Paris Guide

from the Green line

Below you'll find a recap of my Paris trip taken at the beginning of summer. I admit I was thinking, well it's way overdue. I was also thinking of skipping a recap altogether because, hey, there's no shortage of Paris travel guides out there. But then, a good friend said she and her S.O. were heading to France for a couple weeks and asked for my itinerary. 

I was happy to share the details because I've been thinking of the France trip ever since I returned stateside. In many ways it was a comfortable, almost familiar, trip - developed, Western nation, many English speakers, easy Metro systems, large metropolitan cities as well as some quaint little towns (I already wrote about staying in Cannes and hanging around the French Riviera). But it was still great to see everything for myself, to practice French, and to observe any differences between Parisian culture and that of say, San Francisco or NYC, or how some styles are spread around the world. 

There were times around Paris (around the Pigalle and the Canal) that I felt like, wow, they out-Brooklyn'd Brooklyn (see: my new favorite bar). There were also instances when I was reminded of more serious issues such as politics around business/workforce problems, and ideological differences - such as when we had to figure out our transportation when strikes were going on, or when we inadvertently avoided a huge protest taking place by our Airbnb. This is a crazy world we all have to navigate, no matter where we are.

truth (original article)

I was only in Paris for five days, which in my eyes was not nearly enough time. Thankfully you can still get a good sense of the city, especially if you walk and use the Metro, because both offer you so much good people watching where you can see "everyday" city dwellers, and you can see the different kinds of architecture around the city. Many places we hit up were recommended by friends and their friends, which is my favorite way of getting travel advice. And with that, word for word, is what I gave my friend - and now you - on Paris.

Le Comptoir

Le Comptoir

Paris: the best advice I can give you is to pack some comfy slippers or buy the padded 10-euro ones at Muji (which I ended up doing) because even though I wore comfortable shoes, we walked so much that my feet were aching and slippers felt awesome at the end of the day. 2nd best advice is to shop at the Franprix for cheap (but good) wine and other groceries

• Trocadero: First two nights we stayed in a small hotel in Trocadero so we ate in the bistros around the circle ... had drinks at Sir Winston and this college pub called The Freedom. Good area for reaching all the touristy stuff by walking or Metro without staying right next to them. Mo and I were thinking the area is like the Upper East Side.
• Canal Saint Martin: For the weekend we switched to an Airbnb by Canal Saint Martin and I loved this area! We stopped using the Metro without meaning to - we just walked everywhere - up to Sacre Coeur, all the way down to La Marais and back up to our neighborhood. On Sunday we picnic'd along the canal (there's a Franprix grocery store right there). This is definitely the Brooklyn of Paris.
• La Verre Vole - a bunch of Americans recommended it, then I realized it's one of Anthony Bourdain's picks. But my boss (who's French) also recommended it, and it was really good
• Le Comptoir General - coolest bar I've been to, hands down. After dinner at La Verre Vole we came here and left only because our friends couldn't get in (but, their fault for not arriving until 1am). Went back during the day and it's a cool coffee house/lounge
• Du Pain et Des Idees - also a Bourdain pick, but clearly a local favorite. Open only on weekdays.
• Bob's Juice - we got bagels (they were really good!) and filtered coffee here to go so we could eat while walking
• Ten Belles - also got coffee-to-go here one day
• Le Marais - Marche des Enfants Rouges was a cool farmers market with sit-down-&-eat options. The Picasso Museum was great (and free on Sunday). I did tons of window shopping here. Others have recommended it as a good area to stay in, but it got very touristy/shopper-y for me on the weekend (kinda like NYC's SoHo), and I think because we were here at the end of our trip, I was glad to stay somewhere less busy.
• Pigalle - Also quite Brooklyn-y (maybe Bushwick). We ate at Buvette, and drank at Dirty Dick (a tiki bar!) and Le Sans Souci - all were fun, and there were probably 10 other bars I'd read about in the area.
• Versailles - If you are going, and the train isn't running due to strikes or whatnot, you can do the metro to the bus, it's basically the same amount of time (at least from the Western part of Paris) ... the charter buses we saw were like 50 euro vs ~5 euro we spent on the metro/bus. This guide was awesome: http://parisbytrain.com/how-to-get-to-chateau-de-versailles-via-bus/. At Versailles (we did not wake up early enough to avoid the crowds), we skipped the audio guide because the line was ridiculous. My favorite parts were Marie Antoinette's place and all the gardens.

