Paris? Why Shelli, of course…

In September 2022 I visited France with Shelli. Little did I know at the beginning of our trip that I was with an expert European traveler and a Francophile. I gradually learned this over our three weeks together in Paris, Cassis, and Aix-en-Provence.

What I knew about Shelli before the trip-

She is elegant. She loves art, philosophy, and beautiful things. She loves reading.  We both studied literature in college. She’s an amazing mom, wife, daughter, sister, friend, and special education teacher. She is a foodie but often partakes in only small nibbles. She has a knack for finding great restaurants. She loves to hike. She has grit. She’s adaptable. She speaks French……let’s put it this way, she speaks French well until she messes up one word with another word and the meaning goes bonkers!

What I didn’t know about Shelli until I asked her-

She took French in high school and college. She was drawn to it because she has always been drawn to culture, food, design, and style at the forefront of daily living.

Her first trip to Europe was a solo journey at age 22. None of her friends had travelled to Europe, so she was breaking new ground. In the early 90’s she brought cashiers cheques and debit card.  She doesn’t think she had a credit card.  

She visited France, Scotland, and England in December. While in Paris she saw the first snow of the season and the Christmas markets. She calls that experience “a magical dream”. On her first day in Paris, she roamed from her 1* hotel in the Marais to Notre Dame and immediately fell in love with Paris.

As time passed, Shelli would go back to France whenever she could. She loves being there with people and on her own.

Some of her favorite places or things to do in Paris are the following-

She enjoys going up to the top of Canal Saint-Martin and slowly wandering down through the locks, and in and out of libraries and cafes.

She loves a Seine River cruise on the Bateaux-Mouches.

She always visits the Food Halls near Le Bon Marche in the 7th arrondissement or at Galeries Lafayette Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement. She enjoys stocking up on prepared foods and canned items, like duck. She loves fancy spices and cookies. And she especially loves Rouge Bourbon tea by Mariage Freres.

As Shelli puts it “Paris is never a bad idea.”