Having the Best Paris, France Vacation: Spring 2022 Day 6

Dear Adventure Avenues,

My mom and I decided to have a light breakfast of just a pain au chocolat from Eric Kayser (aka chocolate croissant) and tea in the room before meeting up in the lobby.

Chantilly

We took a private tour to Chantilly which is a chateau with the second largest art collection in France with the Louvre being the first. It was fascinating to learn about all the different art and to see the paintings.

The museum itself wasn’t very busy because it was out in the countryside and away from the more tourist central Parisian area. Part of that has to do with the fact that it is hard to get out of the city because one doesn’t want to drive a car in Paris, and the other part has to do with the fact that public transportation doesn’t run to Chantilly.

My favorite part of the chateau though had to be the library. It was a smaller version of the library from Beauty of the Beast with two levels and each shelf packed full of books. It was amazing.

It was also very, very cold there, and I had not taken my heavy coat, so I was quite cold when we were outside. The grounds though were beautiful and designed by the same gardener who did Versailles.

We also stopped on our way back to Paris at a Medieval village called Oise. The cathedral there was a Notre Dame, but Notre Dame de Senlis Paroisse Saint-Rieul. The Notre-Dame part tells you who they worship, and in this case it’s Jesus’ mother, the virgin Mary.

We also stopped by a nearby chateau, or rather the grounds of one. The easiest way to find it is the Tourist Office of Senlis (Office de Tourisme de Chantilly- Senlis). It’s right across the way from the cathedral.

Covid Protocol

When we got back we went to take our COVID test to re-enter the United States. Luckily, we tested negative and the process was fairly simple. They only took a nose swab and we came back in 20 minutes for the results.

While we waited, we went to Eric Kayser for some baguette sandwiches. My mom and I both demolished the chicken and cheddar hot sandwich and Grand-mere enjoyed the tomato mozzarella.

After receiving our results, my mom and I walked to Angelina for hot chocolate. The line to sit inside was out the door, so we decided to get one from the to-go counter.

Angelina’s is definitely the best chocolate chaud in Paris! My mom and I sat on a bench soaking up some peaking rays of sunshine at the Tuileries Park.

Then we relaxed in the room for a bit. I was relaxing, working on some blogging and homework, when I suddenly heard rain pouring down. I went to check it out and was surprised to see that there was hail!!! (or maybe snow?) It was crazy! It didn’t stay on the ground, but did settle in the nooks of the gutter.

On our way to dinner, we passed by the bookstore (or librairie en francais) that I had been wanting to go to but hadn’t. I found a book on Marie Antoinette’s fashion and tastes and my mom found a French Mr. Men book. My grand-mere found the book that she had helped her French college professor edit when she was in college, which she was excited about.

Dinner

Dinner was spent at our favorite little cafe: Saint Honore. We ate our typical meal of a mozzarella pizza (my mom and I split as we were still full from Angelina). I had my virgin mojito and all was good. Grand-mere had a fried burrata cheese roll and our friend had the French Onion Soup.

After dinner beverage

The girls enjoyed a final drink at the Napoleon bar/lounge. I ordered Perrier, but they were out, so she brought me a different (better) one called Badoit.