Summer in Paris: BFF Visit

Dec 18, 2018

My bestie Aimee came to visit us for ten days in July! The last time we were together in Paris was March 2015.

Since it was the middle of summer and unbearably hot in Paris, we took a road trip to the seaside towns of Deauville, Trouville and Honfleur. Lucky for us, the weather was much cooler. We stayed at a beautiful, historic bed and breakfast in Deauville. I finally struck gold with my car rental skills. Not only did I get the actual car I reserved, a sweet ass brand new Volvo, but it was white which they never have (so sick of driving silver and beige cars!) If we ever buy a car in Paris, I am seriously considering a Volvo. I mean, if I can’t find a vintage Fiat Pop 500 with an automatic transmission or my dream car this light blue beauty. I guess Liv would have to sit on the hood.

It was a quick two hour drive west so we stopped in the village of Buorneville which is in the Normandy region. We needed to stretch our legs and I had to take a pic in front of this adorable Mairie. Little did we know that we stopped right in the middle of an insect horde and we were covered with hundreds of tiny black bugs. It was awful. Liv noticed them first and next thing we knew they were all over us. I have many things I cannot tolerate and bugs is high on the list. They were in my braids, all over the rental car, in our clothes. I was miserable during the rest of the drive. I planned to take photos of the picturesque village of Pont-Audemer but we just drove through without stopping. We felt like there should be warning signs saying watch out for tiny almost microscopic bugs that don’t bite but crawl all over you! Has that ever happened to anyone else? I still itch just thinking about it.

When we arrived in Deauville at our hotel Villa L’Augeval thirty minutes later we immediately jumped into the shower and changed.

Our room was quaint. Aimee, Liv and Lulu had their own tiny room to share.

The view from our window was more impressive than the room. This lovely church bells chimed every hour. Liv was stoked because our hotel had a pool.

We headed to a restaurant in Trouville-Sur-Mer for dinner which was highly recommended by our French friends.

Trouville-sur-mer is a 15 minute drive from Deauville and it’s so cute. Most of the houses have a Art-Deco Victorian style. We drove around picking which mansion would be our future beachside vacation house.

I am no fan of onions, as many of you may already know, however I have always been enticed by the smell of French onion soup in the past. I saw it on the menu and decided that I would be brave and give it a try. Aimee was excited to order seafood and oysters. Antz got a steak and Liv ordered something simple from the kids menu. Lulu just ate bread.

Well my dears, the onion soup was a big disappointment! I was excited to see the raclette of cheese covering the top and it smelled yummy but beneath the bland cheese was a bowl of warm water and big, almost raw onions. I was hoping for the creamy broth of soft onions I have seen at restaurants in LA but this was Normandy style which seems to translate to no seasoning. The plate of shrimp I ordered were served cold to my dismay and Aimee didn’t enjoy her food either. Yet another expensive meal we wish we just went to McDonalds. I swear I am trying my best to open my palette to French cuisine but no luck so far!

Liv got an ice cream cone for dessert. Antz took these lovely photos by the Trouville harbor, I love my new Modcloth dress which was giving me 1950s vibes and it has POCKETS!!

We dropped Aimee off at the hotel so she could take a nap and sleep off her horrible dinner and we drove to the beach to catch the sunset.

The Deauville American Film Festival has taken place since 1975. The Promenade des Planches was built in 1923 and now has the names of popular American actors and directors. I was surprised by some of the names we saw but happy to find my imaginary lover Jeffrey Goldblum. Olivia only knew Jessica Tandy from her role in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds.

The next day happened to be July 14th which is Bastille day in France! We began the day with a refreshing swim at our hotel.

She still loves to bellyflop!

We checked out of our room and headed to the beach for breakfast. But first, Liv challenged us to a game of table tennis. I beat them both!

I found the OG actors on the planches further down the boardwalk. Liz Taylor, Bette Davis and my girl Grace Kelly.

After promising Liv we would return so she could spend a day playing in the sand. We headed to Honfleur to spend the rest of the day before driving back into Paris.

Somehow there is an unspoken rule that when we see a Ferris Wheel, Liv must ride it, no questions.

It appears carousels follow this same rule as well.

Being weird with my best friend 21 years later.

The Honfleur harbor is giving me Copenhagen vibes.

Aimee was super stoked to finally get a delicious bowl of mussels! I don’t know how she eats them.

We listened to a French band play while we dined. There was a World Cup game playing so the entire town was distracted. I drove through Versailles to see if we could watch the Bastille day fireworks on our way back to the city but it was so crowded we couldn’t find parking and we were tired, so we zapped a few Invaders (how cool is this beheaded Louis the XVI?) and like the old, lame folks we are, we went home to bed.

Bonjournee!

Day trip to Reims, France

Oct 19, 2018

I sometimes freak myself out at how much I OVER-plan things for us to do. We were pretty tired from our trip to Cherbourg but I couldn’t resist getting tickets for the magnificent Marie Antoinette fireworks show. Since I still had the rental car for one more day, I decided it would be worth going since we could drive there from Paris. It was on a Friday evening so we surprised Liv after picking her up from school. The event was held in the beautiful Jardin Orangerie at Versailles. Of course, Liv wore her Marie Antoinette dress.

Although it was entirely in French, we were able to follow the story of Marie Antoinette’s life in Versailles. It was a whimsical show mixed with classical music and the most insane fireworks ever. Even the character’s costumes had fireworks. As tired as we were, the show was definitely worth it. We all agreed that it was the most spectacular fireworks show we have ever seen!

However, it was painful to get up at 5am the next morning to catch our 6am train to Reims. The good news was the trip was only 90 minutes long which felt like an instant on the high speed train. We were able to take a quick nap on the train.

