A Guide to Eating in Paris

We use affiliate links in our posts and our site. This means if you make a purchase using these links, we may earn a small commission. You don’t pay a cent more than you would otherwise! Our full disclosure is available under About.

I have found that you have been enjoying reading my Paris posts.  Today I am writing about eating in Paris.  These include things that I believe are a must-try!  I’ll tell you how to save some money while eating in Paris and I’ll give you some tips if you are a vegetarian headed to Paris!

A Guide to Eating in Paris
a raspberry tart… enjoyed on my birthday!

The Croissant
Let’s start with the most obvious thing that you must try – the croissant.  The French croissant is nothing like any croissant I’ve ever had in the USA.  It’s just so much better.  To get the very best croissants, you need to enjoy it by 10AM. Why? Because the croissants are baked very early in the morning and have a short shelf-life… enjoyed in the afternoon, they will loose some of their crunch.

For half of our mornings in Paris, we would go just down the street to Eric Kayser and enjoy a cappuccino and a fresh croissant. While Eric Kayser is a chain, don’t let that fool you – he has written a book and still produces some of the best baguettes and croissants in the city!

Croissant and Cappuccino from Eric Kayser
eating at Eric Kayser

Another croissant we enjoyed… from Boulangerie Julien Paris!
French Croissant
Of course, if you like almonds… the croissant aux amandes is always a good choice!

Now this funny looking croissant that looks like it has 2 sunny side up eggs is actually a croissant aux abricots AKA apricot croissant. It was quite tasty!
croissant aux abricots
BUT, my MOST FAVORITE croissant of all was the ispahan croissant from Pierre Herme. THIS IS THE BEST CROISSANT EVER!!! Yes, I’m shouting because it deserves that type of praise. Get there early in the morning as they sell out quickly!

Pierre Herme Ispahan Croissant AKA the best croissant in Paris!

The perfect croissant has a little crunch to it then filled with layers of buttery goodness.  Honestly, I have never had a bad croissant in Paris. You can look at reviews of the “best croissant” in Paris, but I find them all to be good.  In fact, my first croissant from Paris was one by Dad brought home for me… it was smashed and survived the 12 hour flight home… and I still remember proclaiming how it was the best croissant I’d ever had ever… until I met the ispahan croissant, that is!


The Baguette
Everyone knows France is famous for their baguettes.  Why? Because they are SO GOOD.  Every morning, many locals head to the local boulangerie to pick up a fresh baguette.  What’s not to love about fresh bread?  Well, besides the fact that they all taste delicious, they are only about 1.50 Euros— AKA your cheapest meal in Paris! That’s so cheap for such a good tasting product!! What I also don’t understand, is how universally good all baguettes are in France, yet in the USA we seem to screw it up.  What’s their secret???

hubby with a baguette
hubby with a baguette on a bike… so French!

Sandwiches

You know what tastes good on those baguettes? Cheese. And meat. And fresh tomatoes. For lunch, we always ate a sandwich.  Our favorite places to go to: Paul, Eric Kayser, Le Petit Vendome were our favorite places to go to! Additionally, almost every little bakery has sandwiches in the window. If you’ve never been to Paris, a favorite of many is the Croque Monsier – ham/cheese sandwich. As a vegetarian, I’ve never had it, but I’ve heard from many it is their favorite! I personally love the caprese sandwich.

French sandwich

Butter

Okay, so I know you’re thinking… butter, seriously?  Yes, seriously!  We all know that the French love their butter.  This butter is from happy cows in the Normandy region of France (they’re happy because Normandy is so pretty, who wouldn’t want to live there? j/k). But this butter takes 3 days to make and hours of churning and then getting hand-beaten with wooden panels. It comes in many different flavors, but it seems everyone’s favorite is the Beurre butter (salted butter) as it has flakes of salt in it…. so yummy! Seriously we would eat bread, butter, and fruit for dinner because it was THAT GOOD.  So when you’re in Paris, I recommend stopping by one of these places to get some.

Bordier Butter AKA the best butter in the world from France!
oh, how i love thee!

Below is a selection of all the different types of Bordier Butter – this was at the Le Grand Epicurie!

Bordier Butter

Our finds at Le Grand Epicerie – a fresh loaf of bread, some butter, and some amazing jam! Yep, that was dinner one night – added some cheese. So good.

 

Macarons

Ok, y’all need to try a macaron in Paris. Just one. I recommend trying at least one of these flavors: pistachio, raspberry, or salted caramel. Then if you decide you like macarons, venture out and try some other interesting flavors!  I already wrote about my experience eating at Laduree (famous macaron shop!) and here I wrote about Pierre Herme (the other famous macaron shop!)

Laduree Macarons
Macarons at Laduree

Ice Cream and Gelato

Okay ice cream lovers, this message is for you – you MUST try the ice cream in Europe! It is a bit different than the ice cream here in the states.  The most famous ice cream maker in Paris is Berthillon, located in the Il de la Cite. His ice cream was extremely smooth with NO ice crystals! It was amazing!  The flavors we tried: salted caramel (caramel beurre sale), raspberry (framboise), orange chocolate (gianduia orange). I honestly can’t pick out a favorite. Their salted caramel receives a TON of raves. The raspberry tasted really like raspberry and was delicious. And the chocolate orange? AMAZING.  Now, I read online the two must try flavors were salted caramel and fresh strawberry (fraise de bois). But the fraise de bois wasn’t available when we were there!

raspberry and salted caramel
chocolate orange and salted caramel

There is always a line at Berthillon – do not fear, it goes pretty quickly and is worth the wait. You flew to Paris – you can wait 20 minutes for the best ice cream ever.

 

Another place we tried the gelato at was at Laduree!  It came in these pre frozen containers – we tried lemon (citron) and raspberry (framboise). It was amazing! It included a little macaron on top too!  This was so refreshing on a hot day!

 

Pastries – Gateaux, Viennoiseries
When you walk through Paris (and the rest of France), you are surely to pass some window with a bunch of pastries on display!  They all sing “eat me” as you pass on by!

My absolute FAVORITE gateau (Gateau means cake) is the Fraisier! The Fraisier is basically like a strawberry short cake – only a bit more refined than the American version.  It is SO refreshing and light!  My favorite version is sold by Angelina – my most favorite pastry shop in Paris!
Le Fraisier from Angelina
Oh dear, do I spy more Fraisiers in the window calling my name??  The Fraisier is only available when fresh strawberries are in season. The first days we were in Paris no one had Fraisiers – but the the last TWO days the strawberries ripened and voila! Frasier season time! I love the Fraisier so much, I actually found a European baker in San Francisco who made a Fraisier for our wedding cake!

Of course, you should always try a tart.  This one was a raspberry tart that we celebrated as my birthday cake!

Did I get another Fraisier? Oh, I guess I did.  Oh and what’s that?  a little strawberry tart!  What it nice is that the pastries are usually served in a whole bunch of different sizes – bite size, small, and then large for sharing!

Yes I know this is a crappy picture below, but doesn’t the chocolate look delicious?

Below is a raspberry financier from Eric Kayser.

And we also tried a pistachio financier which was delicious!  I recommend grabbing one of these little viennoiserries and putting it in your purse so you can have a snack during your sight seeing during the day!

Pistachio Financier

One last look at some pastries while window shopping!
Oh! Also, I had saved this website link which contains of a list of the best bakeries in Paris listed by location!

Crepes & Galettes
Another thing you must try in Paris are the crepes! They are so delicious!!!  The other thing that’s nice is that they are a relatively cheap meal!  There are creperies scattered all about the city – some are better than others. I suggest looking at trip advisor or yelp to see which creperies are good near where you want to head to. The savory crepes are actually galled Galettes (not to be confused with the free form pie version). They are served in squares and made with buckwheat flour. The sweet crepes are made with traditional “crepe” recipe that we know of. One of the creperies I do recommend eating at is here near the Louvre – a perfect lunch stop during your day at the Louvre!

a buckwheat galette with cheese, egg, fresh greens, and tomatoes! yummy!!
a raspberry crepe!

