Travel Notes

On Parisian style, what I should have packed and/or left at home, and other random iPhone thoughts.

I’ve already written a longer, more thoughtful post about our time in Paris [link here], so hop over there if you’re in the mood for a deeper dive. But if you’re here for something a little lighter—on style, culture, and whatnot—hang tight.

These are my travel notes, jotted quickly into my iPhone Notes app while finding a bit of reprieve at a café in Paris. I don’t believe in gatekeeping, so here was our daily haunt: highly recommend the oeufs mayo with a Spritz.

Notes from an American in Paris:

• I didn’t need to pack my curling iron…it stayed in my suitcase the entire trip (see: undone/bedhead is the look). This air-dry mouse was all that I needed for texture.

• Speaking in generalities, the Parisian look is chic but understated. Clothing is high-quality, thoughtful, and sometimes edgy, but the styling is undone and cool—messy hair, low-key or no makeup, interesting jewelry, great shoes, and little touches like scarves and charms. It’s both more serious (about beauty and style) and more nonchalant (don’t look too put-together or like you’re trying too hard) at the same time.

• Coffee is a way of being present, not jet fuel. Never saw a to-go cup in anyone’s hand. If you want a coffee while you are out, make the time to go sit down at a café and enjoy it. (Kinda missed my cold brew though.)

• It was unusually hot the week we visited (highs in the low 80’s F), so the 2 jackets I packed stayed in my suitcase (sadly, bc they are cuties). What I really needed was a pair of chic shorts or a skirt. Also, I saw several women doing the Scandi-girl structured long shorts + tall boots combo, so that’s still a thing this year. Men in shorts, on the other hand…looked dumb. Definitely not Parisian.

  

  

• Bringing magnesium and melatonin was a good call. My legs ached at the end of the night from so much walking, so the magnesium helped my body relax. And I needed the melatonin on the second night when I was wide awake from 1-4am (…then slept until 10).

• We slept in every morning, but it kind of worked for us (also: vacation). Dinners were later than we are used to (our reservations were usually around 9pm) and we didn’t wind down for the night until after midnight, so our day just shifted about 3 hours later.

• It’s much quieter than I expected, to be in the middle of a large city. We stayed on a 1st floor (one above the ground floor) apartment with lots of windows on a side street and it was very quiet at night especially. I only heard a siren a few times and the volume is nothing compared to the constant din of a city like New York.

  

  

• On language: most people spoke some English, but we always respectfully started with French. If you can learn a slang phrase, it will usually catch the other person off guard and make them laugh, which is always a good tactic, I think (humans love to be surprised, no?) and then you can apologize for not knowing more French and ask to switch to English.

• The French sensibility is understated, so expressing emotions in conversation is more like, “I enjoyed this dinner, it was fine” rather than a gushing “omg this was the BEST THING IVE EVER TASTED” —even if it truly was.

  

  

• The city is très belle, and beauty can be found everywhere (we couldn’t see every area, of course). The parks, architecture, statues, boutiques, cafes, churches, museums, all of it, in every corner, there is something beautiful to see and enjoy.

• Multiculturalism is God’s idea. He loves variety and distinction and color and contrast. Globalism waters everything down into a dull grey copy of copies of diminishing uniqueness. Nationalism (in the best sense) preserves community identity and cultural artifacts.

• I forgot how much I feel like myself in Europe. It’s a pace of life that just suits me.

• A perfect croissant is worth the airfare, la fin. xo