10/28/2014
We woke up at 10am today...again, cuz we went to sleep at 2am this morning. It was nice to sit in our tiny, tiny apartment and have a leisurely breakfast. Angel keeps complaining how little it is (we had chose this vacation rental together, some many months ago). I think she's been spoilt by how big the hotel room was at Charles de Gaulle. The hotel room we stayed at in Suite Novotel Roissy CDG had a bedroom, a living room, a sink, shower & bathtub room, and a separate room for the toilet and another sink. Vastly different from our Parisian vacation rental, where we're always stepping on each other's toes. And our bed is over the kitchen, so we have to climb bunk-like stairs to get up to the bed.
Angel's breakfast was her Pierre Herme macarons that she bought yesterday in anticipation of today's (canceled) day trip to Chateau Chantilly (which is closed on Tuesdays starting some time in the fall--yeah, we didn't really plan Paris very well this time around).
Angel: I would like to add a note for myself; when we came in 2012 it was late November, and Pierre Herme had not yet rolled out the foie gras macarons. So, it seems each year the transition to winter flavors occurs at a different time of year.
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| Lemon, Praline & Feuilletine macaron (note: Jen is a pastry chef who had to Google how to spell feuilletine =P) |
It had a very nice praline flavor and the lemon went surprisingly well with it, but I don't think I'll get it again as there's other flavors I like more.
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| Dark chocolate macaron |
This was a nice dark chocolate macaron but it reminded me that chocolate macarons are not my favorite. Oh well, worth a try to see if my taste changed. Jen thought it tasted like a brownie. Maybe everything tastes like brownies to her. Haha.
Another key note is that the Bonaparte location of Pierre Herme makes infiinitely better macarons than the other locations we've tried. For example, the white truffle macaron we bought on Ave de l'Opera didn't have much truffle flavor and it didn't have hazelnut. Today I ate the one from Bonaparte and it was exactly as tasty as I remembered, full of truffle flavor.
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| White truffle macaron |
Jen: Wow, finally back to me. All macaron business done with, Angel?
Angel really wanted to go to the Fashion Museum at the Palais Galliera, as they are having an exhibit on Paris fashion circa 1947-1957. We thought we'd eat breakfast, stroll to the metro and hop on, then get off at the Iena metro stop, and voila, waltz straight into the museum.
Not so fast.
When we got to the museum, turns out there's one heck of a line snaking in and around the building. Wtf. We had been wondering all week (even in Tours) why we kept seeing kids at the museums (shouldn't they be in school?), and the Palais Galliera was no different. Turns out we've hit the "toussaint," which is a half-term, 2-week vacation for French schools. Oops.
At least the kids seem to enjoy the museums. In France, they have workbooks at the museums where kids can identify different pieces of artwork or play games that teach them about history, usually specific to the museum they're visiting. I think that's awesome. No wonder the French are so cultured. Start them early.
We waited an hour in line to get into the museum, and damn, it was one cold, long wait. When we first arrived in Paris, it was hot and sunny. At the time, the weather forecast said that within one day, it would drop 10 degrees. We thought it was a load of rubbish--where in the world does the weather drop 10 degrees overnight?! So yesterday, I go out in a long shirt and sweater, and had to come back for my peacoat, it was so freaking cold.
Today's a lot colder than yesterday. I was marching in place in line to feel my toes.
The Palais Galliera building itself is gorgeous:
Here's where the exit is. Notice how nobody's coming out of the museum:
And see how many people are waiting to get in:
And this is just the line in the courtyard. There's a longer one snaking out into the street. It's like the Louis Vuitton stores, where when 1 person goes out, then 1 person can come in.
Angel: In the US you'd probably only see this kind of line at Disneyland.
The admission fee is 8 euros/person. I kept saying to Angel, if we have to wait an hour to get into the museum, we'd better be in there for 2 hours to get our time/money's worth. I was a tad bit irritated with the wait, as I was freezing my ass off.
Upon entering, there was a big fat sign depicting that photography is forbidden. Damn. I wait this long in line and I can't even take pictures?!
Evening gowns, swimwear, cocktail dresses along with old editions of the Parisian Match magazine were on display. The exhibit starts with an explanation of the "New Look" that debuted in 1947. The New Look was more fabric, more harking back to the luxuries of the past with voluminous skirts and fabrics, dresses that required corsets and bustiers. It shocked critics and women around the world, as everyone was just recovering from the hard times of WWII. There was an American magazine article on display, circa this time period. They sent a photographer and model to Paris for a photo shoot on the New Look. French housewives were scandalized by what the model was wearing--how could she wear that much fabric when they'd been subjected to harsh restrictions on fabric rations? One French housewife sneered that they're starving and the model's wearing a dress that costs 40,000 francs ($335 USD at the time--so not sure if the franc was inflated at the time or if the French housewife was exaggerating).
The group of housewives proceeded to tear the dress off the model--no joke! The photographer captured this and the magazine printed the pictures, a series of shots showing the housewives first pelting the model with tomatoes (which is contradictory, considering if they're starving, they should save the tomatoes), then ripping her dress apart.
Indeed, when Christian Dior first came out with his line, women protested. They'd gotten used to the fabric rationing of WWII...which inadvertently allowed them to show off their legs, as the skirts grew shorter and shorter. The New Look called for longer skirts, and Dior's covered them a whole lot more. There was also backlash because he used up so much fabric for a single skirt.
