Paris Day 9

It was back to Eiffel Tower in the morning after we have decided that we might as well go up the world's most iconic tower since we're here.

Don't be put off by the long and winding queue for the lift though. It moves pretty fast. On the other hand, you can always choose to scale the over 600 steps to the second level in the lashing wind. Speaking of wind, I did notice that the Eiffel Tower seemed to sway in the wind, as if the entire structure were on springs!

Do beware of black people walking around, selling trinkets and what-nots. One word of advice: stay away.

Lunch at a local bistro in the area. The classic croque-madame et frites and an omelet et frites.

Then, it was off to the awesome Champs-Élysées via train.

Paris must be the only city in the world that is so aesthetic that it has its horse-chestnut trees that lined the street be clipped into uniform box shape.

Walking down the street that is famous for its cafes and boutiques.
Ladurée. 75 Avenue des Champs-Elysées, 75008 Paris, France

Hence, my pastry pilgrimage continues.

Ladurée's patisserie looked so beautiful, I wanted to try every single one of them if I had the stomach. Damn, why didn't I bring someone who can actually eat along.
Les macarons, millefeuille fraise and a pot of orange bergamot tea.

Saint-Honoré Rose Raspberry.

We kind of stumbled into this chocolate shop. It was Aileen who first alerted me: Heidi! Look! It's Patrick Roger!
Me: Patrick who?
Aileen: The famous chocolatier!
So Patrick Roger, the rock star of the chocolate; an artist who combines sleek design with sublime flavours. This was my first impression of him as I entered the chocolate boutique. He had boxes of neatly arranged truffles lying exposed on the table, not in a glass box mind you, and had these two mountain of chocolate showpieces displayed right at the door. It was practically chocolate everywhere. You'd even smell the chocolate before you see them.

We certainly did buy our fair share of chocolates in there. They were so expensive! but what defenses we had? They were so good..
12 cité Berryer Village Royal 75008 Paris

And we meandered off Champs-Élysées into Madeleine: Fauchon.

24 - 26 - 30 place de la Madeleine, Paris, France

Fauchon is one big gourmet powerhouse. It has everything from wines, jams, pastries, and breads to seafood, poultry, cooked vegetables and boxed lunches. Even their packaging is a thing of marvel. They must have consultants from Japan to achieve these standards. I am impressed.

Fauchon Boulangerie.

When you come to Fauchon, (die-die) must have their eclair. Best eclair I had so far compared to the common flaccid variety. Caramel et fleur de sel.

My mum cannot resist white asparagus. And we got a vegetable sandwich to share. All excellent.

Dinner at Les Pâtes Vivantes, a Chinese noodle house near our hotel that got a mention in the Michelin guide.

46, rue du faubourg Montmartre, 75009 Paris, France

Jellyfish with cucumber in sesame oil (salade de méduse aux concombres et à l'huile de sésame).

Look at this! Tsing Tao in Paris! Eggplant and pork noodle.

Crispy duck (Canard croustillant) and Zha Jiang Mian. The noodles being hand-pulled were okay, but the sauces for both noodles had an over-powering hoisin sauce taste, which I didn't like. Out of everything, Tsing Tao was the best, which tells a lot about the food yeah.

End.

Paris Day 8

I apologize for the long hiatus in updating my dear blog. December 2011 was such a busy period (Christmas) for a girl who works in a patisserie that there was absolutely no time to write! No time even to watch Korean dramas!

From where I left off.
Paris.

Remember the Poilane bread I bought the day before? I had it for breakfast the very next day; with a bit of butter and honey. Heaven.

Our first stop of the day was to return to the Louvre after our failed attempt to enter it.

Lo and behold! There was such! a queue at the entrance.
Do note that there are various entrance fee for different age groups and work profession. For example, I'm a youth, hence had paid for the Youth category which is a little lesser than the full Adult price. If you are a teacher or is with an Art association, you get to go in for free. Alternatively, the first Sunday of each month is free museum day in Paris. :)

The exhibits. The really famous ones.

Victoire de Samothrace.
The most beautiful of all the artwork in the Louvre, in my opinion.

Leonardo da Vinci
Mona Lisa "la Gioconda"; John the Baptist

The crowd viewing Mona Lisa.

A short break, that is lunch at the only available place inside of Le Louvre; Paul Patisserie. Half a cold prosciutto sandwich.

Venus de Milo

Sights.

The Louvre museum is expansive. It has three parts, the Sully Wing, the Richelieu Wing and the Denon Wing, each holds an entirely different style of artwork. Fun fact: There are 35,000 works of art on display in the Louvre. If you were to spend 30 seconds on each piece of art, not counting the time taken walking from one artwork to the next, it would take about thirteen days to complete the largest museum in the world.

It took me an entire afternoon of quick browsing and only stopping at the displays that caught my attention (I even skipped the Egyptian, Near Eastern and Islamic sections), and my eyes and brain were tired as hell when we left it.

A quick stop at the Eiffel Tower for a photo shoot.

Dinner at a quaint bistro in Saint Germain des Pres, where the sky is still bright at 10 in the evening.

Champagne, bread with terrine trio.

A very good dish this one.
Pan-fried scallops with caramelized leeks and pureed potato.

End.

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.