Zoey's Birthday in Paris

Doesn't everyone celebrate their dog's 6th birthday in Paris? I know I sound like a crazy dog lady and I won't pretend we didn't totally lean into that for part of the trip, but really it was just luck that the dates coincided with her birthday. One of Jesse's MBA friends, Lindsey, was travelling to Paris with her family and asked if we wanted to join. Paris is only a five and a half hour drive from where we live so we said "why not?".

Long drives together is something Jesse and I love because it ends up being great quality time for us. We usually listen to Crime Junkie podcasts or I pull a list of partner questions from Pinterest and we go through them. You can find my board here. We love these because they can be silly or serious but they usually get us talking, laughing, reminiscing about the past, and dreaming about our future together. This drive was no exception.

We stayed at the Moxy Hotel, a branch of Marriott, that we have recently discovered and LOVED! All of their locations are very dog friendly, well utilized space and modern rooms, and their lobby/bar areas are trendy, laid back, and inviting. Plus, most locations offer the special touch of a welcome cocktail, which for the price point is rare.

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Once we settled into our room our first task was finding Zoey a potty spot. (If you don't want to read about

dog potty business, just skip to the next paragraph, no one will know;) ). Now, Paris was a very dog friendly city with dogs everywhere. However, most of those dogs grew up in the city and have no trouble going to the bathroom on concrete. My country born dog however needs something. She's not picky, rocks, scraps of grass, less than 3 square feet (1m squared) all will do. While Paris is dog friendly, their grassy areas are not. Every small strip of grass had a "no dogs" sign on it. We did end up finding a row of trees close to our apartment next to a busy road that surprisingly wasn't paved up to the trunk. She was happy and so were we.

We weren't meeting up with the friends until the next day so we decided to explore around for a bit that night. We made our way to a city dog park (all concrete and no grass) where Zoey had a blast! We sat on a bench watching her play and she kept running up to us almost as if she was thanking us for bringing her to this fun place. We stopped for dinner on our way home and had the hardest time choosing which of the adorable sidewalk restaurants to choose from. We ended up at a unique place where Jesse got a steak and I ordered a vegan salad named after one of the servers. My salad was phenomenal! Jesse should have remembered, France is not known for great steak. The steak was good but coming from the Midwest, it just couldn't compare.

The next day we had an early start to meet up with Jesse's friend, Lindsey and her family. We took a taxi to her side of town and good thing we did because it randomly rained during the ride. Once we met everyone we headed to a bakery for coffee and a breakfast pastry. Then we were off to the days activities!

Our first stop was at Sainte-Chapelle, known for its 15 gorgeous stained glass windows depicting Bible stories as well as how certain relics made their way to Paris. The chapel itself is rather small but the stained glass makes up for it in an impressive way!

The next stop was the famous Notre Dame Cathedral. Obviously it was still under heavy construction from the 2019 fire so we decided to only view it from the outside. All around on the fences were pictures of children's artwork of the cathedral sent when it burnt. We walked two minutes across the bridge to our next stop, Shakespeare and Company. Shakespeare and Company is a bookstore with a coffee shop next door. It was such a surprisingly adorable bookstore. We drank a coffee at the shop next door overlooking Notre Dame while we waited for the bookstore to open. We spent a good amount of time wandering through the rooms of the converted house. Downstairs they had modern books broken down by sections and upstairs older, vintage books all for sale. Every corner you turned or room you walked into was a space all its own with charming nooks to cozy up and read. They even had a store cat!

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Next we used the public train system to make our way to the Musée d'Orsay . The train system in Paris is fairly easy to navigate and inexpensive. Today's itinerary was mostly planned by Lindsey but after we got home we heard more than once that friends who have been to Paris prefer Musée d'Orsay over the Louve! We absolutely loved it. I'm a big fan of impressionist paintings and the museum had a whole section dedicated to them. Many of the descriptions were in English as well as French, but using the Google translate camera also came in very handy. The museum also had a large sculpture section and even an area devoted to furniture. Furniture is not exactly my idea of art but it was historically interesting for sure.

