Steve & AlIX’s
Adventure in Europe 🇬🇧🇫🇷

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Part 1: London

Unknowingly, we booked our trip to London on the same weekend as the Coronation of King Charles III! The city was packed, to say the least. We saw an appropriate amount of rain given the city and season. We stayed in a lovely hotel perched high in a tall building adjacent to BBC headquarters near Soho and we fought off jet lag walking about 10 miles / day throughout our stay.

Culinary highlights: fish and chips the day we arrived, Dishoom (modern, semi-upscale Indian comfort food), a pork sandwich in Borough Market, and mediterranean food at Rovi.

Cultural highlights: cozy bookstores and beautiful gardens, a personal guided music tour of central London, A Midsummer Night’s Dream live in the open air evening at the Globe Theater, high tea at Brown’s hotel, and soaking up the sun in Leicester Square.

PART 2: Paris

We arrived in Paris via the Chunnel to rain and a long taxi line at the train station. Our first hotel was beautiful and luxurious and located in the western part of the city in the sleepy 16th Arrondissement. We suffered a frustrating setback on our second day when our guided food tour was cancelled 30 mins prior to starting (seriously?!?) but we improvised and wandered up to the Sacré Cœur (highest hill in the city) hitting corner bistros along the way.

Culinary highlight: a nine course meal at Bellefeuille, a Michelin star restaurant in the hotel . The meal took about 4 hours (!). Luckily all we had to do was stagger back to our room 40 feet away from the dining room.

Cultural highlights: the sheer size of the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe, the efficiency and people watching of the Metro rides, the staggering vista from the Sacré Cœur, and briefly wandering through the verdant and empty Bois de Boulogne (park).

PART 3: Burgundy

The most debated aspect of our trip: should we or shouldn’t we take a train ride down to wine country to stay at a secluded chateau for a few nights to break up our stay in Paris? It became clear even before we set out that the best way to do this would be to rent a car - something we didn’t seriously consider. The Chateau de la Resle was located outside the small but historical city of Auxerre and our hosts were two Dutch expats who bought the place 15 years ago and have slowly expanded it into a beautiful and peaceful space of relaxation.

While cleaning off our boots after a rain soaked bike ride through wine country, we struck up a conversation and friendship with Pieter, one of the hosts - who loved to talk politics and eventually showered us with gifts in exchange for the promise of me mailing him a Philadelphia Phillies hat I was wearing that he liked.

Culinary highlight: our favorite meal of the trip, dinner in Auxerre at a Michelin star Japanese and French fusion restaurant called L’Aspérule. The dining room was small, the flavors were unforgettable, and the bill was surprisingly cheap.

Cultural highlights: taking electric bikes from the chateau and riding to Chablis and back - the first half was like a movie - green, sunny, and breezy; the second half was rain soaked and muddy - we barely made it back to the chateau with battery left on the bikes.

Part 4: Paris

We gained a boost in confidence and excitement from our pleasant stay at the chateau and arrived back in Paris to sunny, beautiful weather and plenty left to explore and see. Our second stay in Paris was at a buzzy, ultimately over-hyped boutique hotel located in the Latin Quarter, a stone’s throw from the river and Notre Dame. The design was cool, the service was poor - but the good news was we booked it with points. The weather was damn near perfect for our final four days in the city - it was nearly impossible to leave!

Culinary highlights: lunch in a classic and brasserie, a picnic in Tuileries Garden, foie gras at a corner bistro, a local pizza joint in Montparnasse

Cultural highlights: the Louvre and Museé d’Orsay, a guided and haunted tour of the city at night, a late night jazz set in a cave, and buying a James Joyce book at Shakespeare & Company.