Spring break part two: driving through France (Normandy and Paris) in an economy car
Unsurprisingly, the first day of the next of our trip start rather chaotically. After accidentally going to bed at like 2 am due to some last minute packing, we got up at 5:30 am, to the gentle sound of aggressive frat music. In order to forcibly wake us up, I blared the frattiest music I could find through our AirBnB’s speakers, so we were somewhat awake for our Uber to the airport. Since very few people choose to voluntarily take 9 am flights, and Zoe and I are paranoid people who have to get to the airport as early as possible, we made it to our gate with ample time to spare. It was far too early to eat or really function for either of us, so I got a latte and ate some of the delicious cheap tangerines I bought from the Spanish grocery store.
night night 🌝
After a mercifully quick flight, Zoe ordered an Uber. But like at LAX, the Uber pickup zone is actually a separate lot next to the airport, which meant we spent a solid 10-15 minutes wandering aimlessly around the arrivals area desperately looking for our Uber driver. Eventually, Zoe found who I believed to be our Uber driver, who led us to his car, which was in the Uber pick-up area. But as soon as we got there, Zoe, promptly wordlessly abandoned the driver that had led us there. She then walked towards our actual Uber driver, who was thankfully there waiting, as I frantically followed, leaving a confused Uber driver in our wake.
Once we were safely in the Uber, she explained that she had knowingly approached and had us follow the wrong Uber driver, since she knew he would lead us to the right place to meet our actual driver, which he did. A great plan, although in my opinion, it would have been even better had she maybe mentioned it to me. To be fair, she did think of it on the spot, but at the time, I thought she had accidentally made us follow the wrong driver, and that we were maybe two steps away from being kidnapped.
After such an entertaining start to our time in France, I napped for a bit in the Uber, while our driver only played aggressive weird tiktok music. Before we knew it, we had arrived. Upon attempting to enter our hotel, I immediately almost shattered both glass doors, as I accidentally rammed into one of the doors, which was followed by my suitcase promptly falling down onto the other glass door. Again, comedy.
After dropping our stuff at the airport and a quick breakfast, it was time for me to head to my splurge of this trip: a lunch reservation at the two-Michelin starred Maison Rostang.
amuse bouches! mackarel with mustard sandwich, red cabbage, and foie gras (my favorite)
To start, I got a couple amuse bouches, including this very tasty sweet onion soup, with cheese from Savoie and a carmelized onion. Definitely not your ordinary french onion soup and delicious, especially, of course, with some free bread with genuinely some of the best butter I have ever had. Yum.
For my appetizer course, I got the potato cake stuffed with oysters which was really delicious. The potato cake balances the briny oysters really well.
For my main course, I got their most famous dish, the iconic oven-baked pike perch quenelle with a lobster bisque-esque cream, with some herby, crispy rice on the side. I was super excited for this dish, just because it’s such a rare dish to find these days, and I was not disappointed. This dish was so so rich, and the luxurious, creamy lobster sauce went really well with the light, fluffy quenelle. My only complaint was that the rice was a bit oily and bland, and it did not feel like it went with the rest of the dish. I will say though, this dish is so warm and comforting that you will immediately want to lay down and take a fat nap.
For dessert, I got the pear soufflé, which was light, fluffy, and sweet, and just everything a perfectly executed soufflé should be. It also came with a refreshing ice cream that rounded out a superb dessert.
Some mignardises, which I loved, especially the not-so-mini apple tart 🍎
After that delicious lunch, it was time to meet my friend, and we walked around the Centre Pompidou, doing some light thrifting, before grabbing a much-needed afternoon pick me up after walking up so long.
Already prepping for the 2024 Olympics!
The famous Shakespeare and Co! Too bad there was already a line.
After an unsuccessful attempt to go to Shakespeare and Co., we then stopped by a Ladurée, where I got a raspberry rose religieuse, which was delightfully delicious. Oftentimes, floral-flavored desserts can taste like soap, but it was not the case with this dessert. It was only subtly floral, in a way that let the raspberry and the choux shine.
Soon enough, after eating our desserts by the Seine, it was nighttime and time for us to find some dinner. We decided on Au Chien Qui Fume, a classic brasserie, which, according to its website, has been around since 1740. We obviously had to get some rose, which came with some popcorn, and got the mussels and frites and some escargot to share. As you can see, quite a bit of food. The escargot were pretty good, but the mussels were unexpectedly the surprise hit. I still think about just how good these mussels were. I have never had such flavorful mussels in my life before. The broth really infused into the. mussels in a way I had never tasted before. It was just so so good especially with the chunks of baguette and bits of garlic and onion interspersed throughout. So much food that we sat there in pain trying to finish these massive delicious pots of mussels but such a good meal for our first night in France.
Honestly, did consider buying, if it actually fit into my suitcase.
We had an early morning since we had to pick up the rental car on the outskirts of Paris the next morning, so we did head straight to sleep after this. However, I did accidentally wake my friend up at like 4:47 am because I woke up, and when I checked my phone and saw the time, I thought in my delirious state, that it was time to go. I then proceeded to wake her up frantically being like we gotta go, and since she had just woken up, she reflexively also began frantically getting out of bed. It was only after we checked the time a second time that we realized my mistake. Whoops. Anyways, the next morning, we headed to a Sixt in the edge of Paris to pick up the key to the rental car, and then headed to the parking lot of a nearby Ibis to retrieve said car. It was extremely confusing, and we did go up and then back down the same elevator, while a pair of French children heading to school, watched these stupid American tourists struggle to find their car. Eventually, we found it, and we then had to endure the challenge of getting out of Paris, which was another whole ordeal. Eventually, we made it, and were zooming on the French highway. We stopped for a quick breakfast at a French rest stop, which, first of all, was massive. I don’t know if this is normal for French highway rest stops, but it sold so much random stuff? As you can see, it felt like we were in a duty free store, from the massive packs of pasta to the supersized salt and pepper shakers. Also, I thought it was cute that there was a little playground for the children.
