Before Matt’s Florence surprise, we had to get through Paris first.

Matt thought the purpose of Paris was to eat and shop. For me, Paris was about positioning—we needed to be in the right place for the boy.

We booked our flights on United with a very long layover in Newark, which gave us the perfect excuse to visit the Polaris Lounge (it had been over a year) and, more importantly, see our favorite uncle, Uncle David, for lunch.

I won’t go into it too much here, but we recently lost our aunt. This felt like a meaningful opportunity to spend time with our uncle—hopefully bringing a few smiles and laughs into a really difficult season. As expected, he was thrilled. He picked us up at the airport and drove us to the famed Portuguese restaurant, Don Pepe. It’s been a Newark institution forever. I have vivid memories of going there with my aunt, uncle, and grandfather, who was absolutely obsessed with the place. The last time I was there, I must have been around 13. I’m happy to report it was just as amazing—and honestly, starting the trip with our uncle was the best possible beginning.

After lunch, he dropped us back at the airport. We cleared security quickly and made our way to the Polaris Lounge. It’s still lovely, but compared to Delta One, it’s starting to feel a bit underwhelming. That said, the showers were great, and even though we weren’t particularly hungry, the food was a step up from the standard United Lounge.

After what felt like a long travel day, we finally boarded our flight to Paris. The flight itself was easy—we ate a pretty bland United dinner, fell asleep, and both woke up just before the arrival meal.

Customs and baggage claim were quick, and our hotel transfer was waiting for us. We landed early, around 6:30 a.m., so the drive into Paris was quiet and empty.

Even with early check-in perks, our room wasn’t ready at 7:30 a.m.—no surprise there. We left our bags at the desk and headed out, walking through Le Marais and across the river toward Notre Dame. Eventually, we looped back toward the hotel, stopping for coffee and a light breakfast along the way. Not long after, we got the message: our room was ready.

At that point, we were exhausted. We had left Maine at 4 a.m., spent most of the day in Newark, and then flown overnight to Paris. There was no reason to push it, so we took short naps and reset. For dinner, the hotel recommended a local bistro just a 10-minute walk away—Bienvenue La Marine. We were the only Americans there, which is always a good sign. I had the best beef bourguignon of my life. We ate way too much and happily rolled back to the hotel.

The beauty of returning to a city you love is that there’s no pressure to “see everything.” We had a few stores and restaurants in mind, but otherwise, we just planned to walk. March in Paris can be hit or miss, but we got lucky—sunny and in the 60s the entire time. It’s actually a great month to visit: the holidays are long over, and the summer crowds haven’t arrived yet. The city felt calm and open as we spent our first full day wandering—from the Opéra to the Champs-Élysées, past the Arc de Triomphe, and back toward the Louvre.

We stopped for lunch (croque monsieur, of course) before heading to Matt’s main reason for being in Paris: Dehillerin, the iconic cookware shop. If you know, you know.

For dinner, I asked the hotel for something romantic in Le Marais—nothing too fancy, because honestly, there’s no need to pay Michelin prices in Paris when the “simple” food is this good. Always ask the concierge. Their recommendation, Le Colimaçon, was exactly what I had imagined: small, cozy, romantic, and completely packed. It was perfect.

On our final day, Matt woke me up early for a surprise. I’ll admit, I’m not always a fan of surprises—mostly because they tend to be expensive, and at this point I was very aware of just how much this trip was costing (worth every penny, especially with the boy involved, but still). We were up at 6 a.m., in an Uber shortly after, heading across the Seine and up the hill for one of the most beautiful views in the city.

The best part? It meant we didn’t have to make the trek to the Eiffel Tower later. So our last day became exactly what we wanted: one more long walk, a few return visits to favorite shops, and dinner at Le Soufflé—one of our favorites from our last trip.

Some of you might be horrified that we went to Paris and didn’t visit a single museum or climb the tower. Meh. You do you.

We had a wonderful time returning to one of our favorite cities—but the real highlight was still ahead.

Because tomorrow… we were going to see the boy in Florence.

Stay tuned.