The exhibit said that before the 1950s, most women were capable seamstresses who were able to recreate the latest styles/fashion they desired. Much like Angel. She sees a shirt she likes in the store, she'll go home and make it herself.
But with modernization comes mass production, and ready-to-wear became not only cheaper, but more time-saving. Women didn't need to sew their own clothes anymore; they could just go out and buy whatever they desired. Before mass production, this was almost impossible. You either had to be rich and get something tailor-made, or you have one dress (or two) that you keep modifying/altering to keep up with styles.
I really liked the designs of Jacques Fath, who I'd never heard of before. The exhibit explained that in the 1950s, there were over 300 haute couture fashion houses in Paris. By the 1970s, the number had dwindled down to less than 50. Jacques Fath's house closed in 1957, after Fath died of leukemia, so I guess that's why I never heard of him before. His designs were luxurious, glittering, and the height of sophistication.
It seems every time I think, "Oooh, I like that dress!", I look down at the sign, and it's a Fath creation. I also liked the dresses from Lanvin and Carven on display.
Angel, on the other hand, would point out a dress she liked...and every time, without fail, it'd turn out to be a Dior. Classy, elegant...and a bit too plain for me.
Angel: Jen is gaudy.
We ended up spending 1.5 hours in the museum. The palais has a garden in the back that has a wonderful view of the Eiffel Tower...provided that it's not foggy of course:
When we left the museum, we were shocked to see that the line--instead of shortening--had lengthened to twice as long:
We waited an hour in line to get in. Imagine how long of a wait these people are in for!
We rode the metro to the Saint Paul stop so that we could get croissants at the Aux desirs de Manon. Last time we were in Paris, we walked all the way over here. This time, we tried to figure out the metro stop for it, and oh look, it even shows the metro stop on the napkin:
Their croissant amandes is to die for. I love their pain chocolat aux amandes (almond croissant with chocolate). When I was ordering, the lady said they'd sold out of the pain chocolat. We were bummed, so we bought more of the croissant amandes to make up for this.
Angel's picking out the best bite, the almond paste that oozed out during baking:
As Baby peered into the bag, she noticed that one of the croissants the lady had put in looked different from the regular almond croissants. As it turns out, there was one chocolate croissant left--and somehow we got it!
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| See that chocolate? Yum! |
There's a G20 and Franprix next to the patisserie that we really liked shopping at last time. The G20 had the lowest price for Cote d'Or chocolate bars...but now we think it's expensive, given that we'd spent so much time in the French countryside. Though G20 did happen to sell Mom's favorite tarte aux pommes (French apple pie), so we bought a bunch of that. Baby saw a box of Delacre cookies that had Mickey and Minnie on it--and she kept jumping up and down, saying she wanted it. There was only one box, so I let her buy it :T
We also bought our dinner from G20, and came home, showered, and ate it in the comfort of our apartment:
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| Puff Pastry cheese and ham--and we bought more cheese to top it off |
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| It was delicious! We completely smothered it in Emmental |
We paired it with our leftovers of haricot verts and lentils from the other day. Look Mom, we're eating veggies again!
We'd walked back from G20 to our apartment with me carrying the 10 pound grocery bag most of the way. I asked Angel to carry my purse, so that I could carry the groceries more comfortably (though, really, when's 10 pounds ever comfortable to lug?). Baby cut her finger on the sequins of my purse and asked how come I never had any problems cutting myself with my purse.
I replied that she's very delicate. Cut her finger on sequins. Really.
Angel: Not my fault that my skin is not built like a rhinoceros'.
Jen (shaking head): What a delicate little thing.
As a reward for holding my purse (and cutting her finger), I let her stop in the McDonald's on Rue Rivoli (across from Hotel de Ville) on the way back home for some macarons. The place was crowded and the service was rushed. Horrid, in Angel's words. We bought a box of macarons (4.95 euros for 6) but the cashier dumped them in a bag. I said, "What about the box?" And the cashier said they were out of boxes. I think they were just so rushed, she didn't want to take the time to construct the box. :T She also only dumped 5 macarons into the bag, when I'd ordered 6. Seriously, McD's. Not cool. You need to retrain your employees.
Angel: We got 3 pistachio macarons, 1 apricot, 1 green citrus, and 1 vanilla. The apricot tasted ok; Jen said it was like apricoture.
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| Apricot macaron |
The green citrus macaron tasted like some kind of Jolly Rancher candy and was a bit artificial tasting. Meh.
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| Green citrus |
The vanilla macaron tasted like creme anglaise. It was pretty good (obviously not on par with Pierre Herme but serviceable for a McD's macaron); Jen even liked it. Haha Jen likes vanilla! Now maybe next time we go on a trip Dad can have a scoop of vanilla ice cream. =P
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| Vanilla macaron |
The pistachio macaron also somehow tasted like an ice cream custard. I think after this trip I'm done with McD's macarons. They tend to be heavier (haha so Jen thinks they're more bang for the buck as that usually means more almond flour in the batter), which I don't mind, but the ganaches leave something to be desired. Still, they're better than the macarons from a lot of real patisseries - no joke.
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| Pistachio macaron |
Now done with McD macarons and on to Pierre Herme macarons...
Another example of the superior macaron quality at the Bonaparte Pierre Herme boutique. The olive oil/vanilla macaron had many more pieces of olive and the ganache was silkier. Note to self (and also to Jen the Oreo inhaler who is probably going to try to tell me they are the same): always buy macarons at the Bonaparte boutique.
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| Olive oil and vanilla macaron |
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| Rose macaron |
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| Rose and quince macaron |
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