Table of Contents for this Episode
Categories: Day-Trips from Paris, Paris
[00:00:15] Annie: This is Join Us in France, episode 533, cinq cent trente trois.
Bonjour, I’m Annie Sargent, and Join Us in France is the podcast where we take a conversational journey through the beauty, culture, and flavors of France.
Today on the podcast
[00:00:31] Annie: Today, I bring you a conversation with Hannah Compton about her unforgettable babymoon adventure in France, from exploring the medieval charms of Provins, to navigating the busting streets of Paris while 30 weeks pregnant. Hannah shares her unique insights and invaluable tips for traveling under special circumstances. Whether you’re planning a trip to France or just love a good travel story, this episode is packed with delightful experiences and practical advice you will not want to miss.
Podcast supporters
[00:01:03] Annie: This podcast is supported by donors and listeners who buy my tours and services, including my Itinerary Consult Service, my GPS self-guided tours of Paris on the VoiceMap app, or take a day trip with me around the Southwest of France in my electric car. You can browse all of that at my boutique: joinusinfrance.com/boutique.
And Patreon supporters get new episodes as soon as they are ready and ad-free. If that sounds good to you, and I hope it does, be like them, follow the link in the show notes.
The Magazine segment
[00:01:36] Annie: For the Magazine part of the podcast, after the interview today, I’ll discuss Picard, the stores and why they are your friend while spending time in France.
I’ll also explain how AI helps me when producing this podcast. Oh, my goodness, Annie might be turning into a robot!
Introduction and Greetings
[00:02:03] Annie: Bonjour, Hannah Compton, and welcome to Join Us in France.
[00:02:07] Hannah: Bonjour. Bonjour, Annie.
[00:02:09] Annie: Bonjour. Wonderful to talk to you today about your babymoon in France. What an experience you had. What an adventure. I want to hear all about it. So, this took place in December 2024?
[00:02:24] Hannah: End of September of 2023.
[00:02:26] Annie: Okay. Very good. Excellent.
Planning the Trip to France
[00:02:28] Annie: And what made you decide to come in France, under those circumstances?
So, you know, similar to most people, we had a big Europe trip planned for Summer of 2020. Obviously that did not happen. We ended up having our 1st child in the Spring of 2021. And so then, when we were pregnant with our 2nd, we found out when we were due at the end of November, it was like, okay, we need to go to France, we’ve got to go to Europe now because I don’t know with two kids when we’re going to get a chance to do it again. That’s true. That’s true.
Traveling While Pregnant
[00:03:00] Annie: So, you had baby in tow and you were pregnant.
[00:03:03] Hannah: Well, our oldest actually stayed home, my mother was able to watch him. It was just my husband and I, and then obviously the baby in tow in my belly.
[00:03:13] Annie: In the belly, excellent. So does that change things? Had you been to France before without being pregnant?
[00:03:20] Hannah: I had been to France and Europe before when I was in college for a study abroad program, but I had not been back since. And my husband had not been at all. So he was a little nervous with things and we were a little nervous to see, you know, to see what I would be able to do and up to because I was about 30 weeks pregnant whenever we went.
But we were both pleasantly surprised with how, you know, pretty seamless everything was and how accommodating the people were. And so it was actually a really great experience.
[00:03:49] Annie: How long did you spend?
[00:03:50] Hannah: We were there about 8 days.
Exploring Provins
[00:03:52] Hannah: So, we spent 3 or 4 days in Paris, and then we spent a few days in Provins, just outside of Paris, and kind of the Champagne region.
[00:04:00] Annie: Oh, Provins. Okay. So, you spent several days there. Okay. I want to hear all about that because that is not one I have been to. I’ve heard about it, but I haven’t been there. Oh, perhaps we should start with that. What was it like going to Provins? You went on the train, I suppose?
[00:04:15] Hannah: Yes, we took the train. It was very easy. You know, there’s multiple trains going there a day. I believe it leaves out of Gare de l’Est. So that was really easy to navigate. We just bought tickets there, you know, at the kiosk same day. I think there’s 1 that leaves every hour, or 2 hours like that.
[00:04:30] Annie: Yeah, it’s a regional train from Gare de l’Est. So yeah, you don’t have to book that in advance typically.
[00:04:35] Hannah: No, it was really easy, just buy the ticket, walk right on. And it was pretty seamless, you know, hour and a half. The train station, it was pretty walkable from the train station to the B&B we stayed at, which was kind of, Provins is kind of the medieval portion of it, which is the main reason people go is kind of a little bit up a hill.
And the B&B we stayed at was kind of at the base of it.
So it was really easy to just walk there, drop off our bags, and then head uphill and explore, which was probably the most difficult part of the trip, was just walking up those… we kind of had to pace it like, do I really want to do it again?
Or we kind of had a plan around that.
Medieval Attractions in Provins
[00:05:08] Hannah: But yeah, that was great. I feel like we maybe stayed a little bit too long. It’s definitely a weekend city.But especially if you have small children, it was great. They have lots of little shows, knights jousting, and falconry. Lots of especially French families there with their little children dressed up as like princesses and knights and stuff like that.
That was really cute to see. But even just seeing all the medieval architecture and everything, was fun and really neat as an adult.
[00:05:39] Annie: Right, right. So this is an actual fortified area. This is the one that’s closest to Paris. It’s not a reproduction. And so it’s fun that you can do it as a, I mean, most people, like you said, it’s a weekend thing. You know, you go… you could go for just the day, but you wouldn’t be able to see everything.
If you wanted to see everything, you would have to spend at least one night, I think. Two nights might be overkill, but maybe with little kids, if they really want to go back, and back, and back, and back. That would be a fun thing to do. It’s kind of dead the rest of the week. So, I recommend you just go on weekends.
