Viva La France: Last Day in Nice

It was our last day in Nice, so we had to do a few last, favorite things. The whole group met for lunch together at 'Le Cocodile'. I had some sort of cute salmon slider and beef carpaccio. I have a thing for raw meat at this restaurant. It was a bittersweet lunch knowing that we were going home soon, but also knowing that we would be leaving Nice. 

The guys went to a beach club to hang out for the day and Amy and I went shopping. I will say, it was SO hot, and I was so tired that I almost passed out in H&M. I had to find the boyfriend chair to sit while Amy got a pair of pants. After a bit of shopping, we grabbed some incredibly big waters and I immediately felt better. 

Luckily, we were close by the I LOVE NICE sign and stopped for a bit of a photoshoot.

This is the view from the I LOVE NICE sign. You can see the beaches of Nice, lots of people watching and the beautiful water. It really was as beautiful as it is in the photo. So clear you can see fish!

We decided we need a bit of a break on the walk back and found a cute bar at the top of a building to have a glass of rosè. Once we felt refreshed, we headed back to our favorite bar in Nice, Le Truc. Before that though, we did stop at a pharmacy to get a few beauty products that are cheaper in France.

When we made it back to Le Truc, the guys had already beaten us to the bar. (Shocker.) Rich and I had one last cheese board, and I tried to savor the truffle cheese with every bite. Nice was so beautiful and so lovely, with the best cheese that I don't think I'll ever forget this trip. 

After a few hours at Le Truc, we headed back to our Airbnb to grab our suitcases, headed to the airport and flew back from Nice to Paris. We had a hotel booked close to the airport and the next morning flew back from Paris to the United States. 

Flying back on Condor was just as wonderful as flying to Paris. Those little pillows in the seats really make all the difference when you're in the plane for 8-10 hours. 

It's time travel the weirdest thing? You know that you're getting on the plane at like two in the afternoon, but then you arrive back in the United States at like 6 p.m. in the evening. It's so strange to me how that works. 

This is what it looks like when you're excited about getting home soon. Again, really bittersweet because I would have loved to spend more time in France, but I was also ready to sleep in my own bed. 

I did love the little gifts from Condor. They had this yellow case filled with a mini toothbrush, toothpaste, socks, eye mask, and earplugs. The eye mask came in handy on the flight because I knew I had to get sleep since we were driving from New Orleans back to Little Rock. Rich had to work on Thursday and had law school class Thursday night. 

Luckily, I didn't have to work the next day so I could drive more than others. 

The Condor flight had delicious food, once again. They even had the cutest salt and pepper shaker that I have ever seen. I watched the movie Moana, and I can see where it's inspiring to young girls. I enjoy these new Disney movies where the strong leads are women! 

The drive from New Orleans to Little Rock was ROUGH leaving at 7 p.m. We all took turns driving. First me, then Rich, then Bobby, then back to me. Luckily during Bobby's shift and my last shift, Amy was awake and able to play podcasts to keep everyone awake (Except Rich and Marcus who slept back the last four hours...) We got back to Little Rock around 3 a.m.! 

The next morning I got up (or like 11 a.m.), the first things I had to unpack were all of my finds! I love looking at my souvenirs back from trips. (Don't worry the copper pot made it back too!) 

So, that's our trip. It was fun, exhausting, memorable, life-changing, romantic, chaotic, amazing, and the best thing ever all wrapped up in one. Thanks for reading along this journey. Now, back to the regular blog post! 

Missed any of my posts from Viva La France? 
Catch up here: 

Click here for Paris Day 1

Click here for Paris Day 2

Click here for Paris Day 3
Click here for Nice Day 1
Click here for our Day trip to Monaco
Click here for Nice Day 3

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Viva la France: Visiting Villefranche-sur-Mer and Organic Wine Tasting in Nice

We only had two days left in Nice and decided to go out of the city to a little town called Villefranche-sur-Mer. It's a sleepy, little town outside of Nice. We slept in a bit after a long day in Monaco, grabbed an Uber (because I was too hungry to wait for a bus) and headed north.  As soon as we got there we had to get lunch because I was really hangry.

