4th day in Paris and hopefully not the last

Ron woke up early on our last morning in Paris and surprised me with crossiants from one of the artisan bakeries nearby.  They were pretty good but still the best in Paris are from the patisserie near Laduree.  Our breakfast that morning consisted of the crossiants, some left over baguette, cheese and wine.  As a special treat, we also had the rose macaron from Laduree and the passionfruit macaron from Pierre Herme.  No better way to start the day.

We decided to take the metro to the Marias (3rd/4th district) and walk around the shops.  Along the way, we came across an amazing church and the most random statue in front.

Inside the church

Within Luxembourg Garden.  Our hotel bordered the garden and we walked through it a few times but I didn't even realize that there was this amazing building.

Just a few of the statues in the Luxembourg Garden.  Does the last one look familiar?  That's right, it is the Artemis statue that I posted from The Louvre.

For our last couple hours, we relaxed in the sun in the Luxembourg Garden.

The last thing we did in Paris was to take the train to Porte Malliot to hop on the AVTO bus to Beauvous Airport.  I actually put my French skills to the test to ask for directions.  Thankfully I had a rough idea from my research online.  We flew Ryan Air (pretty much the English version of SouthWest Airlines) to Venice that night.

Paris completely blew me away.  It is truly the city of blinding lights and romance.  If we ever move to Paris, I will beg Pierre Herme for a job. 

One of the reasons why I fell in love with Paris

The amazing purple blossoms.  These trees are everywhere.  The street that our hotel is on was lined with them.

Just another day in Paris

Our clocks were still tuned into travel mode and we woke up at 7am and were out the door by 7.45am.  We decided to walk to the Galleries Lafayette but unfortunately we were way too early and nothing was open.  Instead, we picked up a croissant from an outdoor stall and were quickly disappointed.  I just don't think any croissant can ever live up to the perfect one we had at the patisserie across the street from Laduree.

From the Galleries Lafayette, we started making our way to Rue Cler.  I read online that Rue Cler is an open air market and I really wanted to check it out.  However, before we got there, we found the Veteran Hospital.  No, I am not kidding, that really is a VA Hospital.  La Jolla, you should be ashamed of yourself!

The garden behind the VA Hospital

One of the shops on Rue Cler.  All the produce looked amazing.  This is one of the places I would shop if I lived in Paris.

From there, we went to the Eiffel Tower.  But that deserves it's own post.

The Champs Elysees was next on our list.  Yes, we pack in ALOT in one day.  That's what happens when you only have 3 1/2 days in the most beautiful city. 

 The Arc de Triumph.  How beautiful is the inside of the arc?

We strolled the Champs Elysees, popping into a store here or there.  Ron started to get hungry but I refused to eat at the restaurants because they all seemed to be Italian!  How is it that we are in Paris and on one of the most iconic streets and all they serve is Italian food?  I was in Paris and I wanted French food.  Unfortunately, we couldn't find a place that looked good and Ron started to get cranky. 

We decided to take the train back as Ron was starving and losing patience by the second.  What we didn't realize was that the little train station did not have an operator and we did not have any coins to purchase tickets.  Instead of finding a store to buy something to get change, Ron threw a temper tandrum and wanted to walk home.  This was a very long way home.

We passed by these on our walk home

Halfway back to our hotel in the 5th district, we came across a French bistro.  I finally got to order my French onion soup.

Ron's roast chicken and "French" fries

Still walking home

What's that in the window?

Only the most amazing looking display of macarons!  And of course, in my favorite color. 

Another angle just because

If I wasn't already married and loved every single thing about my wedding, this would have been wedding inspiring.  Perfect spring colors: soft sage, ivory and pale pale yellow.  How cute would a macaron tower be?  And those boxes as wedding favors.  Absolutely love it.

Dinner at Wadja

Wadja is a country style bistro that was down the street and around the corner from our hotel.  We originally wanted to make a reservation but unfortunately the nice French man at Reception was replaced by a woman who did not speak English and couldn't understand my attempt at French.  Instead of wasting time, we just decided to head over to the restaurant early and hope to get a table.  And by early, it was 8pm.  The French eat late. 

The restaurant is really quaint, with a super cute old couple that ran the front.  The menu is written on a chalk board and is brought to your table. 

