Matt and Jen in Paris: Our first visitors

On Friday, our friends Andy & Robin arrived in Paris to visit us for the weekend. They were at HBS the same time we were and moved to Dallas after graduation as well. Robin's sister, Jean, also met us in Paris for the weekend. She is an English teacher in a high school south of the French city Lyon. We decided to make the investment before the weekend in an air mattress to supplement our sofa bed. Jean ended up staying with us this weekend as well so it was put to immediate use. I'm happy to let our future visitors know that both are very comfortable.

Andy, Robin and Jean arrived early afternoon on Friday and Jen met them at the metro to guide them back to our apartment. After dropping their bags and freshening up after the flight, they headed off to explore Paris. Jean is fluent in French and a seasoned pro in Paris so Jen and I had it fairly easy this first trip. I met everyone back at the apartment later that evening so we could all go to dinner together.

For our first visitors, we made some special plans for the evening. We had reservations at semi-famous restaurant close by to our neighborhood. The chef's name is Christian Constant and he has cooked in some of the best restaurants in Paris. After spending years catering to only the most exclusive clients, he started several lower priced, but just as amazing restaurants just a few blocks from where we live. It's still not cheap, at 50 euros for a fixed price menu (entree, main plate and dessert), but was well worth it. Jen and I both thought it was easily the best food we've had since we have been in Paris. It is a French restaurant with lots of traditional dishes. Some of the highlights included a Caesar Ritz salad, a hearty Cassoulet, chocolate tart and my favorite, the profiteroles. After dinner, we walked a few blocks to the Eiffel Tower and bought tickets for the top floor. Usually the ticket line is at least an hour, we went right through as it was close to 10pm. Even though I've been up to the top several times, it still is pretty amazing. The top is roughly 1000 feet up and is way above anything else in the city. The views all around are incredible and we had a nice, clear and relatively warm night to take it all in. Every hour at night, the tower goes from it's usual yellow light to a 5 minute sparkling display that is pretty impressive no matter how many times you see it. We caught the show just as we reached the top and again an hour later when we were back on the ground.