We found a cute restaurant right by the marina called, "Newport."  I got a delicious pasta with a spicy marinara sauce, a glass of white wine (because it was SO HOT) and a European Coca-Cola. Rich got a really fancy dish of squid and octopus. Surprisingly, it was actually really good. 

Good thing he enjoyed the meal while we were in France because I doubt that I ever learn how to cook squid or octopus. After a full meal, we walked around the town for a bit to see all of its pretty colors, windows, and small streets. It's exactly what is in your mind when you think of a small French town. 

All of that walking for about 30-minutes made us really thirsty, so it was time for our own happy hour. I mean, we were in France after all... 

We went to a bar called, "Wine Pier" where we could watch boats, people and eat lots of chips. Again, I drank the white wine because it was just way too hot for me to drink red. We had booked a wine class that night so we just hung out for a few hours before heading back to Nice. 

We decided to take the bus from Villefranche-sur-Mer back to Nice and got lost. The only way we could get out of being below the Marina was to walk about 75 steps straight up. My booty was BURNING. It really didn't matter how much pasta or wine I consumed because all of the walking and steps just worked it all off. I actually think I lost a bit of weight once we got back and I de-puffed. 

We had booked a two-hour Organic Wine Tasting in Nice through Tag Tours. The tour was about $40 per person and included 5 wines and a glass of champagne. (There were also free extra glasses if you really liked a bottle...) The Tour de France of Organic wine said it would help you get better knowledge about French wine and it really did. 

Our sommelier was SO knowledgeable. He went through a map of France and showed us where each region of our wine we were drinking was grown and created. I LOVE sauvignon blanc so I knew I would probably love that one (spoiler alert: I did), but I also learned that I like rosè and pinot noir! Rich orders pinot noir a lot when we are having date nights, but I always stuck to a Malbec or cabs, now I'm really into pinot noirs. 

We all started out with a glass of real champagne, from the region of, you guessed it, Champagne, France. After our champagne tour in Paris down the Seine River, I felt like I was already a pro at being able to discuss how it was created with the mixture of grapes, aging and how the bottles were moved to create the fizz.

Here are our first three wines: 

Champagne Carte d'Or Brut NV 

This is a popular champagne from a small producer in France. It's a fresh, apple pie, and honey flavored Champagne that exudes class. 

Les Davantes de la Bonnelière AOC Touraine Blanc 2016 

100% Sauvignon Blanc. This wine is grown in a 3-hectare block of Clay and Limestone soils, this Touraine is macerated for 6 hours before fermentation. A great match to lighter goat cheeses and white fish dishes. 

AOC Côtes de Provence La Cuvée Camille Rosé 2016 

A blend of three types of grapes: Cinsault, Grenache, Syrah. The 'Cuvée Camille' is aged in tanks. The three grapes are fermented separately. Its color is light pink, with fin, delicate aroma of fruits. 

Next, we moved on to the reds: 

Domaine Bersan AOC Côtes d'Auxerre Pinot Noir 2013 

Another lesser known regions, Pinot Noir is the sole variety in this red. Subtle tannins, rich red berry fruits, layers of minerality and a long and complex finish. 

Clos de Caveau AOC Vacqueyras Fruit Sauvage 2015 

You can taste the passion in this fabulously earthy Rhône red. A powerful licorice-scented red. Spicy Syrah delivers abundant fruits and a weight palate that carries the flavor for what seems like an eternity. 

Château Grand Français AOC Bordeaux Superior 2010 

A rich, ruby red color with an intense spice and vanilla nose. In the mouth, we have a smooth rich flavor of red fruits and layers of complexity added by the chalky tannins and spicy vanilla notes from the oak aging. 

My favorites were hands down the champagne, rosé, sauvignon blanc and pinot noir. I have never, ever liked licorice so the Syrah was awful to me, I actually gave my glass away. Bleh. 

The Organic Wine Tasting was SO MUCH FUN. It was nice to just sit for a few hours and learn about one of the best things in the world, wine!  

