Cheery And Cheer: Travelogue - Christmas in Paris 2014

I can't believe this when I say that this trip was my 4th visit to Paris in 2 1/2 years but I mention it to explain what particular kind of trip this one turned out to be. The first was our honeymoon - part of a 6 week France/Italy tour we took a couple months after marrying where we went to all the places first timers go (I being the first timer). The second was a whirlwind one day excursion with my son Heath and his wife Emma where we walked them to death on a huge loop of the most beloved areas there, the third was with Dan's daughter Brooke and her family for 4 days where they mostly did their thing and we ourselves explored new places and areas of the city instead of the popular tourist spots we'd already done. This Christmas trip was the food trip (and one museum). I'd been taking notes of restaurants, bakeries, and the best hot chocolate spots since our last trip for perhaps a future one years away and really didn't know we would be going again so soon - but I was ready with an itinerary. We were to arrive again in the early morning after a night flight and I was determined that no matter what, I would be cheery. Fortunately, we were able to check in right away and sleep for 3 hours.

We stayed at a hotel called Hotel Parc Saint Severin right in the heart of the Latin Quarter. Nothing fancy but totally adequate, cute, and a killer location.

Hotel on the left, church by same name (Saint Severin) on right

View out one of our windows, geraniums blooming in December. I deadheaded a few.

After a three hours nap, we made ourselves get up even though we were groggy so as not to waste any more time! We set off to reacquaint ourselves with these cobbled, windy, crowded streets, saw places we had eaten at before and chose a little bistro on Rue Saint Germain where we ate steak with a fried egg on top and salad for our combined breakfast/lunch. This was our day to adapt and wander so we did just that, walking for hours and just soaking Paris back in. And visiting the first two bakeries on my list. That evening, the restaurant we had reserved with, Bofinger, in the Bastille area, cancelled us for reasons unknown. So we went to a little creperie on the I'le de Saint Louis and ate delightful buckwheat crepes filled with meat and cheese, salad, and we split a dense flourless chocolate torte floating in creme anglaise.

Our Creperie

Buckwheat crepes - they are so tasty!

First bakery on list - Eric Kayser - reported to make some of the best bread in Paris, especially his pain de cereals, and of all things, his chocolate chip cookies! And yes, they are one of the best cookies I have ever eaten at a bakery - most bakery cookies anywhere seem to disappoint, strangely enough. We determined that we would come back the day before leaving Paris to buy 6 more cookies, two to eat (one each), and freeze the 4 others so I could use them to try and duplicate his recipe. They are caramelly, buttery, crunchy, intensely chocolately with tiny walnut pieces throughout and light and and airy.

I had read about the creme covered meringues in general in David Lebovitz's cookbook My Paris Kitchen and have his version of a recipe for them. We enjoyed watching these be made through the window at the bakery on Rue Monge, Latin Quarter area, Patisserie Aux Merveilleux

These pastries flew out of this bakery - meringues covered with creme chantilly and rolled in shaved dark or white chocolate. We weren't' allowed to buy just one small one; you had to buy a box of 6 or 12 or a long cake so we passed, darn it! Instead we bought the ganache filled pasty you'll see below.

Every street seemed to have its own lighting theme - they were so lovely to look at all over the city. Rue d'Ecole de Medecine where we would eat breakfast the following morning at Patisserie Viennoise there on the left.

This beauty in a soft bread made with eggs, milk and slightly sweet filled with wonderful ganache. We ate it over a period of three days it was so rich and stayed soft and scrumptious.

Notre Dame

Notre Dame gargoyles

Notre Dame - our hotel was across the street from it so we passed by it every day.

Rue St Louis en L' I'le - this is such a charming street that we walked through it a couple times a day all week.

Near the creperie the first night on the Ile St. Louis, we passed by a gallery with this oil painting in the window and I was so captivated by it that I had to take a picture to remember it by. I would purposely pass by that same gallery a couple times a day for the whole week just to stop and look at it as we made our way to other places. On Christmas day I walked by to look at it again and it was gone - sold!

