Pastries. That's the only way to start every day here. Don't waste your time on American buffets. You'll ruin your chances to stuff yourself full of every unique, hand-crafted, brilliantly balanced goody. And I just can't tolerate that kind of insolence.
We grabbed ours each day at a pastry shop near our hotel, called la Petite Chocolaterie. Every moment, red-letter, as Jasmine sang. You can't go wrong. Go for the almond croissant or the chocolate raspberry-stuffed croissant. And then get two.
We took the metro to the Tulleries Garden and walked along the avenue to track down Angelina's chocolaterie. We stood in awe of the sheer decadence, both from the bakery items and the rooms themselves. This tea house is incredible - decorated tastefully, well organized, and mouth-watering at every. single. turn. We passed on the seated brunch (not a difficult choice since the line was out the door - make reservations) and picked out a few treats from their display case. We couldn't pass up their (actually) world famous African hot chocolate, which tastes like rich, slightly spiced hot pudding. An actual HOLY COW must have produced this beverage. They sell it in bottles. Take a dozen home.
We took our gorgeous chocolate mousse cake with GOLD toppings, an apple-filled tart and a few gold-dusted macarons to the park and found a few chairs in the shade. We ate our treats in sheer bliss, wondering how our life suddenly is straight out of a dream. I'm not even embarrassed to say that at one point, I let go of the box, and it toppled to the ground with the last of the chocolate mousse in it, and I picked it up out of the dirt and ate any part of it that appeared unharmed. Really, I should have been embarrassed to let that gold go to waste. Don't you judge me! Or do...I'm not sorry. Neither is the bird that picked up the gold hazelnuts that I left behind.
We wandered the massive park, sitting at a duck pond to read for awhile. Derek fell asleep. The flowers were out, the trees were in full bloom. I was bummed to see that it was still too early in the season for them to rent boats out to sail in the large fountain - I had planned to join the children in this revelry, but it wasn't meant to be. We watched the ducklings and the coots, who chased the mallards away from...everything. They'd make great guard birds. There was a goat tied up, presumably as a free way to mow some of the grass. A man was blowing huge bubbles, surrounded by enthralled children. He should know better - children don't carry money. I doubt he made up the cost of his bubble solution. Cheap kids.
We walked to a quick cafe to get a snack. I thought vegetable quiche would be a win. FAIL. It had CARROTS in it. And that was the "vegetable." If you want quiche, have the ham version. You can't go wrong with ham. Even if you're a vegetarian...eat anything but the vegetable quiche.
Now, the Louvre, a must-see but very overwhelming part of Paris. Buy your tickets in advance, and even then, you wait in line. Just a shorter line. There's not a great time of day to visit - it's hectic and crazy all the time. But we went in the early afternoon and I think that was better than first thing in the morning (but that may be my optimism talking). Our favorite piece is Winged Victory - it's famous for a reason, and it's amazing to see in person.
Next up was Venus de Milo, a captivating lady, if ever there were one (well, Winged Victory has her beat, frankly, but she's right next door and pretty impressive in her own right). We took more pictures of the crowds around the Mona Lisa than anywhere else - it was an actual joke. Don't expect to see it in person - all these people taking pictures of the damn thing on their phones and ipads (Don't be that person. Get a camera, use a phone, or don't take the picture. You lose instant respect from strangers the moment you hold that giant electronic device up to your face.). I wanted to point out to these people that there are pictures online of the piece, and that you can't even get CLOSE to it now, with glass and barriers and a million people...what exactly do you plan to accomplish with your picture? To prove to people you saw it? There are better things to waste your life doing. I felt bad for the other magnificent works in the same room with Mona. People paid no attention to them.
We went to the dungeon, to see the original foundation of the castle that the museum is built atop, which is less exciting than it sounds. We wandered the Egyption area, looking for a specific set of sphinx sculptures, but never did find them. The place is massive. We found the furnishing part of the museum (which I die over but Derek could care less about, except when we found a table made with over 100 precious stones and fossilized wood - that woke him up!). With 3 hours spent here, we were done. All the amazing things around us stopped being interesting, and our tired adult selves started to break down. Time for food.
