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Started By
Message
re: Thanksgiving in Paris - 2024 - A Trip Review
Posted on 12/6/24 at 10:52 am to LemmyLives
Posted on 12/6/24 at 10:52 am to LemmyLives
The French were awesome. It's just like the rules of engagement in any big city. Get out of peoples way in the metro, in the streets, or in traffic, and you'll have no issues. People are bigger dicks in NYC than anyone I ever ran across in Paris.
I'm finally finishing this trip review up.
Day 6 -
This was another late morning. By the time everyone was up and ready it was 9:30am. I’m not sure staying up to watch the Tigers helped much the night before. Sleep schedule will be messed up plenty once returning home.
The only goal for the day today was the Christmas Markets. The town we are staying in Ribeauville, has a market, but it doesn’t start until 12/7, so our thought was go eat lunch in Colmar, do the Christmas markets in Colmar, and then see if we wanted to hit one of the other towns nearby. Colmar is about a 30 minute drive from Ribeauville. The sun had set when we made our arrival yesterday, so it was nice to pull out this morning, with a light fog, but be able to see the town and countryside. There are beautiful mountains lining all of this part in the Alsace region. Along with vineyards every step of the way. I bet it’s an amazing sight to see in the summer when everything is green and the weather is warm.
Upon arriving in Colmar, on a Sunday nonetheless, it was easy to see that this was going to be a popular place to be. All of the parking garages near the city center had filled up so we parked about .5km away and walked 15 minutes or so to get in the action. Right as you walk into the city center, the Christmas themes start show with the kiosks and Christmas lights. In a lot of ways, it feels like being at the state fair. A common theme of the trip is having kids who are hungry right at these kinds of times. We had packed snacks, but my daughter was craving some sort of real breakfast food, so we found a little cafe in Ribeuville that served pancakes and sunny side up eggs.
There was a bit of a wait, about 45 minutes, and when we walked in, we were disappointed to hear that breakfast was only served 8-11am and we were limited to the lunch menu.
So we ordered a Pizza, a cheese board, and a salad. All of which were fantastic. The pizza was pretty simple, prosciutto, sauce, cheese, and slices of Gouda cheese put on top. After a few days, it looks like it was a staple of this region and it was incredible. We really enjoyed it. Plus, the cheese board came with 2 complimentary pinot gri wines, so this wasn't a bad consolation.
Sunday was probably the coldest day of our trip. I think the low was 28*, but there was a small breeze and the wind was enough to make it feel much less. I’m from Kansas, so cold is no stranger, but it felt extra cold, which wore us out and wore out the kids. We made it about 4 hours in Colmar from 2pm after lunch to 6pm after the sun went down. During the day we rode the ferris wheel, tried the Vin Chaud (hot red wine), which was disgusting, bought the kids treats at the markets, drank hot chocolate, and walked around the town. Colmar is such a cool little place. After 4 of the different markets in the area, we decided it was time to head home. Each little section felt the same and our energy was running low.
En route on the 35 minute drive home, I stopped at McDonalds to buy the kids food. They were losing the appeal of french cuisine and wanted something “normal”, so that’s what they went with. I noticed a few things in McDonalds. 1) It felt so much cleaner and decent than a US McDonalds. 2) They had a bakery serving croissants, donuts, and macarons in the McDonalds 3) Families, like a lot of families, were all sitting down on a Sunday evening enjoying a family meal in the McDonalds. The drive through line was busy, but not as packed as the inside.
After the kids ate, mom and dad were getting hungry, so we dropped them off at the AirBNB, left a phone, locked the door and went out to dinner on our own for the first time on the whole trip. Wow, was that needed. Just the fact that we were able to sit down and talk was such a treat. We picked a local place that was suggested by our AirBNB host. I had the deer meat stew (incredible) with sauerkraut (not as incredible) and potatoes.
We enjoyed our meal, walked back, and called it a night. Not much plans for tomorrow, so we’ll see what happens.
I'm finally finishing this trip review up.
Day 6 -
This was another late morning. By the time everyone was up and ready it was 9:30am. I’m not sure staying up to watch the Tigers helped much the night before. Sleep schedule will be messed up plenty once returning home.
