May 12, 2024 • 41 mins
Join us on "Family, Fun, and France with Talin Janjik," a delightful episode that follows Talin and host Annie Sargent on a captivating journey from Los Angeles, through the historic landscapes of Armenia and Italy, and into the heart of France. Discover the charm of Paris beyond the usual tourist paths as Talin shares insights into traveling with family, embracing local cultures, and finding joy in the quaint neighborhoods and cafes of Paris. From a serene Seine River Cruise to the sparkling lights of the Eiffel Tower, and unique experiences like baking classes and perfume tours, this episode is packed with stories, tips, and reflections on connecting deeply with new cultures. Tune in to explore the essence of traveling with loved ones and the unforgettable memories it creates.
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Table of Contents for this Episode
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Annie Sargent (00:16):
This is Join Us in France, episode 493, quatre
cent quatre-vingt-treize.
Bonjour, I'm Annie Sargent, and Join Usin France is the podcast where we take
a conversational journey through thebeauty, culture, and flavors of France.
Today, I bring you a trip report withTalin Janjik, who shares the story of
(00:37):
their six week vacation, the trip of alifetime, which took them from Los Angeles
to the streets of Paris and beyond.
You'll hear how they navigated France,including a family reunion, a wedding,
they went to the south of France andcoped with some unexpected events, and
also made the most out of every moment.
(00:58):
A great episode with insights on travelingwith family, embracing local cultures,
and the beauty of spontaneous exploration.
Stay tuned to learn how Talin'smeticulous planning, and flexible
approach paved the way formemories that will last a lifetime.
This podcast is supported by donorsand listeners who buy my tours and
(01:20):
services, including my ItineraryConsult Service, my GPS self-guided
tours of Paris on the VoiceMap app,or take a day trip with me around the
southwest of France in my electric car.
You can browse all of that at myboutique: joinusinfrance.com/boutique.
Patreon supporters get new episodes assoon as they are ready and ads free.
(01:46):
If that sounds good to you, be likethem, follow the link in the show notes.
There won't be a magazine part of thepodcast today, because I am scheduling
this episode early and it'll come out whenI'm leading the Bootcamp 2024 edition.
You'll hear all about the Bootcamp soon.
Stay tuned.
(02:15):
Bonjour Talin Janjik andwelcome to Join Us in France.
Talin Janjik (02:20):
Thank you, Annie . So nice to join you in person.
Annie Sargent (02:23):
Yeah, lovely to talk to you.
Sounds like you had a fantastic trip.
So tell us when was this trip?
Where did you go?
Who were you with?
Talin Janjik (02:32):
Okay, so this was a second leg of a six leg trip we took
from Los Angeles, across the Atlanticto Armenia, and then we went to
France, then we moved on to Italy.
This was a six week vacation.
We called it a trip of a lifetime becausewe were all able to be together and it was
(02:54):
me, my husband, and my three older kidswho are, two of them are in college and
one of them is a freshman in high school.
Annie Sargent (03:01):
Oh, that's fantastic.
Yeah.
They're growing up and thatyou don't know when you'll be
able to do that again, right?
Talin Janjik (03:05):
Exactly.
So it was very special,especially for us as a family.
And then, the first trip,the Armenia trip was mainly
because of a wedding in Armenia.
This whole vacation was bookendedwith a trip to Armenia for a
family reunion, and ended with mydaughter doing a dance intensive.
(03:26):
My oldest daughter is a dancer, so she dida dance intensive in Italy, the town named
Turin or Torino, where she had a fantastictime, but I kind of tried to arrange, so
what do we do between Armenia and Italy?
How can we manage this so that shedoesn't have to go back and forth
and we can just extend the trip sothat she could stay with us and make
(03:50):
this a really nice summer vacation.
And mind you, this was the first timewe all traveled together to Europe.
And first time in Armenia.
Annie Sargent (03:58):
That's fantastic.
Talin Janjik (03:59):
So France was, the reason why we stopped at France
was because I have family there.
My cousin has livedthere for over 40 years.
She has children and grandchildren,and all these years she was asking,
begging us to visit her, finally managed.
So this trip, basically includeda lot of family reunions, my aunt
(04:19):
who visited us from London, andshe came to France to see us.
Annie Sargent (04:24):
So it was a complicated trip.
Talin Janjik (04:26):
Lot of people coming in and out with different
itineraries and agendas.
And I was kind of like the operatorat a switchboard trying to figure out.
So it was, like I said, it was a whirlwindof experience for me, but I really worked
hard at making sure I took it all in.
Annie Sargent (04:47):
Right, that's great.
Okay.
So while you were in France, well,first of all, how did you organize, how
did you decide where you wanted to go?
Well, you had the family there too, right?
Talin Janjik (04:59):
Yes.
So Paris, of course, was where wewanted to stay mainly, but also
we wanted to see south of France.
And then from there on wetook the train to Rome.
So we tried to renounce flying formultiple reasons, and I had heard
how traveling through towns in Europewas so easy with train, even though
(05:19):
I consulted with my cousin and shekind of tried to talk me out of it.
No, you know, take the plane from Niceis just an hour and a half to Rome.
I said, no, I reallywant to experience it.
And we had a lot of luggage, as you canimagine, with uh teachers and girls and
then we had multiple itineraries wherewe've had a wedding and then a dance, so
all these different kinds of wardrobe andoutfits, so it was hard to travel with
(05:45):
just a carry on, the medium sized luggage,five luggages with carry ons, carrying it
through trains was a little bit difficult.
But my husband especially said, I don'twant to go through the security again and
the weight of the luggage, the time wehave to spend showing up early, obviously,
(06:06):
delayed the process too a little bit.
So we figured, let's just gofor it, it's an adventure.
And thankfully for having listened toyour podcast, about the apps for Trainline
and SNCF, that helped me so much tobe able to, from the convenience of my
(06:26):
mobile, I was able to plan this traintrip from Nice to Rome, without a hitch.
Like, everything went very smoothly.
Of course, I was stressing alot, and we can talk about that
later, but all the details.
So that was it.
Paris was mainly because obviously wewanted to see Paris and our cousins,
(06:46):
and then from there on, we traveleddown through south of France to Rome.
Annie Sargent (06:51):
Wow.
Well, I'm glad it went, it went out.
Because I would have been, kind of likeyour French relative, I would have,
ooh that's a, that sounds complicated.
So I was like, not sure.
So good for you.
Talin Janjik (07:06):
Great.
Annie Sargent (07:07):
Good for you.
All right.
Talin Janjik (07:09):
Thank Gods we're with us.
Annie Sargent (07:11):
Yes.
Yes.
That's fantastic.
So tell us what are some of the thingsthat you enjoyed most on this trip?
The French part of the trip anyway.
Talin Janjik (07:21):
Of course.
We would have loved to see a lot oflandmarks and the tourist attractions
and checked off a lot of things on ourbucket list, but we didn't get to do that.
Honestly, we set our agenda, andby we, it was just me and my older
daughter who is a francophile.
She loves French people andeverything about France.
(07:42):
So she and I decided, you knowwhat, we're not going to fill up
our itinerary with so much to do.
Let's just go enjoy the neighborhoods,walk around, sit at cafes,
watch people and take it all in.
Especially that we have family there, wewanted to just kind of walk through Paris
with them and experience their daily life.
(08:05):
And whatever we got to see, we gotto see, fantastic, and whatever we
missed, not a big deal, you know?
So, that kind of took a lot ofpressure off of me to have everything
scheduled, because as you can imagine,for six weeks I had to plan things.
So Paris would be one part of it,but having family there helped.
However, I had kind of scheduled thestructure of every day, like I had some
(08:29):
blocks scheduled for certain experiences,tours, performances, because she wanted
to see a few performances and we gotlucky, we saw Paris Opera Ballet.
Annie Sargent (08:40):
Nice.
Can I ask you a question about the ballet?
Sorry.
Did they let you look aroundthe Opera House either before
or after the performance?
Talin Janjik (08:50):
Okay, so this was at the Bastille Opera.
Yeah.
We didn't make, the Palais Garnierwas all sold out, the performance.
Annie Sargent (08:58):
Okay.
Sorry about that.
Talin Janjik (09:00):
Yeah, but their performance was so awe inspiring and nothing we've
ever seen anything like that before.
So I highly recommend doinga show at either venue.
Anyway, those kinds of things,like I researched things that we,
I researched things that appealedto us, from my youngest one to
(09:21):
my husband, he's into history.