Austin Weekend

Downtown Austin (Westin hotel lobby)

I just spent a weekend in Austin with old friends and it was really fun. We all flew in from different cities around the country to catch up while hanging out somewhere new. We stayed in an Airbnb downtown and nearly all our activities were chosen thanks to recommendations from friends and colleagues...

Savoring Memories from the French Riviera

Cannes

When life is otherwise not-relaxing, I look back at photos from happier times. I spent part of my vacation last month in the south of France and didn't want to leave. The weather was clearing up as we arrived, and when it was nice out, it was perfect- hot and sunny but not stifling with heat, so it was perfect for sightseeing/exploring, but also tempting to just relax and have a drink outside. It's clear why the area is a big vacation spot and why Fitzgerald, Hemingway & Co. liked it so much.

For a few days, we made Cannes our home base and took day trips around the area, alternately getting a head start on the day, or deciding to sleep in. One day we headed over toward Italy to Nice (actually got a ride with our Airbnb host) and Monaco (by train from Nice), and another day, we went to Ile Sainte-Marguerite (by boat).  In Cannes itself we just wandered - through Le Suquet (up to the abbey at the top of the hill), down the Croisette, back through Rue d'Antibes... I loved seeing modern businesses like bars and boutiques in all the old buildings.  

It's easy to find gorgeous photos of Cannes' festivals elsewhere online - the ones below are the ones I could snap while walking around trying to take everything in:

locals playing petanque on the Croissette

Carlton hotel lobby - go have a drink there!

Sunday morning at Marche de Forville

They look delicious! Marche de Forville, Cannes

Vocab lesson via signs at Marche de Forville, Cannes

Marche de Forville

Marche de Forville

squash blossoms at Marche de Forville - they were delicious as fried beignets

view of Cannes from the Radisson Blu

Cannes murals

restaurants in Le Souquet

Foie gras at Le Marais restaurant

old palace (now a private home) in Cannes

Nice (Eurocup 2016 signage in the back)

Nice flea market

Nice

Monte Carlo (catch Le Casino in the mirror)

inside Le Casino

back of Le Casino

Monaco train station

looking back at Cannes from the boat to Ile Ste Marguerite

on the shores of Ile St Marguerite

Ile Ste Marguerite

Ile Ste Marguerite

Some travel tips/highlights:

• Lodging: Just skip the hotel and go for an Airbnb. We stayed just north of Le Suquet, and it was a very easy walk down to it and the water. This helped us avoid a car rental.
• Transportation: You could get away with not having a car (like we did) for a few days, but for more daytrips it would be helpful to have one. At least in Cannes most of the stuff you want to do is walking distance from downtown and the old town (Le Suquet). We were fortunate to have a very gracious and friendly Airbnb host who offered us a ride to Nice and then a ride to the train station when we were leaving town. We took the regional train along the coast, as well as the bus around Antibes, but it would have been nice to travel on our own schedule and see more towns, so if we go back and spend more than 4 days, I'll get a rental car.
• Local Must Do: DEFINITELY go to Marche de Forville, especially on Sunday morning. It's a great place to watch the locals and see the delicious offerings. We just thought we'd pick up some cheese and fruit (we did) but we also were able to get fried squash blossoms that were huge, at least versus what I'm used to back home, and different flavored varieties of saucisson (French dried sausage). 