Traveling from Gare l’est is the best. It’s only a ten minute bus ride away and it’s one of my favorite stations as far as cleanliness, food kiosks and because I use the SNCF app, I just scan a QR code on my phone to board the train.

Reims is in the Champagne region of eastern France and as much as you may want to pronounce it was Rey-ims…for some weird reason it’s pronounced Rance, like rhymes with France.

We hopped on the tram as soon as we arrived. Hooray for easy, accessible public transportation! This was a rare occasion that I didn’t have an itinerary scheduled for a trip. I always check out the Atlas Obscura website when we visit a new place. I usually visit the local church first, then see a landmark the area is known for and find somewhere off the beaten path. Liv and I also use our MAPS book as a guide to learn about the location we are seeing. It’s super informative and we adore the illustrations. I knew we wanted to go to the local champagne tasting rooms but since Liv was with us, I didn’t make a reservation. I wanted to check out the school named after President Roosevelt where the Germans signed the unconditional surrender of WWII. Liv got May 7th off from school in Paris for Victory Day. I never heard much about WWII when I was in school in America other than Pearl Harbor and Memorial day (which is pretty much celebrated with douchey spring break partying rather than reflection on the horror of war). My Mom always tells me that the reason why Europe is so forward thinking, and provides universal healthcare for their citizens is because they survived a war, so they know how to come together as a nation. Americans are a mess, PLEASE VOTE IN NOVEMBER!

Proud history nerd! Next we went to see Our Lady of Reims cathedral. It was built in 1211 and it is where all the kings of France were crowned. The church has been destroyed by fire but rebuilt many times. In 2011, the city of Reims celebrated her 800th anniversary! The French really know how to build a church.

Of course Liv lit a candle and we bought a souvenir coin to add to her collection.

Our next stop was to find a place for lunch. We walked around town but most places were closed since it was too early. We stopped in Flying Tiger because Liv loves that store.

I wish I bought this cute hand-crank fan because it was the hottest day ever! We couldn’t resist to pick up a bag of chocolates to snack on while we searched for a place to eat.

It was during World Cup fever so we got soccer themed white chocolate. We stopped by Maison Fossier, Liv loves their rose biscuits but we didn’t want to carry around the huge box all day and they sell them at Monoprix.

We encountered this awesome farmers market and sampled the fruit but they didn’t have any restaurants so we continued our search. We always seem to be too early or too late for lunch!

We noticed brasseries began to put out champagne bottles while we were walking by but we couldn’t start drinking before eating something. Liv and I got a ice cream cone to cool us down since it was like 100 degrees.

As tempting as those lovely avocado tarts looked, we continued walking around town to find a place to sit down and eat. We kept getting unlucky because I wanted to visit the town hall but of course it was closed for repairs.

We finally found an interesting place that was opening for lunch in a few minutes wait.

We were so happy to order fish n’ chips!

We enjoyed being able to lounge and get out of the sun. Of course as soon as we started eating the crowds arrived and everyone started smoking, cough!

So I knew it was time for a glass of champagne. We walked to this cool looking place.

When we inquired about a tasting they informed us they were closing early so no walk-ins. Merde! I called to see if we could make a reservation for the Perching bar which was outside of Reims.

I saw it on Pinterest and it looked very cool however they didn’t allow anyone under 18 inside so if we went, Liv would have to stay outside of the bar area. There was also a 40 minute drive to get there and Reims didn’t have Uber. The owner gave me a phone number of a car service but the driver wanted €45 each way in cash. We decided to decline because it would have taken too long to drive out there, plus the fare seemed excessive. We ended up walking back to the place we went to for lunch because I couldn’t leave without having some champagne.

To be honest, the champagne was just meh. Antz likes it more than I do. I think it’s too expensive (a bottle started at €75!) We noticed the Veuve Clicquot tasting room was closed while we were walking to the train station.

If you want to go champagne tasting in Reims, make an advance reservation!

We walked past a medieval church and a plaque dedicated to Joan d’Arc. It was too hot to really enjoy a walk around town so we headed for the train station a few hours early and waited in their air conditioned lobby.

Au revior Reims! Antz and I will have to return without the kid to share a bottle of bubbly.

Road Trip: Cherbourg & Beaches of Normandy

Sep 19, 2018

June is always a busy but special month for me. Liv’s birthday is at the beginning of the month, then Father’s Day and ends with Antz birthday. I rented a car and we drove to Cherbourg for a weekend trip for Antz birthday. I have wanted to visit Cherbourg ever since I saw the French musical “Les Parapluies de Cherbourg” Since Cherbourg is near the beaches of Normandy, we spent the day visiting Sainte-Mère-Église village, the Omaha Beach Memorial and the American Cemetery. The drive was over five hours and even though I normally would be able to drive longer than that in LA (I drove for eleven hours for our road trip to Portland) something about the French highways seems to lull me to sleep. I drove the first three hours and then Antz took over for the last two.

There were many tolls heading west towards Cherbourg. We also noticed livestock on the sides of the highway. At first we thought we were looking at sheep but with a closer look, they were golden cows! They were so pretty we pulled over and tried to snap a photo with some of the cows. The countryside is insanely pretty.

I was surprised at how small Cherbourg was. Our hotel was just across the street from the harbor.

We went for a walk around the town looking for a place to eat for lunch. Of course it was after 3 so we missed lunch and nothing was open until after 7pm.

We found this gorgeous fish market but they didn’t cook the food. Liv bought a bag of apricots, Antz and I got crepes to tide us over.

Les parapluies were everywhere. I only recently saw the French musical in the last few years although I have always been a big Catherine Deneuve fan. I also discovered that the guy who directed The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is one of Liv’s friend’s from school grandfather! How rad is that?!!

