Paris Day (Virtual)

Written By Kelly Rodgers

Quarantine/Stay at Home has been interesting to say the least. I am grateful for so many things: being able to work part time remote, working on my websites and businesses, FaceTime, patience, time and stillness. I know that is is challenging for everyone, some more than others, but I hope that we all learn from this experience and that it makes us better humans. I take an hour walk daily, get pick up from the grocery store every two to three weeks, see family and friends minimally with masks while outside and haven’t eaten restaurant take out food since March. All in all, I feel like I’ve been dealing with Covid-19 very well, mentally speaking. My biggest challenge is not traveling, 2020 will be the first year I haven’t been to another country since 2012.

Thinking outside the box and seeing an article in AFAR about how to pretend your in Paris at home, I decided to make it an event. I picked a day a couple of weeks away on a Saturday, put blocks in my calendar and scheduled some pre-planning items ahead of time to really make it special.

Paris Day Planning:

Monday - I placed an order for all French cheeses + one baguette from my favorite cheese shop in Denver, Truffle Cheese Shop and scheduled pick up for Friday.

Tuesday - I researched French films to watch for my “night at the cinema”.

Wednesday - Pick up items from the grocery store for the menu du jour (menu of the day).

Friday - Pick up cheese and baguette.

Menu du Jour:

Petit Déjeuner (Breakfast) - croissants, yogurt with honey, fresh fruit, crème au café

Le Déjeuner (Lunch) - four French cheeses (Comté, Tomme de Chèvre Grand-Mère, Cantalet, Arpea), baguette, Bonne Maman Cherry Preserves , nuts, huckleberry honey, clover honey and peaches

Apéro - Prosecco with French cheese and crackers

Dîner - Crêpe Indienne courtesy of Martha Holmberg’s Crêpes - 50 Savory and Sweet Recipes

It was fun making it a week long event and made me really excited for when the actual day came. It may sound silly but when I woke up Saturday morning, I was thrilled and looking forward to what the day had in store.

It all began first thing in the morning at Cafe Jardin (that is the name of my cafe/patio) for my petit déjeuner. This was my boulangerie experience. I listened to the sounds of Paris courtesy of My Little Paris, Le Bruits de Paris. After breakfast, I got ready for the day. I put on a navy and white stripped dress and topped it off with a neck scarf. I couldn’t think of more French attire!

Once I was all ready for the day, I listened to the news in French on Le Monde and took a French lesson with Babbel. Then I started to prepare le déjeuner. I ate at Café Jardin for lunch which was lovely with the umbrellas up. Once lunch was finished I took a virtual tour of Musée d'Orsay and The Louvre , it was lovely! My favorite French artist is Oscar-Claude Monet and after I toured the museum I explored his art work here Oscar-Claude Monet. After a museum tour and exploring Monet, i went to the top of the Eiffel Tower! In truth, I have never visited the top of the Eiffel Tower and watching this video made me feel like I did. It was fantastic! I finished my virtual tour at the Sacré-Cœur Basilica to see the best view of Paris.

I walk with my mom every night, since it was Paris Day, I was trying to figure out where we could go in Denver to make it feel special. I’ve never walked along the Cherry Creek Path near downtown and figured we could pretend we were walking along the Seine. It was of course nothing like the Seine, but it was fun to pretend and something we had never done before. I was also happy to see some murals that Casey Kawaguchi completed, he is my favorite Denver street artist and I have yet to see these. On the way back to the car we took a different path, we started seeing this beautiful garden with lavender growing, Centennial Gardens. It looked very French and we found an open gate to wander through. It was designed after the gardens of Versailles and I couldn’t believe that we just ran into it on Paris Day, it was definitely meant to be.

After our walk along the “Seine” and a stroll through the gardens we met my dad at Café Jardin for an apéro. It was a nice evening, the café was shaded and it was a summer evening cooling down. We enjoyed some prosecco and more French cheese, can you ever have enough cheese?!

After apéro hour, my parent went home and I started to make dîner of crêpes which were fantastic. I listened to some on French Music, YouTube - La Vie Parisienne for the classics and Spotify - France Top 50 to hear what is new. It is so calming listening to music while I cook! Once my belly was full I settled in to watch a French film which I found on Netflix, Un + Une. After the movie was finished, I went to bed fully content with my day, it felt like I really got away for the day. The imagination is a beautiful thing. Bonne nuit!

Kelly Rodgers https://afemmeunique.com
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