So I came across this experiencefor World War II, you know, a
walking tour with a historian.
So him and my son did the tourtogether and they really enjoyed it.
Then I did the Eiffel Tower, youknow, climb up to the top for
the two of them because I knewthe girls weren't interested.
(09:44):
They're like, you know, we'rehappy just sitting by the
Eiffel Tower and watching it.
We don't have to climb up, forexample, my son and husband...
Annie Sargent (09:52):
And you mean literally you climbed, you walked?
Talin Janjik (09:54):
I think, no, they took the elevator.
Annie Sargent (09:56):
Elevator, okay.
Talin Janjik (09:57):
But my son wanted to climb and my husband said, no way.
They took the elevator.
Yeah, but he, he was really amusedby the view and they enjoyed it.
So I had to divide to conquer,basically, but I really checked
in with them beforehand.
Like, what do you guys want to see?
Tell me your agenda andI'll figure things out.
(10:20):
Like, my youngest one is really intoperfumes, and shopping, so I found an
experience on Airbnb, a tour of theperfumeries in Le Marais, for example.
Wonderful shops.
And smelled all these beautiful scents,and they bought a bottle and they brought
it with them and it's very special.
(10:41):
So I think my advice to familiesthat are going with older kids where
you can't really just drag themeverywhere, you know, you have to
acknowledge their likes and dislikes,and their moods, sometimes they stop
and they don't want to get out of bed.
And so what do I do?
Or they're tired, they don't want to cometo this dinner or so on and so forth.
(11:01):
So it worked out really well whereI was very fluid with my planning.
So, I mean, it's Paris, youcan't go wrong, it's just walk
out and it's so beautiful.
Annie Sargent (11:12):
And that is the right attitude because if you, if your
goal is to drag the whole family withyou, they're going to resent that.
I mean, especially older teenagers,they just want to do their own thing.
And it's not like it's dangerous toleave them on their own devices for
a few hours, you know, let's splitup and we'll meet up again tonight.
(11:34):
Right?
Talin Janjik (11:34):
They're savvy enough with their navigations to be able to
walk somewhere and meet us somewhere.
So it was really nice.
Like, if my son didn't want to come withus right away, he wanted to sleep in, he
would meet us somewhere later on with hisapp, you know, it's just very easy to do.
And we were staying at the 2ndarrondisement, which was very safe.
(11:55):
Relatively safe, obviously youstill have to be careful because
it's busy and whatnot, but localcentralized enough where just 15,
20 minute walking to distance.
Annie Sargent (12:06):
To a lot of places.
Yeah.
It's very central.
And it is a bit, I mean, it's a mixedneighborhood, c'est Les Halles, right?
This is Les Halles thatyou're talking about?
Talin Janjik (12:14):
Yes, well, Opera.
Annie Sargent (12:16):
Opéra.
Okay.
Yeah.
So it's a bit of a mixedneighborhood, but it's very nice.
I mean, it's just busy, lots of people.
Talin Janjik (12:23):
We were on a busy street, definitely loud, a lot of,
you know, trucks going in and out inthe morning, especially our neighbors
were loud, but it worked out.
It was okay.
Annie Sargent (12:33):
Did you rent an Airbnb or...?
Talin Janjik (12:37):
Again, I got very lucky, all six cities that we stayed, I did
Airbnb because there was five of us andI noticed that the hotel rooms were more
expensive because we had to do two rooms.
It was going to be hardhaving them connected.
We had a lot of luggage,so we needed more space.
And I think I saved more going withthe Airbnb route, although the Airbnb
(13:00):
in Paris was the most expensive one.
I did splurge a little there because Iwanted it to be a nice experience for
the girls because they had seen all theseInstagram photos of cute little balconies
and I, we didn't want to disappoint themtoo much, but it worked out really nice
because the area was pretty centralized.
It had AC, washer / dryer,really nice decor inside.
(13:25):
So it was worth the extra that we paid.
Annie Sargent (13:29):
Cool.
And you liked the neighborhood?
Talin Janjik (13:31):
Yes, we liked the neighborhood, but I think next
time, which is actually goingto be in September, we're coming
down for another wedding in Paris.
I'm excited.
That I prefer probably Le Marais orSaint Germain, probably those areas
would be more suitable for the girlsbecause it's more vibrant and trendy
and, a lot to do when you walk out.
Annie Sargent (13:53):
Fantastic.
Yeah.
Very nice.
How did you get around in Paris?
Talin Janjik (13:57):
Okay, so a lot of walking because we were mostly relying on Uber
and Bolt, but they weren't reliable.
And I tell you why, because the firstnight we arrived, it was during the riots.
Which one?
The retirement?
Where, the riot because ofthe killing of the young men.
Annie Sargent (14:20):
Oh, that.
Yes.
Yes.
The kid who got into a thing withthe police and they shot him.
Yeah.
Talin Janjik (14:27):
So it was pretty violent and my cousin called me and
said, are you sure you want to come?
And of course we had been, you know,preoccupied with everything that
was going in Armenia and I hadn'treally paid attention to the news.
So I'm like, yeah, sure.
I mean, riots, we getit in LA all the time.
It's not a big deal.
You know, a couple of smashing windows orwhatever, but they were pretty violent.
(14:49):
Yeah, so I think it had, I readlater that about 25 percent of the
tourists cancelled for that weekend.
So that, when we arrived Friday night,all the shops were closing early.
We had a tour on Saturday night,it was a late night tour of, you
know, driving tour with the Citroën?
Yeah.
(15:09):
Yeah.
I was very excited about that, but thatgot canceled, and everywhere we would
want to go eat, they had already closed.
Most of the shops were being boarded up.
I mean, there was still definitelyactivity, but, you know, more in the
back streets and the main area actions,they had a lot of gendarmes standing.
Annie Sargent (15:33):
It was not a normal night.
Talin Janjik (15:35):
It was not a normal night.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And because of that, obviouslytraffic was really bad.
We couldn't get Uber as quickly,as quickly as we wanted.
So, yeah, so we basicallywalked around a lot, Uber, a
little bit of Metro, and taxis.
Annie Sargent (15:52):
Did you have a MetroCard or did you just got some tickets?
Talin Janjik (15:55):
No, I relied on my cousins for that because they said, don't worry
about it, we'll take care of that for you.
So, once or twice, they kind ofaccompanied us on the metro rides and
they bought the ticket right away.
So I, we didn't know what was going on.
My husband and my son figuredit out more because they did a
couple of things on their own.
So I wish I had that chance to discovermetro more, but that's definitely going
(16:18):
to be on our priority next time when wego, because I think, especially on those
areas that we want to stay, there's somany metro stations, so easy to get to.
Annie Sargent (16:29):
Yeah.
The Metro is handy dandy, butduring times of riots, like you
were, they often close stations.
And also it's, I mean,it's not a fun experience.
Like the metro, you know, it'ssmelly and busy and lots of people.
And I don't know.
So I'd rather take the bus myself,because I'm never in that big of a hurry.
(16:49):
I can take the bus.
But I understand that if you wantto get somewhere quickly, the
Metro is more efficient, you know.
Talin Janjik (16:54):
It was just very hard to get Uber to show up on
time, and then tracking them down.
We were late for our performance and Iwas just literally running on the street
looking for taxis because it so, so busy.
So yeah, that was not...
But I have to say Bolt was morereliable than Uber in Paris.
Annie Sargent (17:16):
Is that right?
Huh.
Talin Janjik (17:18):
We had more Bolt.
Annie Sargent (17:19):
It was better than Uber.
That's really cool.
That's really cool.
All right.
Let's see.
In Paris you liked yourSeine River Cruise at night.
Talin Janjik (17:28):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Annie Sargent (17:30):
Of course, of course.
Talin Janjik (17:31):
I think, again, I believe listening to your podcast really help me
figure out, first of all, which company togo to with, and then what time to choose,
because obviously sunset is much laterin the summertime, and I wanted the kids
to see the sparkles of the Eiffel Tower.
So, the way we arranged it was that Ibelieve our tour was at 10 o'clock at
(17:55):
night, and it went first towards EiffelTower, we made it there around 10:45, 11.
11 is when it actually started.
Annie Sargent (18:04):
The sparkle?
Talin Janjik (18:05):
Yes, so actually I think it was 10:30, I'm sorry, 10:30 or 10:45.
