A post outlining our family trip to Paris, France where we enjoyed exploring the shops of and wandering cobblestone streets of Paris.
Though we spent a good portion of our time in Paris visiting all the ‘must sees’, we also spent a great deal of time just walking around and soaking in the city.
We had a very centrally located hotel because I wanted to be able to walk more than use the metro. Our kids for some reason don’t trust us to know where we are going and often panic sets in. Then I have to buy them food….
We spent a total of 6-7 hours walking per day and that is a GOOD thing given how much rich food we ate. Still, even after we had full tummies there were times that we would walk by a chocolate shop, cheese shop, or green grocer (let’s not mention the boulangeries!) and wish that we still had room for more. This is where my camera came in because we did the touristy thing to do and just took photos.
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This was a restaurant we happened to be walking by on our first night in Paris. I found the seafood to be very enticing but that was the night the kids decided we were going to have crêpes for dinner.
In the end it was the right decision because our stomachs were still on Calgary time and a big meal would probably have affected our ability to sleep. Who am I kidding? Sleep came pretty easily that night!
The second day of our trip we did the Louvre and Tuileries Gardens and up to the Place de la Concorde. By two, our breakfast of croissants and baguettes had completely worn off and we were desperate enough to eat at one of the cafés lining the gardens.
I was a bit worried about having encountered our first ‘Tourist Trap’ and more than mortified when kid number one ordered a hotdog!! But even a hotdog in France is a special treat. It came inside a baguette and covered with cheese.
Kid number two who had previously sworn she would never eat crêpes due to an incident aboard Quantas airlines which involved ricotta and (GASP!) raisins has finally realized how glorious crêpes can be. She ordered ham and cheese and was very impressed.
Both hubby and I ordered a veggie quiche. The crust was nice and flaky and the egg just set. I loved the veggies inside but the herbs definitely made the quiche. We got our first taste of the ubiquitous green splotch of salad with a dijon vinaigrette.
Over the course of our trip, this side appeared over and over again. Some vinaigrettes were definitely better than others.
Strawberries and white asparagus were in season. Just walking by the smell of the strawberries is enough to lure you in. I only managed to have white asparagus once on our trip so I was a bit disappointed with that.
Though we have an green asparagus farm very close to Calgary, white asparagus is really hard to come by and it is often shipped from South America.
I don’t know how long it would take someone to pack this crate of strawberries just so and these apricots were too beautiful to pass up.
Then there is cheese. I almost peed myself with excitement when I saw all that cheese in the shops. We only ever bought a small hunk of Brie de Meaux on our way to a picnic in the Place des Vosges. I’ve bought this extremely creamy and fresh tasting Brie before in Canada. The chunk that we bought would have cost roughly $12.oo CDN but in France it was just over 2 Euros. Why didn’t we buy more cheese!!! There were many times I wished we had chosen to stay in a place with it’s own kitchen so I could cook with all these lovely ingredients. Maybe next time…
And a shop I really wish we had gone into but passed by; The Salumeria.
Great post! As an Aussie, I completely understand your horror at the 40 degree days but please understand, we hate it too! This is why I live as far south of Perth, Western Australia, as I can and only pop up to catch up with my daughter and in-laws. Even in winter, Perth is often in the mid twenties. Today, Albany is going to be a nice 17 degrees apparently 😀 My main goal in ever getting to travel is to head to France with dear hubby. May have to fast for a month before hand and a month or 5 afterwards! Hahahahahaha!
yeah, if we’d have stayed I would have loved to live in Albany or Denmark. Perth is way too hot!
If you go to France you’ll spend enough time walking while sight seeing that you’ll burn off the excess. Believe me!
That’s a great photo blog. I miss walking by groceries stores and seeing all the produce displayed in the open (I grew up in the tropics). It’s such a visual treat.
Thanks Kiran, there are more to come. I took a lot of food pictures…
I have to admit it was hard for me to go grocery shopping here in Calgary after that. As I was walking down those long aisles filled with boxed, processed, tasteless food I felt a pang of sadness. Canada is great but I wish we had access to fresh, local produce year round.
We lived in Australia for a couple of years as well so shopping there was also very ‘European’. Fresh green markets, fish shops (with more than 5 kinds of fish!), butchers, and bakeries. Produce was shipped 1-5 hours at the most so it was delicious! It also had more of a ‘cafe’ culture.
I guess we just have to make the most of our summer growing season.
You are right, it’s more than just a visual treat. My mom keeps complaigning about how the food in Calgary is nothing compared to what she was used to in India. Living in colder climates, we have to import most of our non-traditional veggies so they will never be fresh.
Lot of Canadians go to Australia. But they always come back despite (my perceived) better quality of weather, food, and style of living. I wonder why?
In truth our family moved back because we were lonely. We made all sorts of friends but felt that we never really got to know people well. No one was able to come to visit us in Perth either, save for my in laws. It made holidays and special events difficult. I think eventually we could have just stayed and maybe someday we’ll go back. It is really hot there and when you get 3 or more weeks of 40C and over, it can be difficult to deal with.
Yeah, it is interesting how that seems to be the most common reason. Developed countries like Aus / Canada also tend be very closed off. You make friends, but you never really become friends it seems like. That’s too bad.
40 deg is hot. Even more for me. 🙂
So true! Ironically most of our friends were immigrants, not ‘true blue’ Aussies.