Paris with friends

Back in the fall, a group of us American ladies started throwing around the idea of doing a girls’ weekend trip somewhere. It’s always hard to find a time that works for everyone’s schedules, but somehow, miraculously, we were all able to coordinate and find a weekend that worked for everyone! We decided on Paris and began getting excited for some rare time away from all of our kids and the chance to explore a new city together.

Out of the 6 of us who went, a few had been to Paris in the past few months, a few within the last several years, and a few not for many years. A couple of the ladies went a day early and stayed for two nights instead of one (which we all agreed we wished we had all done!) and they had time to check out some museums and other sites. For the others of us, it was a super quick trip — left Dublin early Saturday morning and returned Sunday evening. So about 36 hours in Paris! But still, any amount of time in Paris is wonderful, and it was especially leisurely to be there without kids this time and to be able to wander the picturesque streets, pop in and out of bakeries and cafes, do some shopping, and sit for a relaxed dinner. We stayed (as I did on my last trip there a few months ago) in the St Germain neighborhood, which is a lot of fun. We checked out a bunch of shops around St. Germain and also in the Marais neighborhood. The stores were having amazing post-Christmas sales, so there were lots of good deals to be found.

After a delicious dinner at a local neighborhood bistro and drinks in the cool hotel bar, we all slept well! The next morning, we went to the gorgeous Saint Chapelle cathedral, which has the most beautiful stained glass windows! It’s really magical to just stand in the cathedral and look up at the windows. We meandered around the area some more, passing street musicians and cute Parisian streets, and paid a visit to the Shakespeare Book Company (a famous English-language bookstore that has seen many well known authors, particularly Beats and hippies back in the day, pass through its doors — and some even slept there or spent time writing there). I loved browsing the books and seeing the unique character of the bookstore, with its ladders leaning up on shelves and all its little cozy reading nooks. The bookstore has a cafe attached to it as well, but we didn’t go there.

Before we knew it, it was time to pack up and say au revoir to Paris. It was a super quick trip, but so much fun to be there with friends!! I definitely would love to do another girls’ weekend sometime.