We knew the Latin Quarter was the place to find good grub, so we walked over through Ile de la Cite to Notre-Dame. We stopped across the street at A. Lacroix Patissiere. The views couldn't be beat, and the coffee and raspberry crumble was stellar. The owner's an ex-pat from America. Mad respect. We took pictures with Notre-Dame in the background. The lighting was so perfect, people asked us if it was photo shopped. We must have taken 15 of them because people you meet have no clue how to take proper photos, and every one of them was too dark, too light, out of focus, cut off our heads, cut off the cathedral...
We realized we should probably eat actual food, since we'd had all pastries and chocolate and desserts today (and did NOT actually eat the quiche I got, because, carrots), so we wandered further into the quarter and found the FAMOUS Fromagerie, Laurent Dubois. I'd read about the cheese. I wanted all of it. But, that wasn't the thing our bodies needed to keep running, so we made a note to return.
A little further in, up the hill towards the Pantheon, and we happened upon a French restaurant that I could eat dinner at every day (this is a fact): Le Petite Perigourdine. Reservations are recommended, but if you're there early in the dining hour, you might get lucky, which is what happened to us. Reasonably prices, lots of good bread, wonderful Chardonnay (which we had with cheese from Laurent Dubois, fortunately on the menu given my earlier cheese lust) and
French dining etiquette: Only butter the bread you're immediately going to eat. Don't butter the whole slice. Tear off one bite at a time. Derek had cod with a texture that reminded me of lobster. They had table service for specific dishes - the lady next to us had a flambeed dish, the man two over had duck carved for him on the floor, and the man behind us had mashed potatoes whipped in his presence, poured into a mountain on his beef-covered cutting board. Dinner and a show!
We were so close to the Pantheon, I insisted on walking up the hill to see it. Then we were "so close" to Notre Dame, and I wanted to get pictures at night, with it all lit up. Then we were "so close" to the Louvre, that I wanted to get pictures there, now that all the obnoxious people were gone. Derek complained on this last stop that he was freezing (his own fault, he didn't bring a proper jacket), but indulged me nonetheless. It is easy to feel like everything is very close by, and in a sense, it is, but you can end up walking for miles over the course of the day between those very "close" stops. We took the metro to our hotel...I think we both came to the realization that things were a tiny bit further away than they looked. Fitbit walkers, rejoice!
We grabbed ours each day at a pastry shop near our hotel, called la Petite Chocolaterie. Every moment, red-letter, as Jasmine sang. You can't go wrong. Go for the almond croissant or the chocolate raspberry-stuffed croissant. And then get two.
We took the metro to the Tulleries Garden and walked along the avenue to track down Angelina's chocolaterie. We stood in awe of the sheer decadence, both from the bakery items and the rooms themselves. This tea house is incredible - decorated tastefully, well organized, and mouth-watering at every. single. turn. We passed on the seated brunch (not a difficult choice since the line was out the door - make reservations) and picked out a few treats from their display case. We couldn't pass up their (actually) world famous African hot chocolate, which tastes like rich, slightly spiced hot pudding. An actual HOLY COW must have produced this beverage. They sell it in bottles. Take a dozen home.
We took our gorgeous chocolate mousse cake with GOLD toppings, an apple-filled tart and a few gold-dusted macarons to the park and found a few chairs in the shade. We ate our treats in sheer bliss, wondering how our life suddenly is straight out of a dream. I'm not even embarrassed to say that at one point, I let go of the box, and it toppled to the ground with the last of the chocolate mousse in it, and I picked it up out of the dirt and ate any part of it that appeared unharmed. Really, I should have been embarrassed to let that gold go to waste. Don't you judge me! Or do...I'm not sorry. Neither is the bird that picked up the gold hazelnuts that I left behind.
We wandered the massive park, sitting at a duck pond to read for awhile. Derek fell asleep. The flowers were out, the trees were in full bloom. I was bummed to see that it was still too early in the season for them to rent boats out to sail in the large fountain - I had planned to join the children in this revelry, but it wasn't meant to be. We watched the ducklings and the coots, who chased the mallards away from...everything. They'd make great guard birds. There was a goat tied up, presumably as a free way to mow some of the grass. A man was blowing huge bubbles, surrounded by enthralled children. He should know better - children don't carry money. I doubt he made up the cost of his bubble solution. Cheap kids.
