so happy to be back.
1:20pm - Can’t get into Airbnb till 6pm but my brother is here in a hotel so hop on the bus to Montparnasse
1:50pm - At Montparnasse, besides going from train to metro being long, so many Paris metros are shut down but luckily was in the right area
2:27pm - Eating crepes with my brother, convenient location
4:30pm – His friends are there so I skedaddle, walk to the Jardin de Luxembourg
4:45pm - Beautiful weather, sit outside
5:50pm - Get to Airbnb address, had to walk a lot but it turned out to be rue (road) not avenue so 7m walk to metro and hop on to actual address
6:20pm - After also not being to find the elevator, made it in the Airbnb apartment. Quickly head back out because the dinner place opens soon
7:25pm - Arrive at East Mamma, opens at 7 but less worried because alone.
They get me a space at the bar but the party of 3 ahead only could get in at 9:15pm
7:43pm - Burrata, omg, best burrata ever. Also truffle pasta, yummmm.
9:30pm - Having walked from Bastille in the west of the city to the center. Looped by Notre Dame (first time I saw it post-fire). Then got boba and sat by the Seine watching the sunset.
16 July
12:15pm - By Grand Palais near the bottom end of the Champs Elysees. Walked up the champs.
1:20pm - Met a friend for lunch at a restaurant off the Avenue des Grandes Armées, off of the Arc de Triomphe. Thought it was a normal French brasserie but turned out to have a really small menu with €17 dishes - oops.
2:30pm - Walked down from the Arc de Triomphe past Victor Hugo
2:48pm - Walked by my old apartment in the 16th. Wanted to stay longer but there was construction going on and I could tell people were looking at me and questioning why I was staring at an ordinary building for too long.
3pm - Sitting by the Eiffel tower
3:30pm - On the replacement bus, glad I got on early because I’m squished. Entertained by the girl next to me who is scrolling through her “Harry Styles 💕” photo album.
4:15pm - Back at the Airbnb, couldn’t find an affordable apartment in the city for the full 3 days I was there I go to a hostel for 2 days. I make use of the kitchen so made a salad but only had 1 tupperware so put hot pasta and broccoli into Ziplock bags.
5:30pm - Check into my hostel, crash and then rush out
7:20pm - Meet a friend at Wanderlust for a Facebook event for early free entry. It’s an outside bar in the Cité de la Mode et du Design space near Austerlitz which has a bunch of bars, exhibitions, restaurants, and shops. Get a “bucket” - a wine bottle in a sandcastle bucket with ice.
9:30pm - They have pizza! Took an hour before it was ready but nice to have when you’re out.
10:30pm - It gets and the dancing really starts; they generally play modern and hip-hop music.
17 July
11am - Grab brunch at Treize - a cute cafe with a terrace right by the Jardin des Luxembourg. I start talking to the waitress before realizing she’s Australian and a non-experienced French speaker and the menu is in English. Too late to go back at this point.
12:21pm - Getting a quick walk in in the sun in the Jardins.
12:36pm - On my to have lunch at a friend’s house just outside Paris. Take the metro to Austerlitz as the RER C isn’t running in the city and then take the RER.
1:30pm - Hang out in her garden with a delicious home cooked meal and baked goods. The plan was to go to a nearby outlet mall (near a Costco, in Paris!) after lunch.
4:30pm - Realize that it’s 4:30pm and we’ve been talking this whole time - we decide to stay and hangout
9pm - We’re on a boat near the Tuileries gardens/Musée Orsay via another Facebook event. Hanging out by the water with a drink in hand and looking at the beautiful city around you.
18 July
11:30pm - After a 15m wait at this small cafe, I have brunch at Fragments. Have a delicious avocado toast and carrot cake while watching Friends on Netflix on my phone - the ultimate solo traveller move.
1pm - A couple minute walk away, I sit in one of my favorite parks in Paris - place des Vosges. A small yet spacious park surrounded by beautiful red and brown brick buildings and with fountains in each corner.
1:30pm - Walking around the Marais area, including a visit to UNIQLO, HEMA, walking by the long lines at l’As du Fallafel, getting macarons at Pierre Hermé (less well-known by tourists but better than Ladurée!).
3pm - A quick visit to Musée d’Orsay after a 30-minute line. Usually a €14 entrance fee for adults but free for me as a European citizen under 26!
3:21pm - Realizing I’d never been here in summer because I went on their balcony for the first time (entrance is directly to the right of the big clock in the restaurant on the 5th floor). Great views of the city!
4pm - Quickly stop at my hostel to pick up my bags - off to the next destination!
6pm - Get on the plane after 20-minute wait in the shuttle bus right by the plane with no explanation as to why they didn’t let us in.
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28 July
7pm - Land at Charles de Gaulle, love being back in Paris!
7:30pm - Just as the doors close on the RER b and thus my free WIFI (my month 3g pass had ended the day before), I realized that tonight was the last round of the tour de France where the cyclists would be ending their 22 day, 3,365.8 km/2,091 mile journey with 8 laps from place de la Concorde down the champs Elysées and around the arc de triomphe. The journey was then spent trying to debate whether it was worth trying to make it; should I get off at Gare du Nord to dump my stuff and then go, get out near the arch with all my luggage, not go at all?
8:10pm - I get to Gare du Nord and at that moment decide to get out. I know there’s free WIFI and I can always get on the next train with my stuff.
