Paris, Je t'aime

First day in Paris; the Tour de Eiffel

I'm back. My visit to Paris was Fantastic. I have over 400 photos of the city, the food, the friendly people, buildings and monuments. One week was not enough to do it all, yet I did a lot. Romain was an excellent tour guide, a wonderful host, and the only person I could imagine exploring Paris with. (Since the first time we met he gave me grief about having never been to Paris)

Testing our self-photo taking skills

Highlights include: Going to a soccer game at Stade de France to see Lille defeat Lyon 2-0. Having a personal tour of the kitchen at the Le Cafe du Commerce (Thank you Remi!), eating snails and foie gras, getting lost in the Louvre, eating macarons from 3 different patisseries, going to Versailles, visiting Montmartre, and just sitting in the cafes with Romain enjoying a lunch or c0ffee and taking it all in.

View from our seats at Stade de France

My rudimentary self-taught French was better than I thought, and I had a lot of great interactions. The yound lady at Pierre Micolini was so sweet. I didn't understand much of what she said, but I could tell she was very enthusiastic about the chocolate. The cheese lady at Monoprix was very helpful in trying to find Mozerrella for me, and even the gentleman at Thevenin was forgiving of my lack of French speaking skills and had a good laugh at me once I left, I'm sure. (silly American girl taking a cold tartine for lunch)

Tartine of smoked salmon, tomato & cheese from Thevenin

I haven't weighed it yet, but I'm sure I brought back several pounds of chocolate. I visited La Maison du Chocolate, Jean-Paul Hevin, Pierre Herme and Pierre Micolini. I also bought a few commercial bars from Monoprix. Of the Macarons I consumed from Laduree, Dalloyau, and Pierre Herme, I liked Pierre Herme the best. Dalloyau came in second.

Laduree Macarons

I didn't have a single bad meal, but the ones that stand out were: Bruch at Mariage Frere, dinner at La Cafe du Commerce, Sushi delivered to Remi's apartment (very good quality), and dinner at Kong my last night in Paris. I have a new respect, and dare say love of snails and foie gras. Marco's dessert at La Porte-pot was fantastic, and it was a tragic mistake that I did not take his advice and order it also.

Eating snails at La Cafe du Commerce

There is soooo much more to share but I need to unpack, work on getting re-adjusted to Eastern Standard time, create a recipe for my class next week and study for a quiz. I'll be posting photos to my flickr account and will post a link for them once they are ready. There will probably be a few more posts on my adventures in Paris as well.