Wine and Cheese in Paris

After such a great time at the Vigneron Independant last fall, we vowed to go back in the spring if we were still here. So we talked our friends John and Sarah into joining us in Paris for the weekend. Greg and I headed down on the Eurostar on Friday morning. After checking in at the Golden Tulip again, we headed to Chez Clovis in Les Halles for lunch which I wouldn't go out of my way to try, but was fine. After a bit of shopping, and finding a closed Loft store for Greg, we headed to the wine show. The venue wasn't as good this time with low ceilings and multiple rooms instead of one big room, but it was still great. After trying about 15 different wineries we headed back to the room for a quick nap and met up with John and Sarah for dinner at our fave Bistrot Vivienne.

We awoke the next morning to to find the sun out and ran out to grab croissants and coffee for all of us to enjoy out on our balcony. John and Sarah brought the tunes and it was a great way to kick off the day. We shopped a bit in the 1st and then headed to the Christian Louboutin store. Despite our best efforts neither Sarah or I could really find a pair that we had to have, so we decided to grab lunch at another good spot Le Cafe des Inities and think it over a bit.

The boys at CL

After lunch we all grabbed a Velib and John led us on a lovely ride along the Seine where I FINALLY purchased her little piece of art from a crazy street artist that I saw a few trips back but could never find her or she woudn't have the piece I wanted. We then shopped a bit more in the 5th & 6th where everyone pretty much found what they were after. After a quick break at a cafe, the girls headed back to Paul and Joe in the 1st for a pair of shoes and the boys hit some art galleries. We all took a nap, as we had a big night ahead of us.

We had a fantastic dinner at Thoumieux, which is worth going out of your way for. Greg had a tremendous Cassoulet and it felt like we were the only tourists there. We found it on this website and have vowed to try more of his recommendations. After that we headed to our first cabaret show, Lido. Sarah and John got a recommendation from some French friends of theirs that live in Seattle, but I have to say, I think we were all a bit disappointed - it was full of half naked women and Greg fell asleep. Anyway, I thought Americans were famous for our love of cheesy entertainment, but this was over the top. Anyway, I haven't seen Moulin Rouge, but I would head there over Lido if you find your self in Paris seeking cabaret.

The next day after a late breakfast and the return of the rain, we headed to the wine show. We all tried a few and we bought a few cases to bring back. It has to be the best value out there only 5 euro for the whole weekend and there must be over 5000 wines to try. John and Sarah headed to the train station and we followed a few hours later. We tried to grab an earlier train but didn't have much luck so we wandered around the Indian area of town outside the tran station looking for a snack. We ran out of time, but it was an interesting neighborhood to explore.

The ride back was a bit rough with lots of unhappy and loud children, but we just plugged in our ipods and reflected on the lovely weekend.