8:14pm - It’s been delayed and they don’t expect the cyclists to get there until 9:20pm, great! I run to my hotel, check in (WIFI’s down in the rooms but can’t worry about that now), dump my stuff, grab a quick dinner to go nearby and take the metro.
8:45pm - Walking around opera trying to find the RER A, argh summer construction!
9pm - After wandering around under the star shaped metro under the arc de triumph trying to find the closest exit to the champs, I’m back above ground where there’s lots of people and big screens reporting on the race. I’ve missed the sponsoring stores giving out free goodies but I find a part of the arch roundabout with only 4 rows of people in front of me - my height is so useful once again!
9:04pm - Turns out the cyclists are here earlier than expected and they come round on their 6th (out of 7) round but I caught it!
9:15pm - They make their last round and Egan Bernal wins the race, wow!
9:30pm - Crowd into the packed metro where they’ve opened the gates, take line 1 to near the louvre where I use all of the free WIFI’s I can find (they exist though, there was never free WIFI when I lived here!) to find the nearest Chatime (my favorite Chicago boba place) that sells my mango smoothie.
9:48pm - After one failed attempt, I’ve found an open Chatime by palais royal and get my smoothie, yey!
29 July
10:30am - I realize I have quite a bit of work to do and not a lot of touristy things I want to do so I decide to make today a food/drink explore day. I check my long list to find work-places.
11:30am - I’m at Rivié, the cafe in the Hoxton hotel. It’s a very nice hotel with a very international clientele and feel; most guests are speaking English and the staff are half French half not. I sit outside enjoying the sunshine and free WIFI.
12pm - I have a delicious smoothie and a “hox monsieur” (though not my favorite, I feel I have to have a croque monsieur before I leave France and I made the right choice) with truffle fries, yumm!
2pm - Feeling ready for a change of pace, I venture out but not before exploring the inside. The hotel also has a lovely inside space which was mostly empty besides a few people on laptops, will definitely be coming back!
2:15pm - Wandering around the Canal St Martin area and enjoying the sunshine.
2:45pm - I get to La Chambre aux Oiseaux, a really cute and homey café just off the canal. After a small confusion about charging (it’s allowed just not for an extended period of time - “we had a very high electricity bill” I was told in French by the very nice owner), I’m sitting down with an amazing tea with thyme, honey and chamomile. I then spot a sign saying that laptops are not allowed between 12-3pm, I’m a little early but there’s no-one here on this Monday afternoon so I figure it’s ok.
3:40pm - To extend my time here I have a carrot cake which I’d heard good things about, was disappointed at first with the first bite being a bit dry but the next ones were great! There were a few more people here now.
5:35pm - Though they close at 6:30pm, they’re starting to close up while discussing their upcoming summer closure (most people in France have august off and establishments often follow suit) and I decide to head home, but not before taking a cheesecake to go! Really enjoyed my stay here, the husband and wife owners were very friendly. Whenever I’m in France I’m so happy I speak French as I find it lets me cut through the (often true) unfriendly Parisians stereotype and meet really lovely people.
7:10pm - I’m meeting a friend near the Hotel de Ville and I decide to try the scooters in Paris after having so much fun in Copenhagen. Decidedly more difficult with small/non-existent bike lanes and devil-may-care Parisian drivers, I push forward (literally) until I get to my final hurdle, cobblestone streets.
7:30pm - I meet my friend and we head to a nearby Scottish pub (auld alliance) for trivia night. She’d told me about it last time I visited and as it’s only on Tuesdays, I was adamant we go while I’m in Paris on a Tuesday.
8:30pm - After a dismal (for me) darts tournament, trivia night starts. Lucky me, tonight’s the last night of the summer so great timing.
10:45pm - The pub quiz has ended and we’ve done reasonably well (I’m thanking my mostly British education).
30 July
6am - Starting to get nervous for my Asia leg starting tonight - I’m in an internet rabbit hole getting nervous about apparently needing a lot of cash at Thai immigration and how to not get ripped off at ATMs. I frantically message my friend who’s currently in Thailand and tells me to calm down, it’s all ok and really pretty easy, no boatloads of cash required.
8am - I catch the free hotel breakfast and go back to sleep.
12pm - More rested after my early morning stress session, I walk to Pizzeria Popolare, the pizza-focused location of the Big Mamma group. It seems that the days of €5 pizza (like in Naples) that the internet had told me about are gone. but being 1 person, I got through the already pretty short for lunchtime line very quickly.
12:30pm - With the drinks menu looking so good, I decide to get a “papasteque” mojito (pastèque is grapefruit in French) and a buffalo margherita pizza, the burrata is calling my name but the hotel breakfast was more filling than I thought.
1:15pm - I meet my friend at the Tuileries gardens. We had the floated the idea of going to the Musée Orsay but ended up strolling through the beautiful gardens, taking touristy selfies with the in the distance Eiffel tower, and chilling on the public lounge chairs.
3pm - Saying goodbye to my friend, I rush back to the hotel, pick up my stuff and head to Gare du Nord to take the RER B to Charles de Gaulle airport for the last time.
7:30pm - I land in Frankfurt for my layover. I go on the WIFI and see I have an email requesting to do an interview.
9pm - I do a 15-minute phone call with hr over WIFI at the quietest place I can find near my gate in the busy Frankfurt airport.
10pm - Saying bye to Europe through the window, the seemingly mostly French/Dutch tourists and I take off for Bangkok.
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