Exploring Guerneville, CA

Guerneville, CA

This past weekend I went up to Guerneville in Sonoma County. My first time up there was last summer, going up to Johnson's Beach (on the Russian River) with friends; separately my husband had gone through there for work, and we both wanted to explore the area more...

Weekend in San Diego

I spent the first weekend of 2015 in San Diego, which was gorgeous despite being chilly (and by chilly I mean 55/65 instead of 75). We had clear skies mirrored perfectly by the clear water. 

I got to see seals at the Children's Pool at La Jolla Cove, enjoyed lunch on the balcony of La Valencia hotel, saw the sunset on the water from Encinitas, walked one of the trails at Torrey Pines (the park) and hit golf balls at the driving range at Torrey Pines (the golf course). It had been about two months since I last went to the driving range and luckily I didn't woof it. I still don't care much about golf, but I enjoy the driving range!

We also checked out a couple local breweries: Green Flash and Ballast Point. Both were awesome. A lot of breweries are in this industrial area of San Diego and these two were cool venues. There was an outdoor area and food trucks at Green Flash, and a newly opened space for Ballast Point with a bar and restaurant (with lots of nautical-themed woodwork). If I lived in San Diego, I would spend my happy hours at the breweries.

The trip was really my husband's and I did some of this exploring with a local friend while he was working. Since it was short and the weather was slightly warmer than home, I easily packed a mini duffle. The weekend went by quickly but it's nice being just a short flight away from such a cool city.

Hipster in Jalisco

In Guadalajara recently a friend took me to Palreal, a cafe in the Arcos Vallarte section of the city which she happily described as 'hipster'. And everyone around us was fairly young, well dressed, and casually cool (possibly hungover). A couple girls were taking pics and posing like they were in a fashion blog (against the wall, on the stairs, next to the cactus); I couldn't blame them since the decor was very cool. The bathroom used a mini pallet as a sconce. Next door was a succulent shop. This place was happily hipster and for some reason it made me happy to think it's not just American millennials in all sizes of cities acting hipster.

Anyway we had a delicious brunch and really good coffee. Mexican coffee is already well-known but the owner of this place was award-winning. I had a cold brew agave latte which was perfect on a warm sunny Saturday. We ate outside, and the overall space wasn't that big but very well laid out. If I found a similar place in San Francisco I'd probably go every weekend.

  

 

more reading:

http://articulosiete.com/content/de-aqu%C3%AD-palreal-hay-buen-caf%C3%A9

Cartagena

Cartagena is one of the most romantic cities I’ve ever experienced.

It was founded in the 16th century and looks like a quintessential colonial town. Part of the city is preserved within stone walls built by the Spanish (to protect against pirates!) and that is the part you must visit. There are many little parks and plazas, and the buildings are all brightly colored and have bougainvillea on their balconies. You can’t help but want to take pictures everywhere.

The food is amazing. You can find cheap eats and extravagant meals, and you can’t really go wrong. We had good value/affordable meals at places like El Bistro, and went all out at places like La Vitrola and Club de Pesca. We lucked out and wandered into Club de Pesca without a reservation, then got the best table in the place. With La Vitrola, our hotel set up our reservation, and that is when I was so grateful to be in a luxury hotel with the right relationships.

For live music, we of course went to Cafe Havana, but the locals really gave us props for going to Bazurto Social Club. There are small cover prices at the clubs, but they’re much less than you would pay in NY for great music. Both clubs are well worth the trip outside the old city walls.

I’ve stayed in a few hotels in Cartagena, and the top one for me is the Hotel Charleston Santa Teresa (I wrote about it previously). But Arsenal Hotel Boutique is a close second and it’s just outside the old city walls.

So that’s Cartagena in a nutshell. If you get the chance to go, take it. You won’t regret it.

Medellin…

 

 

…was awesome. It has a very interesting history but is also very modern.