The only goal for the day today was the Christmas Markets. The town we are staying in Ribeauville, has a market, but it doesn’t start until 12/7, so our thought was go eat lunch in Colmar, do the Christmas markets in Colmar, and then see if we wanted to hit one of the other towns nearby. Colmar is about a 30 minute drive from Ribeauville. The sun had set when we made our arrival yesterday, so it was nice to pull out this morning, with a light fog, but be able to see the town and countryside. There are beautiful mountains lining all of this part in the Alsace region. Along with vineyards every step of the way. I bet it’s an amazing sight to see in the summer when everything is green and the weather is warm.
Upon arriving in Colmar, on a Sunday nonetheless, it was easy to see that this was going to be a popular place to be. All of the parking garages near the city center had filled up so we parked about .5km away and walked 15 minutes or so to get in the action. Right as you walk into the city center, the Christmas themes start show with the kiosks and Christmas lights. In a lot of ways, it feels like being at the state fair. A common theme of the trip is having kids who are hungry right at these kinds of times. We had packed snacks, but my daughter was craving some sort of real breakfast food, so we found a little cafe in Ribeuville that served pancakes and sunny side up eggs.
There was a bit of a wait, about 45 minutes, and when we walked in, we were disappointed to hear that breakfast was only served 8-11am and we were limited to the lunch menu.
So we ordered a Pizza, a cheese board, and a salad. All of which were fantastic. The pizza was pretty simple, prosciutto, sauce, cheese, and slices of Gouda cheese put on top. After a few days, it looks like it was a staple of this region and it was incredible. We really enjoyed it. Plus, the cheese board came with 2 complimentary pinot gri wines, so this wasn't a bad consolation.
Sunday was probably the coldest day of our trip. I think the low was 28*, but there was a small breeze and the wind was enough to make it feel much less. I’m from Kansas, so cold is no stranger, but it felt extra cold, which wore us out and wore out the kids. We made it about 4 hours in Colmar from 2pm after lunch to 6pm after the sun went down. During the day we rode the ferris wheel, tried the Vin Chaud (hot red wine), which was disgusting, bought the kids treats at the markets, drank hot chocolate, and walked around the town. Colmar is such a cool little place. After 4 of the different markets in the area, we decided it was time to head home. Each little section felt the same and our energy was running low.
En route on the 35 minute drive home, I stopped at McDonalds to buy the kids food. They were losing the appeal of french cuisine and wanted something “normal”, so that’s what they went with. I noticed a few things in McDonalds. 1) It felt so much cleaner and decent than a US McDonalds. 2) They had a bakery serving croissants, donuts, and macarons in the McDonalds 3) Families, like a lot of families, were all sitting down on a Sunday evening enjoying a family meal in the McDonalds. The drive through line was busy, but not as packed as the inside.
After the kids ate, mom and dad were getting hungry, so we dropped them off at the AirBNB, left a phone, locked the door and went out to dinner on our own for the first time on the whole trip. Wow, was that needed. Just the fact that we were able to sit down and talk was such a treat. We picked a local place that was suggested by our AirBNB host. I had the deer meat stew (incredible) with sauerkraut (not as incredible) and potatoes.
We enjoyed our meal, walked back, and called it a night. Not much plans for tomorrow, so we’ll see what happens.
This post was edited on 12/6/24 at 11:44 am
1
Posted on 12/6/24 at 10:53 am to LSUShock
Day 7 -
Today is Monday. A full week since we arrived in Paris last week. In full transparency, we’ve had enough. I love this stuff and could travel without end, but I think between my wife and kids, they would prefer to be on a plane back home today. And I don’t blame them. It’s been a lot. I think that 7 days may have been the perfect amount of time for a trip like this. Since breakfast didn’t work out yesterday, I promised my daughter that I would go to the grocery store and make breakfast at the AirBNB. So, I found bacon, I found eggs, I found waffles, I found orange juice, and I found a bunch of berries. We cooked them up and everyone enjoyed a nice Monday brunch just like we were back home.
By the time we finished up, it was already 1pm and the question of the day was what do we do? I’m a movement is medicine kind of guy, so I said everyone get in the car, we are driving to Basel, Switzerland.
