Story by Nicole

On Thursday we slept in (it’s challenging not to sleep in when the earliest you can end dinner is about 9:30). We had some pizza for brunch and went to Sainte-Chapelle, which came highly recommended by several people. We walked past a ridiculously long line at Notre Dame and straight into Sainte-Chapelle, which was a nice feeling of victory. The cathedral is behind the guarded gates to the courthouse area, which made for an odd mix of suited professionals and confused tourists.

Sainte-Chapelle is just as gorgeous as everyone tells you. It has amazing nearly floor-to-ceiling stained glass panels on three sides, and an incredibly intricate rose window on the fourth. They are just finishing a painstaking stained glass restoration project (doing glass restoration on something so old and well renowned sounds terrifying), and almost everything was back in place.

Sainte-Chapelle (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Sainte-Chapelle (Photo/Jason Rafal)

From Sainte-Chapelle we headed to the Panthéon - which we did not go inside of, you may be noticing a trend - and sat on its steps for a while contemplating the day. From there we headed to Shakespeare and Company, one of the oldest English bookstores in Paris. And it is a fantastic bookstore. It’s loosely organized on two floors, and the upstairs experience included a sleeping cat, a man playing the piano, and a donated library and reading room. Definitely worth a stop if you’re in Paris and love books.

Shakespeare and Company (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Another great thing about Paris is the water fountains everywhere. Frequently while wandering the city you’ll see a beautifully carved water fountain, and you can hold your hands or water bottle directly up to the lips of an engraved god to receive your drinking water.

One of the city’s many water fountains (Photo/Jason Rafal)

We then got on the metro and went to Montmartre, where we got off the train partway up the hill and climbed up several flights of stairs on residential streets to reach the Basilica. It was flooded with tourists, as expected, but the view is lovely. It’s fun to people watch and hear all the different languages as well.

Climbing the steps to Montmartre (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The view from Montmartre (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A view of the Eiffel Tower from Montmartre (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The Basilica of the Sacré Cœur (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A garden in a ball in the park below Montmartre (Photo/Jason Rafal)

We had our best meal in Paris that night at a little restaurant called L’ange 20. When we first arrived, the waiter told us that we were out of luck without a reservation, but then offered that if we came back in half an hour, he would seat us if one of his 7:30 pairs didn’t show. When we came back, he gave us seats near the bar, where Jason enjoyed his view into the kitchen. The food was French with a creative spin (my entree had guacamole in it, along with angel hair pasta-wrapped shrimp and a delicious spicy sauce), and everything we had was amazing. We would highly recommend it.

On Friday we did a cooking class, which was great. We went to a market, walked to the ruins of a crumbling Roman amphitheater, and then spent several hours preparing a three-course lunch under expert and teasing guidance. We learned useful facts, including how you can dye pears brown to cover any unsightly brown spots by putting a tea bag into the water while they are poaching. We also learned a cheater way to sous vide chicken. At the end, we enjoyed our lunch of cauliflower soup; chicken with mashed potatoes, deglazed vegetables, and red wine sauce; and poached pear with chocolate sauce and homemade ice cream.

Chef Jason (Photo/Nicole Harrison)

Our fancy kitchen (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Meal in progress (Photo/Jason Rafal)

After our cooking class we went to the Jardin des Plantes, which is Paris’s botanic garden. It’s beautiful and an excellent example of why Paris is so good at parks. I would highly recommend it, and it’s free so you can just stroll in and out on your way somewhere else.

At the Jardin des Plantes (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A talented bug (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Skeletons of varying sizes in a building at the Jardin des Plantes (Photo/Jason Rafal)

I’m really not quite sure whether to recommend the night cruise to people. I will say that if it’s your dream to get really drunk and enjoy a good view of the Eiffel Tower when it’s lit up at night, the cruise is probably worth it. If those things don’t interest you, you can probably skip it and save the money.

The cruise gave us aperitifs when we got there, and then we had an entire bottle of champagne and a bottle of wine. Because champagne is too sweet for Jason and we didn’t want to waste the alcohol, I ended up drinking an entire bottle of champagne by myself over the course of two hours. We were planning to take the metro back, but when we got off the boat we were drunk enough that it seemed like too big of a risk to attempt to navigate the metro correctly, so we set off walking. I became progressively more drunk as we walked, and because I’m the automatic navigator when around Rafals, this resulted in us walking at least an extra mile trying to get home. We did find some delicious ice cream on the way, though.

Walking to the boat in the rain (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The Eiffel Tower all lit up (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A lot of drinks (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Boat selfie (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Nicole getting tipsy on the boat (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Wandering home after the boat ride (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Amazing midnight ice cream (Photo/Nicole Harrison)

On Saturday, we nursed our hangovers at breakfast (crêpes are delicious) and lunch (Italian food for variety). Then we boarded a bus to see Monet’s garden at Giverny.

If you only have a couple of days in Paris, I wouldn’t use five of those hours to explore Giverny. It’s a lot of travel time. But because it was rainy, we had already been in Paris for a few days, and we were too hungover for museums, it was a good side trip.

Monet’s gardens are really wonderful. There are a variety of colorful flowers scattered everywhere - I was amused to see columbines, colorado’s state flower - and there are many trellises that make the garden feel cozy and secluded, even when it’s filled with tourists. The water lily pond is also incredibly beautiful, and in a much softer way than the impressive historical monuments in the area. The light rain just made everything even more soft and welcoming.

Monet’s gardens (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Monet’s gardens (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Monet’s gardens (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Monet’s gardens (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Soft water (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Monet lived in Giverny with his second wife, and children starting in 1883. It’s a lovely house. The kitchen was especially great, with beautiful tiling and copper pots everywhere. There was also a pot filler, which Jason argued was grounds for getting one ourselves.

Monet’s kitchen (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The rain was lightening as we got back, and we enjoyed a last night in Paris.

A man dressed as orange juice for no explicable reason (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Outside a typical Paris cafe (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Sunset light (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Goodbye to Notre Dame (Photo/Jason Rafal)