Our Not So Best Laid Plans

So we needed somewhere to fly home from.  That’s really how this all started.  After Provence, we needed to find our easiest route home.  And believe it or not, as coincidence would have it, Paris was our ticket.

But let me also be completely transparent with you.  I may have been looking for pretty much any excuse to go back to Paris after our truly magical trip there last Fall.  And once I was able to show Ryan that it was in fact cheaper, and much more time efficient to fly home via Paris. . .it was all systems go.

Having absolutely loved everything about our trip last Fall, we chose to forgo any advanced planning, and just basically copycat last year’s plans.  But as it turned out, this was actually a really horrible idea.  The funny thing was (which was actually not so funny at the time), we were in Paris on a Sunday and a Monday.  And apparently, those were not good days to be there.  Pretty much everywhere that we wanted to go (code word for eat at), were closed on both of those days.  And even the one museum that we were interested in was booked out for the rest of the week.  Well, so much for winging it.

the seine river

Yep, that unbelievably swoon-worthy little cheese shop that had literally made us French cheese converts, and gave us the most amazing spreads for our picnics along the Seine?  All locations were closed.  And Bistro Paul Bert, where we shared the most delicious steak au poivre. . .yep, also closed.  Oh, and remember that tiny little dessert shop where we experienced the most life changing tarte de pommes?  Well, that place was actually open, but had unfortunately turned into what seemed to be a complete tourist trap.  But never mind that, we still went ahead and bought the way too expensive tarte.  And probably to no one’s surprise, it sucked.  And let’s not even get me started on the enormously large hair that we found floating in our very overpriced hot chocolate.  Yeah, it wasn’t exactly Paris’ best showing.

the Saint-Germain-des-Pres neighborhood

We had definitely found ourselves a bit surprised and caught off guard with how quickly some things had changed in a few short months.  What had easily felt like one of our absolute favorite trips last year, had sort of turned into a disappointment this time around.

the eiffel tower

But luckily for us, the one area that did not disappoint, were our accommodations.  At this point, we had been away from home for six weeks, and really, even though we love to travel, we were both ready to get home.  And so to our happy surprise, Le Clos de L’Olivier provided us with the perfect little resting spot before continuing on.

the perfectly quiet and picturesque little street leading to Le Clos de L’Olivier

Originally, we had big plans for Paris.  But between our travel exhaustion and food disappointments, we kind of just ran out of steam.  So our very thoughtful host, Haude, moved a few things around, and booked the b&b’s spa for us for the night.  No, it wasn’t a juicy steak au poivre, but it was exactly what we needed.  A relaxing night, followed by a delightfully comfortable and peaceful sleep.

Will we be back to Paris?  Well, of course we will.  We will always love Paris.  But now we are just a little bit the wiser.  Go in with a plan.  Go in the Fall.  And try not to go on a Sunday or a Monday.

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Our stay at Le Clos de L’Olivier was generously provided for us; however, no compensation was received in exchange for my writing.  All of the opinions that I have expressed here are my own, and are an honest account of our experience.