[May 2026] After enjoying a delicious lunch in the Bercy district of Paris, France, we finally checked into our hotel.
This time, we stayed at the Ibis, a chain hotel.
As I mentioned before, the location was excellent, but the staff’s attitude was lackluster.
Even though it’s a service industry, seeing staff lacking service spirit makes me wonder if it’s because their salaries are low.
The room wasn’t particularly special, but it was spacious enough.
However, the lack of smaller towels (only bath towels provided) was inconvenient.
It seems like this type of hotel is becoming more common lately.
We had woken up at 4:30 AM that day, so we took a nap.
We finally went outside around 8 PM.
As we carefully looked at the shops in Bercy Village, which were starting to close, I noticed that each one had put a lot of effort into their window displays.
After looking around, we stopped at a cafe called Fenetre sur Cour, located just off the main street.
The reason was that the man soliciting customers there said, “My wife and I have been making handmade bread and chips here for 12 years.”
Feeling a certain warmth, we decided to go in.
I had a Saint-Germain Spritz, my first since Lyon.
This type of Spritz are only found in France, and this one is delicious.
Well, Spritzes are usually delicious no matter what liqueur is used, even if it’s not the classic Aperol.
My husband had his favourite Moscow Mule, which he also said was good.
And a huge pile of handmade chips.
The total was €35.
The waiter looked at the credit card we used and asked, “Where are you from?”
The conversation began, and it turned out this boy was also Italian.
He was a big boy and seemed mature, but he was only 16 years old.
Perhaps he was the son of the man we met earlier.
He said he’d been living in France for 10 years, and according to my husband, his Italian had a French accent.
It was finally getting dark when we left.
We walked to a large building on the opposite side of the square in front of the hotel, and it turned out to be the National Library.
It was a modern building with striking colourful decorations, but its history is long, originating from a court library built within the Louvre Palace in the 14th century.
As it’s the largest library in France, we wanted to peek inside, but it was already closed.
