Ari, Abigail & Emerson in Paris - A Christmas in Paris Experience
Note: This is an email received from Petite Paris guest Ari, copied with no edits for accuracy and honest feedback about their Petite Paris Itinerary and city experience. Ari visited Paris with her daughter and her daughters best friend for a Chrissie/NYE Paris trip - their first Paris experience! I was thrilled to host them in Lisettes Petite Paris apartment and to curate their beautiful itinerary and days sightseeing, and receiving this review the ultimate, affirmation! MERCI ladies!
Dear Regina,
I have finally gotten some time today to sit down and send you all of the photos and feedback I promised in my earlier emails. I have thought of and talked about our trip no less than a million times per day since we got back. I feel like I now have "the bug" and am thinking constantly about how and when I will get back there (next time in warmer weather to see all of the beautiful gardens how they are intended). My next goal is to come with some friends but it will likely be next year (2027) I am guessing, provided our ridiculous government here in the US doesn't start an entire war with the EU preventing all of us from traveling freely and enjoying time with our wonderful allies in their beautiful countries. Sigh. We are quite a mess. But I digress to happier things...
Here are links to a google drive of the photos I took:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1G8I5C9PnWpraHD3_s525QoRVGMHYlzWU?usp=drive_link
Here is the link to the web-sized photos that amazing Flora took:
You are free to use whatever you want. Please let me know if you have trouble with either of the links.
So, here are my thoughts about our amazing trip for your use and encouragement - whatever you might find them good for! I'll also be hopping on FB to do your glowing review after I send this email. I haven't even done a post for myself yet, that's how busy we've been since coming home!
First of all, YOU! My experience working with you to develop our itinerary was beyond wonderful. Despite being in another location across the world, you are so attentive and detailed and made sure that all of my needs and wants were included in the plans. You were so incredibly clear in your communication about what things I needed to book and when and how.
The program you use to develop and share the plans - Wanderlog - is absolutely fantastic and is so user-friendly. I recently spoke to a friend who went to Paris with her husband and planned their trip based on "tik tok videos" pretty exclusively. When I told her where we went and all we did, I could hear in her voice that we really got to see and do so much more because of your knowledge and expertise and support.
The way that you plan the days with city geography in mind is so smart and how you planned flexible/optional things between the ticketed anchor events was exceptional. I have said your name and the words "Petite Paris" to everyone I talk to - even people who have been to Paris before. When I return to Paris, we will book with you again.
Second, Lisette's apartment in Montmartre! Oh my goodness. It was entirely precious. I felt like we lived like Parisians and I loved being slightly out of the hustle and bustle of a more populated area to "come home" but still so very accessible to everything we wanted to do. I think we only heard a neighbor once or twice in the building and the only evening there was even noise in the street was New Year's Eve (of course!).
Lisette has made the space so cozy and welcoming and she was accessible through What's App the entire visit - she checked in with me and responded when I had questions. While people who are used to "American style hotels" might be a bit intimidated by the older building, the winding staircase and the coziness of a true French apartment, this is the real Paris and in my opinion is the best way to experience it. I taught myself to use her French Press (thanks to the internet!) and enjoyed having my feet up in the living room driving coffee and enjoying quiet moments. I also enjoyed being able to use the washer and drying rack Lisette provided which helped me to be able to pack lighter and reuse items.
Also of note for me was the fact that despite being an older building, the apartment was fully renovated and the shower was always hot even for a long shower, the water pressure was great and the towels were soft. Before my trip, someone said to me "oh Montmartre is really up there and far from things" but how wrong they were! Being just a 2 minute walk to the Metro made Lisette's place incredibly convenient to everything and the Metro is also very easy to navigate and access thanks to the kiosks and helpful workers.
