Paris Day 7

J'adore le pain.
I cannot say that enough. I love breads. Now that I am finally in the capital of bread, I am determined to start the hunt for the best baguette, croissant, pain de campagne, you name it... as soon as possible.

Very luckily, just two streets down from our hotel sits Le Grenier à Pain (rue Faubourg Poissonniére), winner of 2010 Meilleure Baguette de Paris. It's main shop is in rue des Abbesses where online reviews says is the place to get their award-winning baguettes. Therefore, being on my way to Poilâne, I quickly grabbed my favourite viennoiseries- un pain au chocolat et un pain aux raisins- to temporarily assuage my hunger.

The street of morning Paris.
All of their buildings look like this. And I mean everywhere. It is impossible to find a single high-rise; the tallest structure would probably be Eiffel Tower. I think I quite like it like this; nothing to obstruct my view of the clear blue sky.

A pinch of shopping along the way.

And here we are! at Saint Germain des Prés district where the original Poilâne bakery on the Rue de Cherche Midi remains its flagship store. I have heard from Gabby that in Paris, the patisseries don't like to have pictures of their goods taken. I was not too sure whether this includes boulangeries as well but I was not keen to try this out. Hence, I could only stand on the opposite street to take a fleeting shot of this quaint wooden shop front.

Poilane sells their signature Miche bread by the gram. The first thing I did after exiting the shop was to plunge my hand into the large white paper bag for a slice la miche de pain and put it in mouth. The second thing I did was to take a photograph of the bitten bread.

Lunch.
Just two doors down Poilâne, there is un petite cafe that sells open toasts, using only Poilâne miche de pain.
Condiments: Oregano, salt, rosemary and pepper.

Left: Spinach and corn salad with mustard dressing. Right: Tomato and mozzarella toast, and prosciutto and goat cheese toast.

Last but no least (in fact the most important), dessert: a most vibrantly coloured millefeuilles aux fraises.

It seems that it is customary to drink a strong espresso after each meal, for the waitress would definitely ask: un cafe? Oui, bien sûr!

One interesting sculpture I saw. Aptly describes "... right up your ass".

It was a Tuesday that day if I remembered correctly. And the next on my schedule after Poilâne was Musée du Louvre -
The most visited museum in the world.
The museum which houses Leonardo Da Vinci, Rapheal, Titan, and Rembrandt.
The museum that was epic center of The Da Vinci Code.
The museum that does not open on a Tuesday.
(Note to all: Do your homework before going on a trip like this. Check the opening hours, rates and everything. Be kiasu!)

Thus, we spent our time taking pictures of Le Louvre, the glass pyramids and all, instead, which was great due to the fact that there was not much tourists around compared to the following day when we came again.

We continued our way to the smaller Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, which is at the west of Le Louvre. (The larger Arc de Triomphe (Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile) stands at the western end of Champs Elysées)

And continued straight into The Tuileries Garden (Jardins des Tuileries), originally the royal garden for the Tuileries Palace, now a public garden located between the Musée du Louvre and the Place de la Concorde. Great place for picnics (at the open field) and other love-ly activities (in between grass hedges).

Hence, we bought a few gateaux from Pattinson's Patisserie and joined in the fun!

Jardins des Tuileries

My flower-shaped creme glacée au chocolat noir. First a chocolate cake, then a chocolate ice-cream; I was feeling rather chocolaty that day.

Place de la Concorde; The Fountain of River Commerce and Navigation.
Behind us is the North Fountain of the two most symbolic fountains in Paris. And opposite the fountain is the giant Egyptian obelisk that is too huge to fit into my camera from where I was standing, so I gave up trying to take a photograph of it. But you should know, it is the one of the two Obelisks of Luxor that the Egyptian government gave to France in 1829, which only arrived in Paris in 1833 after the gargantuan effort of the French to transport it.

You have to agree that Paris has got quite a number of great monuments with its fair share of history, of how it came to be. At the end of the day when we returned to our hotel, tired from all the walking, I have got to admit that Paris is a city rich in culture that has got so much history to share. I can't help but fall in love with this city.

Dinner. Escargot, Rosé, Carbonara and pizza.

Warning: Paris has got as many good food establishments as downright disappointing food places. Once again, do your homework.

End.

London- Paris Day 6

A week in London, a week in Paris. On Day 6, we made preparations to leave for Paris via Eurostar in the afternoon. I won't illustrate what we did in the morning as I don't want to bore you but it was a lot of rushing around (last minute shopping etc.) and frantic packing.

