Our First Europe Trip as Empty Nesters: France
Why I’m Completely in Love with France
When we started planning our trip to Europe, France was not on Doug’s radar at all.
He had spent a little time there back in the 1980s when he was on active duty and he wasn’t a fan of the area. I think it had more to do with the people and their lack of love for Americans or American soldiers. On the other hand, I took French in high school and grew up watching Looney Toons and thought Pepe Le Pew and everything French was super romantic and cool. I love the language and hearing the language spoken! It’s all about perspectives, right?
Since Doug has been wanting to take me to Germany since we got married, we finally were able to fulfill that dream! Doug’s brother is currently stationed in Stuttgart, Germany and we wanted to go while he and his wife were still there. We spent months planning the trip and so I asked if we could spend a few days in France since it was so close to where they are stationed in Stuttgart. We flew into Germany and planned a few days in France. One of my bucket list items was to go to Paris and see the Eiffel Tower. Anything else we could do in Paris would be great as long as I could get a selfie in front of the Eiffel Tower! 😂
Doug’s brother, Chris, and his wife, Terri, have lived in Germany for 2 years now and they have traveled to Paris. They came up with a great plan of how to get us all there. They also planned out some smaller towns to visit along the way which is honestly, more our vibe. But, ahhhhh......Paris! It’s such a beautiful and romantic city!
Metz
We left Stuttgart early in the morning and drove to Metz, France. It’s a little over a 3-hour drive to Metz. Metz is a city rich in history, art and architecture. With the cobblestone streets, beautiful historic buildings, lush flowers flowing out of the window boxes on the 2nd floor balconies of the beautiful buildings, there is beauty everywhere you look. We parked the car and got ready to see the sights. Our first stop was the Metz Cathedral (Saint-Etienne Cathedral). It was built between 1220 and 1552. It is one of the tallest Gothic churches in Europe and has an incredible number of stained-glass windows earning its nickname of “God’s Lantern.” The inside is so incredibly ornate. After seeing some other famous cathedrals, this one is still my favorite.
After the cathedral, we slowly worked our way down to the Moselle River. The stone bridges connect to the other side of the river. There are so many beautiful flowers and buildings to view along the way. There are also beautiful places to get pretty pictures. When we crossed the bridge, there was a little church on an island in the distance. It was so pretty! We walked across the bridge to a restaurant called L’Assiette au Boeuf that overlooks the river. We had a lovely view of the water and the beautiful buildings in the distance. Our waitress was super sweet and beautiful but couldn’t really speak much English. It was okay, she was trying so hard. We were also using Google translate to figure out the menu. There was a couple sitting at the table next to us and the gentleman could see the waitress was struggling so he helped her translate for us. And that was super nice of him!
I ordered the Le Poisson Paradis (Paradise Fish) which was a combo of shrimp, scallops and salmon with delicious Sauce Paradis. It was a sauce with a butter base and savory herbs. It was light and fresh and the perfect accompaniment to the seafood. It was served with roasted vegetables, a lovely salad and pommes frites. They gave us so many French fries! I was excited to try my first real authentic French fry, but you know what? They are just like our French fries, maybe a little skinnier, always crispy and I quite enjoyed them with my Sauce Paradis. In fact, I would have loved a bottle of that sauce so I could really figure out the spices in it and recreate it at home. That’s one of my favorite things to do you know!
After lunch, we headed back across the bridge and walked down the steps to walk along the river and up a corridor to get back up to city level. It was so fun just walking through the city and seeing the shops, smelling the smells and people watching. I so enjoyed checking out the men’s and ladies' fashions.
Champagne Countryside
We still had a 2-hour drive to Champagne, France to our airbnb and we wanted to make sure we could find it during the daytime. The drive between Metz and Champagne is so beautiful. The countryside is lovely, colorful rolling hills with vineyards and other crops all shaped into a perfect little patchwork quilt. There are communities nestled in the hillsides and it just very much reminded me of that feeling when you first see the Shire in Lord of the Rings. It’s just beautiful and there is no wonder that these people love their land!
Bonjour~!