You look at their schedule, they publish their schedule. And you know, even weekends in February, there’s not going to be that much. I mean, there’s going to be some, but not that much. So, it’s best to go during the good season, which September is fine, and on weekends.
[00:06:35] Hannah: I would agree with that. We stayed there, I think, until a Tuesday. We were there for a full Monday and it was just kind of like, all right, what can we do? What’s open? But, you know, they do have a little Provins pass that includes entrance to all of the historical sites and aspects of it that I think is about 15 Euros.
So we did that.
[00:06:54] Annie: Mm hmm.
[00:06:55] Hannah: And then we did also, we didn’t do the jousting show, but we did do a dinner theater, I guess what they have it called the Banquet des Troubadours. That was a fun kind of entertaining show and they had people that were juggling, and people that were doing fire breathing, and it was kind of a comedy show and it had food with it. And they had costumes for you to dress up in.
So that was fun. Yeah, it was really fun. They did pick on us because I think we were the only Americans there. So they made… they made lots of little jokes and they kept grabbing my husband out to try to participate in things and then made jokes when he couldn’t juggle or things like that. But it was really fun.
The only caveat with that was the show was predominantly in French. So, but we did have people sitting next to us that did speak English, so they did a lot of translating for us, and we were still able to have a really good time with that. It was fun.
[00:07:43] Annie: That’s good. Is the food any good?
[00:07:45] Hannah: It was, I mean, it wasn’t a gourmet experience by any means. It was good. It was fine. There were people near us that had different dietary accommodations, like, they didn’t have dairy or things like that, and they were able to accommodate them pretty well too.
[00:07:57] Annie: Very good. Very good. So yeah, so perhaps arrive on a Saturday morning and leave on the Sunday evening. Mm hmm.
[00:08:05] Hannah: Yeah, something like that. Yeah, if there’s, I mean, it’s easy to do that. I think, yeah, in a day and a half, two days total, it would be pretty easy to see what you would want to see. And they have a really beautiful rose garden as well, which was nice to just kind of calmly meander through, we did that on the Monday when everything was pretty, you know, dead.
[00:08:22] Annie: Mm hmm.
[00:08:23] Hannah: And even at the end of September, there were a lot of things still blooming, you know, not as much as I would imagine there would be in July, but it was still beautiful just to wander the paths and it was relaxing, and there were benches for me to sit on when we got tired and everything like that.
And so that was really that was fun and nice to go to as well.
[00:08:40] Annie: That’s good. That’s excellent. So the dinner was mostly in French, was the rest of the attractions, did you have English anywhere? Like, the museums and things, could you read stuff in English?
[00:08:52] Hannah: The main, the big attraction that you go into is called Caesar’s Tower, Caesar’s Keep, and it’s the big medieval tower. And so that was fun. They have stairs, you can wind your way, walk all the way up to the top. And that was just, I think they do have guided tours, but we just kind of did our own thing. And then they also had, including that pass, they have all these underground tunnels that they used to store all the goods and stuff for it being a trading town. And I think they do have an English tour, but it’s they only have so many per week. So the one that we did was technically in French, but we just kind of, you know, meandered around and looked around sort of thing.
[00:09:28] Annie: Yeah. Yeah. And even on the Monday when there weren’t a lot of things happening, the restaurants and things were open.
[00:09:35] Hannah: They were open in the evenings, especially for dinner. There was a main one kind of in the regular town square, not the medieval square that we ate at that was an Italian and pizza shop. And that’s where we ended up eating most time just because it was open. And they were open, that’s a place that the locals tend to go more than up on the hill where the tourist section is.
But a lot of the stores, and things like that, were closed on Monday.
[00:09:57] Annie: So you have a small medieval section, and you have a small, is it a village?
[00:10:01] Hannah: Yeah, I’d say it’s probably what would be more similar to an actual French village, yeah, at the bottom of the hill, kind of…
[00:10:06] Annie: Yeah. But since there is a train, you probably have people that just get on the train to go to work in Paris there.
I would assume. Yeah, because I mean, there’s a train. It’s pretty fast. So yeah. All right. Okay.
Experiencing Paris
[00:10:19] Annie: So let’s talk now about the time you spent in Paris. First of all, did you have, did you run into any problems related to your pregnancy while you were away or did it all go swimmingly?
[00:10:31] Hannah: Honestly, it all went very swimmingly, we didn’t necessarily plan a lot for each day because we weren’t sure what I would feel up to doing, you know, what the pace would need to be. But, I mean, we would usually come back in the afternoon, maybe to take a nap or rest, but otherwise, we were pretty well out and about most days.
We took the Metro everywhere, and honestly, that wasn’t bad at all. A lot of the different stations would have elevators to go up or down. And even on the Metro trains, I was pleasantly surprised of how many people would see me and, you know, try to motion to me like, oh, do you want this seat? Sort of thing like that.
So, everyone was really nice and accommodating. And even when we would go to the different museums or things like that too, a lot of the security guards would see me and say, Oh, you need to come to the front of the line, you don’t need to wait in this line sort of thing. So it was very nice.
I definitely did not experience that, I have not experienced that as much in the States as I have over in France. So that was a nice welcome surprise.
[00:11:29] Annie: Yeah, this is normal. I mean, they don’t always notice that you’re pregnant, but if they do, they will usually wave you to the front of the line. Same with a wheelchair or crutches or things like that. They usually pay attention. The security guards pay attention to those sorts of things.
And I assume you weren’t traveling around with like a big bag or whatever so it didn’t, I mean, when you’re going places with the baby, you have to have a baby bag, but the baby was in the belly, so no diapers yet!
