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| Hotel de Ville |
11/3/2012
We ate breakfast at our apartment with the croissants we
bought last night. It was a leisurely morning. Angel’s Puma shoes that she
brought to Europe (the only pair she brought) got soaked through and through yesterday
because of the pouring rain.
We were at the Eiffel Tower. I was walking fast, Mom was walking fast after me, and Angel tried to keep up… but landed in a large puddle instead. She threw quite the tantrum and complained I was walking too fast (then she complained later on that I was walking too slow *sigh*). Anyway, she tried to blow dry them last night and let it sit overnight… but they did not dry out by this morning. So she wore my Skechers, and I wore my new Primark boots. Thank God I bought a size up; the one in my size was just right and I was afraid if I walked too long, it would start hurting. Angel was walking like a penguin in my shoes because it was too big for her.
We were at the Eiffel Tower. I was walking fast, Mom was walking fast after me, and Angel tried to keep up… but landed in a large puddle instead. She threw quite the tantrum and complained I was walking too fast (then she complained later on that I was walking too slow *sigh*). Anyway, she tried to blow dry them last night and let it sit overnight… but they did not dry out by this morning. So she wore my Skechers, and I wore my new Primark boots. Thank God I bought a size up; the one in my size was just right and I was afraid if I walked too long, it would start hurting. Angel was walking like a penguin in my shoes because it was too big for her.
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| Angel's wearing my shoes - she looks like she's about to fall backward! |
We went down Rue Rivoli, where Angel went into every McDonald’s she saw, hoping they’d have a mango-flavored macaron. They had it at Versailles but was sold out, and it is cheaper to buy it in a box of 7 than it is to buy it individually. However, no store had it and she didn’t want to be stuck with 7 pistachio macarons in case they tasted nasty.
There are a lot of supermarkets on Rue Rivoli going to Rue
Saint Antoine. There’s a Franprix, G20, and Monoprix all within the same block.
Franprix had these awesome looking frozen quiches and tarts but they rejected
my credit card ;( The store manager wouldn’t accept any more credit cards after
that and I was running low on cash so I said forget it and left the frozen food
at the checkout stand for them to restock :P Suck that, Franprix.
Monoprix on Rue St Antoine had the best prices for Italian
green grapes—Dad’s been eating a lot of them this trip, starting from Vienna
and working his way through Salzburg and Munich. London didn’t have any, so Mom
bought him apples, which he wasn’t too keen on eating. The G20 had the best
prices for Cote D’or… after we had already bought out two stores’ entire supply!
Our total candy bar count is now running in the 90s, after I cleared out G20’s
supply as well. If it’s cheap…
G20 was 2.75 for the milk chocolate with salted caramel
almonds and 2.69 for the praline noir.
We ate croissants at Aux Desirs de Manon, as we remembered
them to be really good from last time.
However, after we walked down half a block, Miss Manon’s croissants were even tastier. Their chocolate almond croissants were also awesome; chockfull of chocolate and almond filling. Some bakeries only put in 2 small bars of chocolate, like we did in pastry school… and that’s just boring!
However, after we walked down half a block, Miss Manon’s croissants were even tastier. Their chocolate almond croissants were also awesome; chockfull of chocolate and almond filling. Some bakeries only put in 2 small bars of chocolate, like we did in pastry school… and that’s just boring!
The original goal was to go to Bastille, but it took us
pretty much 2 hours to wander there with all the shops we ducked into. It
should’ve only taken 20 minutes! There are a lot of cheap vendors along the
way, including a little shop selling shoes for cheap. I bought a gray pair of
galoshes for 10.50 euro that look really nice and Chanel-y. Mom bought a pair
of fur gray boots for 10.50 euros as well, and a pair of red suede booties for
8 euros. The displays only have one shoe; you have to ask for the other shoe… I
think it’s to prevent stealing. After all, what can one do with only one shoe?
And their policy is that the shoes have to be over 10 euros in order for you to
try them on. Mom insisted Angel should buy a pair, but she refused.
