I'm telling you, it's impossible to resist the brightly colored awnings on the streets of Paris....beneath each one is a window full of the most amazing.....
.....unbelievable......
incredible.....
TREATS!!! This particular place was also a cafe and we decided to take a little break to try their Crocque-Monsieur.
The daughter of a very dear friend, Kelly, had asked me to please try this sandwich while in Paris and to report back to her what I thought. It is basically a grilled cheese sandwich with a cheese sauce on the top.....but there isn't anything "basic" about the taste of this sandwich, so I can't leave with that description. The bread....oh my....is more dense than our sandwich bread and very buttery. Two bread slices are buttered and filled with ham and cheese, most often Gruyere, Emmental or other Swiss-type cheese. It is then grilled, then topped with a Bechamel sauce and more cheese, then browned under the broiler. It's one sandwich that you must eat with a fork! We all agreed that it was awesome!
Back out on the streets.....more brightly canopied shops!!!
Each "neighborhood" has it's own
similar row of shops....from the left, the Poissonnerie (seafood), Boucherie (meats), Volaille (poultry), Charcuterie (pork, deli meats), Fromager (cheese), Vins (wine) and, not shown, the Boulangerie (breads) and Patisserie (pastries). There is also at least one produce market, too! And don't forget the grocery stores, which are smaller than what we have here, in most cases. I just can't imagine being able to walk out my front door every day to the freshest meats, vegetables, cheese and baked goods!
And every now and then......
....there's a McDonalds!!! I think I might visit a McDonald's here if we had these neat little areas to sit with our meal, watch the world go by and enjoy a little WiFi. No, we didn't stop in here....but we did have a taste of French McDonald's food....more on that later.
After quite a bit more walking, we ended up in this great little cafe for a little dinner.....
No, I have no idea what it was called.....or exactly where it was. I guess this is what happens when you're walking the streets of Paris and you see a cute little bistro, stop in for a bit of wine (because it's cheaper than water) or hot chocolate (with brandy, of course!). But I will tell you that this was one of our best meals.
Melinda and I had the Moule, which is mussels cooked in a wine, garlic, shallots and butter sauce. That pot was FULL and they were delicious! (Note: recipe coming soon to a cooking blog near you!)
Brad had the French Onion Soup, which was one of the better ones we tasted while there (I think we tried it 3 diffrent times/3 different places).
But the best thing ordered at that table was the dish Dennis had. It was smoked herring, which I'm not fond of.....but it had this incredible potato salad in the middle....and I had a tough time keeping my fork off of his plate. It wasn't like anything I'd ever had! I will try to duplicate this recipe....and I will share.
By this time, it was dark and we headed back toward the Batobus for the rest of the tour of the Seine.....but not before stopping into this elegant vin shop for a bottle of wine for the ride. I took pics of the inside, but....hey, blame it on the wine...that we'd already had!
This is a real Christmas tree! They have them everywhere in every color....and they're flocked! They are gorgeous.....
I know.....but it's still a cool picture, don't you think!
Anyway, when we got back down to the loading point for the boat, it was pouring down rain again....and there was only ONE more boat for the night. So, we boarded....but not before getting a picture of Notre Dame at night....
....and our last stop was right back where we started....we grabbed our bottle of wine....
and got off the boat to enjoy the views of the Eiffel at night.....so gorgeous!
There are fabulous pictures of all of Paris' sights all over the internet....and I think I saw most of them before we went, but none can really give you the full spectacle unless you are standing right there.
We headed inland toward the Metro so we could get a view of the tower once the new LED light show went off....tried to get a movie of it, but....oh well....more wine, please!
Wine = creative picture? Ummm...maybe not!
Anway...here she is lit up....again, nothing compared to what it looks like in action!
After watching the show, we started back in the direction of our neighborhood via the Metro....and saw more of those little flocked trees!
Once we got to the Metro, we decided the Melinda and Brad had to see Pigalle.....so, we headed back to the spicier side of town. There is more to that area than sex shops and the like....there are lots of little bistros, cafes and sidewalk eateries.....we stopped at this one for crepes...
While munching on the crepes, we walked down some side streets....uhhh, a little scary at first. We also took a step into the Musee de Erotisme (Erotic Museum), but since it was late (sounds good, right?) we didn't go in for the full tour.......but it was different!
As we did the first night, we passed this shop....
....and Melinda starts talking to the two guys out front! It cost 20 euros (about $30+) per person to go inside. ( Conversation out front: "You want to do what? Uhhh.......what happened to that white bag with the wine in it? It's gone? Not happenin'! ") Soooo....she's trying to talk the guy into letting all four of us in for 20 euros! Thank God he didn't fall for it, although after reading the reviews (Click here) I'm really thanking him. I can just imagine how this blog would be reading right now if we had gotten in! Would I have gone? Probably....just so I could blog about it....not that I would have.
So, back to the Metro and the ride home....next stop, Metro Notre Dame de Lorette....home!
2 comments:
Great pictures!
You are kidding, right!? Most of the pics are blurred...oh well...I was having fun!
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