Parisian Rendezvous

After our titillating night and a much needed sleep in we headed to Montmartre for a food tour.

Montmartre is a small hill in Paris’s 18th arrondissement and is known for its artistic history and its white domed basilica the Sacre Coeur. It is a cute little cobblestoned village with lots of bistros, cafes and restaurants. It is also a very popular tourist area so it was super busy.

The tour started from just opposite the Moulin Rouge so another photo was necessary.

It was another beautiful day of blue skies and a lovely cool breeze.

It was good that we didn’t have breakfast because we were about to fill our bellies with some delicious French specialties.

First stop was at a boulangerie for the classic French breakfast food… the croissant. The history of the croissant is quite interesting. It originated in Austria where it was known as a Kipferl which is more like a bread. A Viennese baker came to Paris where it became a French pastry when he made a Parisian version with flakier pastry.

Our next stop was a chocolaterie. We tried two different chocolates. Our tour guide, Malvina, asked us what we thought each flavour was. Steve suggested orange for the first one which she thought was very funny so for the rest of the tour they were having a bit of fun banter about it. The chocolate were pralines. One was Madagascar vanilla and the other hazelnut like a Ferrero Rocher.

Along the way Malvina was pointing out various buildings and being an arty area there were paintings on some of the buildings.

Our next stop was choupette shop. A choupette is a sweet choux pastry ball that is crunchy on the outside and filled with chantilly cream. Because we were early they were freshly made and they were heavenly!! Sadly we only had one. I could have eaten the whole tray!!

The next food stop was a restaurant called Le Mere Catherine for some cheese and wine. We had 3 cheeses, some salami and prosciutto and 2 wines to taste.

The 3 cheeses were a Cantal – which is like a strong cheddar, a Bleu d Auvergne and a Saint Nectaire which is like a Camembert. They were all yummy but the Bleu was especially nice on a baguette.

The wines were a white and a red. The white was an unwooded Chardonnay and was nice considering we don’t generally drink a Chardonnay. Malvina had a map of the wine regions in France. She said we would find that the wines made in each region are made with love and not just made to sell. So we’re looking forward to tasting them!!

The next part of the tour was a walk up to the basilica. It was nuts up there! People and annoying, noisy kids everywhere! I guess I’ve been away from teaching for too long!! We didn’t go in because there wasn’t any food in there. 😉 😉

The tour wouldn’t be complete without tasting a macaroon. Lots of flavours to choose from! I chose vanilla and Steve chose pistachio. They were very fresh and yummy but I couldn’t eat a tray full. Take me back to the choupette shop!! The shop also sold crepes which looked amazing. They are on the sweet list to taste in our travels.

The rest of the tour was like a walking tour. We wound our way back down the hill through the lovely cobblestoned streets with Malvina showing us points of interest along the way.

The boobie statue! Steve was allowed to touch these boobies.

This sculpture is about the story Le Passe-Muraille by Marcel Aymé about a man named Dutilleul who discovers that he can walk through walls.

The Wall of Love has the words ‘I love you’ 311 times in 250 languages. It was created by 2 artists in 2000 as a rendezvous location for lovers and a lasting monument to eternal adoration.

It was a great way to see Montmartre.

After the tour we found somewhere to have a rest and a drink. We were filling in time before we went to the Catacombs. But first I had to go to Moulin Rouge shop to get some goodie’s.

The Catacombs of Paris are underground ossauries which hold the remains of 6 million people. They are a labyrinth of tunnels 20 metres underground and they run for kilometers. The bones were originally in piles. Now they arranged in careful rows and patterns to honour and show respect for those entombed there. It was eerily quiet and a bit creepy but it was worth the visit.

That night we went to the Eiffel Tower to meet up with Matty and Kieran. We walked more than 400 steps (I lost count!) to the second level. It was a great view. It was very crowded! People were waiting to get photos of the sunset. We then went down a level and had some well earned bubbles.

We spent our final day in Paris hanging out with Matty and Kieran. In the morning we went to the Pompidou Centre, the largest museum for modern art in Europe. It had some very interesting paintings and sculptures but we were soon in need of a drink! And lunch.

And then the long lunch began….

We went to a cute French bistro called La Tresor. We enjoyed a traditional French lunch. Steve and Kieran had the whelks (basically snails). Kieran had leave to catch a flight to London so we headed down to the siene.

We found a lovely spot to relax and enjoy the view of the boats going along the river and the beautiful weather. We enjoyed the wine too.

The long lunch continued into dinner. We found a lovely bistro and dined on more French cuisine.

We were all long lunched out so we said au revoir to Matty and home we went.

It was a wonderful way to spend our final day in Paris.