In Love In Paris — ALEXANDRA.MBK

In typical Alex fashion, I had no concrete idea of what I wanted to do when I graduated college. After a fairly tumultuous experience at Northwestern, I had accepted that I was not going to pursue acting and singing as a career, but I still did not know what I wanted to do. When I transferred back home to UNL, I felt so lost and ashamed that I was stepping away (for excellent reasons) from what had always been my ultimate dream. With the help of my mom and incredible friends, I began the (long) process of figuring out who I was. While I enjoyed the remainder of my college experience at UNL immensely, I was no closer to knowing what I wanted to do with my life at the end of it. Enter my Aunt Preeta, who encouraged me to sit in the uncertainty and to try to find some clarity about what I wanted and what felt right to me. She gifted me a month-long trip to Europe through Contiki, a travel group for young individuals (18-35 I believe), and I took off on my own ready and grateful to explore the world. While I cannot say that the trip gave me full clarity on the correct path, each stop illuminated pieces of myself along the way. And my first stop was Paris.

Contiki - European Spirit (2013)

I think out of personal rebellion and in response to everyone loving Paris, I did not have high expectations. I went in thinking it would be overrated and not for me (I’m big on Italy, what could France possibly offer, right?). But of course, I was so wrong. Upon landing, I went and explored the Louvre by myself and walked down the Champs-Élysées, gorging myself on macaroons and coffee. I felt so incredibly independent and in my element. It is the “city of love,” but I fell in love with the city itself. And as I explored Paris with all of my new friends, I secretly and desperately hoped that one day I would be able to return with my person, with a love that would help me understand the true beauty of the city. Unbeknownst to me at the time, I would return, almost exactly eight years later to the day with my brand new husband, during a global pandemic on what would turn out to be a “weekend Honeymoon.”

(Sorry not sorry for the quick wedding highlights pics and incredible wedding video below)

After we returned from our wedding in the US for a month, I had a feeling that we had a small window where we may be able to squeeze in a few weekend trips (testing for COVID before and after) before the EU began cracking down on restrictions again (and HAHA I was super right - lockdown extended to May 9, 2021 as of now from when it began in November 2020). So I knew I needed to prioritize what we would do as it could be a long time before we were able to travel again, and two cities that I was insistent to do with Matt were Paris and Venice. My mom graciously used points and got us an AMAZING hotel in the heart of Paris for two nights and we took the 7-hour train ride from Munich to Paris, which left at 5:40 AM and arrived in Paris at 1:00 PM. As we made our way to our hotel, we noticed that everybody was wearing a mask, and we quickly learned that it was required to wear your mask everywhere, even outdoors, in Paris. So while we were constantly aware that we were in a pandemic, we were also keenly aware of how lucky we were to travel again and happily wore our masks everywhere (except when taking pictures, of course).

Once we settled in, I had arranged for us to do a walking tour of Montmartre at our own pace, which is an incredible neighborhood that was the creative Mecca for artists and authors, housing both places of debauchery (Moulin Rouge) and incredible places of worship (Sacré-Coeur). I made Matthew watch Amélie with me the day before we went, a wonderful and bizarre French movie that takes place in Montmartre, so we thought it was the perfect place to start our weekend in Paris. We began at Place Pigalle and walked around the Butte du Montmartre (the hill of the martyrs), learning about how this area transitioned from being a bucolic setting outside of Paris to “the most radical artistic neighborhood in the world” (the Rick Steves Audio Tour was super informative and allowed us to explore at our own pace - highly recommend downloading the app and seeing if there’s a walking tour provided for where you are vacationing next!). We saw the Folies Pigalle, which was once a café frequented by Van Gogh, Matisse, and Degas but eventually became a gentlemen’s club of sorts for the Nazis in the 1940s. Today, Montmartre is fairly sordid and hosts many “darker pleasures” shops, but the creativity that thrived here still makes it uniquely inspiring and fascinating. Walking along, we saw so many iconic French places, like “Le Chat Noir” (translated as “The Black Cat), a niche entertainment hall for eccentric artists, and of course, Le Moulin Rouge (translated as “The Red Mill”), the world famous cabaret. It was bizarre, to say the least, to see the area fairly empty and abandoned when it was teeming with people and excitement when I was here last.