I will never get over the fact that French gas station stores are called bonjour. I still think it is so funny.
After that quick stop, we were back on the road, admiring the French countryside while listening to my personally-curated playlist of tunes (featuring copious amounts of Taylor Swift and Pitbull to keep us awake), and admiring the stunning French countryside on a particularly lovely day. The bright blue side made it feel like the idyllic countryside came straight out of a movie.
Soon enough, we were in Caen, for our first stop, the Mémorial de Caen. It was here, actually, after going back to the car to get my student ID for a discount, that I realized that I forgot my ID in the safe in the hotel. This was a lovely revelation, especially after I ran back to the museum in order to beat the hordes of French schoolchildren and was told I did not even need my ID for the discount to begin with. Luckily, the hotel found it, so I would be able to retrieve it when we got back to Paris.
The museum was super interesting, and had tons of really unique artifacts from the time period, as you can see.
After the museum, we were going to grab lunch, but we realized that since we spent so much time at the museum, and it was about a 30-minute drive to the American cemetery, which closed at five. As soon as my friend and I my had this revelation at the exact same time, she promptly made the split second decision and swerved onto the highway so we would not miss the cemetery.
I still cannot get over how beautiful this day was.
Fortunately, we made in time, and I am glad my friend made that decision. The cemetery itself was relatively minimalistic, which I think helps capture the true enormity of the war. Additionally, something fascinating I learned, which makes sense in hindsight, is that Jewish soldiers are buried under Stars of David, although much more are incorrectly buried under Latin crosses, and that there is an ongoing effort to rededicate their graves.
After that, we headed to Omaha beach, which was definitely a bit chillier than we expected, but also, so so beautiful. The beach is quite wide, and so standing there, especially since we visited during the off season, when there were very few people, you feel like you’re standing on this enormous, never-ending expanse of land. It’s so stunning though, that it makes it hard to imagine that this was once part of a major battle.
Another interesting fact about the beach is that in the summer, you can do water sports, such as kayaking, meaning that there are several water sport businesses on the beach. Which, is a little weird to think about, but at the same time, it’s also good that the local people are reclaiming this site of death and war for themselves. Additionally, most of these businesses were seasonal, including, unfortunately, the few snack shops near the beach, as we discovered from the singular guy we encountered near one of these shops. This meant that although it was approaching 5pm, neither of us had eaten anything besides a croissant in the morning.
So at this point we are pretty hungry, and the closest thing we can find is this supermarket 20ish minutes away in this tiny town. But when we get there, the supermarket is nowhere to be found, and the only thing we think could potentially have food is this tiny bar. So burst into the “bar,” and it’s just us, and a bunch of old French men. Honestly, it looks more like a convenience store with tables, since you can buy lottery tickets at the bar. We go to the back, where there is a shelf and I kid you not, the only stuff on this shelf are a bottle of wine, some cookies, and a bag of original Lays. In my famished state, thought this was a hilarious sight, especially after we had come all this way, so I tried to take a picture of this scene. Except I forgot my automatic flash was on, so instead I ended up taking a video with flash on of this shelf. I don’t think I have ever been so embarrassed in my entire life.
We then sped off to the nearest town, with Kitkat and Lays original in hand, which happened to be Bayeux, home of the Bayeux tapestry. Bayeux also has this stunning cathedral, which I am glad we got to see.
We promptly stopped at the first restaurant we saw, Le Garde Manger, and ordered some delicious cider, since Normandy is known for its apples, which was a sweet and refreshing beverage that was much needed after our long day.
I got the foie gras pate to start, which was just so so delicious. Maybe it was the long day without food, but the smooth, meaty, fatty pate, smeared on the buttery toasted brioche was insanely delicious, especially with the vinegary onions that cut through and balanced out the richness of the rest of the dish. Absolutely delicious.
For my main, I got the cod fish that had a chorizo crust and and came with mashed potatoes and a chorizo sauce. The cod itself was a bit bland, but once mixed with the smashed potatoes, sauce, and crust was actually quite delicious. After all, it’s pretty hard to go wrong with chorizo.
For dessert, I got the floating island, which ugh I love. Ever since I first saw this dessert in one of the science magazines my mom subscribed me to as a kid, I have been obsessed. This iteration was pretty good, and even though the caramel probably came out of a tube, it was pretty good caramel from a tube.
I also got the “Normandy coffee,” which actually turned out to be an extremely strong version of Irish coffee, except with calvados. Whoops. At least the speculoos was tasty.
At last, it was time for us to tuck in for the night. We stayed at Hotel La Glycine in the tiny town of Bénouville, which is actually near Pegasus Bridge, where one of the first buildings freed on D-Day is. It was pretty late, and the streets were completely empty, which was a bit eerie, but also made it feel like we were walking through yet another idyllic movie scene. The hotel is composed of multiple buildings, so after parking the car and a short walk, we quickly tucked into bed for the night, in preparation for yet another busy day.
As someone born and raised in NYC, seeing the stars at night is still such a special experience for me. This picture really does not do it justice.
