July 19, 2015 was our 6th wedding anniversary and we had planned to spend this Sunday relaxing in Paris. We woke up without an alarm and walked to a corner cafe to get some breakfast. We shared an omelette and had a chocolate croissant and a plain croissant with a latte. The quality wasn't as good as the cafes where we had breakfast on our last year's trip when we had stayed at the more residential neighborhood of the 8th arrondissement. We saw another cafe across the road and went there to get fresh orange juice, croissant and a latte. This was really good and much more like what we have come to expect from Parisian cafes.
We walked back to our hotel to relax and leisurely started getting ready for a reservation that I made for lunch at a decent mid-tier restaurant. I had not booked in advance so it was going to be difficult to get a booking at a top notch restaurant but I had still emailed the number 1 restaurant of Paris which is called Epicure. It's a 3 star Michelin restaurant. If you remember, the fine dining meal we had last year in Barcelona, that was 1 star Michelin. Epicure is the best of the best - usually you require to book months in advance. Well, we got lucky! As we were getting ready, I got an email back from them saying that they can accommodate us for lunch. Perhaps mentioning that it was our anniversary did the trick. The catch was that the only availability was for 1:30 pm and by the time I confirmed the booking on the phone, it was already 12:30 pm. My other predicament was solved by the restaurant. Wearing formal jackets in the restaurant is mandatory but the person helping me make the reservation said that the restaurant will be able to provide me one for the lunch. It was a race against time but we made it for this once in a lifetime chance of dining at the best restaurant in the city best known for its fine dining restaurants.
Starting from the moment we arrived at the restaurant to the two and half hours later when we left, this meal was like a dream. Every little detail was perfect. We were seated at a table that was next to a window that looked into the manicured garden of the hotel in which this restaurant is located. The decor was classy, bright and modern. All servers were dressed formally and there was a whole army of them. We opted for the seasonal menu which was a 4 course meal - appetizer, main entree, cheese course and dessert. These main 4 were punctuated by several palette cleansers and other mini courses. I'll add more details about this lunch later.
After having the best meal of our lives to make our anniversary unforgettable, we headed back to the hotel to relax and freshen up. We lazed around for a while before heading out for our last evening in Europe. We took the subway to the Saint Germain Church. Right next to the Church is an area called the Golden Triangle because it has three elegant Parisian cafes - Les Deux Magots, Cafe de la Flore and Brassiere Lipp. We sat at Les Deux Magots and sipped on our coffee and hot chocolate while engaging in people watching with a backdrop of the Saint Germain Church. After leaving the cafe, we entered the church. We hadn't realized that it was time for Sunday mass. We stood inside for a couple of minutes for our first experience of Sunday mass. Priests were giving sermons in French followed by interjections from the choir and the organ. The choir's singing with the organ playing in the imposing interior of the church seemed to bring the building to life.
Then we took the subway to our next stop. We exited at one end of the Parc de Champ Mars which is the park next to Eiffel Tower. We passed by Napoleon's Tomb and walked inside the park. We had made reservation for 10:45 pm for dinner at a restaurant called La Fontaine de Mars. We had to schedule it very late to space it out from our extremely elaborate lunch. We strolled around the park taking lots of pictures with the Eiffel Tower in the background. Then when we got tired of walking, we took a break at a cafe to have orange juice. After that, we were back in the park and this time walked all the way to the Eiffel Tower. On our last trip, we hadn't gotten this close. We stood right under the tower and were able to truly appreciate the grandeur of the giant structure. Then we walked back for the park at 10 pm to enjoy the hourly show of dancing lights put on by the Eiffel Tower after sunset.
We then slowly made our way to the restaurant. I ordered the fish and Samia ordered the steak. The food was really good and the service was also efficient and attentive but of course it paled in comparison to our lunch earlier in the day. After a very long time, we decided to order two desserts and they turned out to be huge portioned servings. We had a vanilla pastry and creme brûlée. Both were tasteful but we couldn't finish either.
After dinner, we took a taxi back to our hotel. We packed our suitcases and went to bed around 1:30 am. We woke up at 6:30 am and took the Roissy Express Bus to the airport. The bus stop was a couple of minutes walk away from our hotel. We boarded the bus at 7:05 am and were at the airport before 8 am. After dropping off our bags, we had breakfast at Starbucks. The flight from Paris to Toronto was on time and took off at 11 am. We didn't sleep too much on this 8 hour flight but entertained ourselves using the entertainment system between the two meal breaks. After landing in Toronto, we breezed through immigration and customs, thanks to our NEXUS cards and then had lunch at a restaurant at the airport. The food was passable but the service was quite slow. We had time till our next flight so it worked out. Our next flight from Toronto to Calgary was delayed by an hour because the incoming aircraft from Istanbul was late. We slept most of the 4 hours on this flight and landed in Calgary at 7:25 pm on Monday, July 20. Sarim was at the airport to pick us up. We went with him to Samia's parents place where we had dinner and then Sarim dropped us at our apartment. We took showers and unpacked a little bit. It's back to the daily routine tomorrow. Till the next time, take care and goodbye!