As a bonus, Apple Maps right on my phone was our most valuable player to get everywhere through public transit and walking - down to details on which exit to use from a Metro station. The accessibility to quick train rides at Lisette's was incredibly helpful because I found out on Day 1 that although I was traveling with nearly grown teenage girls, they needed some down time each afternoon before evening activities. Being so close to the train station made that not just possible but very easy and made for much better evenings than had I pushed them all day long! Traveling to Paris you will not avoid crowds at popular places but you absolutely can escape the crowds by staying at Lisette's and you can stroll to beautiful and well known places in Montmartre or ride the train to popular destinations in just a few minutes.
Now, I want to give you all of my feelings about each of our days! :)
Day 1 (12/30):
To allow the girls to sleep a bit more after our very long travel day, we just grabbed coffee and hot chocolate and pastries (pain au chocolat of course) at the coffee shop on the corner by Lisette's - very easy and delicious way to start the day.
Perfume Museum and making at Fragonard - so easy to find and so much fun - a really great value for the experience and take home perfume that we made - also really enjoyed shopping in their store and would encourage others to plan to use this as a place to spend for one of a kind souvenirs for themselves and those at home - I bought sets of their most well known eau de parfum for a really good deal (29 euro each) for special women in my life and every single one was blown away by this gift, which was also very easy to pack for the return trip home.
Galleries Lafayette - blow away by how beautiful it was for Christmas - overwhelming because of size and crowds but we shuffled through just fine and wound up eating at the very quiet cafe in the basement near the fitness center rather than fighting crowds elsewhere and enjoyed it (I've seen posts after the fact that this is the secret spot and reasonably priced for the area) - I didn't know until after our trip that the roof of GL was so special, especially at Christmas, so don't forget to mention that to folks as we missed it just because we did not know about it.
Pointe shoe fitting at Repetto - unforgettable and absolutely gorgeous, especially at Christmas - you can see in the photos how amazing - definitely a place to stop for dancers even if you are not getting pointe shoes - the staff was incredibly kind.
Back to Lisette's for rest before the evening.
Popped in to Cafe Suzanne for a quick dinner before getting ready for the ballet - easy and convenient and delicious onion soup.
Ballet at Opera Bastille - Hunchback of Notre Dame - iconic Paris experience of course and a must-do for dancers for sure - a great time to play dress up.
Post ballet we walked to Carette across from Place Des Voges - although PDV was no longer lit up for Christmas (sad), eating all of the desserts we could plus legendary hot chocolate and hands down the best French fries (of course!) we've ever had was absolutely the girls' favorite dining experience the entire trip - this location of Carette is gorgeous and the staff were incredibly kind and accommodating.
Day 2 (12/31):
A quick walk to Boris Lume for pastries and coffee/hot chocolate before the day - just as cozy and delicious as you promised - their cinnamon croissant changed my life! :) - then a quick walk back to the train to get to the Louvre.
Louvre entry at 9am - the 9am entry is absolutely the must, as you know - I plotted out exactly which escalator to take to go straight to see the Mona Lisa and we were able to get in quickly to see her before the crowds built up - I cried for 10 minutes seeing her in person and embarrassed Abigail of course (ha) - we didn't use our audio tours but did use the app that came with our tickets to find the things we wanted to see most and definitely hit the highlights we wanted.
Walked to Cafe Plume for lunch since we did not get there for breakfast (teenage girls prefer to sleep!) and it was as you said, quiet and delicious and not touristy - I enjoyed their croque monsieur (but I'm never opposed to bread and ham and cheese!).
Macaron making - the company contacted me the day before to notify us of a change of location, which changed our afternoon game plan a bit but it was just fine and their communication through email and What's App was great - the location was on an unassuming cobblestone street in an older building and the line of participants outside all wondered if they were in the right place but the manager came outside right on time and had the list of those signed up ready - each small group of 5 to 8 people were assigned a small kitchen with a pastry chef, some making macarons and others making croissants - this was such a fun experience and definitely would do it again - it is the most expensive thing we did (250 euro each person) but absolutely worth it in my opinion, especially at the coldest time of year when being outside is more challenging - our pastry chef was a young woman from New York who had been a makeup artist for 15 years and moved to Paris "for a year" 8 years ago and never went back - so fun to get to know her as well as the mother and son from Australia who were in our room - our macarons turned out great and we also got to enjoy some of the hot out of the oven pull apart croissants that the kitchen next to us made.