And a few minutes later we were en route to Basel. It was a cloudy day in Ribeauville, but unfortunately, as we were about halfway to Basel, it started to rain hard. And it never let up. So when we arrived in Basel the next part of the plan quickly became, what are we going to do? We didn’t have any plans, so we just drove around for 45 minutes. It was truly a, let’s just go to Switzerland to say we are in Switzerland kind of plan.
After about 45 minutes, I told my wife, let’s find a mall close by so we can park, get some snacks, and just sit for a bit. So I googled the closest mall and it was 3km away, so I selected it and hit start.
About 1km in, unknowingly, we crossed the Swiss/German border and entered Germany. So our let’s go to Switzerland to say we were in Switzerland trip became a let's go to Switzerland and Germany trip to say we were in Switzerland and Germany trip.
We found the mall, parked, got smoothies for the kids, bought coffees for the adults, sat at a table for 30 minutes, walked the small mall, and then got in the car to head home.
It was an hour drive back and upon arrival we were again getting hungry. It kind of feels like a common theme here. Go look at a monument. Find lunch. Go visit something. Go eat dinner. Walk a little more, find a cafe. The trip so often revolves around food. For our last meal we found another local German restaurant that checked 2 boxes for us 1) it had hamburgers and 2) it had fois gras.
My god, fois gras, which I was told I had to try, was absolutely terrible. I went in hard. A few big bites to start. Then a few nibbles. With salt. With jam. With the bread. No go either way. I ate a bunch of beef tartar earlier in the trip, so I’m not opposed to trying some things, but man, I thought it was disgusting. We took our time eating. Recapped the trip and planned for the day tomorrow, which required getting the rental car back to Strasbourg, a 2 hour train ride to Charles De Gaulle, and an early night's rest for an early AM flight Wednesday.
Today is Monday. A full week since we arrived in Paris last week. In full transparency, we’ve had enough. I love this stuff and could travel without end, but I think between my wife and kids, they would prefer to be on a plane back home today. And I don’t blame them. It’s been a lot. I think that 7 days may have been the perfect amount of time for a trip like this. Since breakfast didn’t work out yesterday, I promised my daughter that I would go to the grocery store and make breakfast at the AirBNB. So, I found bacon, I found eggs, I found waffles, I found orange juice, and I found a bunch of berries. We cooked them up and everyone enjoyed a nice Monday brunch just like we were back home.
By the time we finished up, it was already 1pm and the question of the day was what do we do? I’m a movement is medicine kind of guy, so I said everyone get in the car, we are driving to Basel, Switzerland.
And a few minutes later we were en route to Basel. It was a cloudy day in Ribeauville, but unfortunately, as we were about halfway to Basel, it started to rain hard. And it never let up. So when we arrived in Basel the next part of the plan quickly became, what are we going to do? We didn’t have any plans, so we just drove around for 45 minutes. It was truly a, let’s just go to Switzerland to say we are in Switzerland kind of plan.
After about 45 minutes, I told my wife, let’s find a mall close by so we can park, get some snacks, and just sit for a bit. So I googled the closest mall and it was 3km away, so I selected it and hit start.
About 1km in, unknowingly, we crossed the Swiss/German border and entered Germany. So our let’s go to Switzerland to say we were in Switzerland trip became a let's go to Switzerland and Germany trip to say we were in Switzerland and Germany trip.
We found the mall, parked, got smoothies for the kids, bought coffees for the adults, sat at a table for 30 minutes, walked the small mall, and then got in the car to head home.
It was an hour drive back and upon arrival we were again getting hungry. It kind of feels like a common theme here. Go look at a monument. Find lunch. Go visit something. Go eat dinner. Walk a little more, find a cafe. The trip so often revolves around food. For our last meal we found another local German restaurant that checked 2 boxes for us 1) it had hamburgers and 2) it had fois gras.