Anyway, I have to look back andI'll write it in the notes, but the
way it worked out was it's perfect.
And it was the only time, obviously,because they do it at the hour after
sunset, and up until 11, right?
Annie Sargent (18:25):
I think they, they do it more now, again.
They used to do it till like threein the morning and then they stopped.
I think it's back to later.
I'm not certain.
Talin Janjik (18:36):
For us, it was the only time that was going to happen,
at 11 o'clock and I got lucky.
We reserved those way in advance.
Just looking at the kids face when wejust passed by and the sparkles, they
were just, really, really touched.
It was super romantic and cute.
And we had hot chocolate with us.
And the tour was okay.
(18:57):
The tour guide was speaking reallyfast in a very thick English accent.
So I, we couldn't think of things thatshe was saying along the Seine, all
the other landmarks, but it was okay.
We would probably, we'redefinitely going to have to do
it one more time during the day.
Annie Sargent (19:14):
Yeah, and you go by so many things on the boat.
So this was the commentaryfrom the cruise ship, right?
From the boat.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Then you also enjoyed yourSaint Germain des Prés stroll.
Nice.
Because, why?
Talin Janjik (19:28):
Charm, you know, and the pedestrian streets,
and just the little boutiques.
We love all of that.
For us, these kind ofneighborhoods are very attractive.
Annie Sargent (19:40):
No they are.
What's not to like?
I mean Saint Germain-des-Présis a lovely area.
Definitely.
You also went to the Latin Quarter.
Yes, we passed by Sorbonne, again thecollege vibe, the little cafes, the small
squares, that's basically why we cameto Paris, to just enjoy all of that.
Yeah, so was it your relatives whotold you where to go, or was it, did
(20:05):
they go with you some of the time?
I didn't get too much input from them.
Mainly it was just places not to go.
So I would check in with themon, what do you think about this?
And they'd say, no, no, no, don't.
Avoid that or, so on and so forth.
But we kind of went along, maybethe day before I would say,
(20:26):
okay, you guys, we have thisexperience scheduled in this area.
What would you like to see?
Let's see, is there a cafe or is avintage store or so on, and so forth.
So we would just focus in that one area.
Or if we were meeting with my cousins,then we'd say, Oh, hey, maybe from here,
we can go and check out this place.
So it was just the night, the day beforeis how we chose the next day's itinerary.
(20:52):
So every night you'd say, okay,what are we doing tomorrow?
Right.
Well, we had structure, so I had somethinghappening, but there's a lot of room
for including their agendas as well.
I could be a military itinerarywhere it's like, this, this..
and so...
Yeah, troups let's march through Paris.
No.
And keep in mind I had my aunt comingfrom London and she's 80 years old.
(21:15):
Oh, fantastic.
She kept up with us walking around theneighborhoods in the heat of summer.
She would be like, maybe you can callUber, and I'd be like, oh, but auntie,
but there's like, this is a one way streetand you know, we can't get to, it's hard
to go the other way, so we have to walk.
So she kept up with us, but I reallyhad to, you know, consider her
(21:39):
mood and where she wanted to be.
And so, like I said, it was verydizzying for me because I had to
keep everybody happy at the sametime make it a fun experience.
So, that flexibility in my itinerarywhere I didn't have to cancel something,
you know, because we didn't make itthere, that worked out really well.
So that's what I would say, for largefamilies, especially us where everybody's
(22:03):
very vocal about what they like andthey don't want, it was a great success.
But certainly, we came back thinking,Oh my gosh, and we didn't see this,
and I can't believe we didn't do that.
So yeah, it's okay, it wasn't goingto be our last time visiting Paris.
Exactly, there's always more of Paris.
(22:23):
No matter how much you put in,there's always more to see,
so it's not like, you know...
My husband and son got to do the,they went to see the stadium, the
soccer stadium in Saint Germain.
And then my husband said, you know, whileyou guys are out shopping, I'll take
the bus, the double decker bus tour.
So he was happy with that.
(22:45):
We did the three hours inLouvre with my cousins.
So my cousin has a gallery, anart gallery in Paris, so they're
very knowledgeable about art.
So I had actually reserved a privatetour, or semi private tour of Louvre, but
he said, Cancel it, what are you doing?
You know, I'll give you the tour myself.
He has a little baby too, with his babycarrier, he came and he took us around
(23:10):
mostly his favorite paintings, butobviously, we went and saw Mona Lisa, too,
and did the with the kids, but definitelytwo hours, three hours was not enough.
So I have to go back on my own.
The kids were tired, you know, thatwas the first night we got to Paris.
So after a five hour planeride, it was tiring for them.
(23:34):
Friday's Louvre is open till nine.
So this was a late night, like 6pm ticket, which I had purchased
directly through their website.
But we got lucky, there wasno line, no line to get in.
Often that's the case withlate tickets, somehow.
I couldn't believe it.
And then I thought maybe it wasbecause of the riots, but there
(23:55):
were still people out and about.
It was just, it was the perfect timing.
Just a little late because of, you know...
Yeah, well, on a Fridaynight, you can do that.
That's very cool.
Oh, you took a baking class.
Tell me about that.
I highly recommend theexperiences on Airbnb.
I know many people have mentioned this.
I've heard, I've listened to a lotof podcasts, but I came across that,
(24:18):
you know, just scrolling down afterI booked my Airbnb, you know, how
about you check out our experiences?
And that's how I found thePerfumerie one and the World War II.
Because these are local people that areshowcasing their talents or their skills.
And this croissant baking andpain au chocolat was fantastic.
(24:40):
Oh my God, the best tastingcroissant we had there.
And I actually took a few andgave it to my aunt for her trip
back, plane ride back to London.
And she was like, Oh myGod, this is so tasty.
It was a three hour baking fromscratch, you know, we did the dough,
(25:02):
and a lovely instructor, wonderfulpeople, really cute little kitchen.
And that was fun.
And that's what I like to do.
Honestly, when I book trips, I wantto hang out with the locals and
not do the typical get your guidetours or the Viator or TripAdvisor.
Those kinds of things, they're, for me, abit commercialized, and we've negative...
(25:26):
so getting down to this kind of experiencewhere you engage with the parisians was
really fantastic, not expensive either.
Yeah, because obviously they don'thave 60 people following them around.
They just have you and yourfamily or perhaps some other few
people, but not too many, right?
Exactly.
Five or six people.
(25:47):
The person who runs the business isthe one who's providing the services.
So obviously they care andmake sure you're happy.
I didn't even ask you if you speak French.
I started taking French lessonson Lingoda after we came back, but
no, I did not speak French at all.
My kids took French lessons,French classes at college, but
everyone was speaking so fast thatthey would get really intimidated
(26:11):
to respond back in French.
But a lot of people, all the vendorspretty much assumed we were French
because we look more French thanAmerican, with our Armenian background,
and so yeah, they would call mydaughter's name is Tara, but they kept
calling her name at Starbucks, Tara,Tara, and she was like, Oh, that's me!
(26:31):
That's really cute.
That's good.
We loved being able to blend in.
Yeah.
What was the name of the appyou used to learn French?
Oh, it's an actual Zoom inperson, or on Zoom French lessons.
It's called Lingoda.
(26:52):
You sign up for two months, 15 lessons,for example, and then you can schedule
live classes on Zoom with fellowstudents and a French speaking teacher.
Oh, cool.
And you can work onyour accent and yeah...
Very nice.
Very nice.
Yeah, I'm taking in person lessons inSpain, but I'm going home tomorrow,
(27:15):
so I'm going to have to stop thein person lessons for a while,
but for Spanish, but I'll be back.
I'll be back.
But that's the thing about takinglessons with a local is that they also
tell you about local events, thingsgoing on, like, you know, Oh, there's
this, this week, or this, that tonight.
Did you hear about this or that?
So it's always nice to have a localinput when you're going to stay a while.
(27:40):
Another company that I really liked, andI use them a lot in Italy, was LIVTOURS.
Livtours was a little bit more higherscale, as far as the service they gave.
And their two guides were veryknowledgeable, especially the ones in
Italy, like you said, they were local,but also they gave us a lot of other
(28:02):
suggestions where to eat, how, you know,the local citizens and just, the extent
of their knowledge was impressive.
You know, I'm looking through your list.
Is there anything that you learnedabout France that you, you know you
would like to share with people?
Or was it like, oh, was thiswas your third trip, right?
(28:24):
No, we'd never been, I'venever been to France.