The view from our Airbnb window
Our airbnb is owned by Angelique and Mathieu, an absolutely lovely couple that also run a champagne house called Champagne Angelique LaCroix. Meeting Angelique was definitely one of the highlights of the trip for me. She is beautiful (inside and out), and is so passionate and in love with what she is doing. Here’s a link to her website. We dropped off our luggage, opened a bottle of rose and enjoyed a glass before heading back to Reims for exploring.
Reims
After checking in to our airbnb and unloading the car, we hopped back in the car and headed to Reims. Chris wanted to lay eyes on the lay of the land at the train station. We had to be there early the next morning to catch the train to Paris for the day, so we wanted to know exactly where to go and where to park so we didn’t miss the train.
After finding the train station and figuring out where we would park the next morning, we drove around Reims a little bit. It was getting close to 8pm. Terri and I found an antique store and we popped in for a few minutes. The shop owner told us we had 2 minutes to look because he was closing at 8pm but would be open again at 10am the next day. We did some power shopping and then headed back out.
After walking around and checking out some of the local architecture we decided we needed to find a place for dinner. We ended up getting back on the autobahn and stopped in a shopping center nearby an Ikea. Chris and Terri laughed that you don’t often see a shopping center with restaurants more like America. We had dinner at a cool little restaurant with outdoor seating. Even though it was 9pm at this point, the sun was still high in the sky, and we had to adjust the umbrellas so we were not being blinded. It’s kind of like that 5pm sun in the states when it’s the hottest before the sun starts to set. We ordered a beautiful charcuterie board with drinks and then a lovely dinner. Here are a few pictures.
Once we had our bellies full, we were ready to head back to Champagne to the airbnb. Did you know there is a huge champagne bottle statue with a frog on it to mark the Champagne region of France? Here it is lit up at night when we were headed back to our place. The names on it are of the local champagne houses in that area.
Fun fact: Champagne houses were first established in the early 1700s, as the popularity of the delicious effervescent wine grew. A Champagne house makes and markets wine, which can only be classed as Champagne if it hails from the Champagne region in France and is produced to strict specifications. I never knew Champagne was such a big deal!
We sat outside on the lovely patio at the airbnb and enjoyed some of Angelique’s champagne and talked for a few hours before heading to bed. We had to get up early to get to the train station to catch the 8am train in Reims to Paris.
Paris
We got up early and drove to Reims to catch the train to Paris. We were a little early, so we had time to get coffee from Lavazza (one of our favorite places for coffee in Europe). We then got on the train and were all excited to get to Paris. Here we are all bright eyed and bushy tailed on the train and getting off the train.
On the train, we had 2 seats facing each other so we could talk with Chris and Terri about what we were going to do first. Terri had printed out a list of all the major landmarks so we could pick out the ones that were absolute must-dos and then have a list of what might be nearby that we could visit if we wanted to. Let me tell you.....Terri would make one heck of a travel agent! She truly thinks of everything!💕
It was a full day and one of the hottest on record! When we got off the train, I was in awe of the city. Everywhere you look it is just so vintage and beautiful! The way the entire city is laid out is just so lovely and inviting. The streets are cobblestone and all curved and it’s like you are winding through a secret passage not knowing what kind of beautiful sight is around the bend. I could have spent a week in Paris just doing and seeing all the things!
First on our list was Notre Dame. We did not have tickets to go in. There were a lot of people there, but it looked like the line was moving pretty quickly so we decided to go for it.
We took a few minutes to sneak a kiss over the Kilometre Zero. This is a brass plate which marks the official center of Paris. One tradition suggests that kissing your loved one while standing on Kilometre Zero will ensure eternal devotion and enduring love. Others use the spot for wishing. Since Doug and I have been married for 39 years and Chris and Terri for 34 years, I think we all are going to be okay!😘 It was a very cute place for a picture!
Notre-Dame de Paris (“Our Lady of Paris”) will absolutely take your breath away! This Catholic cathedral is renowned for its stunning French Gothic architecture. The gargoyles are so cool! There are so many details on the outside of the structure that are amazing. Once inside, it’s pretty incredible! There are such beautiful details! The things that stood out to me most were the stained-glass windows! The chandeliers and the columns were massive. Everything is so beautiful. Fun fact: I had no idea that Jesus’s actual Crown of Thorns is kept at Notre Dame. We did not get to see it. Apparently, there’s a very specific schedule of when it is on display. That’s really something, isn’t it?! Another fun fact is that Napoleon was coronated in Notre Dame in 1804. It’s so crazy to think about that!
