Picnicking in Paris

Sometime during our Icelandic roadtrip with Denis & Emma, we got on the topic of those amazing Parisian wine bars they took us to last Fall and where we should meet up in Asia next Spring. Then before we knew it, Christian and I had found semi-affordable train tickets to visit Denis & Emma in Paris a few weeks later. We tried to justify the cost by saying it would be our last European weekend trip before moving to California. Oh how I will miss these weekend rendezvous' in Europe!

The weekend worked out exactly as we hoped it would and we did just that: wine-bar hopped and plotted our reunion in Asia next Spring :).

We shared several bottles of wine (maybe more than several), charcuterie boards with pretty spreads of cured meats and cheeses and spent Saturday picnicking by the Eiffel Tower. 

Good friends, good food, good breakfast (thanks Emma!) good wine and trip planning? Life does't get much sweeter. And when Denis & Emma dropped us off at Gare du Nord for our return trip, the smiles on our faces couldn't get any bigger as we said the words "SEE YOU IN BANGKOK!"

My favorite wine bar of the weekend: the cute and bohemian Les Caves Populaires.

Enjoy this short video Christian whipped together from our Parisian weekend!

Autumn Weekend in Paris!

Last weekend we escaped for a few days in Pariiiiis! It didn't really include touristy things, but rather to see our travel buddies Denis and Emma. Over the past 2 years, we’ve joined them in drinking endless bottles of wine under the Eiffel Tower, boating in Amsterdam, island-hopping in Greece and Croatia and lounging on a terrace in Brussels (for nearly 8 hours straight)! We just travel so well with them. Oh and not to forget that Denis was also one of the 40 other exchange students we studied with in Lappeenranta, Finland! 

But oh la la Paris! In between wining and dining on raclette at their apartment and Emma's breakfasts of pain au chocolat, we strolled the streets around Notre Dame, barhopped around town, made a quick visit to Montmartre and had one last rendezvous at Les Caves Populaires, one of the many wine bars Denis and Emma frequent. There's always time to squeeze in another bottle of wine and a meat and cheese plate before taking the train back to Amsterdam :). 

It was a cozy, chilled out weekend in Paris and while our memories with them are already incredible....the list keeps on growing and growing--the four of us just booked tickets for a 10-day roadtrip around Iceland for next year!

Has anyone got tips for our first trip to Iceland? We hear Iceland is out-of-this-world incredible!

Mother’s Day in Paris & a Guest Post!

So while my dad is at home in California smitten over his new Father’s Day iPad (which was very affordably split 8 ways between my 7 siblings and I…yep 7 sibs!), my mom is still smitten over how we spent her Mother’s Day in Paris. After we ventured up to Normandy and before we jetset off to Tuscany, we managed to squeeze in a quick two days running around Paris—which just so happened to be on Mother’s Day!

Ofcourse, my mom loved the idea of Mother’s Day in Paris. She enjoyed her favorite wine on our Parisian hotel balcony upon arrival and we dined at a random Parisian brasserie before hopping aboard the Bateaux Mouche just in time for sunset. My mom was a happy camper especially because she thought we could never beat last year’s Mother’s Day in Venice—well we did! The next day we spent the morning in the Louvre, ate macaroons for lunch and spent the afternoon walking around Montmarte admiring artists and eating French onion soup.

Unexpectedly we were able to spend our last night in Paris with some friends Christian and I studied with in Finland, Denis and Emma. Like us, these two lovebirds (him a Frenchy and her a Finn!) are travel fanatics, understand the necessity of a good bottle of wine and we were lucky enough to go island-hopping with them in Greece last year. It’s no surprise that they picked out an amazing local wine shop, 5e Cru, for us to meet and have a few drinks. Well just a few drinks turned in to a few bottles and plates of cheeses and cured meats. Our parents tagged along too and their plan to turn in early for the night obviously didn’t happen—this wine cellar was amazing with bottles lined from floor to ceiling and a free aperitif before we left! Denis and Emma always pick the good spots and are too much fun to hang around with! Which is exactly why we’re headed off to Croatia with them for yet another trip in just a few weeks ;)…

**AAAAND, I’m guest-posting over at Alla Fiorentina today for her Travel Tuesday series :). Check out all my favorite summer things to do in Amsterdam here!**