[00:12:02] Hannah: My arms were more free. I just had like a small satchel purse that I carried around.
So yeah.
It was very nice. And even in the tours too, they would send me like, Oh, no, go to the front of the checkout line and things like that.
[00:12:13] Annie: Nice. That’s very nice.
Navigating Paris with Ease
[00:12:14] Annie: So what part of Paris were you staying in?
[00:12:17] Hannah: We stayed in Saint Germain, in a hotel right by Café Flore. So, it was very close to, I think, two different metro stations. So that was nice for convenience for traveling and even just walking around in the area or going to different cafes and stuff was very nice. Very convenient.
[00:12:35] Annie: So what sort of traveler are you? Did you have a whole list of things you wanted to do? All organized? Or were you more like, okay, I’ll, we’ll just…
[00:12:44] Hannah: So, I guess that’s the difference between my husband and I, because, generally, and when I’m not pregnant and we’re traveling, we are both very type A and we like to have an itinerary and we like to be very busy the beginning and see all the things we need to see and then kind of relax at the end. But with this, you know, we kind of had a light itinerary, but we didn’t end up staying pretty busy.
He had not been to Europe before, so he was a little bit more wary and tepid about certain things.
[00:13:10] Annie: Meaning? Tepid about what?
[00:13:13] Hannah: I think just the, like, especially the transportation a little bit, not necessarily the metro once we were there, but he did not want to take the RER from the airport to the hotel, he wanted to take a taxi because he was nervous about it.
[00:13:26] Annie: Well, that’s what you should do anyway, yes.
[00:13:29] Hannah: Well, I guess that day, I don’t know if it was because we landed ours was an overnight flight from Dallas.
So we, we landed in the morning, so I don’t know if we kind of got stuck in some commuter traffic, but it seemed to take a really long time to get from the airport into Paris .
[00:13:45] Annie: That’s how it
[00:13:47] Hannah: goes.
Which it’s probably just maybe how it is, but we took…
[00:13:50] Annie: That’s when most people arrive from the US. They fly in between 7:30 and 11.
And then the planes turn around and leave between noon and 3.
[00:14:00] Hannah: Yeah, and so we did take the RER from Paris back to the airport, and that was really easy and seamless. So we might do that again if we ever go back is take the RER just because otherwise, you know, we’re relatively young. We can navigate the metros and everything really easily.
[00:14:15] Annie: Yeah, you just have to be aware of one problem with taking the RER is that when the RER stops, there are some direct ones, don’t stop, which are the best ones to take. You, even if you have to wait a little bit, even if you have to wait 20 minutes to get on the direct RER, you’re better off because there’s all sorts of scammers on the ones that stop here and there.
They find a mark that they find easy and they grab their stuff and run and then the doors close and there’s nothing you can do.
[00:14:47] Hannah: Yeah. Especially if you’ve got a big suitcase, it’s harder to run or to stop.
[00:14:51] Annie: Exactly. That’s why when people are jet lagged and whatever, I think you’re just better off taking the metro. It’s depending on where you’re going, it’s 65 or less. It’s a set fare, whether you arrive on a Sunday, or a Monday, or whatever. So, it’s not the end of the world, but you are young and younguns will be more frugal, I guess.
But with the two of you, once you’ve bought your ticket, it’s 12, 13, 14 Euros. I’m not sure. So, you know, it’s not that much less.
[00:15:19] Hannah: No, it’s not, with two people versus splitting a cab. Yeah, that was the only thing. And, you know, my husband, I think his favorite thing about the trip was cafe culture and getting an espresso, you know, four times a day, every single time we had a chance to. And he also enjoyed just walking, and all the street food, and getting crepes at night, and all that kind of stuff.
We both like to see things, we both like museums, walking around the gardens, all the different ones in Paris and everything like that. It was a nice, relaxing trip.
[00:15:49] Annie: Right. So it looks like you went to the Eiffel Tower on the first day. No, that was your second day.
[00:15:55] Hannah: We did walk to Trocadero just, we kind of walked, took the metro, walked over to Trocadero just to view it. We were there around the time of the World Rugby Championship stuff, and also probably Olympic preparations as well, far in advance. And so a lot of scaffolding and things like that up and around where you couldn’t explore it as much as you normally would.
But we saw that and then we went over to the Louvre.
Museum Visits and Cultural Insights
[00:16:19] Hannah: We didn’t have tickets to go see it, but just walked around, you know, the central area, looked at the architecture, walked around the Tuileries, and then we went to the Orangerie the first day.
[00:16:31] Annie: Mm hmm. Okay. Did you get tickets to go into the Louvre on a different day?
[00:16:36] Hannah: No, we didn’t. We didn’t do the Louvre at all. I had been there before and it wasn’t really something my husband was passionate about. And then we knew that if we went, it would take a solid amount of time.
Yeah.
[00:16:45] Annie: So a tip for people who don’t necessarily want to see the Louvre, but they would like to, you know, look around like you did, you can go through, if you get into the museum from Rue de Rivoli. So there’s an entrance for the mall there, or on both sides of the Arc de Triomphe.
So there’s this beautiful arch by the Louvre, and on both sides of that there’s stairs that take you downstairs, and you can look around downstairs, there’s a lot you can look at before anybody asks you for a ticket. So you can see the old parts of the castle, because it was a chateau and it was rebuilt a few times.
So you can see the old parts of that underground before anybody asks for your ticket. There’s a little mall area. Anyway, there’s things that you can do, and you can see the upside down pyramids, the small ones, they’re underground. It’s worth going in just to look around, even if you don’t go into the museum. And that’s totally free.
They only ask you for your tickets for the museum once you start entering the different wings of the Louvre.
