Day 7 in Paris

On Mondays, many markets and businesses are still closed (to "ease" back into the work week). How inconvenient for us. Note to self: the next Paris trip I take will be from Tuesday through Sunday, avoiding May 1st (or come to think of it, ANY national French holiday!) and including the 1st Sunday of each month (so to enter museums for free)
As a result, our researching and planning turned up Places des Vosges and Bastille as basically the only sights we could see today... of which, one is a public square and the other is a monument in the middle of a busy traffic intersection :T
We took the metro for the first time today! As both Places des Vosges and Bastille are pretty far away, we braved the metro. It is cleaner than NYC's metro, but a lot grungier looking than Taiwan's. It was rush hour, so the trains were packed, but people were pretty respectful of personal space, etc. My one big complaint is that there are certain stops where the metro will stop and wait 5-7 minutes for people to get off and on the train. Is that really necessary?
But the day turned out pleasantly well, because many bakeries were open. You could really say that today was our croissant day! ^.^
We started at Boulangerie Malineau, known for their chocolate-raspberry croissants and chocolate-banana croissants. Absolutely fantastic! I think I am a fan for life! The topmost layer was crunchy yet light, the middle layers were flaky but moist, and the stuffing did not weigh the dough down (as in mushy layering) but was still plenty so you could get the taste of what stuffing is in the croissant.



We soon realized that walking down the Rue de Rivoli, there are lots of patisseries. And since it is morning, many croissants are featured (they usually sell out by afternoon). We crossed the street specifically because Aux Desirs de Manon looked like it had a tempting display:



We bought a pain au amandes (almond croissant) that was DAMN GOOD. Just look at the texture! And the frangipan!

We also bought a croissant with chocolate and custard inside (very interesting! I've never seen that combination before!) which was incredibly delicious as well.

C'est la, Bastille. It was a freezing cold day! Not good to be outdoors! The original prison was destroyed, with nothing of the original left but a wall. They erected this monument on the sight of the destroyed prison, with (can't see with my picture) names written all around the monument in gold.

We passed by a bakery with croissant au jambon. Since we don't see it at many bakeries, whenever we come across one, we HAVE to get it. This was an even better deal, for 6.10 euros, you get a croissant au jambon, a boissons (drink of your choice) and dessert of your choice.


For dessert, we chose a strawberry custard tart (I think it has a thin layer of frangipan on a short dough crust). Angel insists that when we went to Chinese school, you guys would buy this for us from Grain D'or. I don't remember but Angel says we even bought it for our birthdays?

It was delicious as well. I loved the strawberries! I bit into one strawberry and set aside half of it because I could not fit everything into my mouth in one go, but a second later, that half was gone. Angel snatched it from me! She said she didn't think I liked strawberries so she might as well eat it... without even asking me! Tsktsk.
Places des Vosges is known for its distinctive brick architectural style.


It's supposedly one of the prettiest planned residential squares in all of Europe. Victor Hugo lived here. His house is open to the public, but unfortunately closed on Mondays.

Now, it is home to many different art galleries. In the back, there is a door that enters into Hotel Sully, that the Duke of Sully designed for his family.



It is under renovation, so no visitors allowed inside.
Bibi told us the other day that Pierre Herme just opened up a new shop across from the Louvre, on rue Cambon. I was craving Angelina's hot chocolate, so we stopped by there to pick one up to-go (it is 1.2 euros cheaper to buy to-go than it is to sit in the salon to drink it! The Mont Blanc is 1.8 euros cheaper to-go as well!). They sell macarons too, and since we didn't try any of them yesterday, we bought some today.
Herme is a 2-minute walk from Angelina's, so we stopped by to see the fuss. There was nobody there... maybe the store is too new and nobody knows of it yet? The store didn't show up in any of the guide books and not online searches either. Supposedly he does a foie gras macaron, as well as a white truffle. Unfortunately (I seem to be saying that word a LOT in France), the foie gras flavor (we were told by the store clerk) is sold only in winter. Nevertheless, we selected 6 flavors to try and Angel was extremely happy... reminded me of a 6-year child proudly showing his parents the gold fish he caught (you remember that Taiwanese game?). Such a child....

Yikes, 1:30 already! I better get to sleep... will post macaron pictures later!

Day 6 in Paris

We got up really really really early today to go to the Louvre, since the 1st Sunday of each month, most all Paris museums are free. The last couple of days here were sunny and pleasantly warm, but forecast said rain today and BOY did we feel it! Right when we got out of the hotel, it was automatically 20 degrees colder than inside! Freezing weather! The walk to the Louvre warmed us up as we were hurrying along, but it did start raining halfway through the day, on and off, with sunshine and stormy clouds doing a sort of tango-dance, vying for spotlight.
We stopped by Laduree for a chocolate pistachio croissant for our petit-dejeuner.


