Jun 28 - Jul 8: France
Soldes and Pride! Eamon was totally right – it was a great idea to come shopping in Paris during this time.
You and Archana bought so many clothes and I found quite a few shirts. I loved the bookshop / wine bar that we found together when we went off one night. We watched the USWNT beat France at a bar where Archana talked our way in to the private area upstairs. It was too hot, but still the most fun. We ate chicken fingers and fries and drank beer and celebrated with half of the bar when the US won.
We had both been to Paris a handful of times before and it was delightful to spend some time there not focused on sight seeing. I feel like we got to just kind of relax in to that city, which is a pretty nice thing to do. Plus, the Pride parade was epic.
From Paris we headed to Lyon. It’s not a super beautiful city when you first arrive, but it really grew on us. Our apartment was in the university area and we found a small bar up the road that would sell us rose and a cheeseboard and let us sit around and play cards. We went there every day. We saw the USWNT beat England and Sweden fall to The Netherlands. It was glorious and, again, too hot.
The first night in Lyon, we had dinner at La Mère Brazier. It was a wild experience. First off, I’ve never dined in my own private room before. The food was unbelievable: from the chicken and foie gras pie to the multi course whole roasted chicken with surprise lobster and shockingly affordable dessert wine. You took a leap of faith and ordered the fish mousse. It turned out to be the best thing on the table. It was a truly special evening and one I don’t think any of us will ever forget.
In the days between the semi-finals and the finals, we went to Avignon. We stayed at an Airbnb just inside the city walls that had air conditioning, which was basically the best thing any of us had ever felt The first night we bought cheese and bread and meat (and wine, obvi) and just ate in the apartment while we played Pandemic.
The next day we went to the Palace of the Popes, which is a crazy place. The theater festival was on, so the city was packed and extremely vibrant - there were people wandering around in costume and we even happened upon a parade one day. On top of that, the food was amazing in Avignon!
We then went back to Lyon – sadly, without our friends this time – for the WWC finals. We prepared – made a reservation at the restaurant outside the stadium so we could have drinks before the game. The most brilliant idea you’ve ever had. The finals were fantastic - less of a nail biter than it had been against England, but pretty remarkable to get to see those awesome women win the cup. We went out that night in Lyon with friends - it was a raucous night to be remembered for sure.
