Itinerary: London and Paris

Our trip to London and Paris was conceived as a long-awaited sensory reboot. We’d spent the previous two years with our heads fixed downward in our work, ceaselessly hustling to adapt to a rollercoaster track of pandemic twists and turns. We longed to lift our gazes and slather our eyeballs with as much exceptional art and design as we could cram into a week’s time, with a critical tandem objective of nourishing body and soul with loads of walking and gorgeous meals along the way. The travelers included myself and three friends: Ivy Buddenhagen, colleague/partner in crime at my gallery and Karie Burch, a director at Portland Art museum, and Diana Kim, founder of the incomparable Portland concept shop, Stand Up Comedy. We entertained a few compelling destinations, but Paris and London won out as a duo, connected by an easy, 2-hour Eurostar train mid-week. In researching and planning, we aspired to avoid the overly trendy, aiming for resonance, inspiration, and the romance of low-key neighborhood gems, while leaving some room for chance discoveries. Here is how we did it.