We walked around for an hour then hung out in our hotel room. By 7pm, we were starving so we went to the first restaurant we found that was open. We ordered a plateau de fruits de mer for Antz birthday dinner. To our surprise, shellfish is served cold and there’s no melted butter to dip. Sadly, no matter how many times we have tried, we don’t like oysters. As fancy as the meal looked, we really missed our annual seafood meal from Duke’s in Malibu.

We drove around town looking for the Cherbourg sign. Oddly, we could find it’s location on Google Maps so I relied on photos from Pinterest and my intuition. Finally, just as I was about to give up I drove right past it on a steep hill! Since the sign was so big, one of us had to run into the street to get a photo. We waited forever for someone to get a photo of all of us but it’s an isolated area. This selfie has made me want to travel with a reliable tripod. I just don’t see where we could have set one up since there were cars passing in the street.

The next day we grabbed breakfast at our hotel and headed out early.

I had to take a photo with my umbrella by the harbor before we left. Our first stop was Sainte-Mere-Eglise. We learned the heroic story of Private John Marvin Steele. As the 82nd Airborne soldiers parachuted into the village, they were under heavy attack by Germans. John survived the jump but his parachute got caught in the spinnet of the church. He hung there limp, playing dead for two hours before he was taken prisoner. He later escaped and captured 30 Germans. He was awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star for his valor. He is featured in the classic film The Longest Day.

Miraculously, it didn’t rain. The sun actually came out as we headed towards the American cemetery. I spent hours explaining the D-day invasion to Liv and she listened intently. I was surprised to see how interested in history an eight year old was. I think it hit her the most when I told her how many men were drafted into the war and how her Dad would have most likely been sent to fight if we were alive during that time. During the summer of 1944 over 100,000 total men died.

This was the most incredible experience for our family. France has always been a romantic place for us but visiting these sites where close to 10,000 people lost their lives felt very somber. We visited the memorial and watched a short film about World War II.
Below is Omaha beach.

Our last stop wasn’t planned but Liv was asking what happened to the German soldiers so we stopped at La Cambe German war cemetery. It definitely had a different vibe to it. There were very few people there. Over 21,000 German soldiers are buried there. The cemetery has 1,200 maple trees as a gift of peace.

If you are a history buff, I strongly recommend making this trip. Normandy Discovery Tours offers a tour by French locals. We saw a group of school children at the Omaha beach memorial. I really think that the difference between American children and European is our approach to the past. I feel like Americans shield their kids from the dark side of history but I believe that is doing them a disservice. They lack empathy and may grow up to make the same mistakes of bigotry and complacency. I talk to Olivia about everything, not to frighten her but to open her eyes to the world she lives in. She is a multiracial child so she doesn’t have the privilege to ignore the past suffering of her ancestors. Every accomplishment she makes in her life, she has many generations of proud Mexican and Black people cheering her on.

Visiting French castles

Sep 11, 2018

Liv and I were super bummed to find that we missed this year’s Fêtes Galantes (which is a fancy dress up event) at Versailles so I started researching castles nearby to visit. I decided it would be fun to play tourists and booked a day tour with Viator. We took a luxurious air conditioned coach to Château Vaux Le Comte and Fontainebleau. I was pleasantly surprised with the group we traveled with, mostly older folks but very friendly and lovely, not obnoxious tourists types. No-one even took pictures with an iPad!

Our first stop was the Château Vaux le Comte which is a baroque French château located in Mainly just southwest of Paris. The château was constructed from 1658 to 1661 for Nicolas Fouquet, Marquis de Belle Île, Viscount of Melun and Vaux, the superintendent of finances of Louis XIV. I read that this place was the inspiration for the palace of Versailles. Olivia was in heaven. She would wear her Marie Antoinette dress everyday if we let her. It was nice to visit a place that wasn’t packed with crowds and we were able to explore the château at our own pace.

This was the tree lined road to the château!

WOW! We walked up a narrow staircase to the tower.

This was a master bathroom from the 1600s!

The kitchen was in the basement to keep the food cool. Along with the Man in the Iron Mask.

We spent so much time in the chateau that we only had 45 minutes left to explore the huge gardens. We rented a golf cart and wow, it was so fun!

We made it back just in time to our coach and drove about a half an hour to château Fontainebleau. The earliest record of a fortified castle at Fontaineau dates to 1137. It became a favorite residence and hunting lodge of the Kings of France because of the abundant game and many springs in the surrounding forest. it took its name from one of the springs, the fountain de Bliaud, located now in the English garden, next to the wing of Louis XV.

I mean, I guess it’s alright.

To top off the opulence, there was a live piano concert playing in the enchanting musicians gallery.

As we were leaving we saw several wedding parties taking photos in front of the chateau. Tell me that sky is not painted.

She literally skipped all the way home.

Day Trip to Strasbourg, France

Aug 19, 2018

Strasbourg is located on the French/German border in the Alsace region of eastern France. We were super excited to visit this city. It’s a four hour train ride from Paris and since it’s so close to Germany, it has a Bavarian vibe to it. Most of the people speak German. We arrived on an unbelievably hot day so we were so happy to relax and enjoy our hour long river cruise! We only had five short hours in the city before we had to take the train back so we rushed through the sightseeing.

Gare de l’est is one of my favorite train stations in Paris. It’s smaller than it’s neighbor Gare Nord but it has a charming appeal and a turn-of-the-century vibe to it. Amelie was filmed there so of course I adore it.

We had breakfast at Starbucks and had some freeloaders came begging for our crumbs.

The train ride to Strasbourg was a long one, over four hours, however we had an awesome Club four seat which meant we could play games and spread out comfortably.