So, that first day you just looked around a little bit and did you try to stay up till it was dark or did you go to sleep early?
I think we made ourselves stay up until at least around 7 PM.
That’s not bad!
[00:18:06] Hannah: So, yeah, I was pleasantly surprised, you know, despite the jet lag and everything, I think, making ourselves get up and walk around and try to acclimate to the daylight is the best thing we could have done. And I was surprised,
it really wasn’t too bad. So we did a relatively early dinner and then went to bed and, we’re pretty much able to reset the next day and not have too much of an issue.
[00:18:27] Annie: Right. Then the next day you went to, let’s see, let’s see. Oh, you went to the Saint Chapelle or, no, that was on, I’m on day two now. So on day two…
[00:18:38] Hannah: Our first day was just the travel day.
[00:18:39] Annie: Okay, okay.
Saint Chapelle
[00:18:41] Hannah: Day 3, yeah, we did do Saint Chapelle.
[00:18:43] Annie: So you went to the Saint Chapelle. Did you book tickets in advance for that?
[00:18:46] Hannah: Yeah, so we had done, actually, the Paris Museum pass. We did the 2 day pass, which I actually learned is 48 hours. So we actually used it the day before when we went to the Orangerie, but activated at 3 p. m. So we kind of almost had two and a half or three days to use it, which was nice.
[00:19:04] Annie: Okay. And you got away with that even with the new… yeah, they just let you do it.
[00:19:09] Hannah: Yeah, because we did the Orangerie that first day, we did museums the 2nd day and then we used it again that next morning for the Arc de Triomph e and everything. Yeah.
[00:19:17] Annie: Right. Right. So, okay. So you can do half days as well.
[00:19:21] Hannah: Yeah, so I guess you get an afternoon, one full day, and then the morning.
[00:19:25] Annie: Okay. That makes sense. That makes sense. So you went to the Sainte Chapelle. You didn’t have to reserve a specific time for the Sainte Chapelle because…
[00:19:32] Hannah: We did, because that’s… that was one of the ones, both the Orangerie and Saint Chapelle are ones that you have to make reservations for, but they’re free reservations as long as you show up with your museum pass.
[00:19:42] Annie: Was that easy? Making the time reservations?
[00:19:45] Hannah: Yeah, I just went on to the Orangerie website and went to the Saint Chapelle website and just selected the museum pass option and then printed my reservation, but didn’t have to pay anything for it.
[00:19:55] Annie: Perfect. Perfect. Very good. Did you enjoy the Orangerie and the Sainte Chapelle? What did you think?
[00:20:02] Hannah: Yes, so I love the Orangerie, you know, the water lilies obviously are very beautiful and that’s what they’re most famous for. And it was, even though it was relatively crowded in there, they want everyone to be quiet and it’s still a very peaceful experience and just being able to see these huge paintings and being able to see all the brush strokes and how different it looks up close versus a little bit farther away was just really neat to see.
And the Saint Chapelle also just beautiful, and I had listened to the episode that you and Elyse had done about it, and all the different stained glass in it, and how all the different stained glasses are different Bible stories, and that was neat to go in and try to figure out what the different ones were trying to depict.
[00:20:43] Annie: It’s hard, isn’t it?
[00:20:44] Hannah: And I was like, I don’t think I know this one.
[00:20:46] Annie: Yes, yes. It’s because this is the language of the Middle Ages. We don’t talk like that anymore. We’ve changed a bit, but they’re beautiful. Whatever, even if you don’t understand a single thing that you look at it, they’re beautiful. That’s wonderful.
Lunch at Lulu’s Cafe
[00:21:01] Annie: Did you have any favorite restaurants that day?
You mentioned that you had a lunch at a cafe called Lulu’s.
[00:21:08] Hannah: So that was in the Latin Quarter. That had been suggested to us by my in laws that had been to Paris the year before. And so that is actually right behind the Cluny Museum, I believe. And so it was nice. It was pretty light. It was a light lunch. That’s kind of what we wanted. But they, my father in law’s vegan, and so they suggested that they had eaten there a lot because they have a lot of vegan options and stuff.
[00:21:29] Annie: So, but it was delicious, but then we just went from there to the Cluny Museum. We’re like, Oh, it’s right there. I guess we’ll just hop in there too. Yeah, yeah, so for that one, you didn’t need the reservation, you could just waltz in.
[00:21:41] Hannah: It was just a walk in cafe.
Yeah.
[00:21:43] Annie: But I mean for the Cluny Museum.
[00:21:45] Hannah: Yeah. The Cluny Museum, we just, it was not a reservation one, we just were like, Oh, we’re here. Let’s go look. And then we said, Oh, we can go look at the original Saint Chapelle stained glass sections.
[00:21:53] Annie: Correct. Yes, yes, oh that’s cool, that’s very cool.
Dinner at Yamcha: A Culinary Delight
[00:21:58] Annie: And for dinner, you went to Yamcha, not familiar with that one.
[00:22:03] Hannah: Yeah, So, I work with a physician that is a little bit of a Francophile and goes to Paris every year. And that is his favorite restaurant. So he said, if you guys are going, you have to go there. So it is a, it is an Asian French fusion restaurant. And every day they have a different 7 course tasting menu.
And so that’s kind of the only option. So we didn’t know what we were getting into, but it was fantastic. I think it actually ended up being like 12 different plates we got of food, even just 7 courses. And it, I think, I believe it’s a Michelin star restaurant. And actually the chef is featured on Chef Table France on one of the episodes.
But it was a great experience. The food was amazing. Phenomenal. They also have like a wine pairing that you can do or a tea pairing with all courses, which obviously I was pregnant, so I didn’t do the wine pairing, but we did do the tea pairing with it. So that was a fun experience.