Oh, you hadn't been to France.
We had not been to France.
So it was really like, we justbarely scratched the surface, Mm-Hmm.
Everything that, the stereotypical thingsthat we heard, were so untrue, honestly.
I mean, I don't know if it was,because of the way we perceive
(28:45):
them or, I think we didn't comeacross as arrogant, or pretentious.
We came in being open to learning andrespecting the culture, and of course we
just love everything about French people,but I think our background as an Armenian
Middle Eastern, you know, having beenall over the world and having lived with
(29:09):
different kinds of people, it's helpedus to, you know, appreciate something
new rather than say, Oh, I don't likeit, you know, my way is the best way.
We adapted really easily to theirways and we respected their ways.
So I think that kind of energy cameacross and people treated us nicely.
(29:29):
One thing that stood out to me themost was just attention to details,
and going out of their way to do thingsthat, that we don't see here in the US.
And I appreciate that about Europeans somuch, for example, the first day when we
were walking in, we were walking towardsLafayette, the gallery Lafayette, it
started raining and obviously my girlshad said, Oh, no, we don't want to
(29:53):
carry an umbrella while we're shopping.
And we had already, I had an umbrellain the room, but nevermind, so I stopped
at a little bookstore and it was astationery and I I started browsing and
did some shopping and bought the umbrellaas well, but the girl took her time.
The girl at the register took her timeto seal my package in like a little
(30:18):
plastic bag, but the way she did itwas so creative so that it wouldn't
get wet, you know, while I'm walking.
And I thought, Oh my gosh, and that wasmy first experience, first day we walked
out and I said, I don't think peoplein Paris are rude, actually, I think
they're just, you know, really thoughtful.
They all spoke English and we did sayour Bonjour and Merci, and we were very
(30:42):
polite, but I just, I don't, it wasvery, it was very impressive, I thought.
And the younger trendier neighborhoodswere pretty much what we experience
here in Los Angeles, like theWest Hollywood and everybody's
that kind of thing, same vibe.
So, it felt good, it felt really good.
(31:03):
And were, was it massivelydifferent than what you experienced
later when you went to Italy or?
Oh, not massively different,but Italy is just wild.
You know, they're just, their energy levelis exploding everywhere you go, right?
The people and, and so I think we likedthe elegance of France, the classiness
(31:27):
and the politeness, but we alsoenjoy the wilder side of Italy and...
Over the top Italians.
Talin Janjik (31:36):
Yeah, so as I said, we just, we like to blend in and
not kind of stick to our old ways.
We're leaving the US because we'retraveling and we want to gain
more from our travels rather thanjust toot the same horn, you know.
Annie Sargent (31:52):
Yeah, and six weeks is a long time.
That's really a complete changeof pace, you know, when you
can take that kind of break.
You're away from everything at home,it must feel very refreshing to
go home afterwards like, woo, youknow, had a real vacation, right?
It wasn't enough.
If you ask me, it wasn't enoughfor me because I would have loved
(32:15):
to stay another few more months.
Everything about Europe and Armeniaas well, it's just, it's vibrant,
you know, there's life outsideof your own house, you connect
with people, there's good energy.
People are not so stuck with theirways and they're not, you know,
they bend the rules a little bit.
(32:38):
That's what I love.
Whereas, you know, I feel like inthe US we are always just black and
white and there is no gray zone.
But that gray zone is really importantto give people that ability to show
their uniqueness and be a little bitspontaneous, a little wild, and at the
same time considerate of everyone aroundyou, you know, so that's basically my
(33:01):
background because I was born in Iran.
So I'm used to that kind of communitieswhere people do things together and
they're, you know, someone comes andknocks at your door at 10 o'clock at
night, you invite them over, and youset the table, and you give them dinner.
So, you know what I mean?
So that kind of connectedness,is what I thrive on.
You like connecting with people.
(33:22):
Absolutely.
And you don't get that here becauseyou're always stuck in your car in
the freeway and go from work to home.
It's a very different lifestyle, isn't it?
Yeah.
Talin Janjik (33:32):
And I loved the six weeks, and I think it inspired all of my kids
to want to go back, which is fantastic.
And they'll go back on their ownand I know that they're going to be
able to navigate the train stationsvery, very, very well because, boy,
we got a lot of experience fromtrains in Italy, more so than France.
Took so many trains in and out ofRome, then Florence, then Milan, and
(33:58):
then from Milan we went to Torino,from Milan we went to Venice, Lake
Como, Lake Garda, we even went toSwitzerland , so yeah, so they got a lot
of experience, so they can manage it well.
But our train ride from Paristo Nice was very comfortable.
I got Premier Business, I believeit was it Premier, Business Premier.
(34:20):
Yeah.
Business class.
Yeah.
Yeah, so you could, we selectedour seats, and I was worried about
luggage space, but, you know, we hadplenty on right behind our seats.
It wasn't the quietest cabin, there werefamilies and kids crying and moving around
a lot, but it was pretty comfortable.
Five hours.
It's beautiful scenery.
(34:41):
We saw the sunflower fields at that time.
One of the questions I asked is: Is there anything you didn't like (34:44):
undefined
very much and don't recommend?
It's interesting what yourresponse was, that you didn't like
the touristy TikTok references.
What do you mean?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So, you know, obviously my kidshad done their research on TikTok.
(35:04):
Nowhere else.
They wanted to try this place, andthat place, and every time I would ask
them, Where did you hear about this?
And they'd be like, Oh, you know, TikTok.
Oh, I would say, Oh my gosh, here wego again, long lines, and just did
not live up to the hype, basically.
It would get me moody, you know, I'dbe like, oh, I don't want to wait
here for 15-20 minutes when there'sanother cafe next door and they're
(35:28):
probably going to serve the samething, know, but oh my god, check their
onion soup, or their hot chocolate.
I just have to havethat one because TikTok!
Because of a TikToker!
And so, you know, luckily we only gotto do one or two of those things and
the rest of the time because of timeconstraint, or we were just tired
(35:49):
and really hungry and didn't wantto wait in line, we avoided those.
So I would say, the food was not apriority for us, as far as having
a sit down dinner, because we doa lot of that here in California.
Luckily, we're in Los Angeles.
There's plenty to try.
So, that wasn't our main, however,we wanted to try French cuisine,
(36:11):
but we're mostly vegetarians.
So, except my husband who likes hismeat, but for us, it wasn't such a
must that we had to have reservationsto really like fancy places.
we just went along with street food,cafes, bistros that could sit us right
away because there was five, six,seven of us, for example, you know.
(36:31):
And so, my gosh, every day Ihad the yummiest croissant no
matter where I got it from.
Pain au Chocolat was, oh,beyond believably yummy.
We did go by the, thatfamous, is it Cédric Grolet?
Cédric Grolet the, he's very famous,he's an artist who creates these
gorgeous croissants and pastries.
(36:51):
Oh, I see!
Beautiful to look at, but that was one ofthe places they wanted to stop and I asked
the lady and she said it's an hour wait.
I said (37:00):
Oh my God, I told my daughter.
And it was already starting todrizzle and she was willing to
standing line under the rain.
And I said absolutely no.
We will come back anotherday, and we never did.
But she had her croissant.
Is really funny to me how peopleget excited about some place
(37:21):
that they've never been to, butbecause they heard about it from
somebody that they enjoy watchingon TikTok, or YouTube, or whatever.
They will do all sorts of crazy things.
Because, I'm like, I'm with you,I'm like, well, there's others, you
know, if what we want is a pastry,there's lots of pastry shops in Paris.
We don't need this one in particular.
(37:41):
I mean, it'd be cool if it was, ifyou didn't have to wait for an hour.
More and more you hear that their servicegoes down, and the quality goes down
because they have such a high demand.
Too many people.
Yeah.
And if you know you're going to befull every day, no matter what, then
you can skip a few steps, right?
I'll never see these people again.
Yeah, exactly.
(38:02):
No, we had, when you said your favoriterestaurant, I really couldn't think
of one because we just ate on thego and everything was delicious.
Everything was well, amazing.
So
Perfect.
Can't go wrong.
Talin, we've been going on a long time.
It's been lovely talking to you.
You're an inspiration because for a firsttrip to Paris, France in general, with
(38:25):
a group like this, teenagers who can bemoody, I think you aced it, so Bravo!
Thanks to you, Annie.
I honestly had maybe two, three months toresearch and every day I listened to you.
And it worked out!