We arrived in Strasbourg a little after noon and hopped on the tram to take us into the city center.

The city was packed with tourists. We immediately hit the Strasbourg Cathedral of our Lady. It’s enormous, you can’t miss it. Mozart played the organ in the cathedral! The Sherlock Holmes sequel was filmed there.

The cruise was super cute, you listen on headphones to characters give the history of medieval Strasbourg. We were so grateful for the air conditioned covered bateau!

This was our first time passing through a river lock. There are parts of the river that are higher so you go inside a tunnel part of the water (this is the lock) and a door closes behind the boat, then for four minutes water floods the area and the boat rises. Then the door ahead of us opens and we continue up the river. Locks are more common in England but there are some at the canal Saint-Martin in Paris.

Those holes you see in the walls were where they placed canons. Did you know that Strasbourg is one of the capitals of the European Union?

Don’t tell anyone, I don’t like pretzels unless they are the sugary, American kind from Auntie Anne’s in the mall. The architecture of the city blew me away. It’s like walking through a fairy tale!

While we were on our cruise, we missed the Pride parade. There are more students living in Strasbourg than any other age group. During our canal tour we learned that close to 50,000 students attend the University of Strasbourg.

Since we were in a rush, I almost left without seeing the place that was my entire reason for visiting Strasbourg, this lovely river side restaurant I found on Pinterest. I didn’t know the name of the place so the only clue I had was the sign on the covered ivy. Luckily I could make out “Au Pont St. Ma—” after a Google search and asking locals, we found it. Most of the places I visit are inspired by a photo I found on Pinterest. My travel board has over 600 places I hope to visit one day.

After staring at the river for awhile, we had to call an Uber to rush back to the train station to make our train back to Paris.

We loved Strasbourg so much that we were bummed we didn’t get to spend more time exploring. Luckily we are planning a trip to Colmar which is near Strasbourg soon.

Batorama boat tour
Embarcadère : Palais Rohan
67100 Strasbourg

Moving Abroad: Month Four

Jul 31, 2018

Well, as you can see I just skipped right over June into July for our monthly update. I can’t tell you how much we love living here, but nowhere is perfect so I will also let you know what isn’t working for me. We are finally settled into our apartment here in the lovely Marais. We live in the upper part of the 3rd arrondissement and feel like we are in a prime location. We have this beautiful view and it’s still unbelievable that we live here.

Now that summer is here we have been enjoying longer days. It’s weird to us Americans that the sun doesn’t begin to set until after 10 pm at night! Liv usually goes to bed at 9:30 pm and it’s still bright and lively outside. Liv’s last day of school was Friday and these three extra weeks of school have been killing me. I have so many trips planned and guests coming to visit that I couldn’t wait for her to be done with school. She started second grade in Los Angeles during the last week of August 2017 and she finished the first week of July 2018! I would say that’s too long but she missed almost three weeks in March so I’m happy for was able to make up the missed time.

I’m super bummed because her school director is retiring this year and we have already established a rapport with him. I am skeptical to meet his replacement. No one will replace my sweet Harry Potter looking Monsieur W. I have met several parents of Liv’s classmates and even volunteered for a school fête. Even though I didn’t understand anyone I was very popular because I was serving the rosé.

What you don’t see in this photo is when I ran out of “blue” juice for the kids and I already pre-poured Rosé for the parents, someone brought out “pink” juice for the kids and it was identical in color so I had to keep track of which cup had juice for kids and which had wine for adults. I mean, it is France so no one seemed to care if a kid had a sip of rosé. Much less uptight people.

Liv invited us to the most adorable recital. Her Grandmother would be so proud of her xylophone timing. How adorable is her music teacher?!

Liv has a close friend in her class who speaks English but she is moving to Canada. Her parents invited us to their Farewell picnic at Parc des Buttes-Chaumont.

We have met such fascinating people (many are journalists and writers) and most of them are expats! Our new friends have lived in Paris for more than ten years so they gave us invaluable advice for living abroad. We were welcomed into their group and we are looking forward to getting together with them soon for happy hour!

We are fortunate to live on a lively street and we’ve become accustomed to the late night noise (reminds me of late-night parties in Highland Park minus the ranchero music) however the cigarette smoke from the bar seems to rise up to our third floor and destroy my eyes. I know I am hyper sensitive but I can smell a cigarette a mile away and it’s sometimes hard to sleep! We don’t have a TV in our apartment so we watch Netflix and Hulu (Handmaids Tale is getting too close to reality!) on our iMac computer but we have been keeping up with this silly little thing called the World Cup by the cheering from the two restaurants on our street! ALLEZ LES BLEUS!!

We know absolutely nothing about soccer (or any sports) but I love supporting France.

So this is the longest I’ve gone without having an actual television with cable in my forty-one years and I must admit, I like not being a slave to the boob tube. It’s nice to not get caught up in the 24 hour CNN drama or spending idle hours watching reality/trash. The only reason we don’t have telly here is our apartment manager promised to hook up new cords for the tv but never sent a guy. We have learned to pick our battles with this apartment management. When we first moved in, I was livid that we didn’t have wifi for almost two weeks. Like, I was ready to sue these people and I raised the loudest, most obnoxious stink about it. I demanded compensation for the days without wifi and they laughed at me and were like “Who’s gonna check me, Boo?” Then finally, they sent a dude over and he set up the router in Liv’s room right on the lovely fireplace mantle.