[00:22:59] Annie: Very nice. I’m glad they offer that, you know. I know that more and fancy restaurants will have non alcoholic suggestions and pairings, and that’s really good, you know, because not everybody wants to drink, so…
[00:23:12] Hannah: And they were also really good when we got there about obviously noticing that I was pregnant. And so I was saying, okay, well, then we’ll make accommodations for that where they’re, I think the only thing that was really an issue was one of the dishes had raw oysters. So they left that out of my dish and gave me something different.
But otherwise, they were really easy as far as that goes.
[00:23:31] Annie: Yeah, because even in France, you know, we love our, like our raw milk cheeses and whatever, but during pregnancy, they recommend you don’t have those, even in France. In America they would say never have that. In France they say you can have it, but not when you’re pregnant.
[00:23:47] Hannah: Yeah, exactly.
[00:23:48] Annie: Which makes sense. (Mid-roll ad spot)
Exploring the Champs Élysées and Arc de Triomphe
[00:23:51] Annie: All right, the next day you went to the Champs Élysées and the Arc de Triomphe, so do tell.
[00:23:56] Hannah: So that was probably the only day that we had bad weather. Again, the Arc de Triomphe did not require reservations, but we used our museum pass for entrance on that.And even though it was rainy, it was a good experience, they had us use the elevator, so I didn’t have to climb the stairs all the way to the top, which was nice.
But I think we were only outside for the viewpoint for just a few minutes, huddled under our umbrella.
[00:24:19] Annie: It’s not as nice when it’s raining, is it?
I mean, you know.
[00:24:22] Hannah: No, it was a little bit of a downpour, you don’t really have any cover, but my husband is a big Tour de France fan and wanted to go up there and see where all the bike riders come down the Champs Élysées, so we had, we still had to go see it and do it, it was still a fun experience.
[00:24:36] Annie: And it’s because you had the museum pass. I’m glad to hear that the museum pass, they don’t make you do reservations everywhere. So it’s more like the old style museum pass where you could just show up and they would let you in, which is… pre COVID.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, a lot of places, they got really like crazy with reservations, even in places where they can easily handle thousands of people at once.
But they were like, Oh no, you need a reservation. Okay, whatever. Yeah.
Petit Palais: A Hidden Gem
[00:25:03] Annie: And you went to the Petit Palais. Do tell about the Petit Palais. I love this place. I only went recently and I loved it. I thought it was so fun.
[00:25:10] Hannah: Yeah, I feel like it was very underrated. We walked along Champs Élysées, went into some stores, things like that. I got some macarons from them, from the Lotterie. and we were like, oh, we’re right here by Petit Palais. Let’s just go in there, because obviously that’s a free one, free museum all the time for everyone too.
And that one’s just, you know, I’ve heard you say that if you don’t have time to go to Versailles, this is a good option. And I would agree. It’s very, you know, the gold gates, very ornate. And then the inside, the architecture is just beautiful and airy. And there’s all these alfrescos on the ceiling.
[00:25:38] Annie: And we also really liked, I took my macarons and then we sat in the middle where the kind of the gardens are and just sat there and relaxed, ate my little snack. Yes, and they also have a very nice little…
[00:25:50] Hannah: They have a restaurant or cafe there.
[00:25:51] Annie: I mean, last time I was there, there were ladies next to us having some noodles dish. So they had like a pasta dish. They do little sandwiches, they do nibbles, they do fancy drinks, you know, you can get something very nice and it’s just a beautiful place.
I think it’s perfect for people who are not super duper into museums. So they wouldn’t go into the Louvre, for example, but they would like to see something really pretty and really with beautiful art. I thought it was splendid. I think with kids, especially if you’re with a, or with a person who has limited attention span.
Let’s put it this way. It would be really good to go there because it doesn’t take very long and it is gloriously beautiful. So, yeah, I really like that.
[00:26:38] Hannah: Yeah, I feel like you could easily be in and out of there in under an hour, you know.
[00:26:41] Annie: Yes, yes. And they have a nice museum shop if you want to get a few souvenirs that are a little bit more upscale because they are from a museum shop instead of from some, you know, street seller or whatever.
Saint-Sulpice: The Active Church
[00:26:56] Annie: Oh, you went to Saint-Sulpice that day as well. It’s a beautiful church, isn’t it?
[00:27:01] Hannah: That one was and that’s not one that I saw on a lot of guides for things. And I, we were eating an early dinner and I just saw it from the distance and I told my husband, I was like, Hey, you sit here. I’m just, if you’re tired of walking, I’m going to go. And I just kind of went over there by myself. It was beautiful. It’s huge. I wasn’t expecting it to be that big either.
It’s honestly interesting because when I walked in, one of the things I noticed too, is it seems like a very, like an active working church. There were a lot of people in their worshiping or in line to do, you know, confession or things like that.
And it was interesting because that’s not something I’d seen in any of the other churches that we’d been in.
[00:27:36] Annie: That’s right. That’s right. The 6th arrondissement where this is, is the most expensive arrondissement in Paris. It’s where a lot of wealthy French families live and also wealthy foreigners own property there. But people, it’s very interesting because the wealthier you are in France, the more likely you are to go to church, especially in this part of Paris.
It’s very, you know, like you send your kids to Catechism, you go to Mass. It’s just part of the routine that they do. So yes, it’s a very active church. The bishop has a choice of celebrating big events, either at Saint-Sulpice or at Saint-Eustache. Saint-Eustache in Les Halles, is a very, it’s kind of a church of the people. It’s the popular church, with a lot of help for the homeless and things like that. Saint-Sulpice is the opposite. It’s the church of the rich people.
[00:28:36] Hannah: The well funded.