Chocolate
Yes, chocolate. You need to try some. La Maison du Chocolat has some of the best chocolate truffles in the world. Go and try one.  I remember someone telling me it was like a symphony in your mouth, as the chocolate melts you get different flavors. Enjoy it. Don’t take the truffle in one bite. Enjoy in 2-3 bites.

I forgot to take a picture of the chocolate because, um, I ate it. It was hot and it was melting and I couldn’t get my camera out fast enough.

image source

 

Alright, the next place that is even MORE famous for chocolate is Angelina’s African hot chocolate (chocolat Africain). This chocolate has 3 different types of chocolate mixed in. It is nothing like your Swiss-Mix. It is like literally drinking liquid chocolate. It is SO rich. You could share it with someone. But you need to try it, at least once. Just know though, that sitting inside Angelina’s costs an absolute fortune – I recommend the takeaway counter.  Although, the dining experience in Angelina’s tea room is really fun!

image source

Head to the Market
Ok, Want to know a secret to save money while dining in Paris? Head to the local market. That’s what the French do. Don’t you want to “eat like the locals”? So then eat like the locals! Here’s what you do – go to the bakery. Get a baguette for 1.50 Euros. Then head to the store. I don’t know French really well, but I learned a few things. If you want to order meats or cheese, you say “tranche, s’il vous plait” (sliced, please!). If you want like 4 slices you say  “quatre tranches, s’il vous plait”. Point to the cheese or you meat you want, as long as your playful and nice, they will help you! Try to say the French words, they will be much nicer to you! Also, don’t grab the vegetables out of the container, please point to them. The storekeeper will get it for you.

Now head back to your place and enjoy a nice French meal – fresh meats, cheese, veggies, bread, grab some wine (or Orangina if you don’t drink) and have a picnic in the park. Or in your hotel. This is how you can save a LOT of money! Also, as a vegetarian, you can really pick what you want! To save money, we brought over some plastic utensils. I highly recommend doing this so you can eat on the cheap!

 

The reason you want to dine at the market for a day or two, is so you can save money to eat at somewhere fancy!

Dine at fancy restaurant
C’mon. It’s Paris. You MUST eat at one nice restaurant! Now, keep in mind. Dinner starts around 8pm. It will last approx 2-3 hours. You are supposed to enjoy the experience and enjoy the food. Enjoy the whole production! It is a show, after all! So stop rushing. Stop staring at the waiter. Do not call the waiter Le garçon. It’s an insult. And don’t be loud in the restaurant, talk in soft voices. Don’t wear your ugly tennis shoes. Wear something fashionable!

Now, as a vegetarian, it is difficult to eat in French restaurants at dinner.  I also don’t speak French, so I don’t know how to politely ask for something vegetarian. The fancy restaurant we ate at that also has a nice vegetarian selection is called Maceo. It was really quite tasty! They have a selection for meat-eaters and vegetarians! It was also one of the fanciest places I’ve dined at before.

Now, there are much fancier restaurants to eat at.  If you are staying in a hotel that has a concierge, your concierge can call the fancy restaurant and request special meal requests (like vegetarian) ahead of time for you. But we stayed in an apartment so that wasn’t an option.

Some of my friends are total foodies and also went to Paris just before and just after us.  They are not vegetarian and they highly recommended trying one of these three fancy restaurants:
Jules Verne, located on the Eiffel Tower. Has the best views of Paris, and is a Michelin star restaurant.
Guy Savoy’s restaurant – two of my friends say this is the best food they have ever had in their entire life. I would hope so, it cost a pretty penny!
Epicure – one of my friends has been here too. They also said this was the best restaurant, best food, and best overall dining experience. But it also the most expensive.

Some pictures of our fancy food we snuck at Maceo…

my vegetable appetizer, how cute is it!

 

Fish appetizer

We forgot to take a picture of the main dish – oops! Got hungry.

dessert, a deconstructed millefeiulle with fresh strawberry ice cream and a praline nougat candy

Where is your favorite place to eat in Paris? Leave me a comment!

If you’ve missed a Paris trip post, catch them ALL RIGHT HERE!

SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave

Follow:

Shopping in Paris – Favorite Shops!

We use affiliate links in our posts and our site. This means if you make a purchase using these links, we may earn a small commission. You don’t pay a cent more than you would otherwise! Our full disclosure is available under About.

Let’s talk about one of my favorite things to do in Paris… Shopping!! Shopping in Paris is every girl’s dream, right?

A Guide to Shopping in Paris - My Favorite Shops!
Shopping in Paris

 

Shopping on Rue St. Honore

Astier de Villate
173 Rue Saint Honore
This shop is the cutest shop full of handmade porcelain.  A lot of the porcelain is in white – their signature look.  But the white is NOT boring… they have interesting motifs.

 

This is what I carried home in my carry-on… these two cute little bud vases! J’adore them!

Herve Chapelier

390 rue Saint Honore

Ever heard of this brand?  It used to be kind of popular in the 90s.  They make great travel bags, beach bags, school bags, and lug-around-town bags.  I used to use one of these for my books in college. Tres chic. I get a bag from here every time I go. I can’t help myself.

image source

Longchamp

404 Rue Saint Honore

Longchamp is a very French brand.  They make beautiful handbags and I’m sure a lot of you already own a Le Pliage bag.  But did you know they are a LOT cheaper in Paris??  For instance, the long champ le pliage large shopper is $145 in the USA.  In Paris, it costs 78 Euros which equals about 90 US dollars (Spring 2015).  If you spend over 150 Euros at this store, you can get the VAT tax back and save an extra 15%.  Just saying… this is a VERY FRENCH and VERY NICE gift for someone (or yourself)!

picture from here

Anne Fontaine

370 Rue Saint Honore

Anne Fontaine is known for making beautiful white blouses.  They are timeless and classic.  They also have trendy designs too.  I highly recommend taking one home… just know they aren’t cheap (uh, is anything in Paris?).

picture from here

Colette 

213 Rue Saint Honore

Everywhere I read on the internet before I left was about how “cool” Colette was.  Honestly, I didn’t think that this store felt very French to me AT ALL.  It reminded me exactly like Kitson, a store in LA.  They had loud music blasting full of a lot ofAmerican brands. I’m sure a lot of people will think this store is cool, but to me it did not feel Parisian at all.  If you want nice clothes you can shop here, but if you want Parisian clothes, skip it.

picture source

 Manoush
162 Rue Saint Honore
This is the cutest clothing store.  Ironically my cousin posted a picture on instagram when she went to Paris a few weeks after I did.   I totally recognized the dress she was wearing in the dressing room… it was from this store!  While I did not buy anything here, I would’ve loved to have something from here!

picture from here

These cute dresses were in the window display when I was there:

E. Goyard

233 Rue Saint Honore

This company is famous for their luggage and hand bags as well.  They have a famous print and if you’re in to collecting suitcases or pretty bags you need to go there.

picture source

Hermes

24 Rue de Fabourg Saint Honore
A lot doesn’t need to be said about Hermes.  If you want to have the most fashionable scarf from Paris, you go here.

picture source

Le Petit Bateau

9 Rue du 29 Juillet

This is a clothing store for children and babies.  But is is the cutest clothing store!!!  These locations are all over Paris and is where the Parisians buy stuff for kiddos.  If you want your toddler looking tres chic, check them out! (FYI, I wore Petit Bateau when I was little, my mom had me starting out in French fashion! Is that why I love Paris?). Also a some great gift ideas you can take home easily.  These locations are all over Paris.  You can check out the location finder here.

picture source

Near Saint Honore… either a 10-15 minute walk…

Christian Louboutin

19 Rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Just like the Louis Vuitton, Louboutin’s are also quite a bit cheaper to buy in Paris.  I had so much fun looking at all of the shoes… while there were quite a few pretty shoes, I didn’t see any I couldn’t live without.  I don’t wear super high heels anymore.  However, next time I go I will be on the hunt for some pretty red-soled shoes!

picture source

E. Dehillerin

18 rue Coquilliere
This is the oldest cooking ware store in Paris!  They have so many unique items here.  This is where Julia Childs bought her copper pans!  I wrote about it in a post here.  We bought several tart pans and wooden spoons.  If you like to bake or cook, head here for your souvenirs!  Just remember, you can’t take knives or objects that could be used as weapons on the airplane!

