Wednesday, March 15, 2006

La Vie En Rose, Part Deux

Here are the second batch of photos. I'm hoping it will give you the feeling of doing a little Parisian window-shopping. In French, window shopping is "lecher les vitrines" which means, literally, to lick the windows. I certainly can understand the urge.




The first is a cheese shop that had so many stinky cheeses that you could smell them outside on the sidewalk. Next are three photos from the home of the macaroons, La Duree.


Even though it's a cliche, whenever you glimpse the Eiffel Tower you can't help but stop and smile. And I did pop my head into Notre Dame just to get a whiff of the incense and the ghosts of the millions of pilgrims who have worshipped there.
The last photo is my last night there, taken on the Champs Elysees. It was one of my few visits to tourist Paris, which really is a whole different world than the back streets and nooks and crannies that are what makes the place so wonderful.

La Vie En Rose

Okay gang, so maybe the posts now are going to be quarterly. But I've promised to post some of my photos from my recent trip to Paris. So here they are. You will not be surprised to see there are lots of food photos. I am amazed to report that it is indeed possible to grow tired of pain au chocolat.

It was a great trip -- one where I wasn't trying to see all the sites since I'd already seen them. It was more about "being there" and experiencing Paris, staying with a friend who lives there. Occasionally I'd buy a baguette and walk back to her place with it under my arm, pretending I lived there. It always made me laugh.

The top photo here is of a famous art deco building. Why, oh why, do we not have more of these floating around in the US? I think there are people out there who hate Art Deco, but they are just silly.

To the right: famous hot chocolate at Angelina's. Not the included whipped cream, an item that is laughably superflous in adding additional richness to the hot chocolate. The hot chocolate is practically melted butter and chocolate anyhow. Yeah, I know. It was a fun place to hang out anyhow, very historic and crammed with all kinds of fashion-world people who were there are some sort of exclusive show taking place across the street.




Above, the ubiquitous market shot. Springtime in Paris! To the left, the sailboat guy near the Louvre. And below are the fabulous macaroons of LaDuree. These are cookies in such quirky flavors as rose petal, olive oil (odd but not bad), black pepper (blah!), and passionfruit. So, so, so good. And quite expensive, may I add.
This post will only let me do five. Let me see if I can add a few more in the next post.