France - Part Un — What We Saw, What We Read

Our next stop on our travel adventure: Paris in the springtime! For us, that meant Paris covered in snow. We arrived on a beautiful sunny day and took a series of trains to Saint-Denis, a neighborhood just north of the city, to stay with friends of friends. The young couple we stayed with also happened to be environmental engineers and had recently completed an eight-month cycling trip around Europe. They were so kind and friendly, offering us great advice, delicious bread, and a warm bed to sleep in during our first few jet-lagged nights in Paris. The opportunity to stay with locals, whether through couch surfing, acquaintances, and working away have given us experiences we would unlikely have had if we planned a trip staying in hotels or AirBnBs.

We woke up on a gloomy Saturday and took the train into Paris to walk along the Seine and enjoy the beautiful architecture. Just as we approached Notre Dame, the rain began to fall. Lines stretched from the entrance at Notre Dame and other notable sights like the Pimpidou. Still we managed to wander the city, finding shelter in the Passage des Panoramas, the oldest covered walkway in Paris. We ventured by foot up to the 10th arrondissement and ate delicious falafel sandwiches before finding our way to the Médiathèque Françoise Sagan, a beautiful library not far from Gare du Nord. We stopped there for a few hours to watch the snow fall outside covering the Paris streets. The break in the library gave us some warmth and a chance to check our e-mails, in time to find out that our original Workaway hosts in Burgandy had to cancel our stay. Luckily our flexibility paid off! We managed to secure two new hosts within the hour and still had another snowy day to spend in Paris!

A view of Notre Dame from the banks of the Seine just before the snow began to fall.

Our second day we woke up to snow-covered streets and grey skies. We caught an early train to Montmartre where we spent the morning at the top of the Sacre Coeur, a late 19th-century basilica constructed at the highest point in Paris. We climbed 300 steps to the dome and took in the incredible panoramic views of Paris. After our visit we weaved through the streets of Montmartre, stopping to get a croissant at the nationally #1 ranked shop (apparently there's a "best-of" competition in Paris for all the daily baked good needs. Winners of these annual competitions get cash prizes and the pleasure of being the fresh baked-good providers to the president).

From Montmartre we walked all the way to the Galleries Lafayette, an incredibly high-end expensive shopping mall that looked like a castle. The top floor offered another rooftop view of the city and looked over the Palais Garnier, the exquisite 19th century opera house.

The next morning we took a series of trains and buses from Saint-Denis to the small summer community of Cap Ferret on the western coast of France. Our hosts graciously picked us up from the bus stop and gave us a tour of the village. The change in scenery from the bustling streets of Paris to the quiet roads of Cap Ferret was jarring but it was the perfect place to recover from the remaining jet lag and get accustomed to French culture. Our work there was fairly easy by the standards of the other jobs we've had. No hauling sand or tending to animals. We were tasked with refinishing part of a balcony and doing some general cleaning around the house.

On our time off we were able to cross the bay on a ferry and visit the town of Arcachon which hosts a multitude of cozy neighborhoods amid winding streets. It is also situated near the Dune du Pilat, the highest sand dune in Europe! Our time in Cap Ferret was well spent and we are grateful to have had such kind and amazing hosts take us in at the last minute.

Looking back onto Paris from the hills of Montmartre.

Cute pedestrian streets leading to the park. Plenty of boulangeries, creperies, and of course, trees shaped like cubes.