On Thursday, we again had pan du chocolat for breakfast. All I can say is, I’m glad I don’t live in France because it would be difficult for me to refuse these things every morning! We were having another touristy day in Paris so we started on the métro and headed towards the Arc de Triomphe. We then walked down the Champs Elysées but after our rather small petit déjeuner, I was ready for some serious food. We stopped for lunch at Bistro George V and both ordered a glass of rosé to go along with our steak frites. The Parisians eat a large meal in the middle of the day but I was still surprised to see the petite young woman beside me devouring a steak the size of Manhattan!
After lunch, we walked. We turned on the Rue Boiteie and walked along there to Avenue Hausmann. This brought us to the Galleries Lafayette. By this point, for some reason, my hip was bothering me mightily so we had to go inside. Rob took me into the store entitled “Femme” (women) and we walked right into the accessory and jewellery department. All of sudden, my hip felt better! LOL The choices were endless and expensive. I recognized a few of the designers we carried at Viva including Les Nereides and Les Joyaux de la Couronne. We didn’t spend long in this store because of the outrageous prices. We continued along the Rue de l’Opera, behind the L’Houvre and past the Palais Royal. We took some stunning photos, including a sign for the metro in arte nouveau style (more on that later in my Yorkshire blog).
We finally reached the Rue Rivoli, which carried us home for a rest and a chance to do some packing since we were leaving quite early in the morning. Eating in Paris had proved to be a bit of a challenge. Our expensive lunch at the Eiffel Tower was delicious, as well as our dinner at Le Train Bleu, but we were having difficulty finding a low cost, nutritious and tasty meal elsewhere. Most of the patisseries seemed to have the same menu, none of which was appealing to me. The constant cigarette smoke in my face was also a big deterrent. We finally discovered an Italian restaurant in our neighbourhood called Pasta Ricca. It was quite busy and the menu looked appetizing, with a good selection of wines and salads. I had a Greek salad (in spite of the fact that we were in an Italian restaurant, it was quite good!) and Rob had a shrimp/avocado salad. We both had pasta and a good Italian red wine. Up to that point, we had not been able to find anything except French wines, of which we are not particularly fond. After our wonderful mean, we scooted home and we were again worn out and ready for an early night.
Enjoy My Photos of Paris
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2 comments:
Finally - I've been reading your trip report and waiting for pictures from Paris.
Given your obsessive language/spelling nature, I enjoy the chance to correct you - it is pain au chocolat (pain = bread (pronounced pan) in French) [:)].
It is not easy to find a good inexpensive restaurant in Paris, esp. if you hang out around the tourist areas. Unlike most of the rest of France, Paris has a good number of lousy restaurants (in the Latin Quarter in particular, but also spread around) as well as excellent ones, and it is important to know where to go. And yes, it is quite expensive on the whole, although at least there is no added tax and tips are small and optional (usually 15% is already included in the price), which helps. The French eat out alot at noon, but employers often provide free or heavily subsidized coupon books for restaurants - 10 euro coupons to eat in local restaurants when they do not have a cafeteria on site. So many people look for good fixed-price noon menus around where they work.
Anyway, I'm enjoying your pics and trip reports, and hope that your return to Toronto (and the Vallarta Scene forum!) hasn't been too difficult. Cheers! Tom
PS - bread and pastries here in Montreal are often as good as in Paris, at least if you go to the good boulangeries, and local beer and cheese is also excellent. (The Quebec wine, however, is not...) You should come for a visit sometime.
Thanks Tom! I think "pan" is Spanish for bread and I was constantly mixing up the two languages when I was in Paris.
It wasn't actually difficult to find inexpensive food, just difficult to find something I liked. I'm not fond of duck, rabbit or tripe so that nixed a lot of places ... LOL
We would love to come to Montreal and Quebec City. I might just put that on the list for 2008.
All the best to you and your family!
Juliana
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