La Vie Parisienne

Last weekend I traveled to Paris, France to meet up with the wonderful Evyn Staley and get to see Paris through her eyes. Having been to Paris before, I wanted an insider's look at this beautiful city as opposed to seeing all the typical tourist spots.

Upon arrival, we grabbed lunch at Les Deux Magots, a cafe made famous through clientele such as Ernest Hemingway. Being in Paris made me realize how much I missed my breakfast and lunch foods. While I adore Rome's Italian food, the Italians seem to have a very different perspective on breakfast and lunch, believing that pizza and pasta are acceptable meals for any time of the day (not that I'm complaining!). We followed up lunch with a walking tour of the city, through the Louvre gardens, Notre Dame, Lover's Locks Bridge, and of course Ladurée.

Lover's Locks Bridge

Salted Caramel, Raspberry, Coffee, Chocolate Coconut, Pistachio, and Hazelnut Macaroons

(The pistachio were my favorite!)

The Louvre

We finished up the day with a typical parisian home cooked meal of roasted eggplant, zucchini, and brussel sprouts, a fresh baguette from the bakery down the street, various cheeses, apples and pears, and plenty of wine. I will definitely attempt to recreate this meal back in Rome!

Repetto's famous ballet flats

Friday, Evyn took me to Le Marais, a young trendy area of Paris that strongly reminded me of New York City's Soho. Le Marais is a great area for shopping, eating, and people watching. Though the stores were a tad pricy, it was still fun to window shop.









Saturday we began our day with brunch at Brasserie Lipp, a famous French brasserie, known for their French cuisine. It was a beautiful sunny day, so after brunch we made our way to the Luxembourg Gardens. One of the cultural differences that I have noticed between the Europeans and Americans is the Americans lack of appreciation for parks. Europe is filled with beautiful parks where tons of people can be spotted reading, running, and relaxing. Due to the weather, Luxembourg was filled with tourists and parisians alike, sunbathing, strolling, and sailing toy sailboats in the pond.

After sunbathing, Evyn insisted that I try Angelina's famous le chocolat chaud a l'ancienne l'African (or to us Americans, old fashion hot chocolate called, "The African"). Conveniently for us, there was an Angelina's right in the Luxembourg Gardens. We ordered the hot chocolate along with Evyn's favorite dessert, the mont blanc. Now for those of you who do not like sweets or chocolate, this is not the drink for you. "The African" was basically melted chocolate with a hearty dollop of whipped cream. It was by far the richest hot chocolate I have ever had, and I highly recommend it for all chocolate lovers.

French Onion Soup

Later that evening Evyn took me to a cafe known for amazing french onion soup, a must try when in France. We also ordered vin chaud, a hot spiced red wine mixed with cinnamon, sugar, and oranges. Both were amazing. Vin chaud seemed to be the French's version of sangria, and was the perfect thing to warm you up on a chilly night. 

The perfect view

My last day was bittersweet. I loved Paris-the food, fashion, people watching...So we made the last day memorable with a walk to see the Eiffel tower followed by tea at Ladurée. Paris is a beautiful city with so much to see and do, I can't wait to be back!