[00:28:37] Annie: Yes. Yes.
But it’s also a very active church. There’s a different feeling when you enter both of those churches and I’ve gone to both very frequently.
Saint Sulpice also has the, kind of the old,they have a little hole at the top, and on a specific day it shines a beam of light and it helped them, le Gnomon is what they call it in French. I can’t remember the way you say that in English, but it used to tell, help them tell, the correct day for Easter, which changes all the time and it’s kind of a difficult one to calculate.
In the Middle Ages people argued about when Easter was, it was a big deal. It changes all the time as you know. And I’ve heard that this particular Gnomon was never very good at predicting Easter, that it got it wrong a lot, but it’s there and it’s pretty. So, yeah, it’s a beautiful stately church, let’s put it that way.
And they have beautiful concerts, if you go on Sunday, they do, so it used to be that the organist who is now retired, did his”aubade” he would play the organ after Mass. So it would usually start between 12:15-12:30. But now he, the guy is a young guy and he does it between the 9:30 Mass and the 11:00 Mass. So if you want to hear the organ, it’s a free concert and they do it just about every Sunday. So it’s between like 10:30-11 that he’s going to play or 10:15-11, or something like that. And they usually play very modern pieces because during Mass they can’t use, they can’t do the modern pieces.
So just for fun, because these are amazing musicians and they, you know, the great musicians of the world want to play modern pieces because, you know, that’s how you notice them, because they can play the hard stuff, the hard modern stuff. Anyway, sorry, I keep going on about it. And also, Saint-Sulpice is part of mytour of my VoiceMap tour.
So that’s why I did a bunch of research about it, because I like it. It’s a beautiful place.
[00:30:40] Hannah: Well, it was very beautiful. I concur.
[00:30:42] Annie: Yes, yes.
Eiffel Tower at Night
[00:30:44] Annie: And that night you went to see the Eiffel Tower, after sunset. Was that worth it?
[00:30:49] Hannah: Yes. We got there before sunset and we’re on the side where the carousel was and kind of walked along the river and everything there. And that was nice. But what we did not calculate, I think the sunset, it was maybe like 8:01 or something like that. So we had to wait for a full hour before they would actually do the sparkle show.
I think we thought it was going to be sunset was going to be technically a little bit earlier. So we were there for a while, but it was great, it was worth it. You’ve got to see it at least from some angle while you’re there.
[00:31:19] Annie: Yeah. It’s worth looking up sunset time in Paris because they don’t do it, it’s really the hour after the sunset. And it’s for five minutes, every hour after sunset on the hour. And then it’s turned off till the next hour. And I think they stop at like midnight or one in the morning or something like that.
It’s not throughout the night, but it’s nice.
All right. What, did you do anything else around the Eiffel Tower? I mean, you had time to kill. Did you go up on the Trocadéro, go find a cafe or?
[00:31:52] Hannah: I think we did do a cafe just to kind of kill some time, just hung out there, had something to drink or a little snack or something like that. We were in the green space kind of back behind it. So we just also kind of walked around there, still enjoyed it, was still lit up, but it wasn’t sparkling.
[00:32:11] Annie: Yes.
So if you are in that situation and you have a little time to kill in that area, you could go to, there’s a street called Rue Saint Dominique, and Rue Cler are also in that area. They’re not far at all. And they would be good ones to, Rue Saint Dominique has a ton of restaurants and cafes and things.
And I can’t remember, it intersects with another one whose name escapes me right now.
But, if you go to the end of Rue Saint Dominique, then you have Rue Cler as well. And those are fun little streets, just to kill half an hour or something. Because if you stick around the Trocadéro, there’s not much going on there besides people selling trinkets.
I mean, some days you show up at the Trocadéro and there’s a demonstration or something going on that’s exciting. But most of the time there isn’t anything going on. You know, it’s like, okay, well, what do we do? We got to wait and we have an hour to kill.
[00:33:05] Hannah: Exactly.
[00:33:06] Annie: Yeah, I think, and so if you’re facing the Eiffel Tower from the Trocadéro, Rue Saint Dominique is going to be on your left.
So you go around the tower on the left and you keep going left, and it’s in that general direction. And you also have the Rue de L’Université right there that people like to take photos. It’s very popular for photos that one, as well. You know, it’s just a gorgeous neighborhood to walk around, but when you’re pregnant, maybe… yeah.
[00:33:32] Hannah: At least constantly walking around. Yes.
[00:33:35] Annie: Yes.
Traveling While Pregnant: Tips and Experiences
[00:33:35] Annie: You were pretty advanced in your pregnancy, 30 weeks, you know, so did it really slow you down or were you okay most days?
[00:33:43] Hannah: Honestly, not as much as I was expecting. I mean, ideally, we would have been able to do the trip a little bit earlier, more like 20 weeks, but just with our work schedules that we weren’t able to do that. But I was pleasantly surprised, because I also don’t feel like I’m one of those, you know, I haven’t been, I wasn’t exercising as much as I should, you know, I wasn’t in fantastic shape or stamina or anything.
And I did, I was a good girl, good pregnant girl, and I wore my compression hose and stuff some of the days we were walking around, but you know, there were times if there were a lot of stairs somewhere, or we were walking a lot, I had to kind of take it slower or sit on a bench, or we sit at a cafe and take a break.
But overall, we’d usually come back to our hotels in the afternoon and rest, but for an hour or 2, but otherwise we were pretty much up and about almost every day we were there.
[00:34:29] Annie: Did you have a plan just in case something happened that you were feeling unwell and you had to get medical care?
