Paris|Amsterdam
I won’t even start breaking down where to do tourism in Paris, we all know that by now, climbing the Eiffel Tower, Arc of Triumph, Champs De Elysees, Louvre museum, D’orsay museum, Lafayette Gallery, The Bastille, Montmartre, Sacred Coir, Moulin Rouge, etc, but I do want to highlight Espaces D’ Abraxas, you don’t hear about it (according to me, maybe it does but I had no idea of it until I read about it), it is not located in Paris but it is only 30 minutes away by car. This building is a good place to visit.
Lafayette Gallery and Eiffel Tower
This time I wanted to go to Versailles, I even got the ticket but I couldn’t go, because we were not aware of how far and complicated was to get there, we got lost and it was too cold and raining to even insist on getting there, so if you are planning on going, plan to go early in the morning not in the afternoon as we planned it.
Sacred Coir and Montmartre
Ricardo Bofill built Les Espaces d’Abraxas. The building is located in the French department of Seine-Saint-Denis, in the town of Noisy-le-Grand, in the Mont-d'Est district. The building complex includes 600 apartments in three buildings: the Theater to the west, the Arc in the center and the Palacio to the east. The Palacio is a massive 18-story building of neo-Greek inspiration. An orthogonal in shape. It is made up of four stairwells (two cabins and a spiral service staircase) each accommodating around 250 apartments. The Theater is a more modest building surrounding a square evoking the forms of ancient theaters. It is made up of a dozen stairwells (an elevator and a service staircase) and accommodates around twenty apartments per cage. The whole takes the form of a half-cylinder hollowed out at its center. The Arc is composed of two stairwells, which meet at the 7th stage to form an arch. The Palacio and the Theater surround this arch.
Espaces D’ Abraxas
Louvre, Arc of Triumph
In this article, I am going to make more emphasis in the dining part of the trip because I hear too many people complaining about not liking the food in Paris, and I have to admit I didn’t have the best experience the first time I went either, but this time the experience was completely different!
Let’s start with the hotel, this time I stayed at the Ibis Bastille Opera 11éme, what did I love about this hotel? Clean, the modern design, they offer a breakfast buffet; they have a restaurant, a bar, the neighborhood is surrounded by cafes and restaurants (the food is good), the location was fine (different train lines in different directions), the lobby is cool and hip, it reminded me of the hotels in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
The rooms are not too big but they have enough space for two people. This hotel is designed for heavy-duty travelers with a busy schedule, so if you are into spending the whole day in a hotel room this place is not for you. If you are in Paris for work Ibis is perfect because of the high-speed internet and you can even hold meetings at the lobby because the space is great for it, they also have a workspace by the entrance with plenty plugs to charge your equipment and work.
I was as usual juggling between tourism and covering Paris fashion week.
My first gastronomic stop was tea time at the Peninsula lobby, just as good as the first time I visited it, this hotel is so gorgeous and classic, that you feel like Maria Antoinette could join you at any moment. They have a menu with different options that range from salty to sweet bites in a tower, with options of tea or champagne. This is the perfect spot to have a great conversation with friends, a loved one, and hey why not a date! The space is romantic enough for it and you have the arc of triumph close enough to go for a stroll after your afternoon tea.
Another stop was visiting David Toutain restaurant, and for this one, I will dedicate quite some lines because I didn’t even know “sticks” were EDITABLE! But they are and they are actually good! I never had sticks before so this was fun to eat.
This restaurant is located in one of those cute little alleys that we love in Paris, 29 Rue Surcouf, to be more specific. The restaurant is a small cozy modern-looking space, dedicated to those who go to a restaurant to seriously enjoy great food; the spot is quiet and the portions are small (you know, French style) but incredibly tasty, not in vain the have two Michelin stars, and that is the only reason why I tried pigeon (I despise those birds, sorry PETA), the smoky flavor of most of the dishes was my favorite part, so nostalgic and classy at the same time. The presentation of the dishes was lovely, a very Mother Nature, countryside vibe; little nests, baskets and green foliage decorated the crockery. You are going to see it in my pictures.