And I keep going, until next time!
Wonderful, merci beaucoup Talin!
(38:47):
Merci Annie, bonsoir!
Au revoir.
Annie Sargent (38:56):
The Join Us in France travel podcast is written, hosted,
and produced by Annie Sargent andCopyright 2024 by AddictedToFrance.
It is released under a CreativeCommons, attribution, non-commercial,
no derivatives license.
This is Join Us in France, episode 493, quatre
cent quatre-vingt-treize.
Bonjour, I'm Annie Sargent, and Join Usin France is the podcast where we take
a conversational journey through thebeauty, culture, and flavors of France.
Today, I bring you a trip report withTalin Janjik, who shares the story of
(00:37):
their six week vacation, the trip of alifetime, which took them from Los Angeles
to the streets of Paris and beyond.
You'll hear how they navigated France,including a family reunion, a wedding,
they went to the south of France andcoped with some unexpected events, and
also made the most out of every moment.
(00:58):
A great episode with insights on travelingwith family, embracing local cultures,
and the beauty of spontaneous exploration.
Stay tuned to learn how Talin'smeticulous planning, and flexible
approach paved the way formemories that will last a lifetime.
This podcast is supported by donorsand listeners who buy my tours and
(01:20):
services, including my ItineraryConsult Service, my GPS self-guided
tours of Paris on the VoiceMap app,or take a day trip with me around the
southwest of France in my electric car.
You can browse all of that at myboutique: joinusinfrance.com/boutique.
Patreon supporters get new episodes assoon as they are ready and ads free.
(01:46):
If that sounds good to you, be likethem, follow the link in the show notes.
There won't be a magazine part of thepodcast today, because I am scheduling
this episode early and it'll come out whenI'm leading the Bootcamp 2024 edition.
You'll hear all about the Bootcamp soon.
Stay tuned.
(02:15):
Bonjour Talin Janjik andwelcome to Join Us in France.
Talin Janjik (02:20):
Thank you, Annie . So nice to join you in person.
Annie Sargent (02:23):
Yeah, lovely to talk to you.
Sounds like you had a fantastic trip.
So tell us when was this trip?
Where did you go?
Who were you with?
Talin Janjik (02:32):
Okay, so this was a second leg of a six leg trip we took
from Los Angeles, across the Atlanticto Armenia, and then we went to
France, then we moved on to Italy.
This was a six week vacation.
We called it a trip of a lifetime becausewe were all able to be together and it was
(02:54):
me, my husband, and my three older kidswho are, two of them are in college and
one of them is a freshman in high school.
Annie Sargent (03:01):
Oh, that's fantastic.
Yeah.
They're growing up and thatyou don't know when you'll be
able to do that again, right?
Talin Janjik (03:05):
Exactly.
So it was very special,especially for us as a family.
And then, the first trip,the Armenia trip was mainly
because of a wedding in Armenia.
This whole vacation was bookendedwith a trip to Armenia for a
family reunion, and ended with mydaughter doing a dance intensive.
(03:26):
My oldest daughter is a dancer, so she dida dance intensive in Italy, the town named
Turin or Torino, where she had a fantastictime, but I kind of tried to arrange, so
what do we do between Armenia and Italy?
How can we manage this so that shedoesn't have to go back and forth
and we can just extend the trip sothat she could stay with us and make
(03:50):
this a really nice summer vacation.
And mind you, this was the first timewe all traveled together to Europe.
And first time in Armenia.
Annie Sargent (03:58):
That's fantastic.
Talin Janjik (03:59):
So France was, the reason why we stopped at France
was because I have family there.
My cousin has livedthere for over 40 years.
She has children and grandchildren,and all these years she was asking,
begging us to visit her, finally managed.
So this trip, basically includeda lot of family reunions, my aunt
(04:19):
who visited us from London, andshe came to France to see us.
Annie Sargent (04:24):
So it was a complicated trip.
Talin Janjik (04:26):
Lot of people coming in and out with different
itineraries and agendas.
And I was kind of like the operatorat a switchboard trying to figure out.
So it was, like I said, it was a whirlwindof experience for me, but I really worked
hard at making sure I took it all in.
Annie Sargent (04:47):
Right, that's great.
Okay.
So while you were in France, well,first of all, how did you organize, how
did you decide where you wanted to go?
Well, you had the family there too, right?
Talin Janjik (04:59):
Yes.
So Paris, of course, was where wewanted to stay mainly, but also
we wanted to see south of France.
And then from there on wetook the train to Rome.
So we tried to renounce flying formultiple reasons, and I had heard
how traveling through towns in Europewas so easy with train, even though
(05:19):
I consulted with my cousin and shekind of tried to talk me out of it.
No, you know, take the plane from Niceis just an hour and a half to Rome.
I said, no, I reallywant to experience it.
And we had a lot of luggage, as you canimagine, with uh teachers and girls and
then we had multiple itineraries wherewe've had a wedding and then a dance, so
all these different kinds of wardrobe andoutfits, so it was hard to travel with
(05:45):
just a carry on, the medium sized luggage,five luggages with carry ons, carrying it
through trains was a little bit difficult.
But my husband especially said, I don'twant to go through the security again and
the weight of the luggage, the time wehave to spend showing up early, obviously,
(06:06):
delayed the process too a little bit.
So we figured, let's just gofor it, it's an adventure.
And thankfully for having listened toyour podcast, about the apps for Trainline
and SNCF, that helped me so much tobe able to, from the convenience of my
(06:26):
mobile, I was able to plan this traintrip from Nice to Rome, without a hitch.
Like, everything went very smoothly.
Of course, I was stressing alot, and we can talk about that
later, but all the details.
So that was it.
Paris was mainly because obviously wewanted to see Paris and our cousins,
(06:46):
and then from there on, we traveleddown through south of France to Rome.
Annie Sargent (06:51):
Wow.
Well, I'm glad it went, it went out.
Because I would have been, kind of likeyour French relative, I would have,
ooh that's a, that sounds complicated.
So I was like, not sure.
So good for you.
Talin Janjik (07:06):
Great.
Annie Sargent (07:07):
Good for you.
All right.
Talin Janjik (07:09):
Thank Gods we're with us.
Annie Sargent (07:11):
Yes.
Yes.
That's fantastic.
So tell us what are some of the thingsthat you enjoyed most on this trip?
The French part of the trip anyway.
Talin Janjik (07:21):
Of course.
We would have loved to see a lot oflandmarks and the tourist attractions
and checked off a lot of things on ourbucket list, but we didn't get to do that.
Honestly, we set our agenda, andby we, it was just me and my older
daughter who is a francophile.
She loves French people andeverything about France.
(07:42):
So she and I decided, you knowwhat, we're not going to fill up
our itinerary with so much to do.
Let's just go enjoy the neighborhoods,walk around, sit at cafes,
watch people and take it all in.
Especially that we have family there, wewanted to just kind of walk through Paris
with them and experience their daily life.
(08:05):
And whatever we got to see, we gotto see, fantastic, and whatever we
missed, not a big deal, you know?
So, that kind of took a lot ofpressure off of me to have everything
scheduled, because as you can imagine,for six weeks I had to plan things.
So Paris would be one part of it,but having family there helped.
However, I had kind of scheduled thestructure of every day, like I had some
(08:29):
blocks scheduled for certain experiences,tours, performances, because she wanted
to see a few performances and we gotlucky, we saw Paris Opera Ballet.
Annie Sargent (08:40):
Nice.
Can I ask you a question about the ballet?
Sorry.
Did they let you look aroundthe Opera House either before
or after the performance?
Talin Janjik (08:50):
Okay, so this was at the Bastille Opera.
Yeah.
We didn't make, the Palais Garnierwas all sold out, the performance.
Annie Sargent (08:58):
Okay.
Sorry about that.
Talin Janjik (09:00):
Yeah, but their performance was so awe inspiring and nothing we've
ever seen anything like that before.
So I highly recommend doinga show at either venue.
Anyway, those kinds of things,like I researched things that we,
I researched things that appealedto us, from my youngest one to
(09:21):
my husband, he's into history.
So I came across this experiencefor World War II, you know, a
walking tour with a historian.
So him and my son did the tourtogether and they really enjoyed it.
Then I did the Eiffel Tower, youknow, climb up to the top for
the two of them because I knewthe girls weren't interested.
(09:44):
They're like, you know, we'rehappy just sitting by the
Eiffel Tower and watching it.
