Vday Bday in Paris: Part Une

When your best friend tells you she's coming to Paris for her birthday and would like you to join her, what are you supposed to say, no?  Well I didn't.  So for Valentine's Day/Meredith's birthday weekend, I joined her with my fave former roomie Betsy in Paris for a 4-day weekend!  It's times like these that I'm incredibly thankful to have hard-working successful friends who love and are able to travel, and thankful that I'm super close and European flights are cheap :)

As per usual on my trips, particularly trips with Meredith, this one was allll about the food, drinks, wandering around, being fabulous, and did I mention the food and drinks.  Mere loves planning all kinds of itineraries for any and all trips, so B and I were just along for the ride.  Fine by me!

Side note: this post won't capture the inside jokes, laughter, heart-to-hearts, or funny quotes created throughout the trip.  Many of them are too inappropriate anyway.  But here are some pics!

We all arrived on Saturday afternoon, and despite a wrong train and a mistaken 5-story flight of stairs into a parking garage that I believed was a tube station, I finally made it to our cute hotel in St. Germain  to drink some champagne (sponsored by Molly, thanks girl!) and get ready for an evening out.  We visited the swanky Hotel Costes for a drink, followed by steak frites at Relais de l'Entrecote (one of my favorite places in Paris, even though it's a chain), and then a stop by Prescription Cocktail Club, a dark speak-easy type joint where we made friends with the waitress and received cocktail experiments from the barmen.

Fries on fries on fries!
We also made friends with the New York Jewish/Italian couple next to us - he delivered a couple of memorable quotes about his garment selling business and provided a great deal of information about his children and how well they're doing.  Loves it!

Fancy cocktails!

Photo shoot.

Sunday morning, B and her friend Hannah (who met us there from London) went on a walk around town while Mere and I walked through Rue Cler to pick up some goodies for a morning picnic at the Eiffel Tower!

Shop upon shop carrying fresh food for any occasion!

The fromagerie where we bought TRUFFLE BRIE!  It was the best cheese I've ever eaten and I think the girls agreed.  Worth every expensive euro.

SPOTTED: American girl in a tutu carrying a baguette.

We met B and Hannah at the Tower and set up a picnic with our loot.

Croissants, berries, oranges, crackers...

Sausage, cheese, champagne, orange juice...

Doesn't get much better than that.

We walked off the Truffle Brie along the Seine on our way to l'Orangerie, the beautiful Monet museum in the Tuileries (also featured in Midnight in Paris) that showcases his large water lily paintings in a huge stark gallery. Pretty cool.

Just a pic looking back along the river.

We cabbed it to Le Marais, a happenin' hood in the 3rd and 4th arrondisements that was full of cool shops, fashion houses, and lots of trendy cafes.  Duh.  We ate at the SUPER popular Cafe Charlot, a hot spot that inspired NYC's Pastis!

You do table side guacamole?  We do table side Moet cocktails.  Kir Royale, s'il vous plait!

We wandered around that neighborhood for awhile, popping into stores and getting a lay of the land, and eventually made our way to the top of the Pompidou for drinks on their heated rooftop terrace.

Sunday night dinner was a mix of drinks from various places (La Petit Fer a Cheval, Le Mary Celeste, La Candelaria) and left over picnic snacks from the morning - anti climatic (the dinner part) but incredibly fun and silly and hilarious otherwise!

Alright, more pics from the last day to come.  Bonsoir!