Here are a few pictures of the outside and inside of Notre Dame:
Next we walked across the bridge over the Seine River and saw the cutest boatload of kids that were so excited to wave at everyone on the bridges as they passed under. It was super sweet!
We then attempted to go to the Shakespeare and Company Bookstore, but it was so crowded we couldn’t get in. We decided instead to visit Shakespeare and Company Cafe next door. We were all ready for a good cup of French coffee! I ordered a latte and then a cinnamon roll for Doug and me to share. Doug ordered a cappuccino. When we came outside and Doug tasted his cappuccino he was convinced that I was drinking his cappuccino and he had my latte. I just laughed and said “nice try buddy”!😂 He was so convinced that he went inside and asked the barista, and she confirmed that the one with the heart on top was a latte. I think next time Doug should order a latte and he will be a lot happier!😘 Both of us were extremely happy with our cinnamon roll. It was absolutely heavenly! I kind of secretly decided right then and there that I needed to try a cinnamon roll from every country but that never materialized and that’s okay. I’ll always have that cinnamon roll from Shakespeare and Company Cafe in Paris to measure the next one. One of my girlfriends claims that her cinnamon rolls are the best, but she hasn’t blessed me with any yet, so the jury is still out on that. (Teresa – I'm looking at you!) 😂
It was so hot the day we were in Paris. Check out this ancient water fountain in front of the Shakespeare and Company bookstore. We were able to refill our water bottles and keep on trucking down the streets of Paris. Is it obvious that we are tourists?
After walking around for a few hours, we got to Sainte-Chapelle. We stood in line for a while and then decided to move along and make our way to our lunch destination. No, we never went back to Sainte-Chapelle. After going to Notre Dame, we decided we would move along to other sights.
We wanted to have lunch at the oldest continuously operating cafe in the world – Le Procope. This restaurant is steeped in tradition and formalities. Besides being a beautiful restaurant, all of the servers were very professional. These are career servers that take great pride in their restaurant. It was super impressive! Our food there was wonderful. My favorite was my appetizer – shrimp served over half of an avocado with a delightful champagne butter sauce with chives and fresh parsley. For my main course, I decided to be adventurous and order the trout filet. It was also delicious. Doug and I split an order of crepes flambees with a Grand Marnier sauce. They were delicious but honestly, they really were just a delicious thin pancake! Chris kept making that joke from Talladega Nights.😂 After our meal, we walked around this historic restaurant and took a few pictures. And, yes, that IS Napoleon’s hat!
We made it our mission to learn “cheers” in the local language. In France, it’s sante! And we said it a lot!🥂
I found all of the antique and ornate doors in Paris absolutely fascinating! I took as many pictures as I could. Check them out! Aren’t they beautiful?!
Next up we walked to The Pantheon. Do you think that’s a typo? 😉 I was a little confused at first too. I’ve only heard of The Parthenon. Once we got up to the steps and looked out, I spotted the Eiffel Tower in the distance. It looked like a tiny little needle.
The Pantheon is a beautiful and historic stone and marble building and lots of famous French artists and philosophers are entombed there. It was a lovely place to just sit down and rest in the cool for a few minutes. I was starting to get tired but about 10 minutes of resting did me a world of good and I was ready to carry on!
Did I say it was hot in Paris? It was in the 90s and the sun was beating down on us. We were pretty tired of walking around but we found our way to the Musee Rodin and that was a real treat to be sure! We were able to see The Thinker and The Kiss and lots of other treasures by Rodin. Here are a few of the highlights from the Musee Rodin.
I made kind of a rookie mistake getting dressed for Paris.I had a new pair of shoes that I had broken in beforehand. Instead of wearing good thick sports socks, I wore thin no-show socks. I felt like I was starting to form blisters so once we made it through the museum, we went to The Musee Rodin Cafe behind the museum and sat out and had a drink under the trees. The boys decided to go to the Napoleon Museum while the girls sat and took a break. Lucky for me, it was just the rest I needed, and I was able to walk a lot more after that.
