Photo credit here
Day 3 has already been a crazy full day! We started at 7am, took a 3 hour roadtrip to the beaches of Normandy, visited the small city called Bayeux, then traveled 3 hours back to our AirBNB, We had two organized dinners on our trip and this night was one of those two dinners. Our dinner reservations were at 8:30pm at Le Grand Colbert.
Top: Bailey 44 | Bottoms: American Eagle | Sandals: Sam Edelman
First, what I wore. I bought this top knowing I wanted to wear it in Paris. And sorry for the boys who might be reading this, but I knew I was going to start my period later in the trip, so I figured I would wear my white pants while I knew it was still safe! These sandals were the only heels I brought and I knew the chunky block heel would be way more practical than a stiletto. We were riding the subway to dinner, but we still had to walk a few blocks from the train station to the restaurant. I would say it was a solid 15-20 minute walk and it was rough. The block heel was better, yes, but the walking surfaces are just so precarious - uneven, uphill, downhill, construction, dodging cars in streets, plus it was dark/not well lit and difficult to see my footing... I was wishing I was in a flat - not even a wedge, a flat. And you know how much I love my heels! We took Ubers for the ride home, so I was relieved about that.
Balcony view at our Airbnb
You guys, this Eiffel Tower view is hands down my most favorite part of our Paris trip. It just never gets old, and why not have it as a prop for all your photos?! We couldn't resist a photo shoot on our balcony before dinner.
Balcony view at our Airbnb
We managed to get a tripod set up so we could take a group pic with the Eiffel Tower as well! And this is not filtered. That is just the natural beauty of the sunset! Sigh. I just love this view.
Paris train station
I had to take this photo in the train station. This is Courtney, our trip planner! She truly is amazing and did a wonderful job on our trip! It's not her day job, it's simply her hobby. She stalks Pinterest for travel ideas. She put together Power Points for us to get general consensus on how our trip would be structured. She put together binders with all of our travel itineraries included. Seriously, amazing. We wouldn't have gone to Europe had we had to plan it ourselves.
Reservations were at 8:30pm at Le Grand Colbert, and we arrived a little bit past our reservation time. Our table was ready, so we didn't have to wait long, however, service was pretty slow. That's not just specific to this restaurant though. We found service in most restaurants in Paris were slow, so our expectations were pretty low going into it. We also found that Parisians eat really late - they were still pretty full with new parties coming in at 11pm. We waited a shameful amount of time for our drinks and when we asked our server if we could order, he told us no and came back later. Alright then! Just be prepared to never be in any kind of hurry.
Scallops at Le Grand Colbert
There is something magical about the bread and butter in Paris. I couldn't get enough of the butter specifically. I can't recall if I got any kind of appetizer or soup or salad before my main course, so I will just go right to what I had for dinner! I decided to get the scallops and they were amazing. I had no idea that scallops lived in these shells - that was certainly something new for me.
I also didn't know that scallops had a "foot" and that Europe is one of the very few regions of the world that eat it. At first, I thought they simply mixed in lobster meat with the scallops - it had the same consistency as the meat from a lobster claw. But, when I realized these pieces were actually attached to the scallop, I was completely confused. I still ate everything - it was all super delish, but then I decided to google what this was - thankfully after I finished my meal... I will leave it at that and let you do the research.
Another nice thing Courtney did when she booked things for us is let people know of our anniversary. 2019 marks our 10 year wedding anniversary (in September) and 5 years for Courtney and her husband. That's half the reason why the husband agreed to finally make it out to Europe this year since it was our big milestone anniversary year. We ordered creme brulee for dessert and they sang for us and gave us a little fireworks show, too! The husband ordered a coffee with his dessert and the server laughed at him. And never came with a coffee, so apparently that's not a thing in Paris?
Even though service wasn't the best, the ambiance was great and the food really was delicious. Again, slow service was definitely the norm with every place we ate there, so we weren't surprised they were lackluster especially since the restaurant was packed and they were in the weeds!
That officially wraps up day 3 in Europe! Day 4 was the last day in Paris and consisted of Versailles, Notre Dame, and a boat tour. Stay tuned!
What wonderful pictures! Going o Google now about the scallops!
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