After eating all the croissants, we were still hungry. Shopping is a very intensive exercise, no? :P Mom saw a durum place and she got all excited. It was 5.50 euros for just the durum itself, or 6 euros for durum + fries. And hey, we've never tried French fries while in France, so it was the perfect opportunity. I'm not usually a big French fries person, but who knew it would taste so yummy! It was piping hot, so flavorful and crisp on the outside and soft on the inside~
Mayo doesn't usually come with it, but I can't eat fries w/o a creamy sauce so I asked the guy if he could throw it in, no charge (while in the US, you usually expect sides to be no charge, this is not the case in Europe). He smiled and dumped a heaping spoonful of mayo on our tray! ^.^
After eating all the croissants, we were still hungry. Shopping is a very intensive exercise, no? :P Mom saw a durum place and she got all excited. It was 5.50 euros for just the durum itself, or 6 euros for durum + fries. And hey, we've never tried French fries while in France, so it was the perfect opportunity. I'm not usually a big French fries person, but who knew it would taste so yummy! It was piping hot, so flavorful and crisp on the outside and soft on the inside~
Mayo doesn't usually come with it, but I can't eat fries w/o a creamy sauce so I asked the guy if he could throw it in, no charge (while in the US, you usually expect sides to be no charge, this is not the case in Europe). He smiled and dumped a heaping spoonful of mayo on our tray! ^.^
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| Doner Durum |
We finally reached Bastille, where we took some nice
pictures (it was sunny! Yay!).
There’s a LeNotre just by the corner and we went in. Boy, was it expensive. And their macarons looked disgusting. They were selling them for more than Pierre Herme. Couldn’t figure out anything to buy with my voucher so we decided to keep on looking.
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| Bastille |
There’s a LeNotre just by the corner and we went in. Boy, was it expensive. And their macarons looked disgusting. They were selling them for more than Pierre Herme. Couldn’t figure out anything to buy with my voucher so we decided to keep on looking.
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| Look at the puppy! Just sitting there, waiting for his master to come out! |
As we were heading back, Angel started getting snappish. I
suspected she needed to go to the bathroom, but she didn’t say anything until
we reached Places des Vosges. I wanted to show Mom Victor Hugo’s house in the
charming courtyard, but Angel blew up and said she needed to go to the bathroom
NOW to poo. So we handed her all our purchases, and told her to go back to the
apartment while we went to Victor Hugo’s and completed our grocery shopping.
All along this trip, I kept telling Angel to go into the public toilets, but
she refused. Especially in Paris; we walked by one directly across from our
apartment this morning and I jokingly told her to go there. She snapped, so I
did not mention the other bathrooms as we passed them by in our morning trek.
So Angel ran all the way back to the apartment to do her
deed.
As it turned out, she needed to go so bad that had I pointed
out the public bathrooms along the way, she would have gone in them, she later
admitted. There were two on Rue Rivoli going to Saint Antoine; one on each
side. Quite prominent, in fact. And a third just a little ways off the main
street, with a sign pointing toward it. But in her single-minded hurry, she
didn’t see any of them!
We told her to meet us down at the first floor of the
apartment to let us in (she had the key) at 2pm, but we were a little late and
she wasn’t there. Thank God I knew the owner’s last name, so I rang the buzzer
and she came down to fetch us.
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| Places des Vosges |
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| Victor Hugo's house |
After a short break, we took Mom to the left bank.
Notre Dame:
The Police Headquarters is a beautiful building across from the famous church, complete with gilded iron fences. There were a lot of people in line to go into the Museum of Justice in the police headquarters.
Saint Chapelle was still under construction (2 years already! Geesh!).
We got Berthillon ice cream—1 scoop/boule is 2.50 euro! You can buy a whole pint—heck, in some cases, a whole gallon of ice cream—at that price in the States! As we were taking the picture above, the lady behind the counter said "No picture!" There was no sign saying that, lady! I was grumbling as I handed her my money, and I told Angel that their ice cream better be damn good to be worth this kind of crappy customer service. Unfortunately, Angel and Mom both loved it. They said the pistachio flavor is really nice.
It was very creamy without being eggy, and the pistachios were not infused. Rather, they were chopped up and tossed into the ice cream. We concluded the ratio was probably a lot more cream than eggs and not to infuse the next time. I should just toast and add them in later.
Notre Dame:
The Police Headquarters is a beautiful building across from the famous church, complete with gilded iron fences. There were a lot of people in line to go into the Museum of Justice in the police headquarters.
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| Police Headquarters |
Saint Chapelle was still under construction (2 years already! Geesh!).
We got Berthillon ice cream—1 scoop/boule is 2.50 euro! You can buy a whole pint—heck, in some cases, a whole gallon of ice cream—at that price in the States! As we were taking the picture above, the lady behind the counter said "No picture!" There was no sign saying that, lady! I was grumbling as I handed her my money, and I told Angel that their ice cream better be damn good to be worth this kind of crappy customer service. Unfortunately, Angel and Mom both loved it. They said the pistachio flavor is really nice.
It was very creamy without being eggy, and the pistachios were not infused. Rather, they were chopped up and tossed into the ice cream. We concluded the ratio was probably a lot more cream than eggs and not to infuse the next time. I should just toast and add them in later.
We took Mom to the Louvre via the back entrance, so she
could see just how large the palace is. We walked through a huge courtyard before
entering the front side with the pyramid.
