Photo: Inside the Paris Pantheon, mausoleum for some of France’s greatest heroes. 

Today, I’m recapping the first day of a three-day trip to Paris with my bestie, Shaina. Otherwise known as my first kid-less trip since Owen was born in 2012. We had a blast! Here’s a look at our full itinerary this time. If you are interested in Paris with children, look here for posts on last year’s trip as a family of four.

A boom, a flash and a bunch of smoke.

I was standing in Paris’ Gare du Nord, waiting for my friend’s train to arrive, and I was rather alarmed. This sort of thing at a busy train station doesn’t generally seem like a great sign. But, as no one seemed to be running away, I did the only obvious thing — I walked over to see what all the fuss was about.

Turns out, I’d arrived in Paris just in time, as the day after my arrival (and the day of Shaina’s) brought with is mass transportation strikes in Paris, with other union organizations joining the strike in solidarity. As our lovely AirBnB was right near two major railways stations, Gare du Nord and Gare de l’Est, we got to see quite a bit of marching. Fortunately, however, Shaina was able to make it from the airport to the city via train with no drama.

Paris Pantheon: burial place of heroes

So, backing up a bit. Having arrived in Paris the evening before, I had some time to kill before Shaina’s arrival. I decided to head over to the Latin Quarter to see the Paris Pantheon, a building originally intended to be a church but ultimately repurposed as a burial place for French patriots and distinguished citizens after the French Revolution. People like Voltaire, Victor Hugo and Marie Curie have all been buried there. I wanted to go to the Pantheon last spring when we were in Paris with the kids but hadn’t made it, so I was pumped to have the opportunity to check it out!

Burial at the Pantheon is restricted to those named by government decree to be “National Heroes.’ It is a recognition of that individual’s contribution to French honor. Alexandre Dumas, author of The Three Musketeers, was reinterred there in 2002. Two heroines of the French resistance were also symbolically interred there in 2015 (their families didn’t want their bodies actually moved.)

The walls of the Pantheon are lined with murals depicting some of France’s greatest heroes at significant moments in French history. I was also intrigued by two walls of names labeled “Aux ecrivains morts pour la France,” or “for the writers who died for France.” I wasn’t able to research it until I got home, but apparently this is a monument to the 560 writers of all nationalities who were killed during World War I. You can read a little more about that here.

Unfortunately, there was some significant construction going on at the Pantheon, so I wasn’t able to go to the crypt and see the tombs. Also, the Foucault Pendulum was also off display. In 1851, physicist Leon Foucault demonstrated the rotation of the Earth by conducting an experiment with a pendulum within the Paris Pantheon. Since 1995, they’ve had a replica of this 67-meter (about 22o-foot) pendulum on display. Except, unfortunately, during a brief period that happened to fall while I was visiting. But c’est la vie!

This was another good use of the Paris Museum Pass (which I talk about here) though, as I would probably have been a bit annoyed if I had paid to get into the Pantheon and was unable to see half of it.

Luxembourg Gardens: one of my favorite places in Paris

I’d intended to head back to Gare du Nord after visiting the Paris Pantheon, but couldn’t resist taking the opportunity to pop by into the Luxembourg Gardens, one of my favorite places in Paris. I talked about our visit to the Luxembourg Gardens with the kids last year in this post, and I’m happy to report I found it just as charming while walking on my own.

Reunited with Shaina! And some mass protests

After my brief bit of drama at Gare du Nord, I finally reunited with Shaina and we headed off to see the city together. We ended up walking a considerable distance to get from our apartment to the Tuileries Gardens, because while we’d planned to catch the metro from Gare de l’Est, we ran into this protest and didn’t feel like trying to wade through the crowd.

Walking turned out to be an excellent choice, however, as we had so much opportunity to see the city and for Shaina to stretch her legs after an incredibly long plane trip. Walking also ended up being basically the theme of the trip, because although we did use the metro a lot, we also logged about 12 miles of walking each day.

We grabbed a quick lunch in the Tuileries Gardens– an extremely overpriced but delicious croque monsier with hot wine — then intended to hit both Musee de L’Orangerie and Musee d’Orsay that afternoon. We ended up being thwarted by the strike again at Orangerie because for whatever reason they also decided to close (solidarity?), but Orsay was thankfully still open.

Museum time: Musee d’Orsay and Musee du Louvre

If I’m picking my favorite art museums in Paris, it’s a pretty good tossup between Orsay and Orangerie (though I think the latter might edge out Orsay by a tiny bit). Chris and I went on our honeymoon and loved it then, and it was still great this time around. The Musee d’Orsay is much less overwhelming than the Louvre and it includes works by a lot of my favorite artists.

The Musee d’Orsay boasts the largest collection of Impressionist and post-Impressionist works in the world. 

The building that houses Musee d’Orsay, a restored train station, is also basically a work of art itself.

We did not intend to go to La Louvre this trip; I’d already been before and found it too overwhelming and less enjoyable than Orsay or Orangerie, and Shaina wasn’t too interested either. Here’s the great thing about the Paris Museum Pass though: it gave us the freedom to indulge a whim. We had a bit of extra time since we didn’t get to see the Musee de l’Orangerie as planned, and it occurred to Shaina that since we were RIGHT THERE we might as well pop in and see the Mona Lisa. So we did.

Where to eat in the 10th Arrondissement Paris? Chez Casimir! 

For dinner, we opted to try out a spot near our AirBnB that had come highly recommended by our hosts: Chez Casimir.

Guys. GUYS.

LISTEN.

If you come to Paris, you NEED TO EAT HERE.

Everything was so insanely good that even thought this meal took place about 18 days ago, Shaina and I were still texting about it as recently as today.

Despite a somewhat terrifying waitress who was annoyed that we sat down at a table and that she spotted us sipping from a bottle of water we’d brought in (hey, it was a LONG WALK), we ended up staying for four courses and three hours. Literally every single thing was awesome. If you go and they happen to have it, absolutely get the goat cheese and honey appetizer. It was insane.

If you find yourself anywhere near the 10th Arrondissement: CHEZ CASIMIR. Go there!