After that we strolled a bit in the Latin Quarter (where the new location of the Macaron making was) and did a little touristy souvenir shopping and got to see Shakespeare and Co but the line was too long for the girls and we went home to rest.
St. Chapelle NYE concert - ok, so this is the one thing the entire week that I would not do if I had it to do over again to be honest - I probably should have known this but didn't but there is zero heat in the cathedral and it was about 45 degrees F inside, making the experience not really enjoyable, especially for teenagers who are not the biggest fans of classical music - also, the add on tapas that we paid for we found out after the concert was a 15 minute walk away at a bar in the wrong direction from home so we chose not to do that - this is absolutely a stunning location but I think I would go back and see it during the day rather than sit in the cold for an hour - just something to mention to guests planning to do this in the winter so they can choose for themselves whether they want to do it enough to endure the temperatures.
Because the tapas was a no go for us, we took the easy walk and train ride back to Montmartre and had to try a couple of locations to find a place to eat that wasn't reservation only and fixed price because it was NYE - BUT we wound up seeing that the Italian/French fusion restaurant right down the hill from Lisette's was open and warm and cozy and available and the owner and his wife were so friendly - we had wonderful lasagna and carbonara and creme brulee and I discovered the beauty of the St. Germain spritz, which has also changed my life and left me wondering why so many American women think they need to drink Aperol spritz when the St. Germain is so much better! - I cannot recall the name of the restaurant but definitely put it on the list for your guests at Lisette's because it was a wonderful experience and very convenient.
Because we were very ready to be warm and tucked in at home we did not venture to Sacre Coeur for NYE festivities but could hear people celebrating from my room for a few minutes - that said, I have suggested to several friends that they take advantage of your plans for next NYE and get in on the rooftop studio party with you because it sounds magical.
Day 3 (1/1):
Instead of relying on walking and trains so we would ensure we were on time to meet Flora, we used Uber and it was great - I tried to use the G7 app but although their taxi services were great for leaving the airport, I couldn't get the app to work to reserve a car later so I just used Uber and it was great - the drive let us see other parts of the city and even go around L'Arc de Triomphe, which as you know is out of the way of other things so that was a nice opportunity to see it.
Photo shoot with Flora - we were the coldest we have ever been in our lives but these photos and experience with Flora were worth it! - she was so communicative before and so kind and gifted during the shoot - as a bonus, her precious husband was there to carry our coats and bags so we didn't have to worry about them - seeing the sun rise over the Eiffel Tower at Place de Trocadero (where we met up) was unforgettable - she got some iconic shots of all of us and the girls were very good sports despite being cold - she took us to the "Emily in Paris" staircase for one of a kind photos and she and the other photographers clearly know one another and worked together to help all of their clients have a wonderful experience - she very promptly sent dropbox links to the photos and did an amazing job editing them - getting photos with Flora is a must do for a first trip to Paris in my opinion.
We had to meet her early so we did not get breakfast before and just walked to Trocadero and popped into a cafe for a warm up and food after - we were right across from that Carette but there was a line so we opted for a quicker and quieter experience and it was wonderful.
We walked across the bridge to find the Batobus station and stopped in the Christmas market in front of the Eiffel Tower and I finally convinced the girls to let me buy them gloves, which changed their day considerably (ha) - we really enjoyed being able to see the city from the water on the Batobus and it is great for cold weather because it is glassed in and heated - we wound up staying on until Notre Dame and then got off - the lines at ND were very long so we opted not to try to go in but just stayed off the boat and walked through the streets near ND and grabbed crepes at a stand along the way to Hotel D'ville were we saw another small Christmas market and caught the train back home from there (although I would have loved to walk through St. Germain and Le Marais more, the cold weather and tired girls caused us to go rest).
