We only had about 28 hours in Paris on this trip and took a leisurely walk, what the Brits might call a bimble, through Paris after a delicious brunch.
Beautiful Paris Autumn: A Photo Essay
We chose to eat at Café Kitsuné for midday brunch while waiting for our room to be cleaned at Hôtel du Louvre, located just a couple of minutes away on foot.
This may not be a café unique to Paris, but it was our first time eating in one and we quite enjoyed it. Both the coffee shop downstairs and the café upstairs were bustling. Thankfully, we did not have to wait for a table, though it did take the food quite some time to appear (we brought activities to keep the kids occupied and quiet…).
We dined family style, ordering a shakshuka, avocado toast, Turkish poached eggs with dill, and a side of smoked salmon. The food was excellent and worth the wait. There’s a reason why this café was so crowded.
The coffee (I had a flat white) was also excellent…I’ll add it to my best coffee in Paris post.
After brunch, our room was ready but we did not stay long, wanting to make the most of our day. We took a stroll around he hotel without anywhere in particular to go (it was only later that evening that we decided to go to the Eiffel Tower).
First, we walked from the hotel to the Louvre. I wanted to take the kids into the museum, but the ticketing lines were far too long…again, a little planning goes a long way. Heidi and I were in Paris around the same time a couple of years earlier and walked right into the Louvre, but that was during the pandemic and tourism to Paris has certainly rebounded. We did have to stop and do the cliche ourist folders of “holding the pyramid.” Hopefully, the kids will appreciate that some day (though my daughter Claire Marie seemed to want to pretend she was the Statue of Liberty instead, which is somewhat fitting considering it was a gift from the French to the USA).
I feel like I mentioned this before in passing, but the highlight for the kids was chasing pigeons around Jardin des Tuileries. For a good half hour, the kids ecstatically tried to catch a pigeon. Hearing them laugh and seeing them smile, other kids even joined the (ultimately fruitless) hunt.
The kids were tired now, so we stopped and rested for a bit, then took a coffee break and continued our walk.
I had to stop at a grocery store to pick up my two favorite French cookies…cookies I’ve loved since I was a kid, but cookies that are no longer sold in the USA, at least in Southern California.
By now, we decided head back to the hotel to rest up a bit before going over to the Eiffel Tower.
And perhaps this picture is my favorite of all…Augustine appreciates beauty. He’s not a baby anymore…
Paris is one of those cities that grows on me…It’s fun to return to a place over and over, do the same things, but still enjoy it. I’m quite content to be a tourist in Paris!
Yum … “Dinosaurus” chocolate cookies .
Just gorgeous kids! Giving them a great education. Good for you!
Fan of Dinosaurus or Bastogne? Or both?
Both!
and @ a 50 % discount !!
Lovely pictures!
A tip to go quicker and enter quicker the Louvre Museum:
Go underground in the commercial center or mall, the one under the pyramide, you can enter by rue de rivoli, beside where the busses go inside the Louvre, behind the hotel du Louvre also.
There the queue for security to enter the musuem area, no queue/security to enter the mall, is only 5 minutes, always.
Nobody knows that entrance, not even parisisans, so you are quickly under the pyramide, if you have already your tickets, you enter direct one of the museum wings, inside I think there are all connected once in, if you need a ticket to buy at the counter, queues for the counter are definitively smaller inside.
Good advice! I saved about two hours in line by going through this door.
Step on any dog poop?
Do they make Bastogne with nuts flavor?!
… but the dog poop flavour is the best !
@Matthew: Great post. I wonder how much you paid for that brunch. The reason I ask is that I awls skip breakfast at hotels in Paris and go out to try local stuff. You probably paid way less when compared to what a fancy hotel would charge you in Paris. I am a very light breakfast person so a latte and a pastry is all I need to get my day going.
As for the LU cookies, I can find them here in the Midwest. Target and local grocery store sell them. The brand now belong to Mondelez so they should be available although not all the options you will find in Paris. My favorite is the Lu Petit Ecolier European Milk Chocolate. One good alternative to LU that I also find plenty here is a brand called Bahlsen which is from Germany.
@Santastico … Healthy ?
Are you talking about the cookies? It has been many years since I had one of them. As long as you don’t eat a box every day, I am ok with a cookie now and then.
Hi Santastico. Wasn’t cheap…still about 78EUR. But was very nice.
Well, not cheap but with 78EUR you fed 4 people with actually real food vs probably 60ERU per person at a decent hotel in Paris with a bunch of processed stuff.
one of my fave blog posts for the pics. nice to mix up color w/ black and white. and who doesn’t love a story (and the memories) of kids chasing pigeons ….
Thank you, Randy!
Matt, the reason why I have stayed with your Blog and love it so much is that HUMANIZES travel with such a nice touch (personalized, and with a family aspect when you can). This article and photos are a great example. The article memorializing your Dad passing and what he meant to you was another, and something that I can relate to. Our three grown children are now in their 30’s and avid travelers (sometimes fearless in what they’re willing to try to the point it scares my wife and I but we are a different generation!). But I think bringing them everywhere with us starting when they were babies encouraged a curiosity and appreciation for different cultures and experiences that continues to this day, and hopefully with their kids now too. That’s what you’re doing – and writing (and showing pictures) about it!!! Keep up the great work – I love this – and hopefully it inspires others too.
Thanks, Gerry!
Lovely pics.
I have to say, I’m a Brit and have never heard the word “bimble”.
Amble, stroll, ramble, yes but not bimble.
Are you implying that Matthew ‘bumbled’ the use of the word ‘bimble’ ?
… lol
LOL. Maybe he bimbled it?
Looks like a great cafe in all aspects except that sign prohibiting laptops. I can only think its purpose is to diminish loitering and to encourage higher turnover in pursuit of the all mighty euro … Otherwise why would management or
fellow patrons care what the other is doing ( unless it’s noisy ) ?
Sadly, I’d take my business elsewhere….