He told me there was nowhere else he could hook it up in the apartment. The French have a way about making you feel grateful for when they do the bare minimum. I mean by the time the kid installed the wifi, I didn’t care if the modem it was in the middle of the bathroom. I just was desperate to get back onto Instagram and check my emails. Then there was a list of repairs we needed in the apartment. We were told the handyman would come on the first day we moved in, and he did…but instead of the list of things I wanted fixed, he was only there to fix a broken lock on a window. That he didn’t even fix! So days passed and we went out and bought a new shower head and lamp for Liv’s room but Antz could only halfway install them without his tools. He rigged the showered to work with a hair scrunchie but it took days to get the repair guy back to install it correctly. He halfassed installed the lamp (notice how crooked it is in the photo) and sort of ignored the rest of my list so c’est ce que c’est. After a month of waiting for the TV cord, we decided to let it go. There so many great elements of living here to complain.

The good news is the rude, noisy pigeon I told you about either moved or is dead and I couldn’t be happier! I’ve grown accustomed to the loud, rowdy bar downstairs (they seriously sing Queen songs all night long) however it’s the morning after that bugs me. On our walk to school in the morning Liv and I play a game called don’t step on the broken glass bottles or dog shit. It’s not a fun game. I suppose I didn’t spend close to the same time walking the streets of LA, so I wasn’t aware if there was a people not cleaning up after their dog problem but here, it’s ridiculous. Like mountains of poop and evidence of many unfortunate people slipping in it. Now that there was been less rain (to wash the shit away) and scorching hot weather, along with the daily garbage on the street, you could just imagine the smell. On the brighter side, the boulangeries tend to overpower the stench with the smell of fresh baked bread and I hear the streets are filthier in New York.

I was lucky to get to celebrate two Mother’s day (American and French) so I was treated by my loves to brunch at my favorite place, named after my favorite flowers Peonies. It’s a tiny, cute cafe that also has flower workshops downstairs. We have been a few times and it’s our favorite place to get carrot cake.

I have been forced into eating healthier against my will because the food here has less chemicals and preservatives and I find the fast food is pretty gross. I still miss In & Out and fried chicken desperately. However I have been fine with eating rotisserie chicken and buttery croissants. When we were in Nantes waiting forever for the delayed train, I bought a bag of cheetos from a vending machine. The bag looked identical to the ones in LA but I’ll never forget the taste of stale cardboard and dust. Nothing remotely like good ole’ American cheesy cheetos. That awful taste will follow me to my end of days. I even craved a salad for the first time in years a few days ago. We found a salad bar place near our apartment that makes custom salads.

Father’s Day was the same date in France as the Us so we took Antz for Fête des Pères to a space I heard about on the ‘Gram. I didn’t know what to expect when we trekked out to the boonies (13th arrondissement) across the river. Station F is an old train station turned into a massive co-work space and restaurant called La Felicità which reminds me of Downtown LA’s Grand Central Market.

You can see it’s pretty rad. Most of the restaurants are Italian. Italy happened to be playing in the World Cup semi-finals during our dinner so the staff was singing songs in Italian.

The food was really good! I had truffle pasta and Antz had smoked salmon. Of course Liv had pizza. We definitely will go back again.

This month there has been lots of people selling antiques on the street of our neighborhood. I have been browsing all the magnificent wicker baskets but I haven’t committed to buying anything just yet. I would have taken more photos but I was yelled at by a guy when I took a photo of his dinosaurs. I don’t understand the no photos stance here at all.

I wanted to buy a bouquet for our apartment so I mustered the courage to visit the lovely flower shop by our apartment and I made the transaction without speaking any English! The owner, Julie, barely spoke English as well so we used a lot of sign language. We put together this pretty bouquet and I made a new friend.

The end of May and early June we saw a surge of art take over the city. Aimee told me to get my ass over to the Palais du Tokyo to see the dollhouse exhibit that looked exactly like Olivia’s Calico Critter dollhouse. Liv damn near lost her mind when she saw the exact same rabbit family she has living on the top floor.

This cute little place emerged from Gare Nord.

A new rad mural popped up around the corner from our place.

So just as I was sad about missing the Los Angeles Invasion by one of my favorite street artists, Space Invader, I was shook to see that my hero BANKSY hit up Paris with new art! I happened to be driving a rental car when I found out he put up a piece in the Porte la Chappelle area. We found it very quickly based on his Instagram posts and just my luck…we found this.

Just a few hours in daylight and someone already destroyed it. I understand why Banksy installed it in this neighborhood. It’s a migrant area in a rough part of the 18th arrondissement. I guess they didn’t like the attention the art piece was creating when they are suffering there. I hate to say it, but the migrants here in Paris are still treated better than in America. PATHETIC!

On the drive home, we found this Banksy a few blocks from our apartment next to the Georges Pompidou Center in le Marais.

Early morning the next day, I stopped at Bataclan before returning the rental car and found this shrouded angel Banksy. Have you seen the Netflix documentary about the November 13th attack? I have watched it several times and it’s heartbreaking to hear the events of that night directly from the survivors.

Antz and I spent an early morning Banksy hunting while Liv was still in school and we found a few. The Napoleon one is also in the 18th near the Stalingrad Metro. The poor doggy is located in the 5th near La Sorbonne.

There are a couple more I didn’t see in person but I haven’t been anywhere near the Eiffel Tower (tourist trap) or Montmartre (I don’t go there because it’s all hills). Also, I heard someone carved out the mouse on the champagne cork. I didn’t hear about his last piece which is about the student uprising that took place at the Sorbonne in May 1968 until a few weeks later. I also found a recent Invader in the area that also commemorates the May 1968 student protests.

These are from his website.

On Liv’s last week of school we had an after school snack (known as the goûter) at the Hello Kitty Pop Up Matcha Cafe. The matcha donuts were yummy but we didn’t like the matcha iced lattes.

