I am writing this while sitting on the couch watching Breaking Bad.
Clearly, my European summer is no more and I’m hoping that the exhilarating lives of Walter White and Jesse Pinkman will keep my brain occupied enough to forget that Ladurée is 5,546 miles away, the Hotel Allegro Granada is 5,933 miles away, and Ryan’s Ibiza Apartments are 6,032 miles away.
As I mentioned, the final leg of my travels was to Paris, where I met my mom and sister for 7 days. We stayed close to the Place Vendôme, neighboring the Tuileries Gardens and about twenty minutes walking from the Louvre Museum.
Though we missed having Peter around to tell us exactly what we would be doing during our every waking moment, Paris gave us an awful lot to explore, with cathedrals and statues on every corner to commemorate someone out of my history books. If there’s one thing I discovered in Paris, it’s that everything in old Europe is connected. The Palace of Versailles features many portraits of Maria Theresa of Spain, the wife of Louis the XIV, who also happens to be the featured character in Diego Velázquez’s Las Meninas, which I saw just a few short weeks before in Madrid’s Museo del Prado. And, not only did I see the real Mona Lisa, but also the best known copy of the work, which the Museo del Prado displays as well. See, I told you guys I was kind of an art groupie.
Of course, we hit all the big sites. My sister took the role of navigator from me (which I wasn’t mad about) and led us through the streets of the arrondissements and the lines of the underground, taking us out to Notre Dame, Montmartre, Sainte-Chapelle, the Arc du Triomphe, and everywhere in between. We mainly stopped at little restaurants we found on corners for lunch; the hanger is very real for everyone in the family and we all had some intense crème brûlée cravings anyways.
Business aside, the three of us had our fair share of hilarious moments. A restaurant brought us a plate of meat when we were expecting a charcuterie board. We got caught in the rain during our tours of the Palace of Versailles and Monet’s Garden in Giverny, resulting in buying 5 euro umbrellas, one of which ended up being broken. Our wine glasses and corkscrew were confiscated while going up into the Eiffel Tower after our picnic. Any and all times we tried to speak French.
The highlight of it though? Trying real life ratatouille. I’ll definitely be cooking some, as well as paella, in my apartment next year.
Well, that’s all she wrote folks. Unless, of course, you’d like to remain up to date during the school year, as I have big plans to keep these posts coming. Until next time!
Be well,
Megan
Dance in the City & Dance in the Country, Pierre-Auguste Renoir – Musée d’Orsay 
Self Portrait, Van Gogh – Musée d’Orsay 
Water Lily Pond, Green Harmony, Claude Monet – Musée d’Orsay 
Musée d’Orsay – Paris 
Dancers in Blue, Edgar Degas – Musée d’Orsay 
Musée d’Orsay – Paris
Palace of Versailles – Versailles 
Gardens of Versailles – Palace of Versailles 
Hall of Mirrors – Palace of Versailles
Notre Dame – Paris 
Paris 
Galerie Vivienne – Paris 
Paris 
Montmartre – Paris 
Paris 
Paris 
Montmartre – Paris
Street Crepes – Paris 
Street Crepes – Paris
Water Lily Pond – Monet’s Garden 
Monet’s Garden – Giverny 
Monet’s House – Giverny 
Water Lily Pond – Monet’s Garden 
Amy and I – Monet’s Garden
View from Eiffel Tower at Night – Paris 
Eiffel Tower – Paris 
Paris
Musée du Louvre – Paris 
Mona Lisa – Musée du Louvre 
Musée du Louvre – Paris 
Musée du Louvre – Paris
Sainte Chapelle – Paris 
Sainte Chapelle – Paris
Sacre Cœur – Paris 
Sainte Sulplice – Paris 
Sainte Sulplice – Paris
Cheryl – KB Café 
Blood Orange Gelato – Amorino 
Café Mocha – KB Café 
Ratatouille and Caprese Salad – Chez Janou 
Margarita Pizza, Linguini with Shrimp and Lobster, Papardelle with Artichoke Hearts and Carmelized Onions – Daroco
let's get started. 