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After the Musée d'Orsay we said our goodbyes and parted ways. We went back to our hotel to feed and get Zoey before we went to dinner. We walked around a bit and found a large outdoor seating space, but after rude interactions with not one or two but four different servers before we even ordered drinks, we decided to go elsewhere . There was a Cuban restaurant close to our hotel that we had seen a few times while out walking Zoey. It smelled so good! While we usually try to stick to local cuisine when we are in a new country, we absolutely don't regret breaking that rule and going to Cuba Compagnie for dinner. Germany nor France are really known for their spicy foods and we have been missing that heat desperately. This dinner did the trick! Zoey was a hit with the tables around us and there was even another 8 week old bull terrier puppy there too.

The next day was planned around the birthday girl, Zoey. On our way to the train station we stumbled upon a massive market. We wandered through, picked up some peaches, pastries, and a baguette to snack on during the day. Most everyone else looked to be getting groceries and fresh flowers for the week ahead. Our plan was to take the train to the far side of town then walk back to the hotel hitting the main sights

along the way. Zoey did wonderful for her first ever train ride. The train was packed but she did great just standing among the other commuters. After a few stops the train cleared out and we were able to sit for the rest of the ride where she laid comfortably under our seats and out of the walkway. "Under" is her command for this skill. I started teaching it to her in the summer of 2020 when we knew we would be moving to Europe and I am glad I did. It comes in handy at sidewalk cafes with little space, public transportation, and many other tight places.

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Our first landmark of the day was the Eiffel Tower! I did a ton of research before going here with Zoey about the dog rules on the grass. The actual gated lawn at the base of the tower does not allow dogs, nor does the tower itself. The Champ de Mars is the long stretch of lawn with the famous view of the tower. I couldn't find any information online about it being dog friendly and honestly the information I was finding was leaning towards they weren't allowed on the main lawn but maybe the side areas. I then took to Instagram with the location tags of #dogs and #EiffelTower. I was confident after that search that while it may not be completely allowed, we would definitely not be alone out there. Low and behold the first thing we see when we get there is a guy playing fetch with his dog off leash in the middle of the lawn. We sat in the shade for a bit eating our peaches and pastries then walked the length of the lawn taking it all in. We sat and had a coffee under another tree and a little photoshoot on the main lawn. It honestly felt like a movie. I've seen the Eiffel Tower so many times on the screen over the years, I kept staring at it waiting for it to cut to the next scene. Ha!

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As we made our way to our next big stop we wandered through the beautiful city. We found cute parks with fun sculptures, passed buildings with gorgeous detail and architecture, and crossed bridges with ornate gold designs. One of my favorite pictures I got of Zoey that day was the one in front of the fountain. She looks so happy!

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Our afternoon hang out location was outside the Louvre. There are beautiful gardens leading up to the Louvre and because it was a nice day the lawns were covered in happy picnickers. We even stood and watched a group doing impressive acro-yoga tricks for a while. Eventually we made our way passed some live musicians to a shaded spot within site of the highly recognizable glass pyramids. From there we people watched, ate our baguette, and Zoey had an intense stand off with a very brave pigeon.

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We had walked majority of the way home at this point but decided to take the train again for the last bit. Zoey was mostly ignored on the morning train, but the group we encountered on the evening train was beyond excited! They wanted to pet her, ask all sorts of questions, and generally just love on her. Zoey isn't typically a dog that loves that over the top attention but I think she was so tired from the day that she accepted it happily. We fed and let her out once we got home then she gladly slept in the room while we went out for dinner and a little more exploring.

We ate dinner and drinks at Café Hugo that night. We kept the snack theme going that night by sharing a french onion soup and large charcuterie board. Everything was fantastic! After dinner we wandered down a nearby street and found an ice cream shop with a line out the door. They take great pride in their ice cream design and on each cone they shape the ice cream into a beautiful rose. Along with my cone I also ordered a few macaroons to eat later that night. We walked to a park, found a bench and enjoyed our ice cream. I didn't wait as long as I had planned before I broke into my macaroons, and good thing too. I didn't realize that these were no ordinary macaroons, they were ice cream filled and melting! Even eaten hastily, they were still delicious.

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We made our way home the next day, tired and happy. There was a Starbucks at a gas stop. It just happened to be the day Pumpkin Spice Lattes were released here in Europe so I couldn't NOT get one. :)

We definitely plan on going back, maybe going into the Louvre and up the Eiffel Tower next time along with many other sights, but for a weekend trip on Zoey's birthday, it was perfect. Paris is a popular travel destination, is there something that you know about in Paris that we absolutely should see next time we visit? Let me know please!