We walked back to our hotel to relax and leisurely started getting ready for a reservation that I made for lunch at a decent mid-tier restaurant. I had not booked in advance so it was going to be difficult to get a booking at a top notch restaurant but I had still emailed the number 1 restaurant of Paris which is called Epicure. It's a 3 star Michelin restaurant. If you remember, the fine dining meal we had last year in Barcelona, that was 1 star Michelin. Epicure is the best of the best - usually you require to book months in advance. Well, we got lucky! As we were getting ready, I got an email back from them saying that they can accommodate us for lunch. Perhaps mentioning that it was our anniversary did the trick. The catch was that the only availability was for 1:30 pm and by the time I confirmed the booking on the phone, it was already 12:30 pm. My other predicament was solved by the restaurant. Wearing formal jackets in the restaurant is mandatory but the person helping me make the reservation said that the restaurant will be able to provide me one for the lunch. It was a race against time but we made it for this once in a lifetime chance of dining at the best restaurant in the city best known for its fine dining restaurants.
Starting from the moment we arrived at the restaurant to the two and half hours later when we left, this meal was like a dream. Every little detail was perfect. We were seated at a table that was next to a window that looked into the manicured garden of the hotel in which this restaurant is located. The decor was classy, bright and modern. All servers were dressed formally and there was a whole army of them. We opted for the seasonal menu which was a 4 course meal - appetizer, main entree, cheese course and dessert. These main 4 were punctuated by several palette cleansers and other mini courses. I'll add more details about this lunch later.
After having the best meal of our lives to make our anniversary unforgettable, we headed back to the hotel to relax and freshen up. We lazed around for a while before heading out for our last evening in Europe. We took the subway to the Saint Germain Church. Right next to the Church is an area called the Golden Triangle because it has three elegant Parisian cafes - Les Deux Magots, Cafe de la Flore and Brassiere Lipp. We sat at Les Deux Magots and sipped on our coffee and hot chocolate while engaging in people watching with a backdrop of the Saint Germain Church. After leaving the cafe, we entered the church. We hadn't realized that it was time for Sunday mass. We stood inside for a couple of minutes for our first experience of Sunday mass. Priests were giving sermons in French followed by interjections from the choir and the organ. The choir's singing with the organ playing in the imposing interior of the church seemed to bring the building to life.
Then we took the subway to our next stop. We exited at one end of the Parc de Champ Mars which is the park next to Eiffel Tower. We passed by Napoleon's Tomb and walked inside the park. We had made reservation for 10:45 pm for dinner at a restaurant called La Fontaine de Mars. We had to schedule it very late to space it out from our extremely elaborate lunch. We strolled around the park taking lots of pictures with the Eiffel Tower in the background. Then when we got tired of walking, we took a break at a cafe to have orange juice. After that, we were back in the park and this time walked all the way to the Eiffel Tower. On our last trip, we hadn't gotten this close. We stood right under the tower and were able to truly appreciate the grandeur of the giant structure. Then we walked back for the park at 10 pm to enjoy the hourly show of dancing lights put on by the Eiffel Tower after sunset.
We then slowly made our way to the restaurant. I ordered the fish and Samia ordered the steak. The food was really good and the service was also efficient and attentive but of course it paled in comparison to our lunch earlier in the day. After a very long time, we decided to order two desserts and they turned out to be huge portioned servings. We had a vanilla pastry and creme brûlée. Both were tasteful but we couldn't finish either.
After dinner, we took a taxi back to our hotel. We packed our suitcases and went to bed around 1:30 am. We woke up at 6:30 am and took the Roissy Express Bus to the airport. The bus stop was a couple of minutes walk away from our hotel. We boarded the bus at 7:05 am and were at the airport before 8 am. After dropping off our bags, we had breakfast at Starbucks. The flight from Paris to Toronto was on time and took off at 11 am. We didn't sleep too much on this 8 hour flight but entertained ourselves using the entertainment system between the two meal breaks. After landing in Toronto, we breezed through immigration and customs, thanks to our NEXUS cards and then had lunch at a restaurant at the airport. The food was passable but the service was quite slow. We had time till our next flight so it worked out. Our next flight from Toronto to Calgary was delayed by an hour because the incoming aircraft from Istanbul was late. We slept most of the 4 hours on this flight and landed in Calgary at 7:25 pm on Monday, July 20. Sarim was at the airport to pick us up. We went with him to Samia's parents place where we had dinner and then Sarim dropped us at our apartment. We took showers and unpacked a little bit. It's back to the daily routine tomorrow. Till the next time, take care and goodbye!
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