Paris Highlights: Food

I've been back from Paris for a month now and it seems like the most common question I get is, "What was the food like?" So this post is dedicated to the EAT, pray, love portion of my month in Paris. Bon Appétit!

Macaroons at Ladurée

This was my first experience with food in Paris.. French Macaroons from the Ladurée on the Champs Élysées. I would definitely put this at the top of musts for food/desserts in Paris. The middle picture on the right is the box of macaroons that we bought to try. Dark pink=Raspberry, Yellow=Lemon, Brown=*Chocolate, Green= *Pistachio, Blue=Marie Antoinette (tasted like fruit loops), Light pink= Rose (tasted like soap), & White= *Vanilla. *= Favorites.

Burgers at Hippopotamus

Sadly this was my first and by far the worst meal I had in Paris. We went here right after Ladurée so maybe my expectations were set too high... but I think we should leave burgers to Americans, let's leave it at that. 

Pizza & Dessert from Les Pains Campaillou

We found this delicious little boulangerie (bakery) really close to school and we ate lunch there after my first french lesson so of course we ordered our lunch in french- I was so proud even though I probably sounded really slow... 

Dinner Cruise on La Seine 

Starters: Coeur de beuf, jambon de Bayonne, parmesan (Tomatoes salad, Bayonne ham and parmesan cheese- Top left pic). Main dish: Suprême de volaille, en croûte d'herbe, risotto vert (Chicken supreme with green risotto- Bottom left pic). Dessert: Pot de crème chocolat viennois (Chocolate cream with whipped cream- HEAVENLY, but not pictured). 

Lunch in the Latin Quarter

The latin quarter is full of delicious little restaurants. We wandered into this little place while on a quest for lunch as the toothless restaurant owner ushered us in. I had a pureed veggie soup for my appetizer, poulet rôti (roast chicken) as my entrée, and mousse au chocolat for dessert ( I only took pictures of our desserts.. whoops). 

Sorbet pêche à Berthillon 

I ordered a peach sorbet at the world famous Berthillon in the latin quarter and it was incredible! TRAVELTIP: The real Berthillon is in the alley way behind the one that has the same name- the one out in the open is a copy cat. 

Crêpes au Nutella ♥

French crêpes with Nutella... is there really anything better? The best one I had is in the left picture and I got it at a little place in front of the Eiffel right after I climbed to the top. 

Lunch at Paul 

These Paul bakeries are everywhere so we finally caved and got some sandwiches after the catacombs. I got a very traditional parisian sandwich with jambon, fromage, and brie (ham, cheese, and brie).  

Club Sandwich au Poulet

Chicken club sandwich at a cafe after Musée d'Orsay. The sandwich was good, but I mostly just really liked the little french flags :) 

Fauchon & Hediard Marketing Field Trip

We went on a marketing field trip to compare two direct competitors: Fachon & Hediard. Personally, I liked Fachon better, but they had a better selection of desserts.. so it wasn't really a fair competition. I bought two macaroons at Fachon (top row, center picture) Chocolate Praline and Almond- the chocolate one had a metallic sheen to it, very pretty. 

Other regular sources of nourishment 

The Carrefour near school provided many lunches- it was the closest thing the Parisians have to Wal-Mart. The Monoprix was a great source of other grocery needs since it was within walking distance to our hotel- the closest thing to it in America is Target. Finally, Vapiano became a favorite spot for dinner in La Défense. I could not get enough of their pizza and pasta! 

Thank heavens I spent my entire time in Paris walking to burn the delicious calories I was shamelessly inhaling... My favorite meal of the trip (not pictured) was at a restaraunt called Niagara, I had the Lasagna Poulet (chicken lasagna) très délicieux! I did not eat any escargot and I only ate at Mcdonald's twice... So there you have it, my foodie adventures in Paris! 

Paris Highlights: Museums

Oh how I loved the museums in Paris... So much history and art! Here are some of the museums I was able to visit:

Musée d'Orsay

The Musée d'Orsay was my favorite museum of the trip. It's housed in an old train station and it's filled with beautiful French impressionist art and sculptures. We attended this museum as part of our French culture/history/language class so we had special access to be there a half an hour before the museum opened and the atmosphere was so peaceful and I enjoyed being able to soak in the art sans crowds. 

Centre George Pompidou

The Pompidou was another favorite for very different reasons, I found the modern art very refreshing and playful plus the building itself was unlike anything else in Paris. 

Musée Rodin

I loved seeing works that I recognized like "The Thinker" and "The Kiss" at the Rodin. There's so much movement and expression in Rodin's sculptures! I really enjoyed the Rodin museum. 

Musée de Cluny

Musée de Cluny- During the French revolution, the heads of the "Kings" were cut off on Notre Dame because they thought they were the kings of France, when they were actually the kings of Judea... These are the original heads from Notre Dame (bottom left pic).I also loved that the Cluny is housed in an old mansion owned by the Abbots(one t.. but still..). 

The most famous exhibit at the Cluny is the 'Lady and the Unicorn' tapestry,but unfortunately it's in Tokyo until November.. but I'll take as many excuses as I can get to go back to Paris in the future ;) 

Musée du Louvre

The louvre... 8 miles of halls and 35,000 works in the museum... Amazing yet so overwhelming! I was only there for a few hours and I got to see the foundation of the museum, the Mesopotamian exhibit, the Napoleon exhibit, The Mona Lisa, and that's about it.. 

Musée Carnavalet

The Carnavalet is the museum of Paris history. We made a quick visit during one of our walks through the city with Madame Claude, our French history/culture/language professor. It's an interesting museum  with more focus on history than art, and best of all it's free to the public. 

Musée de L'Orangerie

Musée de l'Orangerie is another awesome French impressionist art museum. l'Orangerie is most famous for being the permanent home for the 8 water lily murals by Claude Monet, the museum also contains works by Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, Amedeo Modigliani, Pablo Picasso, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Henri Rousseau, Alfred Sisley, Chaim Soutine, and Maurice Utrillo, among others. They didn't allow pictures inside.. but I really enjoyed the museum! 

Musée des Arts Décoratifs

The decorative arts museum was interesting... it felt a little like a visit to Ikea, but it was charming in it's own way.