A typical Paris afternoon - the lighting and colors are stunning

After marveling at Le Moulin Rouge, we took a short break for caffeine and a snack (you can never eat too much in Paris) at a random Asian café (spring rolls and Diet Coke, yes please). We could see the Café des Deux Moulins from where we ate, which is the café Amélie worked at in the movie. We continued walking up Rue Lepic where we saw the site of Van Gogh’s sojourn in Paris - one of the few happier times in his life and where he began experimenting with the use of vibrant colors. As we kept walking further up the hills, we could see stunning views of Paris from Le Moulin de la Galette, which is the only original windmill remaining in Montmartre today and explored little parks within the city, including the park on Rue Girardon with the statue of Saint Denis, the first Bishop of Paris who was beheaded by the Romans in the 3rd century (the name “hill of martyrs” may be based on this, but also may have been a reference to Pagan times). As we took in our surroundings, we learned about the dramatic tales of Parisian artists in the area, filled with tumultuous romances, attempted and only sometimes successful suicides, and incredible amounts of ego - the history of the individual artists feeds into the narrative of Montmartre so well and gives the whole place a distinct mysterious quality that is captivating and so utterly Paris all at once. Finally, after walking by La Maison Rose (the brothel turned cafe where Van Gogh contracted syphilis) and Le Jardin Sauvage (the wild vineyards whose failure in the late 19th century led to increased consumption of absinthe and the rumor of the “green fairy”), we made it to the magnificent Le Sacré-Coeur, which is an absolutely gorgeous cathedral itself, but also hosts the most magnificent views of Paris from its elevated spot.

Though we did briefly go inside Le Sacré-Coeur, we spent more time gazing out at Paris, watching groups of people drink beer and champagne on the lawn and listen to quintessential Parisian music filter through the breeze. Le Sacré-Coeur itself was built in response to the “moral corruption” of the Franco-Prussian War and was not finished until WWI, so it is relatively new. It does have statues of King Louis IX, the French king who introduced the right to a fair trial and the end of judicial torture essentially, and Joan of Arc, who rallied the French against the English and was subsequently burned as a witch. After this relaxing yet informative tour, we walked down the many steps and around the carousel and all the little shops. Eventually, we were starving, but saw no restaurants serving anyone (and it was 7 PM, 1.5 hours later than our usual dinner time). We finally found a little French bistro and were the first people they served for dinner for the evening. In terms of French cuisine, the place was only “okay,” but it did not matter - drinking champagne, gorging on bread and French cheese, and sitting outside in Paris with my husband made it special and an incredible end of a very long day. Because we had an amazing hotel with a great view of the Eiffel Tower, we fell asleep watching the Eiffel Tower’s light show from our room.

A common sighting in Paris - I swear I saw this exact same scene and set of people last time I was here in 2013

Our second day started with a sampling of French pastries, fresh orange juice, QUICHE (if you know me, that’s all that needs to be said), a cheesy omelette, and rich coffee - honestly, I didn’t know how the rest of the day could possibly top that breakfast. I’m emotional just thinking about it. But begrudgingly, I’ll move on. With our limited time, we never had any intentions of going into the Louvre (though I desperately want to), but I wanted to at least show Matt the outside area with the glass pyramids and the water fountain. So we started our day by taking the metro to the Louvre and were stunned by how there was probably only 30 other people in the entire area in total. We also noticed that most of the metro stops on the way to the Louvre were curiously closed on our journey, which was apparently due to preparation for the Tour de France in the next week. But because of this, what was supposed to be a quick 20 minute walk to the Arc de Triomphe ended up taking over an hour with all of the detours and unexpected road and bridge closings. Still, it was a wonderful hour, where we passed through the “mini Arc” (Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel) to the Tuileries gardens. More importantly, we stopped by the Angelina Paris, the legendary tea house and patisserie where Audrey Hepburn frequently went for its hot chocolate, and bought some chocolates and macaroons.

We continued walking along the river Seine on an absolutely perfect fall day. At one point, we had our IDs checked by French police (which was..strange and alarming at first), but we continued on our journey, getting pleasantly lost multiple times. We eventually made it to one of the many bridges where couples put a lock on the sides to symbolize their “eternal love,” and as cheesy as that sounds, I wanted to do it so badly on my first trip to Paris (I even made a stranger pretend he was attaching a lock with me the first time). While there were no lock salesmen this time around due to Covid, Matt did agree to take a picture with me on the bridge and honestly my heart exploded with so much love for him in that moment that felt very full circle. When we finally arrived at the Champs-Élysées, it was practically deserted and most of the shops were not open. Matt definitely did not get the full shopping in Paris experience, but at the very least, we got more macaroons at Ladurée, the French luxury bakery (super bougie). We had intended to go to the top of the Arc de Triomphe, but it was randomly closed (even though we were still days away from the Tour de France), so we were only able to see the outside of it. It is absolutely breathtaking though and so much grander in person than expected, but that makes sense as it was originally intended for Napoleon but subsequently rebranded to instead honor the French military in general and important battles.