Tuesday, the 23rd, our second day, we headed to the Patisserie Viennoise for breakfast. David Lebovitz, the American pastry chef who lives full time in Paris wrote in his book The Sweet Life in Paris about a hot chocolate that he considers to be one of the best. I drink hot chocolate every day of my life and have for decades so drinking superb hot chocolate a la ancienne daily was one of our goals for this trip. This place is tiny and the window and counter is jam packed with amazing looking pastries and there are two tiny rooms with tables and a very narrow counter on one wall so that if you can't sit down, you can squeeze yourself between the wall and horde of people at the counter and drink your beverage. Dan ordered his hot chocolate with whipped cream and I without. The hot chocolate according to David, is made fresh each morning in a big cauldron with whole milk and bittersweet bar chocolate. This hot chocolate is super bitter and thick and if you get the whipped cream, you get as much of that as you do the chocolate. Dan needed to add a bit of sugar to his but I enjoyed it bittersweet as it was. I was so thrilled to be able to check off this experience on my must do list! The pastries were yummy too.

Dan heading in - I was so excited to try the hot chocolate I could hardly stand it!

Isn't it beautiful?

That counter and that window behind it are the working spaces for the waitresses and where the goodies are. Tiny!

An interesting french woman sitting next to us

After breakfast we headed back to the I'le St. Louis to buy perfume at "my" perfumer, Nicolai, which was to be my Christmas present - yay!!

Love these streets!

Back again - oh the anticipation!

I put little white cards in front of the possibilities and then placed the cards on top of the lids of a couple winners.

Merry Christmas to me - thank you Dan, my love! (He patiently sat in a chair and watched my selection process - it was fun for him, really!)

Charming street on this lovely, overcast day

After the perfume adventure, we headed to the Marais area in the 4th arrondissement - one of my favorite neighborhoods. We watched ice skating at the Hotel de Ville then walked up and down delightful streets, perused little shops, found a chocolatier I had read about called Pralus where we purchased some gorgeous chocolates and one of the best breads I have ever tasted! A small round loaf of sweet bread loaded with candied almonds which are pink colored. It was fresh out of the oven and we tore in to it! It was difficult to not eat the whole thing, and we didn't, because we wanted to enjoy our next stop, lunch.

I'm constantly looking up at windows and wishing I could see what the flats are like in each one.

Another Aux Merveilleux - we had to watch her for awhile. So fun.

These were gorgeous - and a line of customers out the door

We popped in to this bakery just to see this mountain of brownies! We did buy one but they weren't chocolatey enough for our taste.

I don't know the name of this bakery but we tried a choc chip cookie and they were not good, like most we try, almost always a disappointment in any country (except for Levain in NYC and Eric Kayser in Paris)

And their carrot cakes - untasted but pretty cute with real carrot slices on top.

We bought a box of Pralus chocolates which will pack well because the pretty boxes are metal

The incredible almond bread at Pralus!! Addictive! I lament living so far from this bread.

Our lunch stop

Lunch! The round thing on the left is an omelette. Simple and hearty. That's Poilane bread under my ham and eggs - fab!

In the Marais, find Rue Vielle du Temple and then Rosiers off of it - this section is darling; twisty cobbled streets full of delicious little shops, a Jewish neighborhood, killer falafel, so, so adorable! I found another wonderful unique perfumer here called Graine de Pastel, made in the Toulouse area of France. And look at that neighborhood Christmas lighting.

I just thought this corner building was so pretty

Food suggestions for Sabbath dinner

Jewish bakery

Another favorite spot we've been to all four times - Place des Vosges - a park surrounded by buildings you see on all four sides and great little cafes and shops. After this park closed, we headed to the Bastille area to find our reserved restaurant for dinner, Le Train Bleu.

Landmark for the Bastille area - the lights behind it are some kind of circus type ride.

Our restaurant - we got there just as it opened. Americans eat earlier than the locals. It started to fill up pretty quickly. This restaurant was built in 1900 in the then brand new Lyon Station as part of the Paris Exhibition. The ceiling paintings are all original. The food was wonderful. The service, impeccable, the atmosphere kept our heads turning studying the artistry.