Fete du Pain 2011

"Celebration of Bread"
Paris, France
Good Eats Wednesday 


While I was in Paris, the annual Fete du Pain was going on outside the Notre Dame. It was nice to see the finest bakers of Paris sharing the art of bread baking. I particularly loved seeing the children in their little hats.

Baking bread is something I haven't spent much time practicing. I think I'm too impatient to let the yeast rise, but would like to try again. I recall as I was finished My Life if France by Julia Child, that she spent months researching the art of baking bread in Paris for the second part of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and it took her awhile to come up with using a damp asbestos brick in the oven (something which made it have the right amount of moisture if I remember correctly) but while the book was just about to go to print, studies that asbestos caused cancer were just released, so she had to alter the recipes at the last minute.

The Julia Child tour of Paris is coming up soon... stay tuned!

Have you ever baked fresh bread? Any favorite recipes or methods?

L'Entrecote in Paris

Good Eats Wednesday


My favorite meal in Paris was at L'Entrecote. After reading mixed reviews on TripAdvisor I debated trying this restaurant... good thing I don't listen to reviews. Because in my opinion their World Famous Sauce was one of my best encounters in Paris... which tasted like a gourmet blend of mustard and butter; heaven on their traditional seared medium rare to rare tenderloin beef which is kept heated at your table. Though the fries were perfectly crisp, the ones that were smothered in sauce were oh so good. I'm going to have to try to replicate this sauce at home. They even brought me a second serving of it after witnessing me scraping every last bit, and it was comforting to see many 'business lunchers' rather than tourists when I went.

 Bon appetit!

Au revoir, Paris!

I'm leaving Paris tomorrow! :( I won't tell you how I really feel, not today anyway. Though I am quite emotional to leave my friend, Mimi, who is the first blog pal I've ever met in person, and we had such a great time, and the afternoon girl chats at cafes were nurturing to my soul.

But I am leaving by rental car to the Loire Valley where I'm staying in a chateau! Will tell you where afterward... this is the internet after all, and with my luck this week, I will do no such thing. Yes, I've been nervous for the past few days, because if anyone has ever been to Paris and seen the mass chaos of the Arc de Triomphe (I took a photo of it from the tour bus a few years ago, because I found it to be the craziest thing I've ever seen at rush hour). Well, I will be throwing myself right in the middle of it, within the first few minutes of driving in a foreign country in a manual car. Remember the movie Clueless, when they emerge on the freeway for the first time... let's hope it's not an episode like that. Pray for me... or pray for the Parisians.

Regardless, THIS is the part of the trip I've been most excited for... the next few weeks in the French country, and spent a year obsessing over.

Au revoir!

The Louvre

Part 1


Some people love art, others find it boring. I didn't start appreciating it until only a couple years ago. In museums, I'm one that likes to look at the painting and read about it below. I don't sit and study each painting, but if it's one that speaks to me, I really like to read the time frame, the description, and if it has people in it who they were, and I think of their life back then. The fact that the paintings are so wonderfully preserved and survived from centuries ago, adds to the fascination.

 Many of these were from the Holland & French painting collection.

Do you have a favorite kind of art?

Ever been to the Louvre?

A Sunday in Versailles

Greetings! Well after uploading so many pictures of Paris, I have so much material for it will be coming for awhile and some delayed. My main focus the past few days has been to do a Julie & Julia themed tour on my own, which I do a post for you later. This has been rather exciting for me to see Paris the way I like to see it, not swarmed with tourists. Which I'm on my 9th day here, and may be officially convinced that city life is not for me.

I'm also really interested in history, particularly French history, so touring Marie Antoinette's footsteps has also been another theme of mine. Which is the reason I spent yesterday at the Conciergerie which is an old prison on the Ile-de-la-Cite (near Notre Dame, Sainte-Chapelle, and the Palais de Justice), so I saw her jail cell where she was held for 76 days before hauled off in the tumbril carts to the guillotine. (Full post on the Conciergerie later.)

Today, I spent the day at Versailles. It was a cold day, and the sun was not a photographer's dream. But since I've been in the palace, I opted for the Gardens (or the Musical Gardens) in the morning, and in the afternoon the Grand Trianon, Petite Trianon, and Marie Antoinette's Estate and hamlet where she played a peasant when she wanted to escape Versailles. This was something I longed to see, since one of my favorite scenes in Sofia Coppola's, Marie Anotoinette, shows her frolicking the gardens, retrieving fresh farm eggs, and living amongst modest farmhouse means...one of my dreams. (Full post later as well.)

Have a good week!

All photos taken in Versailles.

The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly

In Paris


Hello! Feel like I haven't been here in a week, since I had some scheduled posts, then Blogger was down Thurs night/ Fri morning (real convenient). As I'm sure you can imagine, I have tons to share with you, in time and will do separate posts on places and events. But for today, I'm going to share some honesty with you about what it's been like this week.

The Good


Laduree & finally meeting my friend Mimi from Bonjour Romance blog & the magazine Belle Inspiration! An American too, she just celebrated her 6 year anniversary of meeting her French honey just outside Laduree of the Champs Elysees, she even showed me her special tree where they first locked eyes. Tres romantique!

Macarons yes... but they have THE best hot chocolate in the world! You just about need a spoon.