Printemps

64 Blvd Haussman

This is a large department store in the 2nd arr in Paris.  While we were there they were decorated in Spring pink celebrating their 150th birthday.  This store is HUGE.  They have many different places to eat inside.  If you know you want to buy lots of things under 150 euros, buy them all here so they add up to over 150 euros so you get your VAT back.

picture source

Galeries Lafayette

40 Boulevard Haussman

This department store is just across the street from Printemps.  It was a ZOO. The tour group buses have this store on their maps so EVERYONE was there. It was so crowded I couldn’t stand it.  But they did have some good deals on scarves here. If debating between the two dept stores, I would go to Printemps.  But my favorite dept store is Le Bon Marche in St. Germain.

Galeries Lafayette

Champs Elysees
Louis Vuitton
101 Avenue de Champs Elysees
Since I had last been to Paris, the shopping scene has changed.  The Champs Elysees seemed to be where all the super high end shopping was; now it seems it has moved to St. Honore.  But if you are looking to buy a LV purse, you MUST go to the headquarter store on the Champs Elysees. It’s FIVE stories!  I wrote about buying a LV in Paris here.

St. Germain des Pres

Le Bon Marche
24 Rue de Sevres
This is the best department store in Paris.  They have everything and it is not very crowded like Printemps or Galeries Lafayette.

picture source

Le Grand Epicerie
38 Rue de Sevres
If you are a foodie, you MUST go to Le Grand Epicerie which is the next store down from Le Bon Marche.  They had FIVE ROWS of jams and jellies alone.  I stood there just staring because I couldn’t decide what jam I wanted to take home!

Check out all the different types of mini madeleine cookies! LOVE.

They have fresh fruits and veggies. It is a giant market.

I love how they have a cute little truck inside full of fresh items as if it were just hauled in on this truck!

Can I just say that I wish our strawberries were sold in these cute little containers? PLEASE oh please! Aren’t these baskets the cutest?

This store is actually full of good ideas for souvenirs to bring home – you can bring a nice French jam (keep it under 3 ounces if you want it on your carry on!).  We brought home truffle salt too which makes a nice gift. They have tons of various types of honey – another good gift!  Even those little madeleine bags would be a nice gift.  Just don’t bring home dried meats because I don’t think customs will let you.

Le Jaquard Francais

53 Rue Bonaparte

We’ve all seen the pretty tablecloths that this company makes.  They have a nice store in Paris. I highly recommend going in!

picture source

Faconnable
174 Boulevard Saint Germain
This is a nice store that mainly sells men’s clothes.  I tried to get my husband to wear a scarf because his heritage is French – but he didn’t want to. Sigh. So we got him a really cool belt here.  Very stylish store for guys!

picture source

I’ve already discussed these stores above, but they have locations in St. Germain as well:

Hermes 17 Rue De Sevres

Herve Chapelier 1 bis Rue de Vieux

Louis Vuitton 170 Boulevard de Saint Germain

Longchamp 21, Rue du Vieux Colombier

Now, my favorite shopping in Paris is… Window Shopping!  I wish I took more pictures of the cute window displays.

Some of my loot… I love how they wrap everything like it’s a present!

I love how pretty their wrapping is even for the simplest of items

Um. I like to shop. These are all of my goodies!

 

I hope you enjoyed my round-up of my favorite shops in Paris!  This is by no means bargain shopping – you don’t go to Paris to look for bargains except at the flea market!  Where do you like to shop in Paris?

If you’ve missed a Paris trip post, catch them ALL RIGHT HERE !

SaveSave

SaveSave

Follow:

Multnomah Falls and Wahkeena Falls Loop Hike in the Columbia River Gorge

We use affiliate links in our posts and our site. This means if you make a purchase using these links, we may earn a small commission. You don’t pay a cent more than you would otherwise! Our full disclosure is available under About.

As you may or may not know, I grew up in the suburbs of Portland, Oregon.  One thing we did almost every weekend in the Summer was to go on a hike.  One of my FAVORITE hikes is the Multnomah Falls – Wahkeena Falls loop hike.  It is located in the scenic Columbia River Gorge

If you love waterfalls, then this hike is for you!  There are officially 8 named waterfalls but the numerous little falls that “don’t count” as you hike your way up and down Multnomah creek and Wahkeena creek.

Multnomah Falls!

For my trip, I started at Multnomah Falls (mainly because there is a bathroom stop there).  Multnomah Falls is Oregon’s tallest waterfall, falling 620 feet. Only 3 waterfalls in the whole US are taller!

a snail friend

You start at the Multnomah Falls parking lot (get there early otherwise there will be no parking!).  Just follow the crowds to the bridge… then keep going.   You go up a whole bunch of switchbacks and you will end up at the top of Multnomah Falls. Years ago you used to be able to look right over the cliff but someone committed suicide there so the viewpoint is now a ways back from the cliff.

Dutchman Falls

Now at the top of the falls, continue on the Larch Mountain trail.  You follow along Multnomah creek past a whole bunch of bigger and smaller waterfalls. It is so pretty!

Weisendanger Falls

You then will come to Wahkeena Trail #420, heading to the right. Go to the right!  You will climb uphill through a ferny forest.  Although there is no waterfall, it is really pretty!

pretty ferny forest, sorry for blurry iPhone picture

You will end up at a 3-way junction.  Go straight.  The trail will go downhill and reach intersection for Angel’s rest trail #415.  If you want to see Wahkeena Spring, head further up only 0.1 miles. I highly recommend doing that!   This is no ordinary spring!  It is literally a creek just flowing out from underground.

Wahkeena Falls
steep switchbacks. Can you count how many? there are 4.

Now, turn around and head back down.  You will follow Wahkeena creek down the mountain.  You will meet another stream coming into Wahkneea Creek at Fairy Falls.  This waterfall is so pretty! If you need to cool off, sit on the log bench or stand in the mist of the waterfall.

Fairy Falls!

Continue on downhill, enjoying the sights and sounds of Wahkeena creek.

Wahkeena Creek

You will eventually reach some switchbacks and find yourself at the base of Wahkeena Falls.
Continue down the paved trail to the road.  Follow the return trail #442 eastward back to the Multnomah Falls parking lot.  This section is next to the Scenic Highway. Do not walk on the road, you will get hit by a RV!

base of Wahkeena Falls

The trail is 5 miles long.  The elevation gain is 1600 feet and it is moderately difficult.
To get to the hike, head east on I-84 from Portland.  Take exit 31, the Multnomah Falls exit.  Do not leave any valuables in your car!

For a more scenic route, I highly recommend taking the historic Columbia River Scenic Highway.  Take it at exit 22, Corbett.  Travel 3 miles up the hill to the top were the road makes a “Y”. Go left and head east on the Scenic Highway.  Multnomah Falls is 10 miles East.

To see Wahkeena Springs just come bubbling out from the ground, check out this pretty video!

Follow:

Grand Hyatt Kauai – Trip report and review

We use affiliate links in our posts and our site. This means if you make a purchase using these links, we may earn a small commission. You don’t pay a cent more than you would otherwise! Our full disclosure is available under About.

Last year we went to the Grand Hyatt Kauai for vacation.  We had a wonderful time.  We had never been to the island of Kauai before.  I had this post saved up but never really found a chance to share it until now!

Grand Hyatt Kauai Trip Report and Review

We visited in April 2014.  We booked our trip through Costco Travel.  It was really nice… it included flight, car rental, and hotel.  And the bonus was… breakfast everyday in their Ilima terrace dining room!

GROUNDS:
When you first walk into the hotel, you are greeted with the view below… A-looooooo-HA!  That’s what I felt like when I got off the plane. Welcome to Paradise!!  The Grand Hyatt grounds really do feel like you’ve entered paradise.  It is a newer beach front hotel that was designed all at once… it wasn’t one of the original hotels built in the 60s that then tried to upgrade the grounds to meet current desires.  This one was designed all at once!