Even though it felt like we had just arrived, we needed to rush back to the Tuileries gardens to meet our walking tour outside the Musée de l’Orangerie (another museum I’m desperate to go into once I have more than 48 hours available in Paris). We grabbed some paninis along the Seine and made it to the tour on time, mainly because we were the only ones signed up for the tour. And for the record, while most people would be thrilled at the prospect of having a private tour, we do not like it and for some reason, it keeps happening to us. You have to be engaging the entire time and ask/answer all questions - Matt and I prefer to be petty in the back, participating when we choose to, so private tours are not our thing. But anyways, the tour started at the Place de la Concorde, which contains the Luxor Obelisk (a diplomatic gift from Egypt), and was the site of many revolutionary activities and beheadings via guillotine, including King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. After this (dark) start, we got a peek into the ultra luxurious side of Paris and made our way to Vendome plaza, which is where the Ritz is located as well as many jewelry stores and high-end designers. We ended the tour at the Opéra Garnier, which is the most beautiful and iconic opera house in the world (fight me on this) and the setting for my favorite musical of all time, The Phantom of the Opera. Unfortunately, my husband refused to sing it with me, even though I said that it’s “all I ask of you” (musical nerds will understand this). But even he marveled at its immense beauty. I truly hope I can see an opera there one day (major bucket list item).

At this point, we were pretty exhausted, but we still had our cruise of the river Seine. We were able to peacefully take in the beauty of Paris for an hour, passing by the Louvre, Notre Dame Cathedral, Musée d’Orsay, and of course, the Eiffel Tower, among many others. Matt did research beforehand and made us reservations at a French restaurant, so we eagerly made our way through Parc du Champ de Mars (where people sit to enjoy the Eiffel Tower) afterwards to Le Septieme Vin. The three-course meal we had was so insanely good that it’s difficult to put in words. We both decided to start with traditional Parisian appetizers - I had escargot (yum) and Matt had foie gras (no merci, never again for me), but we were very pleased with our choices. For the main dishes, Matt and I decided on the Jambonnette de pintade au Chorizo (guinea fowl and chorizo) and the Parmentier de canard forestier (minced duck, mashed potatoes, and mushrooms) and they were both incredible. I felt like we were in that scene in “What about Bob?,” where Bill Murray is just sitting at the table repeatedly saying “mmm, MMM, mmm” - that was definitely us. We finished it off with Mi-cuit au chocolat, or molten chocolate cake with figs. I was basically the antithesis of “hangry” and very in love with Matt for finding this gem. We ended our evening by going back to the Parc du Champ Mars, where we watched the lights of the Eiffel Tower in person.

Our last morning in Paris was spent at the Eiffel Tower. I arranged for a mini-photo shoot (shocker) at 8 AM because I have always dreamed of having romantic pictures with my husband at the Eiffel Tower and I just will NOT apologize for being extra. As a wedding gift, Matt agreed (much to his chagrin), but we ended up having a great time. Parisians do not like early mornings, so we had the Trocadéro to ourselves at sunrise. Our photographer was fantastic and super funny, taking us along for so many beautiful views of the Eiffel Tower and letting us soak in the beautiful yellow/sepia-like lighting of a morning in Paris. Matt was very sick of having his picture taken after the wedding, but I know we will both cherish these incredible pictures for the rest of our lives. We were supposed to go on a walking tour after this, but it randomly was canceled, which we didn’t find out until we arrived there. So we had another giant Parisian breakfast and walked along the Seine on our own, stopping at the construction at Notre-Dame Cathedral and the Tour Saint-Jacques (Saint James’ Tower). We walked through the Jardin des plantes, the main botanical garden in France, and had another street side lunch with more casual French food.

When we checked out of the hotel, we waited at the train station to head back to Munich in the afternoon. Before we got on, we were subject to temperature checks (which at the time, was new and strange for us). When I booked the tickets, Matt insisted that I reserve seats for an extra cost, so I did, but laughed hysterically when we were the ONLY PEOPLE on the train for the first four hours. Amazing. What wasn’t amazing was having a 2 hour delay on the train, which resulted in us arriving home at 3 AM completely exhausted. At least we had a large portion of our train ticket reimbursed as a result, which happens so rarely, but it was a strange ending to a wonderful weekend. Visiting Paris is always interesting because it is so unlike any other place in the world, but it brought me so much joy to be able to experience it with Matthew. This first year of marriage has been difficult as we’ve been in lockdown for all of it thus far minus two months, but I continue to live off the beautiful memories we made in Paris and cannot imagine a more perfect way to start our lives together as woman and husband.

Until next time,

Alexandra (finally made that K official in MBK)