A quick lunch at the nearby sushi shop (that is an all-in-one Asian food stall really, since it sells curry rice and sweet sour pork as well).

It takes approximately 2.5 hours of train ride from London St. Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord. Plus, Paris is one hour faster than London, therefore it is 3 hours lost in translation.
On board Eurostar; beside a black lady whose child kept kicking my leg while he slept...

Destination Paris- Gare du Nord (which means North Station) International. After a trip to the hotel to unload our luggage, we headed off to St. Germain des Pres to meet Gabriella (aka Gabby).

Now, about Gabby, she was my classmate at French class (Alliance Francaise) during my time in Sydney, Australia. We got along very well for we both love food and French culture. After I returned to Singapore, she went over to France, living the dream that she had always dreamed of (ie. eating lots of French pasties and getting a French boyfriend ^^). And Gabby had me promised her to definitely let her know if I ever went to France. Thus on my very first day in Paris, we met up for dinner.

Dinner was originally scheduled to be at Le Comptoir du Relais, a popular French bistro that serves classical French cuisine featuring heavily on charcuterie, after much discussion with Gabby on facebook. We even timed it to be on a weekend knowing that the restaurant doesn't take reservation on a weekend, hence we might have a chance of getting a table in this restaurant that is notorious for its waiting list if we went early. Alas, it was not to be so. Le Comptoir was full when we arrived. Gabby explained that the weather on that day was particularly good (which apparently is a cause for celebration in Paris), which resulted in a huge turn-out of people looking to enjoy the beautiful evening.

Therefore, it was an hour later, after much hunting, that we found a charming French restaurant called La Petite Cour that we all agreed on.

I was famished.

Appetizer

A crisp salad of spring root vegetables. Very refreshing.

A soup.
I beg your pardon, I really can't recall what kind of soup this is. But interesting isn't it? To serve it in a martini glass.

King prawn and avocado rolled in mango, with wasabi cream.

Mains

Rack of lamb, grilled, with crispy polenta cake. Star main of the night.

Stefanie's, my new friend introduced by Gabby, chicken breast.

Aileen's snapper in a soup of green peas.

Matthiew's pork.

Bread station, a common feature in Parisian restaurants. However, this particular bread station is particularly quaint don't you think?

From left: Stefanie, Gabby, Matthiew (Gabby's boyfriend), Aileen and I. Mum's the photographer.

Baba rhum, a classic french dessert, is basically a yeast-risen cake soaked in a rum flavoured sugar syrup. Unfortunately, this restaurant's version failed big time. None of us were impressed, especially Matthiew who, a local Parisian, thinks his grandmother can make a way better one.

Chocolate Trio of mousse, glacé and gateau.

La Petite Cour- 8, rue Mabillon 75006 Paris
Métro : Mabillon ou Saint-Germain-des-Prés

End.

London Day 5

The fifth day in London brought us to Portobello Market, Nottinghill.

Portobello Market, in case you don't know, is a mile-long street market sells a wide variety of goods, clothes, antiques and even food, with different items being sold on different days. It is open every day, except for Sunday. Well, we went on a Saturday, the best time to visit in my opinion, the day where the renowned antique market comes to life, combined with many fashion and second-hand goods stall. All in all, it was the best kind of bargain-shopping you can get.

Hence early morning, we got off at Nottinghill Gate Underground station and walked with the gathering crowd along Portobello Road towards the famous market. Then we chanced upon this dainty little Italian pizzeria, Arancina.

A second breakfast we had.

Sights along Portobello Road.

I am sorry to say that I had not taken any pictures of the market. Not a single one. It seemed that from the moment I entered the first boutique, I had clean forgotten about my Leica.. However, it is my pleasure to inform all those who have not been to Nottinghill that it is exactly the same as in Nottinghill (the movie)!

Lunch was at Gail's, this busy cafe that serves solid sandwiches, salads and soups. Very my kind of cafe.

Potato and leek soup with a hunk of dark rye bread.

Beetroot salad with tuna, sprouts and chickpeas.

Chamomile tea.

As you can see, shopping took a whole day. The next available picture I have is of dinner, which we had at a très French restaurant near our hotel at Marylebone street, La Ratatouille.

Half dozen escargot baked in garlic butter.

Chef's salad of baby carrots, radicchio, duck liver pate and a fried egg.

Steak Frites.

Fondant chocolat.

Bon appetit.

End.