Once the wine tour was over, we headed to meet our other friends who had done a bike riding wine tour that day. Their wine tour seemed like a lot of fun too - minus the whole bike riding thing. I really wanted to go on that one, but my body just couldn't handle a bike ride after all of the steps and walking. 

We met them at a fun bar-district in Old Town Nice. I was hungry and needed something to soak up all of the wine, so clearly, I found the classiest thing to eat... a good ole' hot dog.

Tell me that's not the best looking hot dog you've ever seen after a day of drinking a lot of wine? Believe me, it was my favorite word, DELICIOUS! 

Missed any of my posts from Viva La France? 
Catch up here: 

Click here for Paris Day 1

Click here for Paris Day 2

Click here for Paris Day 3
Click here for Nice Day 1
Click here for our Day trip to Monaco

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Vive La France: Traveling in Paris Day 3

We're on to day three in Paris! If you're not caught up, check out day one here and day two here. 

After a full day of the Catacombs, the cooking class and walking around 20,000 steps, I was ready for a 'relaxing' third day. And it would have been pretty easy if I didn't wake up with a fire in my belly to go buy a copper pot from the same store that Julia Child bought her copper pots. 

I got up early, got dressed and was about to go by myself when Rich decided to go with me. If you know me, when I am ready to go somewhere then I am ready to go RIGHT THEN. E. Dehillerin has been around for 200 hundred years, and that's how long it felt it took us to get there. 

After I was super antsy, we finally made it! This store was incredible, it's like the original Ikea. Everything they have is out on the shelf to look at, but if you want to know a price, you have to go look it up in a book. The store can be a bit of a workout though going from item to book from item to book. It's not like it stopped me at all from shopping, just slowed me down every so slightly. 

As someone who loves to cook, it was fun to be in such an iconic culinary shop. So, of course, I had to buy something or a lot of the things. All the things. I *wanted* to buy all the things. I did contain myself since I had to carry whatever I bought back to the states with me. 

That didn't stop me from buying the most beautiful copper pot I've ever seen. I had to buy one that 1) was a decent size to use 2) wasn't going to totally kill my budget. I think it was around $170 in the end, but it's heavy, it's nice, and as long as I take care of it then it will last a long time. 

Also, it's my money and I will spend it on the things that please me... like copper pots. 

After I left the store (Rich was across the street at a coffee shop), we headed to meet up with our friends for lunch... then we were headed to the Arc de Triomphe!

Travel tip: When we went to the Catacombs on our second day, we bought passes that let us in the Catacombs ahead of the line and then also gave us access to the Arc de Triomphe. If we hadn't bought these tickets, we would have been in line for the Catacombs for around two hours. So we got these tickets from Headout.  They were WORTH it! And, if you want, you can use my code MAEGAIQ on Headout and save $10!

To be honest, I wasn't really sure about the Arc de Triomphe... like I knew we were supposed to go there to do the touristy thing, but I wasn't 100% sold on it. I went along because it everyone else seemed excited about it so maybe I was missing something. Everyone was right, and I was wrong because it was really cool! 

There are just miles and miles of pretty views and to see how Paris is laid out around the Arc de Triomphe is really cool. I will say, it felt like we had to walk up about 300 steps to get to the top. My legs were BURNING. I was so tired that I had to give Rich my copper pot to carry, and Marcus my purse because I was feeling like I was about to pass out. 

Also, it didn't help that I was just overall tired from the trip at that point from not having the best sleep. It was SO WORTH the almost pass out moment! 

We hung out at the top for a bit, I really think they are missing an opportunity to sell water because I could have drunk a gallon of it after getting to the top. 

After we hung out, Rich and I were going to go back to our Airbnb to drop off my copper pot that felt like it weighed about 100 pounds, but we didn't have time because... we had to go on a champagne tour of the Seine River! 

This. Was. Me. Living. My. Best. LIFE.

Rich didn't even think he liked champagne that much, but, not to my surprise, that really seems to change during this excursion. 

Just a casual Thursday drinking champagne on the Seine River... 

Clearly, I had to take this photo even if it's the most basic photo to take. 