House red wine and complimentary olives

Cat got the 22 euro 2 course special.  Started with an average asparagus soup and finished with the veal with capanata, basically a mix of eggplant, bell peppers, tomatoes and etc almost pickled with white wine vinager.  The main was delicious.

Can you guess what this is?  Lamb brains with braised cabbage, tomatoes and capers in a lemon vinagrette.  Ron was a bit more adventurous than I was.  The dish was surprisingly good!  The brain had a really soft texture and grossed you out a bit if you thought about it.  But if you didn't know what it was, it was actually quite tasty.  The sourness from the lemon vinagrette and the saltiness of the capers really brought the dish together.

Ron's main of John Dory in a broth.  The broth was alright but it was nicely presented. 

I'm not sure if the food was pretty good or the fact that this was our first proper meal since landing in Europe.  Well, if you don't count cake, macarons, baguette and cheese.

Croissants and the Louvre

We were up and out the door by 7am.  Walking down Rue Bonapart, we stopped by a little patisserie across from Laduree and bought the most amazing croissants.  They were buttery, with a crispy crust and soft pillowy inside.  The best part was that it was warm, fresh out of the oven.  Ron ate his in about 20 seconds flat.

As it was 7am, it was freezing!  Cat didn't exactly bring the best clothes for the weather.  Thankfully Ron convinced her to bring 1 decent jacket but unfortunately, she didn't bring her leather gloves.  Good thing for Cat, it did warm up as the day went on.

The first touristy place we went was Notre Dame.  With the vaulted ceilings, arches, and stain glass windows, it didn't disappoint.  There were elements that we would want in our dream house.

What's with the guy holding his own head?

As most of you know, Ron loves his eggs.  We've been in Europe for 3 days and he needed his egg fix, which is why we ended up in a cafe near Notre Dame and the Louvre.  Below is a photo of Ron's croque monsieur and our 4.20euro cafe au laits.  Darn our love of coffee.

After consuming a ridiculously expensive breakfast, we walked to the Lourve, where Cat found a second entrance and bypased the super long line up top.

The building is massive.  We could only dream about it being our home. A few elements we found that we love.  You wouldn't even know what to do with all the rooms.  I guess Cloud could have her own wing.  We loved the courtyard with the statues, very calm and peaceful. Cat's favorites were The Victory and the Artemis statues.  And a few others including The Venus.

Before heading into the Louvre, Ron had promised crepes on the other side of the Louvre.  After spending hours walking the countless halls admiring the art and exhibitions, Cat was ready for her crepe.  Too bad Ron had lied and there were no crepe stands outside.  They were all way at the end of the Tuileries Garden and they were crap.  It was luke warm and too soft.  The chestnut spread Cat had wasn't too bad but Ron's strawberry crepe was just bad strawberry jam.  Definitely not worth the 3 euros each.  But the Garden is beautiful, with many statues, super green lawn, tons of purple and white flowers on trees and fountains.  They have lots of chairs set up near the fountain, which would be lovely to sit and relax in the sun.

Bonjour!

We arrived in Paris from London on the 4th of May and made our way to our hotel, Residence du Palais on 78 rue d'Assas in the 6th arrondissement.  The hotel is on the most charming street, full of trees and historic looking buildings, little boutiques and cute patisseries.  It is also across the street from Jardin du Luxembourg and as mentioned in my previous post, only 8 minutes from Pierre Herme.  For 66 euros a night for a double room with shower you really can't go wrong.  Well, except our room was on the 4th floor and the building has no elevator.  As an added bonus, the owner was extremely friendly and spoke English.

As it doesn't get dark until 9.30-10pm, we made the most of the evening and explored the town.  We got lost a couple times making our way through Montepasso and St. Germain but Ron's Native American skills kicked in and we found our way again.  While meandering through the streets, we came across a crepe stand and we ate our first crepe in Paris.  Nutella and banana, so good!

Passing by a cheese shop on our way home, Cat just had to stop and sample the French cheese.  We walked out with a brie like cheese and a blue.  There are about four patisseries near our hotel so we picked up a baguette to go with the cheese.  The bottle of red paired well with dinner of bread and cheese.  But not just any bread and cheese... French baguette and fromage.  The baguette had an amazingly thin crispy shell, with large holes and a sweet tang.  The blue was the best we've ever had.  Ron couldn't stop eating it, he was licking the swiss army knife, it was that good.