What we ate:
The menu is prix fixe, and here you have the options:
Hotel Costes, I remember going inside this hotel the first time I went to Paris, I died 20 times! This place revive all your senses, they don’t have the perfumery at the entrance anymore but still, the scents coming out of this place are tantalizing, the décor must have been inspired in conde Dracula or something I don’t know, but is so sexy and erotic, the crowd is chic and fashion, the music is on point and the food is pretty good, but this place is more about the chicness and the ambiance more than anything else. If you are planning on going there get ready to deal with a lot of attitude, employees included. On both occasions, I went during fashion week and apparently there is where everybody goes after the shows and they don’t take reservations ahead during those days so make sure to call in the morning to rsvp if you want to have dinner at the restaurant, I learned that after I was unable to dine there 2018.
La Sancerre, we found this restaurant after walking for hours at Montmartre (lovedddddd this area) and what attracted us was the decoration! They have flowers hanging from everywhere, is like a mini botanical garden in there, they made it instagramable. We ate escargots every day while we were in Paris and this place had the best one, Also the confit du canard was amazing (duck is another bird I don’t eat but that was tasty!! I am not a food critic but since it is my blog I give my opinion.
Bistrot François Felix, the live music attracted us to this restaurant, this was the only salad I had during my trip! (Eating salads is my regular in New York) although it had red meat, I couldn’t help it, the description sounded too good not to try it, did it worth breaking my not eating red meat habit, yes! We had one of their desserts and it was interesting, it has aloe vera chunks, another new, I can’t stand the smell of it but the bitterness of the grapefruit juice in the plate blended very well with it.
Café Trocadero, all we had here was tea a crepe, and the reason we went there was the view they have of the Eiffel Tower. That afternoon was freezing and we wanted to wait until the light-up of the tower, no way we could do it outside. This restaurant is pretty though and spacious, I liked how bright it is, but not annoying bright nice bright like a deli or supermarket.
Amsterdam:
And now let’s go to Amsterdam, I was so looking forward to going but guess what?! I was so exhausted from Paris and it was raining even harder than in Paris that I couldn’t move too much! But even in that situation I really liked this city, everything is so beautiful, different, clean and historical that I am planning on going back but either only there or starting there.
I arrived on a Sunday night around 11 PM, I got lost, the stop I got off (wrong one) was packed with drunk people, I believed there is a stadium close by, go and figure. I was freaking out because I am longer use to see people drinking on the streets.
The habitants were incredibly helpful and nice (I was not expecting that) they have a harsh face and a higher voice tone but once you talk to them they even throw jokes at you, I mean this guy saw me lost, asking for directions and ended up pretty much walking me to my hotel, two trains later an like a 6 minutes stroll, yes that cool they are.
I finally got to the hotel almost at 12AM starving, so I asked the front desk gentleman if I was going to be able to find a place to eat and he said yes but not the best ones, I didn’t really care at the moment because I just needed food. He pointed out one left and a straight walk, and 10 minutes later I was in an area that I believe was the red zone but I am not sure. There were still restaurants open, I choose an Italian restaurant (you can’t go wrong with Italian food) so I had dinner at La Madonnina (eee it was ok) and then walked around a bit, there were not too many people out but you could still feel the hardcore party vibe in the air.
The next morning I attempted to Van Gogh museum, memorized how to get there because let me disclose you this information, all the streets in Amsterdam look alike and it is too easy to get lost so I will advise you to either get yourself a map or activate your phone because my 10 minutes walk the night before to get to the restaurant turned into 45 minutes to go back to the hotel! Ok let’s go back to the museum story, I was too tired like I mentioned before so I didn’t even bothered going in, if I wasn’t going to enjoy it I didn’t see the point, instead I hung out at a Blushing Healthy Food (eee that was interesting) in front of the museum and then at a little gift shop nearby, on my way to the hotel, I couldn’t risk getting lost again because I had an airplane to catch.
Now I know that the MOCO museum, the Van Gogh museum and the Rijks museum are nearby, ahh and also the dock where you pick the boats go travel around the canals, for my next Amsterdam bound.