Look at this fun, loving group having the best time ever. If you notice, the sky was a bit dark while we were visiting the Arc de Triomphe but as soon as we sat foot on the boat, the sky cleared up and we had beautiful weather! 

All of my favorite things in one photo! This is one of my favorite moments on the trip! 

We tried three different champagnes on the tour, but I only took photos of two... I do not know why I forgot the third? Maybe because I didn't like it? These two were BOTH delicious. As someone who loves champagne, I loved learning all of the fun things about it. We went over how it was made, the types of grapes, the region of France, lots of fun details. 

They even made these cheesy photos for us when we got on the boat, none of us bought one, but I had to take a photo of one because the heart is coming out of Rich's head. He told me that he hates when people say, 'My heart is so full!' on social media and I think this is his karma. A FULL HEART on top of his head! 

AS SOON as we got off the boat (it was so sad to leave) the sky became dark and as soon as we stepped into the Uber it began to rain. The weather luck was on our side! 

Researching restaurants is one of my favorite things to do when in a new city, I will spend two hours just to find the perfect restaurant. After our champagne tour, I had found this place called, "Le Centre du Monde." It really felt like the right place because it had a great fixed menu with all of the French food that I had been wanting to have while in Paris... 

For starters, I had the French onion soup that I basically had to pick up the bowl to get every last drop. I LOVE soup, and this was perfect on a rainy night in Paris. It was also so, so good. French onion is one of my favorites and this made me really want to come home and make it more often. 

Secondly, it was time for the beef bourguignon! Now, chunks of meat do not photo well in dim light, and I understand that this photo is a little disgusting looking, but it was also DELICIOUS. I've never made it before, but I would like to make the Julia Child version. 

(A bit Julia Child obsessed right now.) 

Dessert was a chocolate mousse. I bet you can guess how it tasted... DELICIOUS. 

Though I am not that great at making desserts, I certainly should practice. Also, because we walked over 10,000 steps every day, sometimes closer to 15,000 or 20,000, I did not gain one pound this entire trip. 

After dinner, we were going to go to a fun bar, but once we got there it was so hot that we couldn't stay. We headed back to our Airbnb and hung out on the rooftop and watched the Eiffel Tower sparkle. Even walking around how beautiful views day and night. 

Friday morning Rich and I got up to go find a post office to send my mom a postcard. Of course, we had to start out getting Rich an espresso first because he became a bit addicted. Then we walked around cluelessly until I found a postcard and then a post office. It was not an easy task. My mom may never get another postcard again from me after that debacle. After that, we went back to the Airbnb, grabbed our bags and were headed to the train station so we could hop on a train to head to Nice! 

Next up, our adventures in Nice and Monaco! 

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Vive La France: Traveling in Paris Day 2

Our second day of being in Paris started off with dead bodies. That's right.

We went to visit the Catacombs.

This has been on my list of things I've wanted to do in Paris for a VERY long time. I told the group I was going with or without them, but I am so glad we all went together. Even though it was VERY cool, it's also a bit creeeeeeeeepy.

Some fun Catacombs of Paris facts:

• The Catacombs are 20 meters UNDER Paris
• The Catacombs are underground ossuaries. 
• There are remains of more than six million people. 
• They were built in the 17th century because Paris had no more room to bury the dead. 
• Only a portion of the Catacombs is open to the public, however, there are dozens of secret entrances around the city.

 

Here's what I wasn't prepared for visiting the Catacombs... all of the stairs. There is the smallest staircase leading down into the Catacombs and the only thing surrounding you is stairs and walls. If you're a person that gets claustrophobic, this *might* not be the right field trip for you. 

Also, a note to myself, what goes down must come back up. Walking up ALL of those stairs almost made me dizzy, however, it did provide for a good thigh workout. 

It took us about 45-min or so to walk through the guided tunnels of the Catacombs. We were all equipped with the self-guided tour of the little radio that you press numbers on to play information when you're in a certain area. I had to listen to some of the same information twice because there was just SO much! 

Don't worry, even in the tunnels of death, there is still love. As in, the skulls were shaped into a heart. 

