Two American Cousins in Paris

My cousin Ryan has been living in France with his girlfriend for a little while now and we decided to meet up in Paris on May 27th. I got up and took the train into Paris. I met Ryan and his girlfriend, Flora, at the Gare du Nord. It was a wonderful reunion. Our other cousin Alan was supposed to come down from London, but he couldn’t make it. 


First we headed up to Sacré Coeur. We decided to walk from the Gare du Nord this time. There was another wine and cheese festival in Montmartre. We walked around there for a little while and then headed to the painter’s section. We bought some strawberries from a vendor and ate them as we walked around. We wondered down to Moulin Rouge and then took the metro over to the Bastille. 

Once we got there we looked for a place to eat. We were going to eat at Hippopotamus, but they were really rude so we decided to look for another place. We walked past a small Korean restaurant and it smelled so good that we decided to go in for lunch. It was a hibachi type of place so we got to cook our own food right at the table. Flora ordered spring rolls while Ryan and I both ate dumplings. For our main course, Flora had breaded shrimp, Ryan had spicy chicken, and I had beef teriyaki. We all had a side of rice to accompany our meals and it was delicious. I would definitely go back! After lunch we wandered down Rue du Rivoli until we crossed over the Seine to le Marais. When Katie was here she told me that the best ice cream was in this area so we went in search of it. The ice cream is called Berthillon. We had to wait in line for a really long time, but it was definitely worth it. While in line, I looked over and saw three police officers at the bar. It was so funny to see three officers on duty at the bar. Clearly there was a lot going on in the area. As for my ice cream, I decided on a scoop of cassis and a scoop of coffee. The guy looked at me funny because these weren’t two flavors that people usually order together but I wanted both of them.  It was amazing! We ate our ice cream while sitting on the wall along the Seine.

After eating our ice creams, we walked along the Seine, past Notre Dame and stopped near St. Michel to decide where to go next. I had about an hour left until my train home so we decided to go to Happy Hour. I mean we are Bonvouloirs. We all got beers and they were thirst quenchingly good. Unfortunately, I had to get going so we said our goodbyes at the RER station. It was sad to say goodbye because it had been so nice catching up with Ryan. We joked around all day and it was awesome. I headed back to Gare du Nord to catch my train but I ended up missing it by a couple of minutes so I had to wait another hour for the next one. It was okay though because I had my kindle with me - best investment ever!