If you’ve ever stayed in the Grand Hyatt Maui or the Grand Hyatt Kauai… one thing that’s unique to their hotels is they have parrots scattered in the main lobby.  They are so much fun because you can talk to them!

There are beautiful hibiscus and plumeria everywhere on the property. There are all sorts of birds too… swans, parrots, egrets, little songbirds… it is really nice and relaxing!!

DINING: 

We ate breakfast every morning at the Ilama Terrace breakfast buffet.  We were treated to the view below… with the swans and beach in the background.  The morning I took the picture it rained… but no big deal.  The terrace breakfast brunch was nice.  It was included in our package so I don’t know how much it costs.  As with all dining outdoors in Hawaii, there is always a problem with the little songbirds that try to steal your food.  You cannot leave your food uncovered and unattended!

We ate at their Italian restaurant, Dondero’s one night.  It was alright. Nothing too special.

We also ate at their luxury restaurant, Tidepools, one night as well.  The ambiance of this restaurant is really nice as it is in thatch roof bungalows with fish swimming around them next to a waterfall.  The food here was pretty good.   If you look at the first picture, the thatch roof building at the base of the waterfall is the restaurant.

Ilama terrace at breakfast

POOLS: 

I LOVED their pools.  They have a giant pool with a water volleyball/basketball area, little seating areas in the pools, a waterslide, an adults-only pool, and… a lazy river!  I would plop myself on a float and go on the lazy river all day.  Below is a waterfall headed into the pool!


I enjoyed a pineapple mango smoothie at the adults only pool. So refreshing!

Below is a picture of the salt water lagoon.  The beach in front of the hotel kind of sucks, so they built their own salt water area to play around in.  You can rent kayaks and floats and sit in this area.  I didn’t like it very much because the sand is really rough.  However, it was really popular, especially for kids.  We preferred the pools.

BEACH: 

The beach… not so great.  It is not for swimming and there are rocks all over. You can’t walk very far barefoot.  It’s nice that this hotel is beach front so you can hear the ocean, but stick to the pools!

 

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

This hotel was super nice and was on the drier side of Kauai.  It really felt like paradise here.  The pools were fantastic.  The rooms had spacious bathrooms.  I didn’t take a picture of the rooms.  Our room was quiet and faced a garden.  I did not have a chance to go to their spa.

The hotel is family friendly but if you were to go on your honeymoon here there is a quiet adults only pool section too.  Of course, the grounds are magnificent and we had fun walking around the winding paths.

Given that the hotel is located on the Garden Isle, that means one thing… it rains. Every day.  It won’t likely rain all day but as you can see by many of my pictures… it did rain.  Granted, the times it was sunny I was at the pool without my camera.  How else can it stay so green if it doesn’t rain??

 

Grand Hyatt Kauai Trip Report and Review… Tide pools restaurant is on the right next to the waterfall

If I were to stay on Kauai again I would spend some time at this hotel again and sometime on the Northern side of the island (where it rains even more!).  We did a kayaking and hiking tour one day through this company which was so much fun.

All and all… I recommend this hotel if you are going to Kauai. Check it out: Grand Hyatt Kauai.
However, if you’ve never been to Hawaii, I recommend going to Maui instead.  The Grand Hyatt Maui and the Grand Wailea in Maui both have fabulous pools AND a fabulous beach in front.

Note: I was not compensated for this review.  I just wanted to write about my experience at this hotel.

 

Follow:

Shopping in Napa… my Favorite Store!!

We use affiliate links in our posts and our site. This means if you make a purchase using these links, we may earn a small commission. You don’t pay a cent more than you would otherwise! Our full disclosure is available under About.

Happy July! With the start of Summer, I know many West Coasters will likely head to Napa Valley.

As we all know, Napa Valley is a very popular place to visit… and I wanted to share my favorite store with you all!

I pretty much love everything in this store… close your eyes, point, and I’ll like it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 She has lots of antique grape buckets on the walls; I always eye them when I go but they are expensive!

This wonderful store is called Napa Valley Vintage Home.  It is located in St. Helena in the Napa Valley.  Everyone needs to go and give her some business so my most favorite store there stays open forever and ever!

Another must-visit when you go to St. Helena… Giugni’s deli, just a few doors down.  It is the best Italian deli.  Bring cash.  Oh, and you *must* get the giugni juice on your sandwich, you must!

Follow:

Day Trip to Fontainebleau from Paris

We use affiliate links in our posts and our site. This means if you make a purchase using these links, we may earn a small commission. You don’t pay a cent more than you would otherwise! Our full disclosure is available under About.

After being in the city for several days, we decided that we needed to head out and explore the country.  On our last day, we decided to make a day trip out to Chateau de Fontainebleau.

Day trip to Chateau de Fontainebleau

Have you ever heard of it?
No? Well, it is like Versailles, except… prettier! WHAT? Prettier than Versailles? Yes, it is a UNESCO world heritage site (Versailles is not).  What’s nice about it is that it has room after room of original furnishings AND it lacks crowds. The place was practically empty!

It’s only about 40 minutes away, but when you don’t speak French getting there can be a trick.  I’m going to try to make it easy for you!  My directions will be at the bottom of the post; the first part will be the pretty pictures!

Chateau de Fontainebleau had been the residence of French Monarchs from Louis VII all the way through Napoleon.

Gallery of Francis 1, made between 1533-1539!

I’m not going to do much talking… I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.  Everything here is original.

the Queen’s bedroom
The Gallery of Diana, lined with bookcases
chapel
kids singing in the chapel

Napoleon really did wear a hat like the ones he was painted wearing!

 

the Pope’s apartment

I just love the paintings on the paneling of this wall…

the council chamber

And we’ll finish our tour with a look at Napoleon’s Throne Room…

Beautiful tapestries…

 We met a “member” of the Royal Court in the Chateau as well… (they had several people dressed up in the rooms… it was kind of fun).

 

There are large gardens and grounds surrounding the castle, but it was a bit chilly that day so we didn’t walk all around.  But here’s what we’re all missing…

the carp pond, from wiki
pic from wiki

I really enjoyed all of the rooms in Fontainebleau.  If you’re looking for a Chateau experience and you’re debating between Versailles and Fontainebleau, I highly recommend Chateau de Fontainebleau (unless you do the bike tour of Versailles. I loved that).  There were hardly any crowds at this chateau and the town of Fontainebleau is super cute.  Plus, there are a lot more things to look at in Fontainebleau as the rooms are all highly decorated with original furnishings.

I included a city map of Fontainebleau.  The X’s represent the bus stop, the chateau, and the crepe place that we ate at.  There are lots of cute little restaurants and shops in the town, but I recommend trying the L’Hirondelle Creperie. It’s just a short walk from the Chateau.

map of Fontainebleau.

Directions to get to Fontainebleau
The train to Fontainebleau departs from Gare de Lyon in Paris.  From the Gare de Lyon, you will need to take the RER train headed for either Montargis Sens, Montereau, or Laroche-Migennes.  Your destination however is “Fontainebleau-Avon”.  Remember, the trains will not say Fontainebleau, they will only state which direction you are headed.  The trains leave about every 30-40 minutes from Gare de Lyon.

I thought the trickiest part was navigating through Gare de Lyon. We arrived by metro and had to take several flights of stairs to get to the RER station area.  We had no clue which machine to buy tickets from, so we simply went up to the staffed window.  The lady there didn’t speak very good English, but understood we wanted round-trip tickets to Fontainebleau and back.  The ticket she sold us was good for all-day use for the metro, buses, and RER.   I believe that card is called the Mobilis (day pass).

Now once you have your ticket, it’s time to find out which platform your train leaves from.  There are two train platforms, blue and yellow.  Your train can leave from either platform.  You need to go to the departures board and look.  Make sure you’re looking at the depart board (it says Depart).  You will usually find a bunch of people staring at a tv screen somewhere and that is likely the departures board.  Look for your train. Then, once the train track line is posted, immediately start heading to the line.  The place is confusing and they will often only post the line number 5-10 minutes before departure.

destination screen, I tried to make it easy for you!