Then we walked past the arch and into the Tuileries. It was sunny, although the gravel was wet and had puddles. Droves of people were out today, with many just chilling by the fountains.
We walked along the river, and got a nice shot of the clouds over Musee D'Orsay:
What is it about European clouds? If you look at European artists, like Michelangelo, you'll notice the beautiful clouds in their paintings... especially in ceiling reliefs. The pictures don't do them justice, but they have just the right balance of stormy gray with a silver lining that we don't see very much of in California. In CA, the clouds are either white or gray...
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| Louvre |
We snapped a bunch of pictures but Mom seemed more
interested in shopping, so we took her to Carrefour. You should’ve seen her
eyes lit up when we said “Jia Le Fu.” There’s a huge Carrefour on Rue du Seine
on the left bank, just a block down from the bridge. I loaded up on foie gras
(14 cans, baby!) and marron paste (6 cans). We’ve been checking prices at each
and every supermarket we’ve gone into, and so far, Carrefour is the cheapest
for these items. Foie gras has shot up in price since the last time we were
here. I kept dreaming of it, because it was sooooo cheap last time. It’s gone
up at least 1/3 in price. In some cases, almost twice in price! Depending on
the brand you get. We bought frozen quiches here, but Mom was still thinking of
the puff pastry pie she wanted to buy at Franprix (the one time my credit card
was rejected).
As we left Carrefour, it was turning dark and rue de Buce next to it was coming alive. All the cafes were packed full of people (although we never saw anyone eating; they were all smoking and drinking). We walked down the street just to see what was there, and there was a Franprix on the other side! With the tart Mom wanted to buy! We bought it and hurried back home. Dad baked the quiche and tart, and Angel cooked pork and lentils (from a can we bought yesterday).
Everything was delicious! The lentils are very comforting on a cold freezing day and the pork that came along with it was soooo juicy and tender. And the can was only 1.1 euro at Marche U! The salmon quiche was really tasty, and the ham and mushroom tart was very mushroomy.
As we left Carrefour, it was turning dark and rue de Buce next to it was coming alive. All the cafes were packed full of people (although we never saw anyone eating; they were all smoking and drinking). We walked down the street just to see what was there, and there was a Franprix on the other side! With the tart Mom wanted to buy! We bought it and hurried back home. Dad baked the quiche and tart, and Angel cooked pork and lentils (from a can we bought yesterday).
Everything was delicious! The lentils are very comforting on a cold freezing day and the pork that came along with it was soooo juicy and tender. And the can was only 1.1 euro at Marche U! The salmon quiche was really tasty, and the ham and mushroom tart was very mushroomy.
Dad really likes raisin spiral croissants. He buys it at
every bakery he goes into. Marks and Spencer’s sells a really good one in a
pack of four for 2.09 pounds. Monoprix sells a pack of three for 1.80 euros and
not only does it have raisins, it has custard in the spirals as well. But the
thing I really like about M&S’ is that they use sultana raisins, which are
plump and juicy and the flavor is really nice. Too bad sultana is really
expensive in the States.
He eats two pain aux raisins for breakfast, some as a
midnight snack and he’ll grab them for lunch. He spent today at the Musee de
l’armee (the War museum).
He spent a good five hours there and would have spent more if he could. He was really enthralled with everything, but didn’t have enough time to visit all the artifacts. Some, he had to skip over. And others, there were no English explanations.
They had tanks, armors, artillery, cannons on display, as well as Napolean I’s tomb. He was so busy taking in the museum that he didn’t even eat lunch until 4pm. Usually, if he’s bored, he can go to the bathroom four times in an hour. But he only went three times in the museum over the course of 5 hours. Impressive, no?
He spent a good five hours there and would have spent more if he could. He was really enthralled with everything, but didn’t have enough time to visit all the artifacts. Some, he had to skip over. And others, there were no English explanations.
They had tanks, armors, artillery, cannons on display, as well as Napolean I’s tomb. He was so busy taking in the museum that he didn’t even eat lunch until 4pm. Usually, if he’s bored, he can go to the bathroom four times in an hour. But he only went three times in the museum over the course of 5 hours. Impressive, no?
But getting there proved a challenge. He got lost, and lost
an hour of time trying to find his way to the museum. Paris’ signs are not very
good and arrows point one way when they mean another. For example, if the arrow
points directly down, it doesn’t mean go downstairs. It means go straight… in
some cases, go straight up the
stairs. If an arrow points left, it doesn’t mean go left. It means go on the
bridge to your left, and go straight. Grr.
Mom: one bottle of antibacterial is enough to last 3 weeks. Two
travel kit contact lens solution lasts three weeks.
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