Paris Days 2 and 3

 

 Welcome back Mes Amies!

 It’s been a while but here are days 2 and 3 of the Paris adventure. 

 On our second day in Paris, it was decided that we would try to get acquainted with the city and walk around and visit some big shopping areas.  We ended up eating lunch on the go again but if you ever in a place to only eat sandwiches, I don’t think France is a bad choice.  We stopped at a street vendor on our way to Printemps and Galeries Lafayette and ordered poppy seed chicken sandwiches.  The mustard on that sandwich was delicious; spicy but not overpowering at all.  I think I detected a hint of truffle oil.  Sadly there were no picutres of lunch.   

As we were shopping, we decided that it would be a good idea to get a snack so we stopped at Pierre Hermé for some mini macaroons!  These were delicious.  We each got one.  I got a rose flavored macaroon and Petchi got a vanilla.  Wow these little cookies were so decadent.  They were packed with flavor and weren’t too sweet.  The cookie part was so light and fluffy and the cream was…well…creamy.  Can I say best macaroons ever?

 

For dinner, we were totally pooped from an exhausting day in the city and jetlag so we opted to retire early to our hotel room.  We stopped at a local grocery store and picked up a box of soft cheese and stopped at a bakery to get a loaf of fresh bread. 

 

The cheese was nice and creamy.  It had a very mellow flavor like Camembert, but it was a lot lighter.  It went great with the crispy baguette. 

 

On the third day, we visited Notre Dame.  What a beautiful building with so much history.  We even got to climb the stairs to view Paris from above.  What a place.  When we finally came down, we were hungry so we walked around, and I even thing off the island.  We found a nice gyro place that had chicken gyro baguettes.  Gyro baguettes?  We didn’t know how this would turn out, but the patrons in the restaurant seemed to be enjoying themselves so we thought we would give it a try as well.  The meat was very juicy and had a lot of the typical gyro flavor.  The sauce wasn’t a normal tzatziki but it was still delicious, even if I couldn’t figure out what it was. 

 

For dinner, we stopped in at a place called Le Bistro du Périgord. 

It was busy pretty early in the evening so we figured it was a tourist favorite.  Petchi ordered the Salad de chèvre chaud to start.  Hot goat cheese.  Sounds good to me!  It was a very light salad drizzled with sesame oil and a balsamic vinagrette.  The goat cheese was served nice and warm and was very smooth and creamy. 

 

I started out with the French Onion Soup.  So if I’m in Paris and I order this soup, is this technically just onion soup?  Hehe.  Either way, this soup was overloaded with cheese.  I am a big fan of cheese so I didn’t mind.  Other than that, it was your normal onion soup. 

 

No we were ready for our main dishes!  Petchi got the steak au poivre.  He let me have a sample and man was the cream sauce full of black pepper.  It was almost overpowering.  The sauce was nice and the creaminess definitely helped balance the power of the pepper but it was still a bit too much.  The steak was cooked nicely and was very juicy. 

 

I ordered the fish of the day.  It came with a lemony cream sauce, a sweet mint sauce, and a side of sweet potatoes.  The fish was light and not overcooked.  It went well with the tangy cream sauce.  The mint sauce was also good but I wasn’t sure why it was necessary but it definitely made the plate colorful.  The sweet potatoes were your average mashes sweet potatoes: a little sweet and fluffy. 

 

For dessert, Petchi and I shared an assortment.  The assortment came with a chocolate cake, flan, and also a coffee ice cream.  There was nothing memorable about these desserts that made them stand out from any other desserts, but they were still welcomed at the end of the meal. 

 

 

Here are your tips for this week:

·    Wear comfortable shoes.  You will be doing a lot of walking so wear comfortable shoes.  A lot of people say that the locals can spot tourists because they always wear sneakers, but I think there were plenty of locals that wore sneakers as well so don’t feel like you can’t wear them. 

·    Bathrooms.  There are free bathrooms at most major monuments and department, but sometimes there aren’t.  Be prepared to pay for use of the potty because you never know what can happen!  There are also some weird public bathrooms that are like street side space pods.  These are also free.  If you are stuck and don’t know where to go, ask politely, “Où sont les toilettes, s’il vous plaît” 

·    Watch for pickpockets when riding public transportation or when you are in any tourist attraction.  They often work in groups so be careful and keep your belongings close.  Keep your bags closed and try to avoid anyone who is walking towards you with surveys or petitions.   These are only a few ways pickpockets use to distract you, while their friend is reaching in your bags.