[00:34:35] Hannah: So I had looked it up beforehand and there is an American maternity hospital in Paris. So I had looked that up, and kind of saved the location in my phone just in case something, you know, where to happen. But I had gotten clearance and everything from my doctor, obviously, before we… he said, as long as you’re back by October, I think we got back September 28th or something like that, kind of cut it close.
Yeah, and we had a note from him as well, whenever we traveled just in case the airline… you know, they don’t let anyone fly internationally past 35 or 36 weeks. So I had a note from him saying that I was clear to fly and all that kind of stuff.
[00:35:13] Annie: Yeah, because you had a, you were carrying a, I mean, you were not hiding the fact that you, some women hide the pregnancy well. Yeah. For you, I mean, I saw the photos you sent me. Yeah. You looked pregnant. There was no mistaking it with having had too much dessert or whatever.
[00:35:28] Hannah: Yes.
[00:35:30] Annie: But I mean, honestly, you looked up the Americanpregnancy thing, but if you were gonna give birth at 30 weeks, they probably would send you to an NICU in a different hospital.
I don’t think they would, I mean, maybe 30 weeker they would take it on, but, hmm, it’s like, eh…
[00:35:47] Hannah: They probably would have like, at least stabilized me or something and…
[00:35:50] Annie: Of course, of course, yeah. But it is, I mean, it’s something to consider, like, you know, if I cannot do a normal pregnancy, not that I tried very many times, but so for people like me, you don’t want to travel at all during that time, because too many things are likely to happen.
[00:36:09] Hannah: Only if it’s okay with your doctor and they say it’s ok.
[00:36:11] Annie: Exactly. I think most women have perfectly normal pregnancies and don’t have to worry about all this stuff.
But it’s good that you had thought about it and that you had, you know, talked to your doctor about it because obviously we want babies to be happy and healthy. And this little baby is half French then, huh? Good.
[00:36:29] Hannah: Very, very chunky and healthy, just like we like them to be. So, yeah, he’s good. He’s 10 months old now, so I don’t know when we’ll get the chance to go again, but we had a great time while we were there.
[00:36:39] Annie: I honestly, I think people should start traveling with kids like that. After seven is when they start remembering things. If you were half French and your grandma was in France or something, then of course you would go because there’s grandma. But just to visit, just for tourism, I think before seven, there’s not a lot of point to it, but if you have several kids, then necessarily some of them are going to be younger than the others. So it’s, you know, it’s a personal decision.
[00:37:09] Hannah: Yeah. And I did notice there were a lot of playgrounds, you know, throughout everywhere, just as we were walking around, especially in the more areas like residential areas, there are playgrounds everywhere, which, you know, you could just let your kids run wild and burn off some energy.
[00:37:22] Annie: Yes, yes. They’re not necessarily big playgrounds, but they are everywhere. Like it’s really hard, people ask me for lists of playgrounds and things, I’m like, well, you don’t need a list, you just need to open your eyes and you’ll find them. They’re not that difficult to find.
Hannah, thank you so much for talking to me.
Any last words of wisdom about, I don’t know, something you learned about France or recommendations for people?
[00:37:45] Hannah: Yeah,don’t be afraid to, you know, do an international trip on this, especially like everything France has great medical care. Everyone was very accommodating. There were elevators or when we went to the Montmartre, they had the funiculaire to take you up, so you didn’t have to take all the stairs there, which I definitely had bookmarked as well.
I knew I was not going to want to do all those stairs at Montmartre.
[00:38:04] Annie: Yes.
[00:38:06] Hannah: It’s very doable, very easy. I think, you know, anyone that does it, even while pregnant, heavier like me, or earlier on, be pleasantly surprised. Very easy and very doable.
Favorite Stay in Provins
[00:38:15] Hannah: My favorite place that we stayed, you know, hotel B&B wise, was actually the place in Provins.
It was called (Demeure des Vieux Bains, and it was absolutely beautiful. We stayed in the medieval room that had a, you know, a big four poster king size bed, lots of space, and actually a secondary room as well for if you did have small children. And they had a fantastic breakfast every morning. They had beautiful grounds and gardens that you, the maternity pictures I took were taken there with the flowers and everything in the background.
So that was just a beautiful, relaxing place to stay. And probably my favorite place that we stayed the whole time.
[00:38:49] Annie: That’s great. So, (Demeure des Vieux Bains in Provins, you say that it’s a short walk from the train station. I still need to go, so perhaps I should book a room there next time.
[00:38:58] Hannah: It’s just, at the base of where you turn to go up to the medieval part, too. So it’s very easy to get between the two. And the owner, I think, is the mayor of the town.
[00:39:08] Annie: Oh, oh.
[00:39:09] Hannah: He was also very sweet and accommodating, and the day we went back, he just, he said, no, no, no, like, I’ll drive you to the train station, I don’t want you walking. And they actually do, they do dinners where they will make you dinnerwhen you’re there on the weekends. So we didn’t do that, but I wish we had. That would be one thing I wish we had done.
[00:39:24] Annie: Right, because sometimes you stay at places where they say, would you like to add dinner to, and that’s good that you think you wish you had done it because you probably saw some of what the other people were eating.
[00:39:35] Hannah: Or just saw them, they were all eating together with the owners. It just seemed like a very fun, relaxed, kind of, you know, family style dinner
[00:39:42] Annie: Yeah, that’s great.
Final Thoughts and Recommendations
[00:39:43] Annie: Hannah, thank you very much. Andwell, I hope you get to come back to France with your kids when they’re a little bit older.
[00:39:50] Hannah: Yes, exactly. Thank you so much. It was great talking.
[00:39:53] Annie: Merci. Au revoir.
Thank you Patrons
[00:40:02] Annie: Again, I want to thank my patrons for giving back and supporting the show. Patreon supporters get new episodes as soon as they are ready and ad-free. Please be like them, follow the link in the show notes or go to patreon.com/JoinUs .
