postcard 2: art & carbs

musée d'orsay, bakery trips, and pub nights!

Hello everyone! We have made it through another week in Paris! Here’s a little roundup of everything we did in the past several days:

SATURDAY //

We started the day with pastries from La Maison d’Isabelle, the award-winning boulangerie near the apartment. Jack picked up croissants and pain du chocolat (never referred to as a chocolate croissant here), as well as fresh baguettes for sandwiches we made later that day. We also went to the Luxembourg Gardens, where Jack found a calisthenics park and Isabella read. That night, we watched Mean Girls (2024) and drank wine 🍷

SUNDAY //

On Sunday, we returned to the Luxembourg Gardens and sat in the iconic green chairs, reading our books and watching ducks walk by our feet. A nice stranger offered to take our picture (see below). We also tuned in to the Oscars (yay dog from Anatomy of a Fall, boo Lily Gladstone’s loss!)

MONDAY //

Isabella accompanied Jack to the climbing gym and on the walk home, we stopped at L’Abeille to pick up saucisse avec fromage (a cheesy hot dog), a chocolate eclair for Isabella, and a cute little cheesecake for Jack. For dinner, we cooked up an Italian sausage, pepper, and onion skillet, and we watched Poor Things.

TUESDAY //

On Tuesday, we visited the Musée d’Orsay, the favorite museum of both of ours thus far. We saw some really beautiful Monet, van Gogh, and Renoir paintings, as well as some famous sculptures and captivating art from artists we were unfamiliar with. Isabella also ran into someone she knew from Stanford (crazy!). Jack really loved the Woman in an Orchard painting pictured below. That night, we went to the bar that has become our favorite spot, Galway’s Irish Pub, located next to the Seine. Below is a picture of Isabella pretending to enjoy a Guinness while her actual drink, a Cosmopolitan, sits in front of her. Jack also tried a new type of IPA, the Irish Pale Ale. We ate bacon cheeseburgers (🇺🇸 oops) and overall had a wonderful time! That night, we watched Ratatouille, which hits different when you’re in Paris 👨‍🍳🐁 It was Jack’s first time watching, and he thoroughly enjoyed.

WEDNESDAY //

We enjoyed coffee from Jozi’s To-Go right across the street from our apartment (side note: a croissant here is like $2 and a coffee is about $4…) Jack also very sweetly went to a nearby flower shop and assembled a beautiful bouquet for Isabella, which he brought her along with a flat white and a chocolate croissant. That afternoon, we went to the famous Shakespeare & Co. bookstore, a meeting spot for writers of the Lost Generation, including Ernest Hemingway. We went to the second-floor reading room, sitting on one of the “couches”, which become converted into beds in the evenings. Writers and students can stay free of charge in exchange for two hours of work at the bookstore each day. We read there for about an hour and a half, Isabella continuing The Secret History and Jack reading a book about the store’s history, including excerpts written by the ‘tumbleweeds’ (the writers who have slept in the store). We both bought tote bags as souvenirs, and Jack purchased Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind.

THURSDAY //

On Thursday, Jack went to the climbing gym while Isabella sat and read in a park near the Seine (a little ladybug sat on her jeans). In the afternoon, we had coffee and people-watched at Le Dante. We returned to Galway’s, this time indulging in a “drinking platter” that consisted of mozzarella sticks, cheesy fries, garlic bread, onion rings, and homemade chicken fingers (🇺🇸 oops). We think the Irish bartender recognized us upon our return (Isabella gets a little rush of joy when he says “darling”). We’ve also been getting into nighttime games of Scrabble. Isabella would like to share that she played all seven of her tiles to form the word “sardonic,” getting two triple-word bonuses and earning 127 points :))))) Jack would like to note that it was still a close game and, in fact, we’re overall tied in our Scrabble series.

FRIDAY //

On Friday, we awoke to the sound of furious hammering about ten feet from our bedroom window!!! Unfazed, we headed to the climbing gym once again, where Isabella enjoyed a coffee and medical school applications in the coworking space while Jack climbed. We both sat and planned some of our future European travels before heading home.

TODAY //

In the morning, we made some delicious shakshuka, a first for us both. We then went for a stroll along la rue de Moufettard, a famous street with lots of adorable shops and bars. The sign for €2.50 pints got the better of us and we stopped in one on our way home (it’s 5 o’clock somewhere!).

We have a couple more weeks in Paris before we venture to our next country (Belgium!), so stay tuned for more adventures (including the Catacombs 💀🦴🦴🦴🦴)!

(our first view of the Eiffel Tower sparkling at night)