We made our way to the Eiffel Tower and took lots of pictures before we went into the park around the tower. We opted not to go up to the top but we got our romantic kiss in front of the tower and spent a lot of time enjoying the view and getting all the perfect angles.
The Eiffel Tower is an amazing structure! I did not know (or maybe just didn’t remember) that the Eiffel Tower was built for the 1889 Paris World’s Fair by Gustave Eiffel. One of the things that amazed me when I got to see the tower up close was how it is made up of so many smaller parts. It's a series of metal bars and bolts and looks very industrial. I would have loved to have seen the Eiffel Tower lit up at night but since it doesn’t get dark until after 10:00 pm in the summer, we’ll have to save that for another time.
We left the area where the Eiffel Tower is and went across the bridge of the Seine River to have a great view of the city and the Eiffel Tower. Here are a few photos of that and crossing the bridge back over.
Then it was time to head back to the train station! The train station is so clean, check out the subway tile. On the way out of Paris we were able to see the small Statue of Liberty that is located on the Ile aux Cygnes, an artificial island in the Seine River. Fun fact: it originally faced the Eiffel Tower, but it was later turned to face west towards its larger counterpart in New York.
As you can imagine, we were pretty tuckered out at this point! We had to pick up dinner for ourselves in the train station. We didn’t really have time to sit down and eat at a restaurant. We all got wraps that were easy to eat on the 45 minute train ride. We all napped a little on the train from Paris to Reims.
Once we got back to Reims, we made our way back to our Airbnb in Champagne. We had over 24,000 steps that day but once we got back to the Airbnb we were a little wired, so we sat outside and opened a few bottles of the house champagne.
Back to Champagne
We had arranged a champagne tasting with Angelique for the next morning right around check out time at 10:00am. We went to bed around 2am and Doug and I didn’t set an alarm because we never sleep past 7 or 8. Well, guess what? At 9:55 am Chris was knocking on our door! Fortunately, Terri was able to push the time back to 11am. It was still a challenge to get a shower and get packed out that quickly but we managed it! The Champagne House was just across the street, so we just had to walk over.
I couldn’t stop silently weeping when Angelique was talking about her family land, her vineyards and the craft of making the champagne. It was so beautiful to hear her speak of her love of what she does. She is so passionate about it and loved it so much that it reminded me of how much my family loved the land we grew up on. It’s in your blood, you know? After the tasting, Angelique took us on a tour of the room where the barrels are. It was very cool getting to experience champagne on this level!
Once we left the airbnb, we drove around the countryside and stopped and took pictures at two WW1 cemeteries. One was British and the big one was Italian. It was sobering to see how young these men were. Also, the cemeteries are in such a peaceful area it’s hard to imagine there being war there.
Here are a few pictures at the cemeteries:
Back to Reims
Once we left the Champagne area, we headed back to Reims. We stopped in a little market area and found a great little cafe to eat lunch outside. Once we got settled at a table, our server came to offer us menus. When we started ordering drinks, I asked for a glass of Prosecco. Our server said “Non, non, non......when you are in France you order Champagne. When you are in Italy, you order Prosecco!”😂 So I said “okay, okay, okay – make it Champagne then!” And our server said “tres bien, tres bien!”🥰 This was so funny and remains one of the funniest interactions we had the entire trip!
For lunch, I ordered a roasted duck salad that was super delicious and interesting! We really had FABULOUS meals in France! It can’t be beat for the food.
After lunch, we meandered around the market area and took some pictures of local statues. We then made our way to The Pommery Champagne House.
The Pomerry is an absolute “must do” if you ever go to this area! The Champagne House is huge and the decor is so interesting! There is literally an elephant hanging upside down from the ceiling in the main area! There is a huge carved barrel in the main hall that was a gift from the French to America for display at the St. Louis World Fair and is now displayed in the visitor reception hall. It is a true work of art!
Once out of the main lodge area, we went down the 116-stair hallway down to the lower level to the chalk pits where they have the barrels and surprisingly, modern art exhibits! It was so cool and a great way to spend the afternoon away from the heat. Here are a few pictures of what we got to see down there.
