three ladies and a baby in paris

Three ladies and a baby!  My dear dear girls Sarah and Lauren made their second trip across the pond for a visit.  They were our first friends to come from America to meet Simone.  Since they both had already done the tour of the midlands and London, we decided to go spend five days in Paris.

This trip feels like ages ago (it was...) so recalling it will be a challenge.  I look back on it as one of those trips that 20 years down the road from now we'll be sitting around, "... Remember that one trip to Paris?  We were in our early 30's and Simone was a wee babe? We stayed in an Airbnb apartment in the Marais and ate at all the best joints!"

I lobbied hard for Marco to join us in Parieeee as "the manny" but he refused. #Threeladiedandababy was born.

After the girls' arrival, they settled in with a few days in the countryside - long walks, pub lunches, too much bubbly consumption in the cottage.

We took the chunnel to Paris, about 2 hours door to door from London.  We checked into our airbnb apartment in the Marais - owned by handsome Dani and his cute girlfriend Valentine.

Simone was at the perfect stage - she would sleep the day (or late nights) away in the Baby Bjorn carrier.  We kept it to bustling restaurants at night, in case she kicked off we wouldn't disturb anyone. We went to the fancier spots (Le Comptior!) for lunches.

We brunched al fresco in our neighborhood - where I would have been content to sit and people watch for the rest of my days.  We wandered parks like Jardin du Luxenburg and Place des Vosges. We had a picnic and took selfie stick photos on the lawn in front of the Eiffel Tower.  And duh, we shopped.

I didn't take as many photos as I would have liked.  Most of these are borrowed from Lauren. (Thanks, Lo.  Love ya, mean it.)

Forgive me if I've said this on a previous Paris post - this city never gets old to me.  It is vast and can be overwhelming when you list the museums and sights that you want to hit in a short trip.  But if you slow it down, narrow your list, and take some time to enjoy the residential arrondissments, it's a much better experience.

We ended their trip with a day in London - The Victoria and Albert museum for the Alexander McQueen exhibit and a champagne high tea at The Dorchester in London.  (As one does.)

Lauren and Sarah thank you, thank you, thank you for coming to see us again and letting "your baby" tag along when she was still so little!

paris and normandy

Scratching the surface on a mega backlog of trips to share.  Last October,  friends Brooke, Abigail, and JP wanted to take a trip to France to visit mutual friends Ian and Mélanie who live in Caen.  We met Abigail, Brooke, and JP in Paris for a quick few days where Brooke was finishing up a conference for work before we all went on to Caen.

Thanks to Brooke and her business trip hook-up, we laid our heads on five star hotel pillows during our Paris stay!

First evening- while Brooke had to work coordinating a private event at The Louvre (!!!) Marco, JP, Ab, and I dined on steak and frites at a fancy brasserie near our hotel.  We then met up with Brooke in the hotel and called it a night as the boys chatted over a bottle of red as the ladies tried to sleep.

The next day - JP, Abigail, and Marco were very patient with me as I was 7 months pregnant and insisted on taxi-ing around Paris as opposed to walking miles / metroing around the city.  As a result we were able to see a lot of the city during our brief stay.  Paris will never get old.  And it was that much more special to explore the city with some of our dearest.

After a busy day of sightseeing and a lunch at Cafe de Flore we headed back to the hotel to meet Brooke, collect our bags, and taxi to the train station.  We had to be in Caen for Ian's basketball game that evening.

Marco and I have been lucky enough to watch Ian play several times since we have lived on this side of the pond but it was a first for the rest of the bunch (Like Marco, Abigail and Brooke went to high school and college with Ian).

We arrived to a packed gymnasium.  It was quite obvious when THE AMERICANS strolled in, as we were toting two Fatheads of Ian's face.  From our seats, we saw Ian on the court warming up.  We watched as he spotted us.  He smirked and shook his head as Marco and JP held massive cardboard versions of Ian's head over their faces.  We couldn't tell if he was proud or slightly embarrassed as his teammates gave him grief.  I don't think many of the fans had seen Fatheads before - so many people approached us to take photos with Ian's face.  It made the fact that we brought them even more hilarious  Anyway, Caen won, Ian led the game in points, and was named MVP of the game.  Probably all due to THE AMERICANS and the Fatheads, am-I-right?!

As for the rest of the weekend - Ian and Mélanie were the perfect hosts, as always.  Ian grabbed us pastry from the local bakery every morning.  One day we toured Caen, and then went to Normandy to walk to D-Day beaches and tour the American Cemetery.   Another day we headed to the coastal resort town of Deauville.  On the way, we first stopped in the most instagramable town of all the towns - Beuvron-en-Auge.  Incredible market and quaint shops.  Mélanie bought a cute straw market bag and we all waited while Garrett took 30 minutes in a shop picking out a scarf. ;)  In Deauville, the guys headed to the casino while the ladies browsed the upmarket shops and then ate Belgium waffles on the beach.  

On our final day, JP and Abigail headed back to Paris to meet up with friends while Marco, Brooke, and I drove to Mont St-Michel.  We did the hike all the way to the top to tour the Abbey.  Looking back, I can't fathom how I walked those steep cobblestone steps to the top while pregnant (so pregnant).

I must say this in every post where we travel with friends, but it really does make a trip THAT much more incredible.  Nothing better than seeing the world with the ones you love.


P.S.  Come to find out very soon after this trip - I wasn't the only one of the group that was pregnant. Mélanie and Abigail were pregnant as well but still keeping it hush hush.  Mélanie recently had baby Victor and Abigail recently had twin girls - Reid and Perry.