So all is well so far. We have found the cutest laundromat near our place however, it’s pricey to me (I usually do three loads for €40!) but I rather have nice fluffy dry towels which makes doing laundry there bearable. Liv has been a wonderful laundry helper.

I’m sorry I’ve taken forever to post lately but I gave my blog theme a makeover and it took my old lady brain ages to figure it out and I’ve been super busy with all the many trips we’ve taken in the last few months. I promise to post about them soon.

Bonne journée mes amis!

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Le Dîner en Blanc Paris 2018

Jul 6, 2018

Our fifth Dîner en Blanc was extra special because it was the 30th anniversary and Olivia joined us this year!

I was fortunate to have Antz craft these gorgeous crepe paper peonies for my headpiece. We found his Venetian mask for less than €7 at an art supply store near our apartment. I bought a huge, beautiful bouquet of white peonies for our table the day before but sadly they opened too soon so the day of the event, they were starting to whilt. I bought a bunch of babies breath (Les gypsophiles) and stuck them in Liv’s hair. We took an Uber to the Air France Museum. We arrived almost an hour early but I didn’t want to risk being late.

After checking in my group and waiting forever for the departure time, we walked a few blocks to Esplanade des Invalides. I was certain it would be further at the Jardin de Tuileries but this location was large enough to accommodate 13,000+ guests from all over the world!

We couldn’t have asked for nicer weather. This year was the 30th anniversary of the DEB and as fickle as French weather can be, not once has it been canceled due to rain. We didn’t bring our roll-up table this year but we bought a patio table from Monoprix and borrowed two chairs from our friends in Nation. We used a grocery cart to wheel them around and put the tableware and food in my wicker cart. I bought our white plates, a white serving tray and our gold flatware from Ikea. You may remember from our last Dîner en Blanc Paris, our lovely desserts were smashed in my bag during the transport, so I made extra special care to have them wrapped and put in a smash-proof box. Wouldn’t you know it, the warm weather melted the white meringue! I am cursed when it comes to our desserts, only one barely survived.

I love how Liv is eyeing the only dessert that survived.

After I passed out sparklers to my table of guests and the official napkin twirl, Antz popped our champagne and we took a few sips before heading off to find our friends.

The coolest thing happened when we were wandering around admiring all the creative outfits and table settings. A woman ran up to me and excitedly told me she follows my blog! I was stunned by her kindness and enthusiasm. I totally love meeting new people at this event and finding out that someone is genuinely entertained by my blog made my night. Enchanté LaToya, you were a delight to meet!

We had to say Bonsoir to the founder of Dîner en Blanc, François Pasquier and his lovely wife. The genie guy was a bonus I suppose, I was sad that I forgot to take a photo with Antz in the picture, LAME! I did have a moment to exclaim my love for the dinner and babble about our move to Paris to his wife as I was a bit tipsy from the champagne.

Technically, the event is for ages 18 and over but everyone welcomed Liv with hugs and were impressed by her level of French fluency. Everyone wanted to take a photo with her and were blown away by her maturity. I had to convince them that she just turned eight!

We finally found my friend Aymeric and he introduced us to his stunning girlfriend!

The Eiffel Tower was sparkling in the background.

We were exhausted and Liv had school the next day so around midnight, we packed up and called an Uber.

I am so happy we brought Olivia to experience her first Dîner en Blanc. Paris is always a magical place but this dinner has an extra special place in my heart for the past five years. This photo was taken by the press and it shows the 13,000 attendees.

If you may be interested in attending, you must be invited through a member. Let me know, I get a few invites per year around April/May. I just may be retiring from the event with exception to attending the DEB in Iceland!

Here’s previous Dîner en Blanc 2013, 2014, 2015

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Day trip to Nantes, France

Jun 19, 2018

Before arriving in France I had a long list of places to travel and things to see. Antz, Liv and I all agreed that one of them was seeing the Les Machines de l’île in Nantes. I purchased annual SNCF passes because they were on mega sale (they are usually €75 each but I got them for €29!) These passes give us discounts on train fares for trips on the weekends and a special child fare. We plan to take so many train trips, I think it’s a wise investment. So I’m sure you have never heard of Les Machines de l’île or le Grand Élephant so pop over to their website to see what I’m talking about.

We have watched several videos about these magical creatures so I booked a day trip to Nantes to surprise the kid a week before her birthday!

The train ride to Nantes was our longest to date. Just over 4 hours but we sat in a Club Four which is a set of four chairs facing each other with a table. This configuration is rare to book so we really enjoyed it. We departed from Gare Austerlitz.

We did everything you could during the four hour ride. We played video games on our phones, ate snacks, napped, read books, colored in Liv’s coloring book and played an intense game of Uno. I taught Liv how to play the card game Speed (my favorite game when I was in high school). We arrived after noon and it took awhile to figure out how to navigate the part of town where the machines were. I would think it is such a popular attraction, the tram would take us directly there. However, we took a tram for about 20 minutes and then had to walk over a long bridge before we found the site.

We were shocked to be sitting next to this cutie on the tram! Our cat Lola would never sit so obediently let alone let us put a harness on her.

We walked past the Château des ducs de Bretagne but it was closed and there was a protest happening nearby.

During the long walk across the bridge I was wondering if we would end up having to climb that ladder to get to the Le Carrousel Mondes des Marins. It’s hidden in plain sight!

We had no idea what this gentleman was selling when we first saw him riding past. I was hoping for some cotton candy but it turned out to be marshmallow squares in very unique flavors.

It’s hard to describe the Marine Worlds Carousel. It’s part steampunk, part nautical. There are three levels. The lower (Ocean floor) levels don’t have a floor, so you board via a moveable gangplank which Liv and I felt too apprehensive to ride. So we climbed to the top. I was so captivated by the sea creatures I kept forgetting to take pictures. It’s so huge I couldn’t get a shot of everything to fit!