To make sure you’re at the right track line, you will see the destination name on the screens on the train.

Once you get off at the station Fontainebleau-Avon, you simply walk outside and go to bus line #1. Ligne 1 is destined for Les Lilas.  Our RER ticket day pass worked as the bus ticket.  You will get off at the Chateau stop.  We didn’t know which stop was what, but when all the tourists got off at one stop, we simply hopped off and voila! We turned the corner and we were there! I’m sure you could just tell the bus driver “Chateau, si vous plait”.  It is about a 15 minute bus ride, or if you’re adventurous, a 45 minute walk.

How to get back:
Where the bus line 1 dropped you off for the chateau, simply cross the street and pick up the bus there (it’s next to the cute little town square that has flowers and a fountain in it).  The bus is still “ligne 1” and I think it says “gare” on it but I can’t remember.

the pretty town square in Fontainebleau where you pick up the bus back to the train station

Now, once at the train station, it’s pretty simple.  Take the train back to Paris. There are only two tracks at this station, so it’s not too hard to figure out! Take any train that states “Gare de Lyon” as its destination.

The official Chateau de Fontainebleau website also has information about how to get there.

AND that concludes my trip to Paris.  A little later I’ll write about my recommendations of where I shopped, what I ate, and where I stayed, but for now I’m going to blog about some recipes and seasonal things.  Also, I’m in the process of moving and these Paris posts take a long time to put together.

If you’ve missed a Paris trip post, catch them ALL RIGHT HERE !

SaveSave

SaveSave

Follow:

Versailles Bike Tour Review

We use affiliate links in our posts and our site. This means if you make a purchase using these links, we may earn a small commission. You don’t pay a cent more than you would otherwise! Our full disclosure is available under About.

Now I’m going to talk about my FAVORITE thing we did during our trip to Paris… the Versailles Bike Tour!!

Versailles Bike Tour Review

If you’ve ever been to Versailles, you will know that this place is BIG.  In fact, like 2000 acres big.  That means you aren’t going to see *everything*.  Your feet can only walk so far though.  For instance, it’s 0.6 miles from the train station to the palace entrance alone.

Versailles is the biggest palace in the world.  This picture is from wikipedia.

I’ve been to Versailles now three times.  One time we just did the main Chateau.  The next time we walked to the Grand and Petit Trianon.  Let me tell you, that was a LONG WALK.  We ended up buying a ticket for the stupid tram to take us back to the chateau because our feet hurt.

So I present to you my favorite option of all three: a bike tour of Versailles!
We booked ours through the Fat Tire Bike Tours company.  I cannot sing enough praise. (btw, I was not paid to write about this).  Here’s how it works: you book a ticket online.  Then you all meet at their office over by the Eiffel Tower.  Then you walk over to the train station. They supply you a train ticket.  You all take the train together.  After you get off the train, you walk a short distance to an office to pick up your bikes in the town of Versailles.

Now the fun begins!  You bike down cute little streets like this and head to a French market!

streets of Versailles

Why do you go to a market first?  Because on this tour you get to have a picnic on the Grand Canal!  How awesome is that?! We had so much fun at this French market… it really is a market for the locals.  They don’t speak English very well, and I don’t speak French very well, but we managed to get the food we wanted!  We had so much fun gathering our supplies!  I seriously had the best French cheese and I have no idea what it was called.  Too bad.

the French market

After picking up your supplies, it’s time to head to the gardens.  You get to bike along the manicured trees along Marie Antoinette’s sheep…

Marie Antoinette’s sheep

Here we are biking along this beautiful path.  It was the most beautiful day in Spring.  The bike company gives you one bike basket per couple. We felt so totally French with our baguette sitting in our bike!

husband and I enjoying our trip!

First off, you park your bikes at the Petit Trianon.  The Petit Trianon was built for the Sun King’s mistress, Madame du Pompadour (heard of her?)

picture from wikipedia

I just wanted to include this bedroom from the Petit Trianon… it is SO CUTE.  The bed cornice, the little chair, the fabric, the colors, the light green and grey paneling on the walls… despite being the mistress she had some good taste!

cute French bedroom

After touring the Petit Trianon, you walk over the Marie Antoinette’s Hameau.  She loved to pretend she was farmer, so she had this little fairytale village made so she could milk cows and collect hen’s eggs.  Except the cows were cleaned and the eggs had all the chicken poop removed from them!  Imagine being poor and hearing that she had this little make believe village of a farm… no wonder the French people cut off her head!

Hameau de Marie Antoinette

However, her fairytale village is really cute.

 It is in the middle of a restoration by Christian Dior fashion house.  This hamlet wasn’t opened when I first went years ago.

 That’s why I have so many pictures of it!

 

After leaving the Hameau, you bike down to the Grand Trianon.  King Louis got sick of his big chateau so he built a smaller one where only the men would hang out.

The columns are made from the rarest pink marble of the time.

 After leaving the Grand Trianon, we starting biking around the Grand Canal.  It was so much fun.  You could rent row boats if you wanted and boat around in the canal!

After biking around part of the canal, we came to our spot for our picnic.  Look at how beautiful our picnic spot was!  It was really a dream come true!  Everyone enjoyed baguettes and cheese (and wine for those who drink).  We had such a nice time relaxing at this spot, watching the boaters paddle on by.

As it was my birthday, we even picked up this raspberry tart for my birthday cake!  It just barely fit in the bicycle basket but we made it work.  Doesn’t look too bad despite being jostled around in the bike all morning!

 After some time, our picnic did eventually have to come to an end.  We continued our tour and eventually dropped our bikes off at the office.  We then walked over to the entrance of Versailles.  This golden gate is incredible…

Versailles golden gate

Just look at all of the gold on the palace! It’s incredible!

Everywhere you looked inside there was gold everywhere!  This is definitely a house for a king!

 The King’s private chapel…

 A tour of Versailles wouldn’t be complete without a view of the Hall of Mirrors.  You can see below how crowded the chateau is inside.  It’s just so crazy-packed.  I hated how packed it was. You could barely stand without someone running into you.

In fact it was so crazy packed, we didn’t get any pictures of the rooms as we were being pushed and shoved by the rude Chinese tour groups.
That’s why I had to include this picture that’s not mine of Marie Antoinette’s bedroom.  It was just so incredibly opulent.  And yes, they really did have that little golden fence there because people would literally be walking through the palace and watch the royals sleep and do their daily routine. So strange!

Marie Antoinette’s bedroom, pic from wikipedia.

We literally rushed through the palace because it was so hot and crowded.  We were happy to be outside once more…

Versailles is known for its fountains.  They weren’t running when we were there.  They will put on a fabulous show at certain times.

pic from wiki

The last thing we saw was the Orangerie.  My husband stated he wanted to get “garden inspiration”.  We loved the planter boxes!

Then we headed to the train and made our way back to Paris.

I tried to include a map of the day.  This was the route that we took that day.

our route map for the day.

Final thoughts: This was the highlight of our trip to Paris.  I HIGHLY recommend going on this bike tour.  It was so much fun.  We loved going to the market and picking out our food for our picturesque picnic on the Grand Canal.  We felt like the King and Queen of France eating our raspberry tart on the chateau grounds.  I really enjoyed going to the Hameau, which wasn’t very crowded because as you can see it’s a long walk from the chateau.  Ironically, the palace itself was my least favorite part of the trip.  It was way over-crowded.  I’m not sure the picnic would be as fun if it rained, but I was told they have ponchos.  The tour group also provides cutlery and glasses for your picnic.  There were about 20 people on the tour with us, which was manageable.  Our tour guide was knowledgable and friendly.  I really cannot sing enough praise about this whole experience.  I highly recommend you do it!

 

Follow:

10 Tips for Surviving the Louvre – Trip to Paris

We use affiliate links in our posts and our site. This means if you make a purchase using these links, we may earn a small commission. You don’t pay a cent more than you would otherwise! Our full disclosure is available under About.

On our fourth day in Paris, we put on our walking shoes and headed to the Louvre.