Spending 8 1/2hrs in the Louvre, and covering about 85-90% of the main museum. That was a long day! But well worth it. My favorite were the Holland & French paintings, the French sculptures, & Napolean apartments!

An evening boat ride down the river Seine, and seeing Paris lit up and watching the Eiffel Tower sparkle.

Last minute Priceline name-your-own price is the best!! I had to get a hotel for 2 nights and put in 4-star. I got the room for a 1/3 of the normal price, and because it was a weekday was upgraded to the Deluxe room for free. At the desk the Delux was going for 599 euro. So for 2 nights I lounged in the terry cloth robe and slippers for $130 USD per night.

The Parisian sky- there is nothing like it! Especially the really late evenings.




The Bad

Taking about 3 days to get over my fear of dining alone in Paris. I usually just go for a late lunch, it's much easier to manage, plus cuts down on the cost and frequency of meals.

It's hard to fall asleep each night because my feet and legs are so tired. So much walking and you discover which shoes are the most comfortable are not the ones you always think. (The white canvas shoes- only blister. Flat sandles- need padding. For standing all day in the museum padded flip-flops from J Crew did super. I brought Nine West black boots for London fashion, but surprising are the most comfortable for long walks. I should have invested in the Dr. Scholl's gel pads a few weeks ago!

I'm exhausted. Point blank. Trying to make the most of each day. Haven't taken my DSLR everyday because it's heavy, I'm tired of looking like a tourist, and simply just want to the enjoy each day. And I'm reminded why after yesterday leaving it in the bathroom at the famous Les Deux Magots (where I met Mimi again). 30 minute later after browsing a book shop, I realized my arms were too light. OMG- not again! Seriously, I don't know what the hell is my problem. I am bound and determined to 'almost lose' everything of value on this trip. Which is why I specifically leave my ATM card at the apartment most days, in case god forbid anything happened to my purse. I am realizing from this trip that I am... my father's daughter... (sorry Dad- we both know it's true!) Yes, I recovered it, you should of seen the look the French lady gave me at the hostess desk-stupid American girl. Whatever. So bathrooms and my camera are not getting along, you may remember I broke my lens in the bathroom in London, when it fell of the hook. So this time I set it on the floor. I think my next stop should be a vitamin shop to buy some Ginkgo Biloba, because I'm losing it.

The Ugly

European washing machines and I are enemies. The worst of enemies. In London on Facebook, I posted it took me 3 hours to attempt to figure out a load. Googling the model number for instructions for an hour did not help whatsoever. I retrieved and wrung out my clothes to dry in laid them in every inch of the bathroom. Birmingham was a little better, because I had help and a dryer. But it still took me having to ask twice for the washer. In Paris, I asked for specific instructions. But I think an important step was left out that you have to close and latch from a metal top loader (I don't even know what that means). So it seriously sounded like it was going to explode and the neighbor below me yelled out his window in French at me. I thought I would cry. So I stopped it for the 4th time, and retrieved the clothes, wrung them out again, and hung to dry. Blow drying jeans is not my favorite thing to do on vacation.

Now that that's out in the open!

We'll have more of beautiful Paris to come...

Montmarte Cemetery

Paris

I mentioned yesterday that I eased into Paris with a stroll through the Cimetiere de Montmarte, where I advanced my communication first with a le chat (a cat), and left him a few meager in-flight biscuit crumbs. 

I'm off to meet my friend Mimi from Belle Inspiration at Laduree today! Very excited!

Sunday in Paris

18th Arrondisement


We'll start with confession, since it is Sunday. I was terrified to venture out today, I procrastinated all morning. Looked like a deer in headlights all day, and though I've taken a year in French and read out loud for practice all the time, I always try to speak it initially, then get a rapid reply in French and I have no idea what to say except  "sorry" and try to blend the languages in a best effort. For this reason I put off dinner last night, and breakfast this morning-- it's hard enough walking into a restaurant on my own in my own country, let alone doing it another language. But the food is what I came here for, so I suppose I better get over it...fast.

I began my day easing into things with a stroll in the Cimetiere de Montmarte, which I'll share with you tomorrow. Then kind of threw myself right into Montmarte and Ave de Clichy where Moulin Rouge is and all "those" shops.

(This is where I called my Mom to wish her a Happy Mother's Day!)

I sat in Sacre Coeur for about 20 minutes listening to holy words echoing in the most beautiful language, as I picked up a word here and there, I was transfixed watching. I'm not a religious person, but consider myself spiritual. This trip I've prayed more each day than I have in years asking for safety and guidance in finding my way. It was just nice to absorb the moment... no tour guide or antsy children to worry about. I thought what was the rush... I am in Paris, at the highest point above the city on a sunny Sunday afternoon in the most beautiful basilique. Completely free, if only for 20 minutes I was able to become part of the city, connect with a higher power, and felt the most relaxed I had all day.

 

I found my Rue (street) just north of Sacre Coeur.

 Also I found my first patisserie after noticing 4 cops walking into it... something else that's universal I chuckled to myself. Cops & sweets. I figured it had to be good and reasonable. Banana cream for €1.90 made for a better dinner than my Croque Monsieur I had for a late lunch which I could have done better myself. I will avoid tourist restaurants from now on... but I figured it was the easiest to start there language wise.

Happy Mother's Day Mom!