As you can see it’s a very surreal experience. I was explaining to Liv how the characters reminded me of the films of Terry Gilliam. The only one she has seen is Doctor Parnassus but she got the idea.

When we reached the top, we were happy to find a floor and the raddest set of creatures. Each one has a moving element that you control like a marionette. Some by steering and some by pedals or pumps. It was very cool but also odd. I couldn’t capture the entire carousel in photos due to the sheer size of it. I loved the music they were playing too. It reminded me of one of my favorite singers Tom Waits.

Next we walked over to the mechanical elephant. I was surprised to see a sign saying that the elephant ride was sold out. It was close to 1pm, and they weren’t due to close until 7pm that evening. When I found someone who spoke English she said they had to close early due to thunderstorms. What a bummer! So we took some photos and marveled at the giant wooden elephant. The gracefulness in it’s movement and agility was remarkable. I wish we could have experienced riding it but seeing it up close was rad.

I’m so glad I brought my wide lens for my camera because our iPhones couldn’t fit it in one frame in photos. Antz took this amazing video with his iPhone X.

Liv and Antz went inside the Gallery and Liv was chosen to steer the giant Ant!

She loved it! We had lunch at the restaurant on the site. It was just about to close so the menu was limited. I got the last Caesar salad they had and Antz and Liv had a chicken sandwich.

The last thing we did was check out the smaller carousel. This one was similar to the large one and the creatures were interactive too. Absolutely enchanting.

The elephant returned from his walk and Liv got a surprise!

She dried off with an ice cream cone and we browsed the gift shop. I bought Liv a Nantes souviner gold coin for her collection and I bought a coffee table book about the Royal Deluxe Company. It was heavy in my backpack but I knew they didn’t have it on Amazon and it’s such a beautiful photography book, I couldn’t pass it up. I hope to one day see them perform in person since I have watched every single youtube video of their amazing giant puppets. The work they do is incredible but they don’t announce their shows until a few days in advance so it’s hard to catch them.

After spending the entire afternoon at Les Machines de l’île, we decided to take the tram back to the train station a little early because Antz had a headache and Liv was tired. To our surprise when we arrived at the tram, it was closed by the local police for some unknown reason. I tried to order an Uber but the app wasn’t working (no wifi) so we had to walk over an hour back to the train station.

Lucky for us we left early or we would have arrived there late. We sat patiently waiting for our train arrival. Poor Antz headache got so bad we had to go to the pharmacy and buy him some medication. Just when our train was 15 minutes from boarding we saw this on the train schedule display.

I asked Liv what en retard meant in French and she said LATE! It took forever to find an English speaking staff person and they told me that due to lightening striking the train tracks, all trains going to Paris were delayed for an indeterminate amount of time. So we ended up stranded at the train station for FOUR HOURS! The staff brought out little snack boxes and bottled water for everyone but it felt like the apocalypse. People were grabbing the boxes like a riot and Antz headache was worsening. Liv didn’t feel great either and it was too hot to wait inside the station so we sat outside at the tracks which meant we couldn’t hear any updates. The announcements were all in French anyway. We started to panic and worry that we would have to book a hotel for overnight. Then finally around the time we were scheduled to arrive back in Paris, we saw everyone getting up and heading towards the tracks downstairs. We pushed through like cartoon super heros and jumped on the train and sat at the first club four seats we saw. Since all the trains to Paris were late, the staff didn’t check our tickets and we didn’t bother to find our original seats. An English speaking couple sat down across from us and told us we were in their seats but I guess I gave the guy a look like Reagan from the Exorcist and he nicely said, No worries, we’ll sit here. The train ride was supposed to be 4 hours but they put the pedal to the metal and got us into Paris by 1 am. I have never seen more exhausted and frustrated people from all over the world collectively sleep like we did. We were all happy to be out of Nantes.

I scheduled an Uber before the train stopped in Paris before all the other passengers but I still got hit with double the fare surcharge. Merde! I told our French friends about enduring this trip and they laughed and said Welcome to France!

So despite being disappointed about the elephant ride and the long train delay, we had a good time. I didn’t think the town of Nantes was particularly awesome. As Antz put it, if you seen one town in France you’ve seen them all.

Tant pis!

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The Hoxton Hotel Paris

Jun 9, 2018

Bonjour from the most comfy, freaking awesome hotel I’ve ever stayed at. The Hoxton hotels are popping up in all major cities and they are my new favorite place to stay. Last month we stayed at the Hoxton in Shoreditch. I liked the hipster vibes in the lobby spaces (they had a photo booth and DJ) and the location was perfect but the room wasn’t blowing me away. It was tiny, borderline cramped and there wasn’t a view of anything special. Other than an enormous wall-to-wall bed, and great shower water pressure, I was quite underwhelmed. Or maybe I was bitter from banging my knee in that stupid drawer that wouldn’t close!

We were scheduled to move out of the apartment we were exchanging on May 1st so I booked one night at the Hoxton hotel, Paris. We found out that May 1st is Labor day in France so that meant we couldn’t move into our new apartment until May 2nd due to the holiday. Then we extended the dates of our exchange with our swappers so we had access to their apartment until May 15th. This gave us a staycation overnight in the 2nd arrondissement. It’s an area close to our new apartment but not a part of Paris I have hung out in much. We packed light and took the Metro in the rain of course! I didn’t have anything planned to do other than order room service and sleep. Poor Antz had to work so we just hung out in the hotel which felt like a mansion. It’s located in a beautifully restored 18th century building. The hotel is stunning. I would do a poor job at trying to describe how beautifully they combined old with new. I took all the photos I could. There were so many people in the common areas I had to wake up at 6 am to have the place all to myself. It was the most fun hotel I’ve stayed at for less than 24 hours!