New Year's concert at Eiffel Tower - this was a truly special experience and turned out to be wonderful (and warm!) BUT I would give your clients some extra tips on getting where you need to go without feeling stressed on this - the tickets stated that we would look for a particular sign at either of the main entrances to ET in order to bypass the long security lines, however, the line we chose did not have a sign and it resulted in the only moment in the trip I thought we might not make it to something although we were there an hour before the event just as the ticket instructions said - none of the ET or security employees knew where we needed to go so we had to weave our way through the huge crowds around to the other entrance, where we did find the sign for our special entry and got all the help we needed then - it's definitely an issue with the Theatre in Paris company (which does the ticketing for all of the things) but something you might now be able to note to your guests who do this truly amazing event - the concert itself was beautiful and the view is unmatched and I'm so glad we could do it.
After the concert, as you know it's a bit of a walk to any train station from there, we were cold and hungry and made our only slight misstep on food choices - we should have been disciplined and walked an extra block or two to get away from the more "touristy" cafes and would have likely happened upon something spectacular and hidden but we stopped quickly and ate but it wasn't our favorite although it was fine (although that is probably more of a testament to all of the places we went that you'd suggested) - I don't even remember the name of the place but my takeaway for next time is always to walk an extra couple of blocks from whatever tourist spot you've been to before stopping to eat but no worries.
The girls graciously agreed for us to pop off at the Tuileries stop after that to see the big Christmas market there - we didn't get anything because we'd just eaten but it was fun to see for sure and easy on and off the train and back to Lisette's for the night.
Day 4 (1/2):
I let the girls sleep as late as they wanted and then we had lunch at Cafe Rita by Lisette's and it was such a beautiful cafe (the bathrooms!) and good food and service, as you know.
It was raining a bit that day so it was actually a perfect day to explore the Passages in Montmartre so that suggestion was right on time! I bought a beautiful top from a boutique and we bought some other souvenirs for friends and had good coffee and hot chocolate.
The rain let up as we were finishing up and as we walked to the train we came upon A La Mere de Famille chocolatier and I am so glad we did - you MUST include this in your Montmartre itinerary - I found out later it is one of/the oldest chocolatiers in Paris and that location is beautiful and the chocolate and candy is delicious - this was another place I bought gifts for myself and people at home that packed well and were a huge hit - my only regret is that I didn't buy twice as much as their Nos Guimauves are now my favorite candy bar and they only ship to the EU and UK (I am already plotting on how I can get more from friends going in May and also have found and purchased their cookbook!).
We got off at Abbesses and walked the rest of the way home so we could see the Christmas market there and the iconic metro station (and walk up 450,000 stairs? ha) - we ate churros and I got a ham and cheese crepe (yum) and I tried hot mulled wine because one must but found out sadly it's not for me (St. Germain spritz forever!) - we stopped in a few shops on the way back home as well.
Before dinner at Le Cabanon we walked to Place du Terte and it was so beautiful lit up at night - the girls got one last amazing hot chocolate at the Carette there and there was a full moon over Sacre Coeur - we walked around the area and saw the Funiculaire and wound up being a few minutes early to dinner and they were able to seat us, which was very kind - as you know, the service and food were excellent - I had the entrecote because I had to try it, Emerson had fois gras (she is a foodie) and enjoyed it and Abigail had french fries (why not!) and of course dessert and we walked back home.
So that is my full review of everything for you to use however you want or to just be encouraged that you did a great job! I have so much to say because it was truly unforgettable thanks to you - with enough planned in advance to make certain we could do the important-to-us highlights and enough flexibility and information to also make adjustments as needed. And between your Wanderlog and Apple Maps I felt empowered to get everywhere we needed to go but also to do our own thing as it suited us.
Post-Christmas is certainly a remarkable time to go because of the lights and markets and such but I know already that my next trip will be in warm weather so I can do more wandering on foot, see all of the gardens in bloom and sit outside just enjoying that (with a St. Germain spritz in hand!). Maybe spring 2027 with some girlfriends...I'll dream about it until then (or maybe later this year when I start planning!).
Thank you so much for what you do and how you do it. I am forever grateful and will not only be a repeat customer but also will do all I can to get others to reach out!
Take care my friend,
ari