A Different View of Paris

Our first visit to Paris was in 2010, during our first trip to Europe.  We did many of the typical tourist things on that trip – stayed within view of the Notre Dame, went to the Louvre, visited the Montmartre neighborhood, and saw the Eifel Tower.  We ate a lot of good food, and as our first stop it was a good introduction to Europe.

This year, we visited Paris for what was more or less an extended layover – to get to many places in France by train, travel through Paris is required.

We decided to stay in a different neighborhood and do different things than last time.

Our neighborhood was filled with high rise apartment building complexes, and our Airbnb was in one of them.

We visited a few parks in the neighborhood, something we try to do when possible when we are traveling.  Most larger cities in the world have great green spaces for their residents.

We also were near Paris’ Chinatown.  As some of you probably know, we love visiting Chinatowns worldwide, to shop in the markets (mostly for tea but also other food) and to eat lunch.  Although the first Chinatown I experienced was in Chicago when visiting a college friend, my true introduction was in the International District in Seattle when we had first moved to the area and I worked nearby, which was a great learning experience because I worked with two people of Chinese heritage; they spoke the language and knew the food.  One friend in particular brought me shopping there many times.  It was a great immersion and opportunity.

Paris’ Chinatown does not have a gate, and most of the restaurants are Vietnamese rather than Chinese.  The many businesses were on the first floor of the buildings and the look was an interesting mix of Chinese and French.

The last time we had what we consider to be an authentic Chinese lunch was in the Chinatown in San Francisco, probably some time in 2018 before we moved away from Carson City, NV (about four hours away).  We have been to a few more Chinatowns since but did not feel the restaurants were very good (we may have gone to the wrong ones; more research next time!).  We also have had Chinese-American and Chinese-Mexican food since, and while those restaurants were enjoyable it is not the same as the restaurants in a Chinatown.

We found a great Chinese restaurant in Paris, and we liked it so much we went back and had lunch there again the next day!  It was the highlight of this trip to Paris for us.