We don't have to climb up, forexample, my son and husband...
Annie Sargent (09:52):
And you mean literally you climbed, you walked?
Talin Janjik (09:54):
I think, no, they took the elevator.
Annie Sargent (09:56):
Elevator, okay.
Talin Janjik (09:57):
But my son wanted to climb and my husband said, no way.
They took the elevator.
Yeah, but he, he was really amusedby the view and they enjoyed it.
So I had to divide to conquer,basically, but I really checked
in with them beforehand.
Like, what do you guys want to see?
Tell me your agenda andI'll figure things out.
(10:20):
Like, my youngest one is really intoperfumes, and shopping, so I found an
experience on Airbnb, a tour of theperfumeries in Le Marais, for example.
Wonderful shops.
And smelled all these beautiful scents,and they bought a bottle and they brought
it with them and it's very special.
(10:41):
So I think my advice to familiesthat are going with older kids where
you can't really just drag themeverywhere, you know, you have to
acknowledge their likes and dislikes,and their moods, sometimes they stop
and they don't want to get out of bed.
And so what do I do?
Or they're tired, they don't want to cometo this dinner or so on and so forth.
(11:01):
So it worked out really well whereI was very fluid with my planning.
So, I mean, it's Paris, youcan't go wrong, it's just walk
out and it's so beautiful.
Annie Sargent (11:12):
And that is the right attitude because if you, if your
goal is to drag the whole family withyou, they're going to resent that.
I mean, especially older teenagers,they just want to do their own thing.
And it's not like it's dangerous toleave them on their own devices for
a few hours, you know, let's splitup and we'll meet up again tonight.
(11:34):
Right?
Talin Janjik (11:34):
They're savvy enough with their navigations to be able to
walk somewhere and meet us somewhere.
So it was really nice.
Like, if my son didn't want to come withus right away, he wanted to sleep in, he
would meet us somewhere later on with hisapp, you know, it's just very easy to do.
And we were staying at the 2ndarrondisement, which was very safe.
(11:55):
Relatively safe, obviously youstill have to be careful because
it's busy and whatnot, but localcentralized enough where just 15,
20 minute walking to distance.
Annie Sargent (12:06):
To a lot of places.
Yeah.
It's very central.
And it is a bit, I mean, it's a mixedneighborhood, c'est Les Halles, right?
This is Les Halles thatyou're talking about?
Talin Janjik (12:14):
Yes, well, Opera.
Annie Sargent (12:16):
Opéra.
Okay.
Yeah.
So it's a bit of a mixedneighborhood, but it's very nice.
I mean, it's just busy, lots of people.
Talin Janjik (12:23):
We were on a busy street, definitely loud, a lot of,
you know, trucks going in and out inthe morning, especially our neighbors
were loud, but it worked out.
It was okay.
Annie Sargent (12:33):
Did you rent an Airbnb or...?
Talin Janjik (12:37):
Again, I got very lucky, all six cities that we stayed, I did
Airbnb because there was five of us andI noticed that the hotel rooms were more
expensive because we had to do two rooms.
It was going to be hardhaving them connected.
We had a lot of luggage,so we needed more space.
And I think I saved more going withthe Airbnb route, although the Airbnb
(13:00):
in Paris was the most expensive one.
I did splurge a little there because Iwanted it to be a nice experience for
the girls because they had seen all theseInstagram photos of cute little balconies
and I, we didn't want to disappoint themtoo much, but it worked out really nice
because the area was pretty centralized.
It had AC, washer / dryer,really nice decor inside.
(13:25):
So it was worth the extra that we paid.
Annie Sargent (13:29):
Cool.
And you liked the neighborhood?
Talin Janjik (13:31):
Yes, we liked the neighborhood, but I think next
time, which is actually goingto be in September, we're coming
down for another wedding in Paris.
I'm excited.
That I prefer probably Le Marais orSaint Germain, probably those areas
would be more suitable for the girlsbecause it's more vibrant and trendy
and, a lot to do when you walk out.
Annie Sargent (13:53):
Fantastic.
Yeah.
Very nice.
How did you get around in Paris?
Talin Janjik (13:57):
Okay, so a lot of walking because we were mostly relying on Uber
and Bolt, but they weren't reliable.
And I tell you why, because the firstnight we arrived, it was during the riots.
Which one?
The retirement?
Where, the riot because ofthe killing of the young men.
Annie Sargent (14:20):
Oh, that.
Yes.
Yes.
The kid who got into a thing withthe police and they shot him.
Yeah.
Talin Janjik (14:27):
So it was pretty violent and my cousin called me and
said, are you sure you want to come?
And of course we had been, you know,preoccupied with everything that
was going in Armenia and I hadn'treally paid attention to the news.
So I'm like, yeah, sure.
I mean, riots, we getit in LA all the time.
It's not a big deal.
You know, a couple of smashing windows orwhatever, but they were pretty violent.
(14:49):
Yeah, so I think it had, I readlater that about 25 percent of the
tourists cancelled for that weekend.
So that, when we arrived Friday night,all the shops were closing early.
We had a tour on Saturday night,it was a late night tour of, you
know, driving tour with the Citroën?
Yeah.
(15:09):
Yeah.
I was very excited about that, but thatgot canceled, and everywhere we would
want to go eat, they had already closed.
Most of the shops were being boarded up.
I mean, there was still definitelyactivity, but, you know, more in the
back streets and the main area actions,they had a lot of gendarmes standing.
Annie Sargent (15:33):
It was not a normal night.
Talin Janjik (15:35):
It was not a normal night.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And because of that, obviouslytraffic was really bad.
We couldn't get Uber as quickly,as quickly as we wanted.
So, yeah, so we basicallywalked around a lot, Uber, a
little bit of Metro, and taxis.
Annie Sargent (15:52):
Did you have a MetroCard or did you just got some tickets?
Talin Janjik (15:55):
No, I relied on my cousins for that because they said, don't worry
about it, we'll take care of that for you.
So, once or twice, they kind ofaccompanied us on the metro rides and
they bought the ticket right away.
So I, we didn't know what was going on.
My husband and my son figuredit out more because they did a
couple of things on their own.
So I wish I had that chance to discovermetro more, but that's definitely going
(16:18):
to be on our priority next time when wego, because I think, especially on those
areas that we want to stay, there's somany metro stations, so easy to get to.
Annie Sargent (16:29):
Yeah.
The Metro is handy dandy, butduring times of riots, like you
were, they often close stations.
And also it's, I mean,it's not a fun experience.
Like the metro, you know, it'ssmelly and busy and lots of people.
And I don't know.
So I'd rather take the bus myself,because I'm never in that big of a hurry.
(16:49):
I can take the bus.
But I understand that if you wantto get somewhere quickly, the
Metro is more efficient, you know.
Talin Janjik (16:54):
It was just very hard to get Uber to show up on
time, and then tracking them down.
We were late for our performance and Iwas just literally running on the street
looking for taxis because it so, so busy.
So yeah, that was not...
But I have to say Bolt was morereliable than Uber in Paris.
Annie Sargent (17:16):
Is that right?
Huh.
Talin Janjik (17:18):
We had more Bolt.
Annie Sargent (17:19):
It was better than Uber.
That's really cool.
That's really cool.
All right.
Let's see.
In Paris you liked yourSeine River Cruise at night.
Talin Janjik (17:28):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Annie Sargent (17:30):
Of course, of course.
Talin Janjik (17:31):
I think, again, I believe listening to your podcast really help me
figure out, first of all, which company togo to with, and then what time to choose,
because obviously sunset is much laterin the summertime, and I wanted the kids
to see the sparkles of the Eiffel Tower.
So, the way we arranged it was that Ibelieve our tour was at 10 o'clock at
(17:55):
night, and it went first towards EiffelTower, we made it there around 10:45, 11.
11 is when it actually started.
Annie Sargent (18:04):
The sparkle?
Talin Janjik (18:05):
Yes, so actually I think it was 10:30, I'm sorry, 10:30 or 10:45.
Anyway, I have to look back andI'll write it in the notes, but the
way it worked out was it's perfect.
And it was the only time, obviously,because they do it at the hour after
sunset, and up until 11, right?
Annie Sargent (18:25):
I think they, they do it more now, again.
They used to do it till like threein the morning and then they stopped.
I think it's back to later.
I'm not certain.
Talin Janjik (18:36):
For us, it was the only time that was going to happen,
at 11 o'clock and I got lucky.
