Visiting Jack
London & Paris
As an avid traveler & co-founder of Oliver Guide, I have been looking forward to the day when my children give me an excuse to travel for 21 years. It finally came this fall as my son Jack is spending his semester studying in London and of course I HAD to visit.
We planned our visit early in his time there because his travel schedule was crazy and our other kids also had stuff going on so 2.5 weeks into his English life we arrived. We dropped our bags at 11 Codagan Gardens which we booked with the help of Indagare and asked him to meet us for lunch at Colbert in Sloan Square. He showed up right on time and right off the tube (which we discovered he had completely mastered in his short time there!) Colbert was both buzzy and friendly and they offered our scruffy-right-off-the-plane crew a booth in the back which we were quite happy with but I do think better outfits and maybe a shower may have put us in the front room? Food & service were great but mostly it was just so fun to see our first baby thriving in his new city.
That night we rounded up some cousins who also happen to be living in London and ventured to The Abingdon, a chic Chelsea neighborhood restaurant, which I believe I found on Yolo. It was perfect for the occasion— a cozy family meal.
We spent 3 nights in London — took runs in Hyde Park, had our morning coffee at Roasting Party just around the corner from Codagan Gardens, ventured to River Cafe one night for dinner (some of the best food we have eaten -ever- but a little cold in atmosphere) shopped Kings Road for all the clothes my son forgot to pack and had a really fun dinner at Daphnes (food not quite River Cafe level but atmosphere way more our vibe.) A highlight was losing my 21year old in the Churchill War Rooms where he was so immersed in the experience he lost his phone (quickly recovered via very kind security) and spent 30 more minutes in the museum than we did! “Who is this new child” we asked and then proceeded to try and convince him to switch his major to history for the remainder of the trip.
From London we took the Eurostar train to Paris (under the Chunnel!) Great way to commute between the two cities though next time I might pop for Premier Class to avoid the long passport and security check lines.
In Paris we checked into Pavillon Faubourg Saint-Germain & Spa (also booked with the help of Indagare) where we felt right at home. The rooms are on the smaller side but the service is big, the bar welcoming and we adored the location. Jack was excited to have his own room after sharing a room with 3 other students for the past few weeks and we thought we might never see him— but no, he was excited to see Paris!?!
Even though the weather was rainy, we walked and walked. Jack wanted to go to museums! Again (?!) We stopped by the Bourse de Commerce which was a pretty place to see and an easy bite-sized museum and also hit up the Louvre at Jack’s request which was not bite sized at all. However, it was so fun to see Jack excited about the Egyptian wing of the museum and chase down pieces he had studied in his Egyptian art history class… he was our tour guide!
Our favorite dinner was at Kapara where we ate Persian and Mediterranean inspired food to really good music with charming servers and ended the night by dancing on the tables with the other diners— not one of which appeared to be an American.
Watching Jack eat and drink on our dime was like watching a sport— but it gave us an excuse to try everything on the menu so I highly suggest bringing a 20 -something boy on your next vacation. More than anything watching our son embrace travel and new experiences and thrive in new cities was the highlight of our trip. If you get the chance to visit your student abroad, don’t pass it up. It warms the heart. Makes you feel like at least a little of your parenting paid off.
For the rundown of where we stayed, ate and what we did check out my comments to:
London: Corre Larkin’s (of Substack Coco Cooks) London Oliver Guide
Next time I will share more on what I packed, what I wished I packed and what I bought!