The Louvre is one of the largest museums in the world.  It is also the most visited museum in the world.  And it is HUGE.  I have been there FIVE times and I still see new things every time I go.

10 tips for surviving the Louvre

The Louvre houses the Mona Lisa along with over 35,000 objects.  I can’t explain to you how big it is until you see it for yourself.  Which is why you need to read some tips about how to survive!

1. Get a Museum Pass
The museum pass website is here.  It shows all the locations where you can purchase it.  I recommend purchasing it BEFORE you go to the Louvre, so that way you can get into the shorter museum pass line.

2. Get there early
The Louvre opens every day at 9am.  The line will be the shortest then.  You want to try to beat the tour groups.  The museum pass line on this trip was by the pyramid; we tried to enter at the Carrousel du Louvre but the workers made us go to the pyramid.  In previous years, there used to be NO LINE underground in the Carrousel.  This time there was a long long line full of Chinese tourist groups.  Many years ago there used to be a quiet side entrance but it is now a group entrance (or at least it was the day we were there!).  I recommend trying to enter at the Carrousel du Louvre first before the pyramid.

get to the Louvre at opening. And try to avoid this pyramid entrance!

3. Do NOT go on Mondays  
Mondays are the busiest day.  The museum is closed on Tuesdays.  We went on a Wednesday.  Do NOT go on the first Sunday of each month because admission is free. You might save a few bucks going, but you will be so swarmed with people it will not be enjoyable.

Venus de Milo

4. Get a map  
The Louvre is BIG.  You will get lost. Even if you have a self-guided tour book, still grab a map.  It’s so easy to wander around looking at the beautiful objects around each corner.  You could waste a day looking at things you didn’t intend to see, which leads me to #5…

big empty gallery with no one in it! Amazing!

5. Come up with a game plan  
If you can, try to plan out what you want to see first and then come up with a game plan.  I recommend seeing the most touristy things first in the day – like the Mona Lisa. If you want to see the Mona Lisa, head straight to the Italian Paintings in the 13th-15th centuries section. We went straight to the Mona Lisa at opening and there were only 15-20 other people in the room.  Also head to the Winged Victory and Venus de Milo.  They are 3 biggest attractions in the museum.  We tried to follow Rick Steves’ 2 hour tour of the Louvre – which I kind of liked.  If you have a short attention span, I recommend that self-guided tour.

The Mona Lisa. Overrated yet you still have to see it!

6.  Don’t forget to look up!  
Remember, the Louvre used to be a palace and is where the Kings of France used to live.  The palace started construction in the 12th century.

7. Pack a bottle of water
The Louvre is huge and you will do a ton of walking (miles, literally!).  It is also hot.  Even when it’s cool outside there are just so many lights and people so it gets hot.  You will get thirsty and NO there’s not a drinking fountain around.  I also suggest a small non-messy snack too.  There is a food court in the Carrousel du Louvre that sells expensive food court items, which was okay when we were super desperate.  There is also an Angelina’s cafe in the Louvre with Angelina prices.

Laduree has a stand in the Carrousel du Louvre so you could have a macaron snack…

8. Watch for pickpockets  
Yes, a pick pocketer can buy tickets to the museum and steal stuff from you when you’re busy staring at the Mona Lisa! The horror! Yes, seriously. It’s a serious problem in Europe.  We actually saw someone get pick pocketed while he was taking a picture.  Watch out!

Ancient Egyptian antiquities was cool.

9. Understand you aren’t going to see everything
It’s just too big of a museum. Oh well, guess you’ll have to come back again. and again. and again. And pretty soon you’ve been 5 times and still haven’t seen everything.

my favorite painting

10. Dress appropriately
Bring comfy shoes.  Dress in layers.  Some areas of the museum are really warm because there are a lot of bright lights and a lot of people.  Bring a zippered bag to hold your things.

Hopefully these tips will help you on your big trip.  I’m including some other pictures I took while inside the Louvre…

a giant tulipiere! It was taller than me!!

You can visit Napoleon’s apartments.

 

 Love the scroll work on this gate…

Don’t forget to look outside, you might have a nice view…

I have written many posts about my travels to Paris.  Click here to see them all.

SaveSave

SaveSave

Follow:

Trip to Paris – Champs Elysees and Tuileries Walk

We use affiliate links in our posts and our site. This means if you make a purchase using these links, we may earn a small commission. You don’t pay a cent more than you would otherwise! Our full disclosure is available under About.

On our third day in Paris we spent most of the day shopping and dining.

We started our day off with breakfast at Laduree.  We had breakfast in their tea room at their Champs Elysees location.  You can read the full blogpost about it here.

 

Laduree Paris
Laduree Paris treats

After our filling breakfast, we went to the Louis Vuitton store headquarters.  We spent quite some time there staring at all of the pretty purses, shoes, and accessories.  I mean, after all, it IS 5 stories tall!

Peonies & Orange Blossoms buys a LV in Paris! Ooh la la!

I was SO excited to buy a LV in Paris that I had to have a picture!  I don’t normally share pictures of myself, but I couldn’t resist!  I wrote a blogpost about buying a LV in Paris and the fact that it IS cheaper to purchase there.  Definitely a total splurge but I will have it forever!

We then strolled along the boulevard and eventually climbed up to the top of the Arc de Triomphe.

Oh, and my Dad told me this story when we were walking along the Champs Elysees.  He was there one day in August in the 90s and there were all of these people lined up and there was a finish line… for something.  So then all of the sudden this bicyclist comes rushing through and crosses the finish line first and… no one cheered.  He thought it was SO ODD, why was no one cheering? Then another crosses, then another.  Only to be met with silence. Then all of the sudden, everyone starts yelling and cheering at someone wearing a yellow jersey who was clearly not the first to cross the finish line.  And the yellow jersey was the winner!!  He thought to himself, what a typical French sport, where the one in front is not the winner.  Turns out he was watching the end of the Tour de France!!  This was before us Americans really knew about the Tour made famous by Lance Armstrong.  How funny!

 Don’t you just love the view from up here?? This was at the top of the Arc de Triomphe.  I love the beautiful Spring green of all of the trees.

 One of my favorite things to do is to stand on the top of the Arc de Triomphe and watch the cars go around in the giant traffic circle below.  It’s amazing that no one gets hit.  Every once in a while you can find the same car going in circles ’cause they can’t figure out which way they’re going!

Paris Metro

We then strolled along the tuileries garden.  We crossed over the Locks of Love bridge.  We didn’t add any lock.  Apparently the French just cut off all of the locks and won’t be allowing people to put locks on the bridge anymore due to the weight of the locks on the structure of the bridge.

We then went to the Tuileries.  The Tuileries garden was so pretty.  The tulips were still blooming, the trees were still blooming, and then the other trees had just put on their green leaves! My friend had gone 10 days before and the trees were just blooming and none of them had leaves!  Paris at the end of April is beautiful!

I just love how manicured the trees are… all perfectly cut into rectangles.

When people ask me, “What is your favorite thing to do in Paris?” My answer is not “visit the Eiffel” or do other touristy things, it is instead: Pick up a pastry at Angelina’s and walk over to the Tuileries and have a little picnic and eat it.  The gardens are so beautiful and it is so much fun to just people watch. It’s really about just enjoying life.  Isn’t that what vacation is about?

okay, not a pastry from Angelina’s but from Laduree. Angelina’s didn’t last long enough for a picture!

That concludes day 3 of our Trip to Paris!!

If you’ve missed a Paris post, catch them ALL RIGHT HERE !SaveSave

Follow:

Paris Trip – Walking in St. Germain des Pres and The Eiffel Tower

We use affiliate links in our posts and our site. This means if you make a purchase using these links, we may earn a small commission. You don’t pay a cent more than you would otherwise! Our full disclosure is available under About.

On the second day of the Paris trip, we woke up at 3am. Yeah, whoops.  Jet-lag is not fun.  So naturally, we were up early and ready to go see the Eiffel Tower.