We reserved those way in advance.
Just looking at the kids face when wejust passed by and the sparkles, they
were just, really, really touched.
It was super romantic and cute.
And we had hot chocolate with us.
And the tour was okay.
(18:57):
The tour guide was speaking reallyfast in a very thick English accent.
So I, we couldn't think of things thatshe was saying along the Seine, all
the other landmarks, but it was okay.
We would probably, we'redefinitely going to have to do
it one more time during the day.
Annie Sargent (19:14):
Yeah, and you go by so many things on the boat.
So this was the commentaryfrom the cruise ship, right?
From the boat.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Then you also enjoyed yourSaint Germain des Prés stroll.
Nice.
Because, why?
Talin Janjik (19:28):
Charm, you know, and the pedestrian streets,
and just the little boutiques.
We love all of that.
For us, these kind ofneighborhoods are very attractive.
Annie Sargent (19:40):
No they are.
What's not to like?
I mean Saint Germain-des-Présis a lovely area.
Definitely.
You also went to the Latin Quarter.
Yes, we passed by Sorbonne, again thecollege vibe, the little cafes, the small
squares, that's basically why we cameto Paris, to just enjoy all of that.
Yeah, so was it your relatives whotold you where to go, or was it, did
(20:05):
they go with you some of the time?
I didn't get too much input from them.
Mainly it was just places not to go.
So I would check in with themon, what do you think about this?
And they'd say, no, no, no, don't.
Avoid that or, so on and so forth.
But we kind of went along, maybethe day before I would say,
(20:26):
okay, you guys, we have thisexperience scheduled in this area.
What would you like to see?
Let's see, is there a cafe or is avintage store or so on, and so forth.
So we would just focus in that one area.
Or if we were meeting with my cousins,then we'd say, Oh, hey, maybe from here,
we can go and check out this place.
So it was just the night, the day beforeis how we chose the next day's itinerary.
(20:52):
So every night you'd say, okay,what are we doing tomorrow?
Right.
Well, we had structure, so I had somethinghappening, but there's a lot of room
for including their agendas as well.
I could be a military itinerarywhere it's like, this, this..
and so...
Yeah, troups let's march through Paris.
No.
And keep in mind I had my aunt comingfrom London and she's 80 years old.
(21:15):
Oh, fantastic.
She kept up with us walking around theneighborhoods in the heat of summer.
She would be like, maybe you can callUber, and I'd be like, oh, but auntie,
but there's like, this is a one way streetand you know, we can't get to, it's hard
to go the other way, so we have to walk.
So she kept up with us, but I reallyhad to, you know, consider her
(21:39):
mood and where she wanted to be.
And so, like I said, it was verydizzying for me because I had to
keep everybody happy at the sametime make it a fun experience.
So, that flexibility in my itinerarywhere I didn't have to cancel something,
you know, because we didn't make itthere, that worked out really well.
So that's what I would say, for largefamilies, especially us where everybody's
(22:03):
very vocal about what they like andthey don't want, it was a great success.
But certainly, we came back thinking,Oh my gosh, and we didn't see this,
and I can't believe we didn't do that.
So yeah, it's okay, it wasn't goingto be our last time visiting Paris.
Exactly, there's always more of Paris.
(22:23):
No matter how much you put in,there's always more to see,
so it's not like, you know...
My husband and son got to do the,they went to see the stadium, the
soccer stadium in Saint Germain.
And then my husband said, you know, whileyou guys are out shopping, I'll take
the bus, the double decker bus tour.
So he was happy with that.
(22:45):
We did the three hours inLouvre with my cousins.
So my cousin has a gallery, anart gallery in Paris, so they're
very knowledgeable about art.
So I had actually reserved a privatetour, or semi private tour of Louvre, but
he said, Cancel it, what are you doing?
You know, I'll give you the tour myself.
He has a little baby too, with his babycarrier, he came and he took us around
(23:10):
mostly his favorite paintings, butobviously, we went and saw Mona Lisa, too,
and did the with the kids, but definitelytwo hours, three hours was not enough.
So I have to go back on my own.
The kids were tired, you know, thatwas the first night we got to Paris.
So after a five hour planeride, it was tiring for them.
(23:34):
Friday's Louvre is open till nine.
So this was a late night, like 6pm ticket, which I had purchased
directly through their website.
But we got lucky, there wasno line, no line to get in.
Often that's the case withlate tickets, somehow.
I couldn't believe it.
And then I thought maybe it wasbecause of the riots, but there
(23:55):
were still people out and about.
It was just, it was the perfect timing.
Just a little late because of, you know...
Yeah, well, on a Fridaynight, you can do that.
That's very cool.
Oh, you took a baking class.
Tell me about that.
I highly recommend theexperiences on Airbnb.
I know many people have mentioned this.
I've heard, I've listened to a lotof podcasts, but I came across that,
(24:18):
you know, just scrolling down afterI booked my Airbnb, you know, how
about you check out our experiences?
And that's how I found thePerfumerie one and the World War II.
Because these are local people that areshowcasing their talents or their skills.
And this croissant baking andpain au chocolat was fantastic.
(24:40):
Oh my God, the best tastingcroissant we had there.
And I actually took a few andgave it to my aunt for her trip
back, plane ride back to London.
And she was like, Oh myGod, this is so tasty.
It was a three hour baking fromscratch, you know, we did the dough,
(25:02):
and a lovely instructor, wonderfulpeople, really cute little kitchen.
And that was fun.
And that's what I like to do.
Honestly, when I book trips, I wantto hang out with the locals and
not do the typical get your guidetours or the Viator or TripAdvisor.
Those kinds of things, they're, for me, abit commercialized, and we've negative...
(25:26):
so getting down to this kind of experiencewhere you engage with the parisians was
really fantastic, not expensive either.
Yeah, because obviously they don'thave 60 people following them around.
They just have you and yourfamily or perhaps some other few
people, but not too many, right?
Exactly.
Five or six people.
(25:47):
The person who runs the business isthe one who's providing the services.
So obviously they care andmake sure you're happy.
I didn't even ask you if you speak French.
I started taking French lessonson Lingoda after we came back, but
no, I did not speak French at all.
My kids took French lessons,French classes at college, but
everyone was speaking so fast thatthey would get really intimidated
(26:11):
to respond back in French.
But a lot of people, all the vendorspretty much assumed we were French
because we look more French thanAmerican, with our Armenian background,
and so yeah, they would call mydaughter's name is Tara, but they kept
calling her name at Starbucks, Tara,Tara, and she was like, Oh, that's me!
(26:31):
That's really cute.
That's good.
We loved being able to blend in.
Yeah.
What was the name of the appyou used to learn French?
Oh, it's an actual Zoom inperson, or on Zoom French lessons.
It's called Lingoda.
(26:52):
You sign up for two months, 15 lessons,for example, and then you can schedule
live classes on Zoom with fellowstudents and a French speaking teacher.
Oh, cool.
And you can work onyour accent and yeah...
Very nice.
Very nice.
Yeah, I'm taking in person lessons inSpain, but I'm going home tomorrow,
(27:15):
so I'm going to have to stop thein person lessons for a while,
but for Spanish, but I'll be back.
I'll be back.
But that's the thing about takinglessons with a local is that they also
tell you about local events, thingsgoing on, like, you know, Oh, there's
this, this week, or this, that tonight.
Did you hear about this or that?
So it's always nice to have a localinput when you're going to stay a while.
(27:40):
Another company that I really liked, andI use them a lot in Italy, was LIVTOURS.
Livtours was a little bit more higherscale, as far as the service they gave.
And their two guides were veryknowledgeable, especially the ones in
Italy, like you said, they were local,but also they gave us a lot of other
(28:02):
suggestions where to eat, how, you know,the local citizens and just, the extent
of their knowledge was impressive.
You know, I'm looking through your list.
Is there anything that you learnedabout France that you, you know you
would like to share with people?
Or was it like, oh, was thiswas your third trip, right?
(28:24):
No, we'd never been, I'venever been to France.
Oh, you hadn't been to France.
We had not been to France.
So it was really like, we justbarely scratched the surface, Mm-Hmm.
Everything that, the stereotypical thingsthat we heard, were so untrue, honestly.
I mean, I don't know if it was,because of the way we perceive
(28:45):
them or, I think we didn't comeacross as arrogant, or pretentious.