We walked to a quick cafe to get a snack. I thought vegetable quiche would be a win. FAIL. It had CARROTS in it. And that was the "vegetable." If you want quiche, have the ham version. You can't go wrong with ham. Even if you're a vegetarian...eat anything but the vegetable quiche.
Now, the Louvre, a must-see but very overwhelming part of Paris. Buy your tickets in advance, and even then, you wait in line. Just a shorter line. There's not a great time of day to visit - it's hectic and crazy all the time. But we went in the early afternoon and I think that was better than first thing in the morning (but that may be my optimism talking). Our favorite piece is Winged Victory - it's famous for a reason, and it's amazing to see in person.
Next up was Venus de Milo, a captivating lady, if ever there were one (well, Winged Victory has her beat, frankly, but she's right next door and pretty impressive in her own right). We took more pictures of the crowds around the Mona Lisa than anywhere else - it was an actual joke. Don't expect to see it in person - all these people taking pictures of the damn thing on their phones and ipads (Don't be that person. Get a camera, use a phone, or don't take the picture. You lose instant respect from strangers the moment you hold that giant electronic device up to your face.). I wanted to point out to these people that there are pictures online of the piece, and that you can't even get CLOSE to it now, with glass and barriers and a million people...what exactly do you plan to accomplish with your picture? To prove to people you saw it? There are better things to waste your life doing. I felt bad for the other magnificent works in the same room with Mona. People paid no attention to them.
We went to the dungeon, to see the original foundation of the castle that the museum is built atop, which is less exciting than it sounds. We wandered the Egyption area, looking for a specific set of sphinx sculptures, but never did find them. The place is massive. We found the furnishing part of the museum (which I die over but Derek could care less about, except when we found a table made with over 100 precious stones and fossilized wood - that woke him up!). With 3 hours spent here, we were done. All the amazing things around us stopped being interesting, and our tired adult selves started to break down. Time for food.
We knew the Latin Quarter was the place to find good grub, so we walked over through Ile de la Cite to Notre-Dame. We stopped across the street at A. Lacroix Patissiere. The views couldn't be beat, and the coffee and raspberry crumble was stellar. The owner's an ex-pat from America. Mad respect. We took pictures with Notre-Dame in the background. The lighting was so perfect, people asked us if it was photo shopped. We must have taken 15 of them because people you meet have no clue how to take proper photos, and every one of them was too dark, too light, out of focus, cut off our heads, cut off the cathedral...
We realized we should probably eat actual food, since we'd had all pastries and chocolate and desserts today (and did NOT actually eat the quiche I got, because, carrots), so we wandered further into the quarter and found the FAMOUS Fromagerie, Laurent Dubois. I'd read about the cheese. I wanted all of it. But, that wasn't the thing our bodies needed to keep running, so we made a note to return.
A little further in, up the hill towards the Pantheon, and we happened upon a French restaurant that I could eat dinner at every day (this is a fact): Le Petite Perigourdine. Reservations are recommended, but if you're there early in the dining hour, you might get lucky, which is what happened to us. Reasonably prices, lots of good bread, wonderful Chardonnay (which we had with cheese from Laurent Dubois, fortunately on the menu given my earlier cheese lust) and
French dining etiquette: Only butter the bread you're immediately going to eat. Don't butter the whole slice. Tear off one bite at a time. Derek had cod with a texture that reminded me of lobster. They had table service for specific dishes - the lady next to us had a flambeed dish, the man two over had duck carved for him on the floor, and the man behind us had mashed potatoes whipped in his presence, poured into a mountain on his beef-covered cutting board. Dinner and a show!
We were so close to the Pantheon, I insisted on walking up the hill to see it. Then we were "so close" to Notre Dame, and I wanted to get pictures at night, with it all lit up. Then we were "so close" to the Louvre, that I wanted to get pictures there, now that all the obnoxious people were gone. Derek complained on this last stop that he was freezing (his own fault, he didn't bring a proper jacket), but indulged me nonetheless. It is easy to feel like everything is very close by, and in a sense, it is, but you can end up walking for miles over the course of the day between those very "close" stops. We took the metro to our hotel...I think we both came to the realization that things were a tiny bit further away than they looked. Fitbit walkers, rejoice!
No comments:
Post a Comment