We also bought a small entremet cake from Laduree (cute lips!)

It is a white cake with raspberry filling and french vanilla buttercream, with a white chocolate shell on the outside (it was kinda hard to eat, especially since we were standing in line outside the Louvre... you had to use the fork to forcefully break the exterior white chocolate shell, but it is quite a treat when you get to the inside ~__^)

I thought we were gonna be the first in line... having gotten up around 6:50AM today and arriving by 8:30AM. The line was already winding around at least 10 times in front of the pyramid (small winding thankfully). By the time we walked out of the Louvre, people were winding up not only in front of the pyramid, but all the way to the back courtyard! There were so many people there! A picture of the line (and this is taken from at least 100 feet away):

A look at the line of people waiting to get in from the inside of the Louvre (I think we were on the 2nd etage at that point):

It's funny how one person knows where to go, and everyone follows. I don't know how we really ended up seeing all the most famous sights within the first 30 minutes of entering, except that you see EVERYONE going toward one direction and you just follow along! The Winged Victory statue was first up... made all the more awe-inspiring because it is located on the top of the staircase with natural light shining down on it.


Mona Lisa was second, and for the first time, I finally understood! You always see her watching you in pop culture movies and cartoons, but I never really thought the real painting was like that. But we walked from one end of the room to the other, and she was looking at us the whole time! We were lucky to get to the front for some good shots. Here we are on her left-hand side:

And here, we are on her right-hand side:

Venus de Milo is downstairs from Mona Lisa and Angel thought she looked pretty ripped :) I love how the Grecian marble sculptures sparkle... something about that marble ~__^


After the first 3 (the ones Angel HAD to see), we wandered throughout the whole museum. We saw some really interesting paintings and trinkets... Angel told me to pose like the King,

And here's one I think looks like Angel cackling:

We also saw Napoleon III's apartments. I love the gold accents contrasted with the light blue, light green and coral-red colors.



Angel was following me around and complaining that the Louvre is boring and how it was enough of museums for today. The bebe complains A LOT... has to go the bathroom, has to buy water :P Here is a good moment for her (as she got mad at me for making her carry an EMPTY bag earlier this morning):

The Musee de l'Orangerie is right next to the Louvre and how can you not go see MONET??? Plus it's also free today, so we went, where it started POURING. Thank goodness we had umbrellas. The Musee gave out free umbrella bags and they are so pretty, with paintings on them! I loved the Monets... his color palette is to die for! I swear I can stare at his paintings the whole day!


I was surprised to see Renoir and Picasso also featured here, as well as Cezanne and Matisse. Although the Picasso display is of his earlier works, so the style he is known for was not on display here. They were more of uncolored sketches of the human form. Renoir is fabulous, but again, the paintings he is known for are not on display here.


There was another painter on prominent showcase, Paul Klee, supposedly the most famous 20th century surrealism artist. Angel thinks that if he hadn't had a famous patron, there's no way he would have become famous. I didn't get most of his paintings either... although there was one I liked ("A Gate") because of how he used black and white mediums to create a mystical artistic piece. Unfortunately, my camera died just before entering the Klee showcase because I snapped too many shots at the Louvre, so I wasn't able to get any of his paintings in.
Angel declared NO MORE MUSEUMS (too bad we bought the Rodin and d'Orsay tickets already... muahaha!).
Across from the Louvre is a famous Salon de The (tea salon), called Angelina's. They are known for their Chocolat Africain (hot chocolate) and the Mont Blanc.

Both are absolutely delicious! The hot chocolate is so thick and smooth and creamy and DARK! It tasted almost as if they added in cocoa powder to get the slight bitterness (enhances the chocolate flavor more). I thought I would just scoop off the chestnut puree on the Mont Blanc and leave the traditional whipped cream and meringue to Angel. But Angel said it tasted better all together, so I tried it, and it really does bring out the chestnut flavor and texture more. So naturellement, we went to the G20 supermarket afterward to buy canned chestnut paste :) ... As well as Bordeaux wine, Sauternes and Cote du Rhone, cuz they were so cheap! I believe the Bordeaux was like 2 euro for a regular sized bottle!
For dinner, we ate a Le DoReMi, a local bistro Bibi had recommended. Originally we went to the Yuppies Cafe (BAD name!) because the menu looked good, but we sat down, waited 5 minutes before a server even paid attention to us, and it turns out that the chef doesn't arrive til later so the only thing we could order was pretty much only drinks (by then it was already nearing 7pm!). So yes, walked a couple of blocks to DoReMi, where I ordered the tartare de boeuf with pomme frites and Angel had croque monsieur with pomme frites and SALAD (if I don't write this now, she'll edit it later to proudly tell you that she ate 3 leaves of salad).