My god, fois gras, which I was told I had to try, was absolutely terrible. I went in hard. A few big bites to start. Then a few nibbles. With salt. With jam. With the bread. No go either way. I ate a bunch of beef tartar earlier in the trip, so I’m not opposed to trying some things, but man, I thought it was disgusting. We took our time eating. Recapped the trip and planned for the day tomorrow, which required getting the rental car back to Strasbourg, a 2 hour train ride to Charles De Gaulle, and an early night's rest for an early AM flight Wednesday.
Posted on 12/6/24 at 10:57 am to LSUShock
Day 8 -
Our last real day. No hurry this AM. We had to check out of the AirBNB by 10am and needed to get the rental car back by 3pm. Our train was at 5pm, so we had time to kill.
First way of doing that was another mall. We stopped at the Houssen mall in France between Ribeuville and Colmar. We walked through their Carrefour, wow, what a store that is. So much stuff. Had an espresso shot and a few Pan Au Chocolate’s before deciding to head to Strasbourg at 1pm.
There was an earlier train to CDG that was leaving at 3:00pm, so I went in to see if we could exchange, but right as I did so we were within an hour limit and were told there was no option for an exchange. So, we went and found a parking lot and sought out the Notre Dame de Strasbourg Cathedral. Again, movement is medicine, and a cure for impatient attitudes. We found the city center of Strasbourg and thus the church, which was awesome! When you turn the street corner to look at it, it’s so tall and so in your face, it almost looks like that scene in the movie Inception when the building start to become 3D and folding back on Leonardo DiCaprio. There was a short line to enter the Cathedral, so we went in. The history of these places is so amazing and I just can’t fathom how they built these things hundreds and hundreds of years ago. Walked through the inside quite quickly, lit a candle for some loved ones, and decided to head back to the car to get it returned. Rental car return was smooth. I will say the French do check everything over more so than in the states. Do your due diligence when you pick up to make sure there are no issues with your rental on return.
We made it to the train station by 3:30pm for a 5pm departure. Waited around for a little bit at a cafe in the station and boarded at about 4:45pm. Similar to the ride out, it was a smooth 2 hour ride from Strasbourg to CDG. We were staying at the Hilton CDG Airport hotel, so after a quick airport tram ride, we were at the hotel. Had a quick dinner at Pia inside the Ibis hotel, which was just OK, but decent for the options we had, and walked back.
And that’s it. Our trip is over.
Our kids are worn out and ready to be home. Mom and dad are worn out and ready to be home. I’m both dreading work on Thursday and looking forward to it at the same time. I’m grateful for the opportunity and feel honored to have afforded the opportunity to my kids and my wife. Maybe that’s a bit selfish, but I grew up with grandparents who lived abroad and I know the benefit that being a young person who experienced some of the world and what it was like to be out of your comfort zone had on me as I grew into an adult.
Someone asked me what my favorite moment was of the whole trip and I said I don’t know yet, I think that my favorite moment will be some day down the road, maybe 5 years, or 10, or 15, or 20, when my kids say something about mom and dad taking them to Paris when they were kids. And hopefully that something within it stuck with them. I think that will be my favorite moment. Au revoir!
Our last real day. No hurry this AM. We had to check out of the AirBNB by 10am and needed to get the rental car back by 3pm. Our train was at 5pm, so we had time to kill.
First way of doing that was another mall. We stopped at the Houssen mall in France between Ribeuville and Colmar. We walked through their Carrefour, wow, what a store that is. So much stuff. Had an espresso shot and a few Pan Au Chocolate’s before deciding to head to Strasbourg at 1pm.
There was an earlier train to CDG that was leaving at 3:00pm, so I went in to see if we could exchange, but right as I did so we were within an hour limit and were told there was no option for an exchange. So, we went and found a parking lot and sought out the Notre Dame de Strasbourg Cathedral. Again, movement is medicine, and a cure for impatient attitudes. We found the city center of Strasbourg and thus the church, which was awesome! When you turn the street corner to look at it, it’s so tall and so in your face, it almost looks like that scene in the movie Inception when the building start to become 3D and folding back on Leonardo DiCaprio. There was a short line to enter the Cathedral, so we went in. The history of these places is so amazing and I just can’t fathom how they built these things hundreds and hundreds of years ago. Walked through the inside quite quickly, lit a candle for some loved ones, and decided to head back to the car to get it returned. Rental car return was smooth. I will say the French do check everything over more so than in the states. Do your due diligence when you pick up to make sure there are no issues with your rental on return.