After we crawled out of the Catacombs, decided to take off and just go walking through Paris. We walked A LOT. We ended up visiting Shakespeare and Co. bookstore. 

I bought the book, "F. Scott Fitzgerald's Taste of France" from Shakespeare and Company. I knew I HAD to buy something because this is where Julia Child shopped for cookbooks as well... so, I bought a cookbook! 

Because I already had all of the Julia Child books, I thought it would be fun to buy something else. This cook book was inspired by the characters and writers of The Jazz Age. I can't wait to try so many of the cool recipes that are in this book. This book is also available on Amazon if you want to check it out. It's cheaper on Amazon, but I HAD to have the Shakespeare and Company stamp. :) 

We were also close to Notre Dame again so we did a little photo shoot there on the side of the building. Just like I said in my previous post, it's a GORGEOUS cathedral! 

Our day wasn't over... Amy and I had signed up to take a French cooking class at Le Cuisine Perie or AKA, La Cuisine Paris!

We booked the Gourmet Soirée in Paris class. It's a bit pricey at €120.00 ... but you only live once, and who knows the next time I will have a chance to take a French cooking class in Paris.  

The menu was as follows: 

Au Menu :

Salade Lyonnaise : Salade aux Lardons et œuf Poché

(Bistrot salad with bacon and poached egg)

Volaille à la Crème

(Poultry with a creamy mushroom sauce)

Legumes Rotis Saison

(Selection of roasted seasonal vegetables)

Dégustation de Fromages  

(Tasting selection of fine French Fromage)

Profiteroles avec des Fruits Rouges

(Profiteroles with seasonal red fruits)

So, here's the fun part... at some point in the class, I was in charge of poaching eggs and I have never poached an egg before in my life. And, I didn't even know if I LIKE poached eggs. So, did I poach eggs well? No. I did not. However, I did make, a LOT of boiled eggs. So, do I like poached eggs? Still unsure. 

What did I do well at? Cooking onions! We made this DELICIOUS simmer onions and tomato mixture, then added it to the bottom of a casserole dish, then added sliced zucchini and eggplant. 

Once we cooked all of the dishes, we then worked on plating the salads. Low and behold, my salad did not receive a poached egg but one of my masterful boiled eggs. I took it off my salad and let it sit there in its boiled misery.

Doesn't that look beautiful?? We made a balsamic dressing for the salads and the technique that he showed us how to make a vinaigrette0. will stay with me forever. It was more labor intensive (usually I use mason jars for dressings), but you get a bowl and a spoon and you really incorporate the vinegar with the oil to make it one.

The dinner was served family style, so it's not plated as pretty as the salads were but it tastes just as delicious! We actually cooked the chicken IN the creamy mushroom sauce. I never even thought I liked a creamy mushroom sauce until I had it in this class. Our vegetable dish was delicious, and I am hoping to try to make it again over the Labor Day weekend. 

This was our dessert. I mean, there's no reason to talk about this because you get how good this was, right? The picture says more than I ever could. 

After a HARD two hours of cooking, we got to enjoy the food, make new friends, and relax! It was SO much fun except for the egg poaching business. 

While we were busy learning new skills, the guys were off drinking in Paris. We decided to meet up after the class at the Louvre. After our class, we took off on foot and walked beside the Seine River where Parisians were having picnics along the river and enjoying life. There was music playing, the sun was setting, it was just a lovely, lovely moment. 

Here is the fun part, when Amy and I got there the Palace behind the Louvre was dark, and as soon as we walked in it all started to light up around us. It was the most magical thing to happen! 

We sadly didn't have time to visit the Louvre because we were only in Paris for four days. But, I'm actually glad that we didn't because this gives us a great reason to go back! I would go back to Paris tomorrow, to be honest. 

After our long, long day, we went for a night cap. We went to one cute bar and then another... at the second bar I got some French fries (because I LOVE French fries and white wine) and somehow things got lost in translation, so instead of one order of fries, we got four! Oops. 

That's all for day two! But stay tuned for day three... we take a Champagne cruise on the Seine River that I am still dreaming of two weeks later! 

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