We're beginning to think you can't go wrong with a bistro in Paris. The food was amazing! Angel kept raving about the bread of the croque monsieur. I kept raving about how creamy the tartare was. And for only 23 euros total! Including tip!
Upon arriving back to our hotel, we changed rooms to a "luxury" room. It is slightly larger, with one separate room for the toilet vs. the shower and we have our own twin bed (so I won't kick her late at night), but the closet is smaller.
As tomorrow is Monday, many businesses are closed (YET again!) so it took us a long time to plan out our schedule tomorrow, which is why I must sleep now.

Day 5 in Paris

Since it is May Day and everything is closed for France's National Labor Day Holiday, we walked to the Bois de Boulogne, a huge park twice the size of New York's Central Park and London's Hyde Park. It was the brainchild of Baron Haussman in the 1800s and the neighborhood surrounding it is still some of the most expensive Paris real estate today. It is an incredibly beautiful park where you cannot even tell that Paris, the city, is right next door. It was as if time stood still and all you see around you is nature's glory. We sat on a park bench to eat gariguette strawberries, which, while very fragrant, tasted akin to fruit roll-ups. It has a lightly candied taste.

We saw ducks and their little ducklings swim by us during our picnic. There was only one female duck, but many male ducks that kept chasing her. They flew all around the lake! I have never seen an American duck even fly 2 feet off the ground, but these ducks were flying at least 30 feet in the air, flying all across the lake! I made up a story that the female duck is the princess and the male ducks are courting & attending her. Angel said the female duck is the local whore >__< Ruin my story!


We walked to Roland Garros tennis stadium where the French Open is held afterwards. It is pretty close to the Bois de Boulogne, but as the Bois de Boulogne itself is a monstrous park, the walk there took just about an hour. We saw the Phillippe Chartrier & Suzanne Langlen tennis courts, the two most famous courts.
The walk back was PAINFUL! By then we had already walked about 3 hours, and the walk back to the hotel took another 2 hours, as the Roland Garros is at the very southwest edge of Paris. J'ai faim (I'm hungry!).
Upon arriving back at Sofitel, an employee came to check the minibar to restock anything if necessary (no). At the same time, the concierge came by to drop off a letter from the guest relations manager. She wanted to meet with us on Monday or Tuesday, due to my complaint to Accor hotels, which Sofitel is a part of.
We went to the front desk to arrange the appointment, but the manager was available to meet with us. Bibi took us to the bar, where she asked if we wanted champagne or cocktails. We opted for tea and butter cookies. We chatted for about an hour about the differences between France and the US (She's planning a trip to SF and NYC this year). In France supermarkets, there are whole aisles devoted to cheese and pate (foie gras, lapin, porc, etc) and most are reasonably priced. You never see this in US supermarkets! US macarons and steak tartare are more expensive than France, but bagels and donuts are expensive in France (AND gaining popularity here too!). She said regular donuts are 4 euros EACH and a smoked salmon bagel is 8 euros! Anyway, I explained to her our horrible experience with Audrey when we were checking in, and how rude she was to us, not letting us speak to the manager on duty about our situation. Bibi apologized and said it should have never escalated as far as it did, and if we were willing to pack our bags tonight, she would move us to a luxury room tomorrow, as well as reverse the extra person supplement charge! During our conversation, I said I have not been able to get a good picture of the Eiffel Tower at night and she offered to take us to the Sofitel penthouse so that I could take a picture. We had a very positive experience with Bibi (even prior to that, I think we didn't want Audrey to ruin our trip so we deliberately pushed the whole experience to the back of our minds... I mean, it's Paris! I've been dreaming about this for so long!) and hope everything tomorrow will go as scheduled and planned. Bibi gave each one of us a little bouquet of Lily of the Valley flowers. It is a tradition on May 1st in France to give your loved ones a bouquet of these flowers, and if the bouquet you receive has 13 flowers in it, you'll have good luck for the coming year.
Jennifer's had 13 and Angel's had 16, but that's only because Jennifer stole the one Angel was supposed to get. She's a spoiled witch. <-- BULLSHIT!!!! Bibi gave each one of us one and I happened to get the one with 13! Le petit magot!

Reminds me of when we were little and went to Sunnyvale Recreation Center for the Easter Egg Hunt, and I pulled the carrot with the aluminum foil on it and Angel threw a tantrum because she didn't pull one with foil wrapped on it. <-- Jen always steals stuff from poor little children.

Pour dinner, the concierge Alain made reservations for us at a local trendy bistro for 8pm pour deux. It is off the Champs-Elysees.

We ordered a prix-fixe of beef terrine with salad,


entree of steak tartare with pomme frites and mayo,

and beef shephard's pie. Oh my god it was so good! The tartare was melt-in-your-mouth, a hint of mustard and Angel loved the creamyness paired with the crunchiness of the frites. The terrine was outstanding~ perfectly seasoned, creamy smooth...
Our walk back to the hotel after dinner~