Look at this insane lobby!

You guys! This lobby blew me away. I can’t get over that staircase, the furniture, the atrium windows, the bar. The reception was in a different part of the lobby through a sitting area with a living wall. The Hoxton Paris is not here to be mediocre!

At first glance I was sure the plants were fake but upon closer inspection, they are indeed real, growing plants.

I booked a roomy size room so I requested the least boring room that was available. The guy said “I’ve never had that request before.” I’m not sure if mentioning this helped us score a better room but it never hurts to ask. I have gotten many free upgrades just by asking.

So this ensuite is RAD! Antz and I want to build a bathroom addition to our house and this is what we want! The industrial metal and glass windows, the tile, the copper fixtures, those sconces… I WANT IT ALL!

Liv finds landline telephones so fascinating. They are like ancient relics to her, she enjoys ordering room service for us in French.

Of course the kid wants a mirror like this in her room so she can practice ballet.

After lunch we explored the rest of the hotel. We found this beautiful library.

Hands up if this hotel blows your mind?!

Liv and I went downstairs to hang out and drink spa water while Antz worked.

Every space has gorgeous floors! I am obsessed with herringbone hardwood floors. I can’t wait to get a quote on installing them in our living room in our house in LA.

The staff told me to check out the Jacques Bar which is a speakeasy hidden away in the hotel.

The lovely bartender made me a special grapefruit concoction. This guy was a serious mixologist and watching him work was like watching an artist. He hand carved the ice from that giant block. He added edible flowers and his frothing technique was impressive. The drink was perfection. I am a lightweight so any drink that isn’t overpowering with alcohol is for me. I had two of these!!

I called Antz to come down for a break and he ordered a whiskey drink. Such an adult.

Imbibed by the spirits!

The next morning appeared in about 15 minutes. This place had the fastest speed wifi we had since arriving in France. It was very hard to leave.

After uploading all these photos, I finally got out of bed and showered in that lovely spacious bathroom with time for breakfast downstairs.

OMG! Just when I fallen into a daily croissant rut, they made the yummiest avocado toast and poached eggs. The Hoxton Paris is so legit, I was living my best life!

Still can’t get over this staircase and the light!

Au revoir, I hope to return again soon.

The Hoxton Paris
30-32 Rue du Sentier
75002 Paris, France

The hotel gave me a discount code if anyone is interested in booking a room, let me know! I highly recommend booking a night if you come to Paris, it’s a five star joint with impeccable service.

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Magical Mont Saint-Michel

Apr 16, 2018

We took our first long train ride to the magical village of Mont Saint-Michel.

Mont Saint-Michel is an island commune in Normandy, France. It is located about one kilometre off the country’s northwestern coast, at the mouth of the Couesnon River near Avranches and is 100 hectares (247 acres) in size. As of 2009, the island has a population of 44.

The train ride was three hours each way and it’s a lovely picturesque way to see the countryside. I am still looking for those adorable furry lambs like the ones in Marie Antoinette.

It rained most of the morning but luckily, the sun appeared just as we were driving toward the castle!

We took the Metro to Gare Montparnasse, we got a little turned around and practically had to run to make our train (which was super far from the Metro entrance).

We had to get off and switch to a coach that drives us the rest of the way. It was rainy and cloudy most of the morning but as we approached, the sun came out.

We opted to take the horse drawn carriage across the bridge which fit the theme of heading towards a castle (if it weren’t for the hundreds of other tourists). You can also take a tram or walk for free. There were tons of teenagers walking across the clay colored sand covered in mud, gross!

Shout out to the tourist who we asked to take our picture for cropping out beautiful Mont Saint-Michel for us. I love when someone takes your photo and it comes out horrible but you have to politely say Oh, it came out great to not seem awkward. Luckily, Antz took a selfie with his long arms. We really need to hire a photographer to follow us wherever we go, totally necessary expense.

We Face-timed my Mom and showed her the village. I am so happy we gave her an iPhone and added her to our cell phone plan before moving. She still had a flip phone and I just recently taught her how to text. She now loves to send me random emojis!

This was the clay that surrounds the castle. You can walk across it during low-tide.

The lazy part of me was like there’s no way I was going to make it up the stairs to the top of that castle but fortunately, there is a main road that gradually weaves you to the top. We saw some people taking a rather steep and narrow short cut but they are crazy.

This kid wanted us to buy her a sword so bad but we were firm, she has three swords at home (in Paris) that she crafted with her Dad. I did pick up a France enamel pin and I bought the kid a gold souvenir coin to go with her collection.

We found a beautiful, small church close to the top. Since the Saint-Michel abbey was full of tourists, we hung out here. Liv asked to light a candle for Grandma Maria and we said a prayer. I haven’t seen a chandelier inside a church like this before. So magnificent!

We had lunch at one of the many Normandie cuisine restaurants. The food was so-so but the atmosphere was nice to take a break from the crowds.

I recommend taking a day trip to Mont Saint-Michel. No need to stay longer, there are only a handful of hotels and you can see everything in three hours or less. The village is overrun with tourists and crowded, so go early. I wouldn’t recommend wearing rubber wellies, after seven hours on my feet, I was done.

Liv’s white dress and detachable ruffle collar are from Little Creative Factory.
Her rain boots are from Bobo Choses.
The fox and rabbit headdress are from Animalesque.
My pink Victorian dress is from ASOS and it’s currently on sale.

We got many strange looks and our waitress asked if we were going to a party. We are getting used to it.

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