Paris Trip Day 2 Review

 

view of the Eiffel tower from the Place du Trocadero

Unfortunately we did not know that early in the morning the sun shines directly into the camera at this view of the Eiffel Tower.  The BEST place to take a picture of the Eiffel Tower is at the Place du Trocadero.  You can take Metro line 6 or 9 and get off at Trocadero.  Follow the signs from the metro to “Tour Eiffel”… and voila! It is approximately a 5 minute walk to this view.

Obviously this was the best place to take Eiffel Tower pictures, as we saw 2 bride and groom couples taking pictures here.  How romantic!

On this trip we did not go to the top of the Eiffel Tower.  There is a long line even when it opens early in the morning.  I have a phobia of heights and wasn’t too fond of going to the top again, and it wasn’t a must for my husband.  So we saved the extra Euros (ha, to use on my purse!)

The Eiffel Tower from below

From the Eiffel Tower, we headed to St. Germain.  We stopped at the Cluny Museum (now called the Museum of Middle Ages) which is a medieval museum in St. Germain.  We sat and enjoyed the famous Lady and the Unicorn tapestries. The tapestries were made around 1500.

Lady and the Unicorn tapestries

They were SO beautiful.  What you can’t see in the pictures is actually how much they shimmer with the metallic thread that was used.  I highly recommend going to see them if you’re into textiles… the museum entrance fee is included in your museum pass.

 

There were some other tapestries too, like this one with sheep! Love it!

 

After that museum, we strolled and shopped along the streets of St. Germain de Pres.  We saw this pretty hand carved wooden door with angels and fruit.  How fancy!

The streets of St. Germain de Pres were so much fun to walk around on.  We saw pretty buildings and cafes, such as the Cafe de Flore below.  We did not eat here as it was $$$, however I’m sure it would be fun! Next time I go, I would probably want to stay in St. Germain de Pres. Or at the Ritz. ha!

We went to Pierre Herme, which I already blogged about.  Did I mention that I LOVED the rose ispahan croissant and that you need to try one? Oh I did? okay I’ll stop. for now.

macarons at Pierre Herme

Once we picked up our pastries, we walked to the nearest square which had this beautiful old fountain.  We sat here for about an hour or so and enjoyed our treats.

Oh, I HIGHLY recommend bringing plastic utensils in your bag so you can enjoy your treats in a park like this. Otherwise you’ll have one big mess on your hands!

We walked by famous stores, like the oldest chocolatier in paris, A La Mer de Famille!  We did not buy anything here as we were already full from Pierre Herme!  This chocolate store was super cute though!

 Other places in St. Germain de Pres area that we shopped at were… Herve Chapelier, Le Bon Marche, Faconnable, La Maison du Chocolat, Louis Vuitton, Pierre Herme.  We walked by Le Jacquard Francais but did not buy anything.

 For lunch, we bought sandwiches at Le Grand Epicurie which is next to Le Bon Marche.  We then sat in this cute park and had a picnic enjoying the flowers and watching the pigeons and people.

We decided to check out the Palais Garnier (the Paris Opera House).  Despite going to Paris five times, we had never set foot inside the opera!  We decided to check it out this time!  And WHOA.  It was beautiful. The great part is is that they use it still for productions today.  We thought about getting tickets to a show but did not.  How much fun would that be??

I felt like the Phantom was going to come out from behind a wall and start singing in this place… (If you did not know, the Phantom of the Opera was inspired by this opera house!)

After that, we crossed the street to go to Galleries Lafayette and Printemps.  Honestly, Galleries Lafayette was a hot mess. SO MANY PEOPLE.  While they did have some reasonably priced scarves, it was so crowded we were over-it and left. Printemps was much less crowded and we enjoyed something to drink in one of their cafes.  But after a long day of sightseeing, we were pooped.

We eventually made it back near our temporary home… walking down pretty streets like the one below…

If you’ve missed a Paris trip post, catch them ALL RIGHT HERE !

SaveSave

Follow:

Paris Trip – Walking the Il de la Cite

We use affiliate links in our posts and our site. This means if you make a purchase using these links, we may earn a small commission. You don’t pay a cent more than you would otherwise! Our full disclosure is available under About.

As you know, I went to Paris this Spring.  And now I’m finally blogging about it.  First I blogged about my experience at Laduree.  Then I blogged about Pierre Herme.  Now I’m going to start blogging about my sightseeing experiences during the trip.  You know I first had to write about macarons though, so now that that’s out of my system…. onto Day 1.

The first day in Paris was what I call zombie-day.  Zombie day is when you get off the 12 hour plane flight (if you’re flying from the West Coast), go to your hotel, shower, and walk around the city like azombie because you’re so tired and jet-lagged.

 

Well, walk we did!!

First up, we headed to St. Chapelle, which is the most beautiful church ever. It was built from 1239 to 1248 for one of the King Louis.  St. Chapelle cathedral is located on the Il de la Cite, just down the way from Notre Dame.

 

What’s amazing about this church is the beautiful stained glass that seemingly reaches to the heavens.

 

 

What’s amazing is that the stained glass is original and has survived through all of these years!!

 On our way to Notre Dame cathedral we tried to go to the Marche aux Fleurs (the flower market), but on Sundays it turns into an aviary.  We did find some flowers though…

 An art nouveau metropolitan sign…

Next, we waited in line to see Notre Dame Cathedral.  I don’t have a picture of the front of the cathedral- you all know what it looks like.

To enter the cathedral, you pass by these *massive* doors.  How beautiful is the scrolling ironwork on them??

… and then you see this sight.  Whoa.  Hard to believe that this was built starting in the 1100s.  It was built form 1163 to 1345.  Almost 200 years!

 People still attend mass weekly in this cathedral.  I would too if I lived nearby!  It is so amazing.

Everyone always talks about the Rose Window, which is pictured below.  But frankly, I think the stained glass of St. Chapelle is prettier and you can see it better.  The Rose Window is situated really high up so you can barely make out any scenes on it!

After our tour of Notre Dame, we strolled along the Seine River.  It was such a beautiful day.

We then headed over to Ile St Louis to famous ice cream maker, Berthillon.  Waited in a long line there but it was worth it!  I’ll blog about it later.

We walked down these cute little crowded streets, trying to stay awake and enjoy the scenery.  My favorite thing to do in Paris is to take a stroll, get a pastry, and sit in a park and people watch.  C’est la vie!

And that concludes our first day in Paris!  We followed this self-guided walking tour.  In Summary, it was a short day because we only had the afternoon to explore.  We headed to the heart of the city and visited St. Chapelle cathedral and Notre Dame cathedral.  Both of these are must-visit.  Notre Dame is free admission and St. Chapelle is available through the Museum Pass (which I recommend).  We then strolled along the Seine, enjoyed world-famous Berthillon ice cream, then called it a night… and woke up at 3am the next day. Whoops!

Notre Dame with the River Seine

If you’ve missed a Paris trip post, catch them ALL RIGHT HERE!

 

SaveSave

Follow:

Pierre Herme Macarons Review

We use affiliate links in our posts and our site. This means if you make a purchase using these links, we may earn a small commission. You don’t pay a cent more than you would otherwise! Our full disclosure is available under About.

As you all know, I have a love for macarons.  Naturally, on my trip to Paris, one of my main missions was macaron tasting.

Before I left, I read loads and loads of reviews of Pierre Hermé macarons and pastries.  Imagine my excitement when I finally made it to the patisserie!

a review of Pierre Hermé

When you walk into the store, you are greeted with a sight of this…

French Macarons

and this… ooh, la la!  There were a lot more pretty pastries at the counter but they only allowed us to take pics of the macarons.

 

We were on a mission: try as many macarons as possible!

French Macarons

In fact, we *may* have gone there a few times and tried different flavors…

french macarons

Before I start reviewing each individual macaron flavor, I NEED to talk about the best pastry I’ve ever had. EVER. #bestpastryever.

See this below. Yeah, that croissant. Yeah yeah, it looks like a croissant with bacon sprinkled on it. This is NO ordinary croissant.  It is the ROSE ISPAHAN CROISSANT!!! (yes I’m yelling with excitement!)