We made it to the train station by 3:30pm for a 5pm departure. Waited around for a little bit at a cafe in the station and boarded at about 4:45pm. Similar to the ride out, it was a smooth 2 hour ride from Strasbourg to CDG. We were staying at the Hilton CDG Airport hotel, so after a quick airport tram ride, we were at the hotel. Had a quick dinner at Pia inside the Ibis hotel, which was just OK, but decent for the options we had, and walked back.
And that’s it. Our trip is over.
Our kids are worn out and ready to be home. Mom and dad are worn out and ready to be home. I’m both dreading work on Thursday and looking forward to it at the same time. I’m grateful for the opportunity and feel honored to have afforded the opportunity to my kids and my wife. Maybe that’s a bit selfish, but I grew up with grandparents who lived abroad and I know the benefit that being a young person who experienced some of the world and what it was like to be out of your comfort zone had on me as I grew into an adult.
Someone asked me what my favorite moment was of the whole trip and I said I don’t know yet, I think that my favorite moment will be some day down the road, maybe 5 years, or 10, or 15, or 20, when my kids say something about mom and dad taking them to Paris when they were kids. And hopefully that something within it stuck with them. I think that will be my favorite moment. Au revoir!
This post was edited on 12/6/24 at 10:59 am
Posted on 12/17/24 at 8:12 pm to LSUShock
My wife and I took our kids -11 & 13- to France over Mardi Gras this year. We had a lot of similarities to your trip. We spent the bulk of our trip in Paris and hit everything we could. We enjoyed it, but when it ended we were ready to come home.
This is what it’s all about. I get more joy out of hearing the kids recall something from a family trip than anything I saw or did in those trips.
quote:
I think that my favorite moment will be some day down the road, maybe 5 years, or 10, or 15, or 20, when my kids say something about mom and dad taking them to Paris when they were kids. And hopefully that something within it stuck with them.
This is what it’s all about. I get more joy out of hearing the kids recall something from a family trip than anything I saw or did in those trips.
Posted on 12/18/24 at 12:00 am to slinger1317
I'm heading that way in March just building the itenairy I think we are to be tired.
Posted on 12/18/24 at 6:41 am to CenlaLowell
Yeah we had a "quick trip" over Mardi Gras. Friday-Friday.
The first night was on the plane, we landed in Paris and had a whirlwind 2 hour quick drive around the city, then caught a train to Bayeux for night 1. We did a WWII tour on the first full day, and it was amazing. The best part of the trip. We took a train back to Paris that night.
Spent the remaining 5 nights in Paris. We would grab a pastry and coffee and hit the streets early. Hit all the major spots, lots of walking. Spent a day at Versailles. Usually back to the flat around 3-4 each afternoon for rest and then out for dinner each night. We hit most of the major points, the kids loved the Eiffel tower, Louvre, and Invalides. But by the last day we all had enough and were ready to head home.
We enjoyed it but no real desire to go back. I have been to a few cities/countries in Europe and enjoyed Paris the least. Mostly due to the people. The people in Bayeux could not have been more friendly, but Parisians have a well earned reputation for being cold.
The first night was on the plane, we landed in Paris and had a whirlwind 2 hour quick drive around the city, then caught a train to Bayeux for night 1. We did a WWII tour on the first full day, and it was amazing. The best part of the trip. We took a train back to Paris that night.
Spent the remaining 5 nights in Paris. We would grab a pastry and coffee and hit the streets early. Hit all the major spots, lots of walking. Spent a day at Versailles. Usually back to the flat around 3-4 each afternoon for rest and then out for dinner each night. We hit most of the major points, the kids loved the Eiffel tower, Louvre, and Invalides. But by the last day we all had enough and were ready to head home.
We enjoyed it but no real desire to go back. I have been to a few cities/countries in Europe and enjoyed Paris the least. Mostly due to the people. The people in Bayeux could not have been more friendly, but Parisians have a well earned reputation for being cold.
This post was edited on 12/18/24 at 6:43 am
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