We came in being open to learning andrespecting the culture, and of course we
just love everything about French people,but I think our background as an Armenian
Middle Eastern, you know, having beenall over the world and having lived with
(29:09):
different kinds of people, it's helpedus to, you know, appreciate something
new rather than say, Oh, I don't likeit, you know, my way is the best way.
We adapted really easily to theirways and we respected their ways.
So I think that kind of energy cameacross and people treated us nicely.
(29:29):
One thing that stood out to me themost was just attention to details,
and going out of their way to do thingsthat, that we don't see here in the US.
And I appreciate that about Europeans somuch, for example, the first day when we
were walking in, we were walking towardsLafayette, the gallery Lafayette, it
started raining and obviously my girlshad said, Oh, no, we don't want to
(29:53):
carry an umbrella while we're shopping.
And we had already, I had an umbrellain the room, but nevermind, so I stopped
at a little bookstore and it was astationery and I I started browsing and
did some shopping and bought the umbrellaas well, but the girl took her time.
The girl at the register took her timeto seal my package in like a little
(30:18):
plastic bag, but the way she did itwas so creative so that it wouldn't
get wet, you know, while I'm walking.
And I thought, Oh my gosh, and that wasmy first experience, first day we walked
out and I said, I don't think peoplein Paris are rude, actually, I think
they're just, you know, really thoughtful.
They all spoke English and we did sayour Bonjour and Merci, and we were very
(30:42):
polite, but I just, I don't, it wasvery, it was very impressive, I thought.
And the younger trendier neighborhoodswere pretty much what we experience
here in Los Angeles, like theWest Hollywood and everybody's
that kind of thing, same vibe.
So, it felt good, it felt really good.
(31:03):
And were, was it massivelydifferent than what you experienced
later when you went to Italy or?
Oh, not massively different,but Italy is just wild.
You know, they're just, their energy levelis exploding everywhere you go, right?
The people and, and so I think we likedthe elegance of France, the classiness
(31:27):
and the politeness, but we alsoenjoy the wilder side of Italy and...
Over the top Italians.
Talin Janjik (31:36):
Yeah, so as I said, we just, we like to blend in and
not kind of stick to our old ways.
We're leaving the US because we'retraveling and we want to gain
more from our travels rather thanjust toot the same horn, you know.
Annie Sargent (31:52):
Yeah, and six weeks is a long time.
That's really a complete changeof pace, you know, when you
can take that kind of break.
You're away from everything at home,it must feel very refreshing to
go home afterwards like, woo, youknow, had a real vacation, right?
It wasn't enough.
If you ask me, it wasn't enoughfor me because I would have loved
(32:15):
to stay another few more months.
Everything about Europe and Armeniaas well, it's just, it's vibrant,
you know, there's life outsideof your own house, you connect
with people, there's good energy.
People are not so stuck with theirways and they're not, you know,
they bend the rules a little bit.
(32:38):
That's what I love.
Whereas, you know, I feel like inthe US we are always just black and
white and there is no gray zone.
But that gray zone is really importantto give people that ability to show
their uniqueness and be a little bitspontaneous, a little wild, and at the
same time considerate of everyone aroundyou, you know, so that's basically my
(33:01):
background because I was born in Iran.
So I'm used to that kind of communitieswhere people do things together and
they're, you know, someone comes andknocks at your door at 10 o'clock at
night, you invite them over, and youset the table, and you give them dinner.
So, you know what I mean?
So that kind of connectedness,is what I thrive on.
You like connecting with people.
(33:22):
Absolutely.
And you don't get that here becauseyou're always stuck in your car in
the freeway and go from work to home.
It's a very different lifestyle, isn't it?
Yeah.
Talin Janjik (33:32):
And I loved the six weeks, and I think it inspired all of my kids
to want to go back, which is fantastic.
And they'll go back on their ownand I know that they're going to be
able to navigate the train stationsvery, very, very well because, boy,
we got a lot of experience fromtrains in Italy, more so than France.
Took so many trains in and out ofRome, then Florence, then Milan, and
(33:58):
then from Milan we went to Torino,from Milan we went to Venice, Lake
Como, Lake Garda, we even went toSwitzerland , so yeah, so they got a lot
of experience, so they can manage it well.
But our train ride from Paristo Nice was very comfortable.
I got Premier Business, I believeit was it Premier, Business Premier.
(34:20):
Yeah.
Business class.
Yeah.
Yeah, so you could, we selectedour seats, and I was worried about
luggage space, but, you know, we hadplenty on right behind our seats.
It wasn't the quietest cabin, there werefamilies and kids crying and moving around
a lot, but it was pretty comfortable.
Five hours.
It's beautiful scenery.
(34:41):
We saw the sunflower fields at that time.
One of the questions I asked is: Is there anything you didn't like (34:44):
undefined
very much and don't recommend?
It's interesting what yourresponse was, that you didn't like
the touristy TikTok references.
What do you mean?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So, you know, obviously my kidshad done their research on TikTok.
(35:04):
Nowhere else.
They wanted to try this place, andthat place, and every time I would ask
them, Where did you hear about this?
And they'd be like, Oh, you know, TikTok.
Oh, I would say, Oh my gosh, here wego again, long lines, and just did
not live up to the hype, basically.
It would get me moody, you know, I'dbe like, oh, I don't want to wait
here for 15-20 minutes when there'sanother cafe next door and they're
(35:28):
probably going to serve the samething, know, but oh my god, check their
onion soup, or their hot chocolate.
I just have to havethat one because TikTok!
Because of a TikToker!
And so, you know, luckily we only gotto do one or two of those things and
the rest of the time because of timeconstraint, or we were just tired
(35:49):
and really hungry and didn't wantto wait in line, we avoided those.
So I would say, the food was not apriority for us, as far as having
a sit down dinner, because we doa lot of that here in California.
Luckily, we're in Los Angeles.
There's plenty to try.
So, that wasn't our main, however,we wanted to try French cuisine,
(36:11):
but we're mostly vegetarians.
So, except my husband who likes hismeat, but for us, it wasn't such a
must that we had to have reservationsto really like fancy places.
we just went along with street food,cafes, bistros that could sit us right
away because there was five, six,seven of us, for example, you know.
(36:31):
And so, my gosh, every day Ihad the yummiest croissant no
matter where I got it from.
Pain au Chocolat was, oh,beyond believably yummy.
We did go by the, thatfamous, is it Cédric Grolet?
Cédric Grolet the, he's very famous,he's an artist who creates these
gorgeous croissants and pastries.
(36:51):
Oh, I see!
Beautiful to look at, but that was one ofthe places they wanted to stop and I asked
the lady and she said it's an hour wait.
I said (37:00):
Oh my God, I told my daughter.
And it was already starting todrizzle and she was willing to
standing line under the rain.
And I said absolutely no.
We will come back anotherday, and we never did.
But she had her croissant.
Is really funny to me how peopleget excited about some place
(37:21):
that they've never been to, butbecause they heard about it from
somebody that they enjoy watchingon TikTok, or YouTube, or whatever.
They will do all sorts of crazy things.
Because, I'm like, I'm with you,I'm like, well, there's others, you
know, if what we want is a pastry,there's lots of pastry shops in Paris.
We don't need this one in particular.
(37:41):
I mean, it'd be cool if it was, ifyou didn't have to wait for an hour.
More and more you hear that their servicegoes down, and the quality goes down
because they have such a high demand.
Too many people.
Yeah.
And if you know you're going to befull every day, no matter what, then
you can skip a few steps, right?
I'll never see these people again.
Yeah, exactly.
(38:02):
No, we had, when you said your favoriterestaurant, I really couldn't think
of one because we just ate on thego and everything was delicious.
Everything was well, amazing.
So
Perfect.
Can't go wrong.
Talin, we've been going on a long time.
It's been lovely talking to you.
You're an inspiration because for a firsttrip to Paris, France in general, with
(38:25):
a group like this, teenagers who can bemoody, I think you aced it, so Bravo!
Thanks to you, Annie.
I honestly had maybe two, three months toresearch and every day I listened to you.
And it worked out!
And I keep going, until next time!
Wonderful, merci beaucoup Talin!
(38:47):
Merci Annie, bonsoir!
Au revoir.
Annie Sargent (38:56):
The Join Us in France travel podcast is written, hosted,
and produced by Annie Sargent andCopyright 2024 by AddictedToFrance.
It is released under a CreativeCommons, attribution, non-commercial,
no derivatives license.
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