We stayed in El Poblado, where all the bars/restaurants are. And we were there the weekend of the holiday light festival, so in the photo above, the lights you see behind me are the holiday lights decorating Parque Lleras. The park was a total party- there were groups of friends hanging out & drinking (apparently there’s no open container ban!) then heading to the bars surrounding the park.

Culture-wise, we hit up the Museo de Antioquia and took photos around all the Botero sculptures outside (I love how voluptuous they are). We also spent time up in Parque Arvi, even meeting some really nice locals on our ride over there. All the sites were super easy to reach by using Medellin’s metro system, which includes cable cars.

We ate a lot of empanadas there (they were $1 and so tasty), but had sit-down meals as well. My favorite was at El Graspo de Uva. We had walked by it at one point (it’s in El Poblado) and then I saw this blog post singing its praises, so we went for dinner and loved it.

All in all it was an awesome weekend, and I can now say that Medellin is a great city for exploring.

Bogota

 


Most flights to Colombia will take you through Bogota. This was the 2nd time I’ve been to Bogota, and I like the city, but I may skip it next time. But, if you’re there, here’s what I recommend to check out:

La Candelaria - just walk around aimlessly. It’s fun

Monseratte - take the cable car ride up to the chapel, and hope for a cloudless day so you can see all of Bogota

eat/drink at Andres - whether at the original site in Chia or at the new one right in Bogota, it’s such a fun experience

dine at Leo Cocina y Cava. The chef/owner, Leonor Espinosa, puts Colombian food on the map. The ingredients are staples of Colombian food but used in very interesting ways. We had snails, octopus, lobster, and beef medallions. There was sauce made from corozo, and foam made out of… foam? We asked the kitchen to make us their favorite dishes, and they’ve now become ours.

Travel Planning = My Happy Place

Here’s how I’ve been planning my trip to Colombia (similar to how I plan any major trip):

Airfare - We settled on our (approximate) dates for travel and bought our plane tickets to/from the US/Colombia about four months in advance. I say approximate because we had flexibility of 1 or 2 days on either side. The best site I’ve used to look for airfare is http://matrix.itasoftware.com/ which is owned by Google.

Domestic Flights: I later used the ITA Software to also look up the domestic flights I wanted to take within Colombia, but found they didn’t use the same conversion rate as the actual airlines used. The difference wasn’t significant, but remember to check the final price when you buy the ticket.

Hotels - I mainly used Tripadvisor to check reviews and then Booking.com to make the reservations. I’ve used Agoda too, but for Colombia, Booking.com had the lowest rates (as shown on Tripadvisor). Also, Agoda doesn’t always send the confirmation voucher to your email, rather makes you sign into your account on their own site to pull it up. All the reservations were just that; they don’t charge your credit card right away.

Organization - Finally, I sent all the confirmation emails for flights and hotels to Tripit and they were automatically put into an itinerary for me. I will probably carry paper copies of these as well, but it’s nice to have the itinerary up on “the cloud” if necessary.

Insurance - If you’re spending a ton of money on travel, it’s probably a good idea to get some type of insurance. You can purchase this with your plane tickets, or a package on your own, or perhaps your credit card(s) offer some type of protection. I found out the life insurance I have with my employer also offers a special travel assistance program, so it’s good to check! 

"Blog about it."

I’m going on a 2-week trip to Colombia in early December. I only have a PDF travel guide from ‘09 (which was outdated when I first traveled there in 2011), so I went to 2 different independent bookstores in San Francisco and checked out their travel guide shelves.

There were no books available on Colombia. Central America, yes, Costa Rica, yes, even Cuba. But not good ol’ Colombia. I looked online, and the latest Lonely Planet edition was around ~$20 (still $17 for a used copy) and the reviews weren’t great. I joked to a friend, I think I need to write a travel guide for this place. And they said, you should; just blog about it.

Granted the ‘guide’ will be just one point of view, but we really should have more resources on Colombia. So tumblr is where I’ll record what I’ve pieced together in planning this trip, and while there. Enjoy.