Paris Day 6 - Paris vu Hollywood

11/21/2012

I'm over the picture limit for Blogger so until I figure out how to add more pictures onto the blog, I'm afraid I can only entertain you with words for the time being. Apologies!

Update: I've uploaded the pictures onto Google+ using the album names Paris Day 5, 6, 7. Currently looking for a way to link Google+ to Blogger... why can't they ever make it easy on us non-techy folks?!

11/5/2012

Dad went to the Louvre today. He bought the ticket to go in because he liked it so much yesterday. Really, one day at the Louvre is never enough, as there is a treasure trove full of artifacts and art to feast your eyes on. Especially if you did what we did yesterday, cramming in two of the biggest museums in one day (Louvre and D’Orsay), plus L'Orangerie.

Mom, Angel and I went to the temporary Paris vu Hollywood exhibit going on at the Hotel de Ville. It examines the history of using Paris as a background for Hollywood cinema. There are a lot of films over the last century that feature Paris, and they played clips of some of the most famous ones. Sabrina, Funny Face, Love in the Afternoon, Gigi, An American in Paris were some of the ones we’ve seen before. Many of the clips featured Gene Kelly and Audrey Hepburn, the eternal “Miss Paris.” 

There was clothing on display from the movies, including ones Audrey Hepburn wore designed by Givenchy. There was a bill from Givenchy for the production of Sabrina, totaling over $5000. There was also a critics’ review on display from an advance prescreening of Sabrina. Most were raving reviews, such  as “Hepburn is the best thing since Uranium.” 

One I identified with was: “She should have ended up with David instead.” Right?! I always thought so! Holden’s so much hotter than Bogart!

There were scripts, movie set design drawings, production explanations, director’s notes (including one by an American director, jotting down French slang translations).

It was a really worthwhile exhibit…  especially as it was free J Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to take pictures. I would’ve loved a picture of the critics’ review. The exhibit has made us want to go home and have a Paris cinema night.

We went home afterwards so I could do online check-in at precisely the 24 hour mark. Angel went to Collet to buy us croque monsieur, croissant jambon, and crepe jambon. Our last time before we leave ;(

In the afternoon, Angel took the last metro ticket we had (leftover from the carnet ticket pack we bought on the first day) and went to Aux Armes de Niel to buy us chocolate almond croissants. That’s how much we love their croissants! 

We met at LeNotre to use off my voucher, but it was closed. AGAIN! WTF!!! The sign said clearly that the tea salon would be open every day from 3-5pm and the restaurant every day except Sunday at 7pm. There was an instructor in there, teaching pastry to students and he was nice enough to come out and tell us that LeNotre was closed today and would open at 11am tomorrow. ARRRRRGH! It was so frustrating, as we had gone there yesterday as well, only to find it was closed! 

We walked to the Motte-Piquet location—which was open—only the cashier Ivana refused to accept a US dollar denomination voucher. I was about to cry. I kept apologizing to Mom and Angel for making them walk all this way for nothing. 

There was a Carrefour City next to LeNotre and we went in, where my mood lifted slightly. The Lindt pistachio noir bar was the cheapest we’ve seen so far, at 2.69 euro, so we bought a bunch.

We went to Pierre Herme to buy the white truffle macarons. Pistachio’s out this time, but Angel was able to settle for the truffle one instead. It is weird, because Herme’s flavors for winter are plain or very summer-y. Rose, violet, passionfruit… in winter?! Those are summer flavors! Or it’s plain single origin chocolate, which I’ve found to be relatively dull tasting. A blend is usually better… you get a much more complex flavor profile. 

We then went around to all the grocery stores in our area, buying up last minute goodies. The Monoprix on Ave de l’Opera is the only one with the Eiffel Tower salt shakers. Mom’s been eyeing them the whole trip (she saw it on the first day), so we bought a Rose Himalayan salt shaker for her there. Pistachio extract is also cheapest at this Monoprix, at 2.16 euro a bottle. Raisin custard snails are cheapest here as well (0.90 each, buy 2 get the 3^rd free).

Cheapest chocolate prices:

Carrefour rue du seine caramelized almond cote d’or is 2.70 euro. They also had the cheapest foie gras prices 3.93 euro for 200 grams, their own brand is 3.98 euro. Chestnut paste is also cheapest here at 2.39 euro for 500 grams.

G20 rue saint Antoine praline noir cote d’or is 2.69 euro

Monoprix ave de l’opera lindt pistachio noir is 2.80 (and is next cheapest for all cote d’or chocolates)

Franprix 1.25 euro for 6 carres amandes