Bonjour,

Looking for a little afternoon inspiration? Wondering if you should book that ticket to Charles De Gaulle? 

If you're vacillating, we're warning you now: reading the below guest blog entry by Megan Blocker may cause you to put in an urgent request for vacation time. That's because Paris: Part Deux, or the afternoon/evening follow up to our earlier Perfect Parisian Morning, makes us want to leave our responsibilities behind and wander around the City of Lights for days, not hours. 

So keep reading for Meg's suggestions on how to enjoy a wonderful afternoon and evening in Paris and let us know if you have anything to add. Our only suggestion? Try the caramel au beurre sel when you get ice cream at Berthillon. Its combination of sweet, salty and creamy can't be beat.

Otherwise, enjoy, and allons-y!

xo,

your jauntsetter team

____________________________

When we left off, we'd just enjoyed a cup of tea and a lemon tart at Laduree. Before heading back to the hotel for a pre-dinner rest, take a stroll through the small, winding streets of Saint-Germain, filled with tiny boutiques and dotted here and there with antique shops. Take a right when you hit the Seine, and walk east to the Pont de Sully, which will deposit you onto the oddly quiet and always elegant Île Saint-Louis.

The smaller of Paris' two islands in the Seine, Île Saint-Louis may not have a Métro stop to call its own, but it does boast the city's most expensive real estate. The streets are lined with neighborhood shops: boulangeries, boucheries, and the like, and there's a distinctly small-town feel to the area. Which, of course, means you can wander the streets and ogle the houses in relative privacy.  

There's a cluster of cafes and boutiques at the western end of the island, but Île Saint-Louis is most famous for what lies right in its center: the legendary glacier (ice creamery) Berthillon.

Berthillon's glaces can be found all over the island, but the best way to experience the deliciousness is to buy a cup or cone from the salon itself, which has occupied its quarters on the island's main drag since 1954. The ice creams and sorbets are made only from natural, fresh ingredients - no preservatives - and they are insanely delicious. You've been walking all day; I say reward yourself with a cone for the journey home to the hotel, just over the Pont Louis-Phillippe.

Have a rest back at the hotel, spiff yourself up a bit, and then head over to Bistro Camille for dinner.

It's a short wander through the Marais' maze-like streets from the hotel to the restaurant, which blazes like a beacon of warmth and good cheer on a dark corner of the Rue des Francs Bourgeois.  I'm all for glamorous, exotic restaurant experiences, but when in Paris, I eat as many meals as I can at bistros - either a neighborhood place like the aforementioned Camille or a "gastro bistro" like Le Comptoir.  

My friend Louisa and I stumbled on Camille three years ago, and promptly fell in love. A particular point of infatuation was the duck breast, served rare and with a sauce of pan drippings, honey, and black pepper. (If you're a vegetarian, I recommend the salad with warm goat cheese - you see it on menus all over the city, but I've never had a better version than the one served here.) If you can stomach dessert after your lemon tarte and Berthillon glace, my vote is for the creme brulée. Camille's version is smooth, dense enough to grab your spoon, and cooked in a shallow dish, which means it has the right crusty-sugar-to-custard ratio (a lot: just enough).

After dinner, take a different route back to the hotel - nighttime is the perfect hour for a little low-risk window-shopping (after all, the stores are closed) - and make your way to La Belle Hortense for a nightcap.  Just a few doors up from the Caron de Beaumarchais, La Belle Hortense is a wine bar/bookshop, a combination that attracts a rather brainy (if not always mellow) crowd. If you're traveling solo, it's a great place to strike up a conversation; if you're not, it's a cozy spot to dish over the events of the day and wind down for bedtime.

Now that you've finished your whirlwind day on an appropriately low-key (and boozy) note, it's time to float back to the hotel on a cloud of duck and cream and wine - and to sleep very, very soundly.