And of course, patrons get many more exclusive rewards for supporting the show, I mean, not having to put up with the ads is great, but there ‘s more, there’s much more.So I do Zooms with patrons, I share exclusive content, photos, articles that I write, things like that.
And I’m just available to patrons. We chat, they send me messages, they have questions, they want to know things. And I’m happy to engage. I can’t engage with the whole world, but I can do it with patrons. I don’t have anybody new to thank this week because I had to record this earlier than normal, but I want to say thank you to all my current patrons.
It’s wonderful to have you on board in the community of travel enthusiasts and francophiles, who keep this podcast going, and if you don’t like the ads, just a few dollars a month, you can take them away, so… and you help me continue this podcast. So win-win.
And to support Elyse, go to patreon.com/ElysArt.
Are you thinking about a trip to France this year and you have a hard time deciding what to do? I can help you with my one on one consultation on Zoom, and you can read all about that on joinusinfrance.com/boutique.
Picard
[00:41:30] Annie: All right, let’s talk about Picard.If you’ve ever been to France, you might have noticed a Picard store just about every other block. It’s a frozen food store and it’s huge in France. It’s huge in Spain too. Although in Spain it’s called the La Sirena and not Picard. But it’s the same idea. We have fancy frozen food stores in France and in much of Europe. This is true French fashion. It’s not just any frozen food. It’s high quality, well prepared, and often as good as what you’d get in a restaurant, really.
French people love Picard for its convenience, consistency, and variety. You’ll find everything from classic French dishes like boeuf bourguignon, tartiflette, escargot, to seasonal specialties and splendid sauces to go along with your Thai dishes, as I found out staying with Patricia a few weeks ago.
And they have gourmet desserts. They have very good desserts. The frozen vegetables and seafood are also really highly rated, often fresher than what you find at a standard supermarket. For visitors shopping at Picard is a great way to experience French cuisine without spending a fortune, or eating, out or needing a fully equipped kitchen.
Because I’ll let you in on a secret. When my days get too busy, I pop something I bought at Picard in the oven and I have a nice meal that took me minutes to prepare. Usually it’s oven cooking, sometimes microwave, but it’s never as good in the microwave, okay?But it’s an easy way to get, to try authentic French flavors without the fuss, plus their packaging usually has clear cooking instructions, so even if your French isn’t perfect, you won’t have too much trouble preparing your meal.
You can have a look at what Picard has to offer, and even schedule a frozen food delivery or pickup, by going to picard. fr. And right now, they sell a lot of heart shaped desserts. I bought those and eaten those, they taste good and they taste as good as they look.
This is not a Picard ad, Picard is not a sponsor, they haven’t given me a penny to talk about them. I just think you need to know about it because it’s a great place to buy food. And when you’re… when you have busy days, whether you are working or visiting, it’s a very nice place to get some food.
ChatGPT
[00:43:54] Annie: All right, let’s talk about ChatGPT.
People ask me sometimes now, do you use ChatGPT? And I do, but I use it to help me summarize transcripts, even to make the transcripts because all of the episodes that I’ve published in the last few years have been transcribed fully and edited as well, and AI does a lot of that grunt work.
Then I look through everything to make sure everything is spelled correctly, but there’s some AI there. I also use ChatGPT to list all the places mentioned in an episode, craft social media promos, which I’m really bad at as a person. I’m just not a very good social media person. I’m social, but not media.
And of course, sometimes I’m not sure how to say things properly in English, or you know, I’m not the best writer when it comes to how to put together a nice sentence in English, and so it can help me with that, but that makes sense. I mean, French is my native language, so even though I’ve been speaking English a long time, sometimes I still stumble.
But the actual episodes are always real, spontaneous conversations between two people. There’s no script, no pre written answers, just a natural exchange where we share stories, insights, and the fun of exploring France together. I also get a lot of requests from people who want to be guests on the podcast.
I get so many people contacting me at this point that it’s becoming a challenge just to keep up. I mean, several each day, right?
There’s some, I can just turn down immediately because it’s obvious they’re not a good fit, but sometimes I’m not sure until I’ve talked to them.
So we have a 15 to 30 minute conversation. And if I decide they are a good potential guest, I transcribed this casual conversation we just had, and then I ask AI to summarize and extract questions that we can use as a thread for our conversation. It saves me so much time and it saves time for my guests too.
So here’s the bottom line. AI is an assistant. It’s a very good assistant, very fast assistant, not the sort of assistant I’ve ever had, I’ve ever been able to pay before, because this is, you know, this is a one person operation really, with Elyse occasionally, and also Christian and Anne who do the transcripts, but, you know, this is a one person operation really.
And so AI is very helpful, and I use it in limited fashion to save time. So you’re stuck with me folks. Annie is not turning into a robot.
My thanks to Anne and Christian Cotovan who produce the transcripts.
Next week on the podcast
[00:46:42] Annie: Next week on the podcast, the trip report with Teresa Watkins, where we discuss her love for markets, and also how she agonized about some things that she wasn’t sure about, and they weren’t so hard in the end, but you know, she has great tips for someone who like you likes to plan her trips very carefuly.
And remember, become a patron so you don’t have to put up with the ads and help the podcast.
Thank you so much for listening, and I hope you join me next time so we can look around France together! Au revoir!
Copyright
[00:47:15] Annie: The Join Us in France travel podcast is written, hosted, and produced by Annie Sargent, and Copyright 2025 by AddictedToFrance. It is released under a Creative Commons attribution, non-commercial, no derivatives license.
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Episode PageCategories: Day-Trips from Paris, Paris