So what is it?  It is a buttery croissant that is perfectly baked with a crunchy outside and a buttery inside. The outside is covered in a rose-flavored almond cream with candied rose petals sprinkled on top.  The inside is filled with a raspberry flavored litchi pate.

Before I went I wasn’t *too* excited about this croissant.  I don’t like rose flavored stuff and I am not a fan of litchi.  But when I tried it, it was like a little piece of heaven from the pastry gods.  It is really just so good, I can’t sing enough praise.  Here’s a hint: get one before noon because 1. they sell out and 2. the shelf life of a croissant is only 4 hours after it is baked.

the famous Rose Ispahan croissant from Pierre Herme

Ok, moving on to the macarons…  All of his macaron shells are perfectly baked.  They have a smooth top with perfect feet. They have the perfect crunch when you bite into them and then a little chewy in the center.

 

The Mosaic macaron… 

It is a pistachio, cinnamon, and cherry macaron and I LOVED it.

Mosaic macaron

The “Huile d’Olive a la Mandarine” aka Mandarin Olive Oil Macaron…
This was my favorite macaron.  The flavors were so interesting and really went well together.  I highly recommend trying this one.

Mandarin olive oil macaron

The Infiniment Caramel aka Salted Caramel Macaron…
This macaron was one of my family’s favorite.  The salted caramel was *perfect*.  If you are new to macarons, this one you MUST try.  Or if you’re a macaron mad like myself too.

salted caramel macaron

The infiniment Rose macaron…
this was a rose flavored macaron.  It was okay.  I’m not a huge fan of rose flavored dessert because usually it seems like I’m eating roses. I would skip on this.

rose macaron

The Envie macaron aka vanilla, violet, and blackcurrant…
This macaron was SO GOOD.  I just loved the black currant flavor with the vanilla and violets.  It is an unusual flavor and one you don’t taste very often.  I highly recommend it!

vanilla, violet, and black currant macaron

Infiniment Vanilla macaron…
This vanilla macaron was made with pure vanilla beans.  It was extremely rich in vanilla flavor.  It was the best vanilla flavored macaron I’ve ever had.

vanilla macaron

We also tried the Celeste macaron, which is a passion fruit, rhubarb, and strawberry macaron.  The picture I took of it was really blurry, so there is no picture. As far as the macaron flavor, it wasn’t my favorite.  I didn’t really like the flavor of passion fruit with the almond shell.

 

Okay, moving away from macarons and onto a last minute decision to try this citron tart!  When you enter the store, there is a whole row of pretty looking pastries, so this lemon tart caught our eye!

This lemon tart was SO delicious.  The lemon flavor was really strong but not in a bad way.  The candied lemon skin on top was really nice.  The crust was good.  Normally I don’t eat tart crust but I did on this one! This was just a really good lemon tart!  I highly recommend trying one!

Pierre Herme Citron tart

Okay, last patisserie we tried was the Rose Raspberry Ispahan Macaron.  It is one of the pastries that Pierre Herme and Laduree are famous for.  It is raspberry macaron with fresh raspberries with rose buttercream inside.  It is a rose petal on top as garnish.

Now, ironically, while this is the prettiest looking of all of these sweets, this one was my least favorite!  It wasn’t BAD, it just… wasn’t as good as everything else!  It sure does look pretty!

the beautiful Raspberry Rose Ispahan Macaron by Pierre Herme

My FINAL review for Pierre Herme:

All of his creations were absolutely delicious.  The macarons were perfection.  His flavors were interesting but really good.  When going to his store, I HIGHLY recommend the rose ispahan croissant, followed by a macaron flavor of your choice.  I’m sure if you chose another patisserie it would likely be delicious as well!  I strongly recommend you stop by his shop if you are in Paris, even if you are only there for a day!

Which macarons are better? Lauder or Pierre Herme? Mystery is answered!
Macarons from Pierre Herme in Paris, go ahead and use this as a cell phone background!!

Now, time to answer the big question…
Which macarons are better, the ones from Pierre Herme or Laduree?
First of all, let’s talk about the shell:  Pierre Herme bakes his macarons using the Italian method while Laduree uses the French method. This website explains the difference.  The end result: both shells taste the same to me.  Every macaron that I tasted from both macaron houses had perfectly made shells with perfect feet.  They know how to make macarons.  The difference comes with the flavors…

The flavors are definitely different at both places.  Pierre Herme makes more intense unusual flavors like… olive oil and mandarin.  As you’re eating Pierre Herme’s macarons, they have more notes to the flavor and are more complex.  Laduree’s flavors tend to have one note to them… but that note is very good.  But when comparing the same flavor, for instance, the salted caramel macaron, it was very good at both places.  So, I would consider it a tie when comparing the same flavor.  If you are looking for more interesting complex flavors, head to Pierre Herme.  If you’re looking for more standard flavors, head to Laduree.

Now, I have to choose a winner.  I really want to say it’s a tie.  Because really, it feels like a tie.  But that’d be lame. I hate ties.  I must choose a winner… so I would say the winner is Laduree.  And this is why I choose them: I thought to myself, if I could only choose one macaron to eat and could only go to one store on a very quick trip to Paris, which one would I choose?  I would choose Laduree’s orange blossom macaron. It is just that good.  But in reality, if I go to Paris again, I would head to both stores multiple times.  However, the rose ispahan croissant at pierre herme is better than any of the macarons. so there.

HELPFUL HINT: I highly recommend bringing plastic utensils with you to Paris so that way you can enjoy your pastries in the park without making a huge mess.

If you’ve missed a Paris trip post, catch them ALL RIGHT HERE !

SaveSave

Follow:

Laduree Paris – Tea Room, Macaron, and Pastry review!!

We use affiliate links in our posts and our site. This means if you make a purchase using these links, we may earn a small commission. You don’t pay a cent more than you would otherwise! Our full disclosure is available under About.

As you all know, I’ve been a little bit obsessed with Laduree’s macarons.  One of my top priorities when visiting Paris was to visit the Laduree tea salon on the Champs Elysees.

Not only do I have their Sweets Recipe book, I had poured over numerous websites trying to decide what I was going to eat when I arrived!  Now settle in, I have a lot to say about Laduree!

a review of Laduree Paris

We had made a reservation for breakfast at the Laduree’s tea salon on the Champs Elysees in the morning.  We made it around 9am in the morning, which I guess according to how empty the salon was, it was *much* to early to eat breakfast.  However, for these jet-lagged Americans, 9am was perfect timing.  We made a reservation through this website. 

We knew we had arrived when we spotted the pretty green metalwork outside.  How cute!

Although Easter had already passed, they still had their Easter displays up complete with cute chocolate chickens.  While we were there, they did change their displays to a Mikimoto display, which I forgot to take a picture of.

We bypassed the row of viennoisseries and patisseries and headed up the stairs to the tea salon.

We were seated next to this beautiful antique French clock.

I did not take too many pictures of the upstairs as I was trying to be discreet.

Below is a picture of the (free) bread they give you… and wrapped up in that pretty green package is not candy but… butter!

Now, deciding what to order was a bit difficult.  The menu was pages and pages long.  I *highly* recommend looking at the menu before you go.  You can browse through the menu here.

The Tea Room Experience

We had both coffee (which was good) and the Melange Laduree tea. The Melange Laduree tea is the house signature tea which is a mix of black teas, rose petals, and essence of orange, caramel, vanilla, cinnamon, bergamot, and black currant.  If you like Earl Grey, you will like this tea!  I loved it so much I bought some to bring home.  (The tea is for sale downstairs)

To eat, we started off with some pastries.  We had a little pastry with raisins, an apple turnover, and a chocolate croissant.  They were yummy!

For breakfast, we had the plain French toast, raspberry French toast, and an omelette.  The plain French toast was very good; it was a nice brioche with pure maple syrup.  But then I tried the French toast that had fresh raspberries with raspberry coulis… oh boy, that was SUPER good.  I highly recommend trying that.  But, what I really loved was their omelette.  It was perfectly cooked.  It also was very thick but fluffy at the same time.  It was the best omelette I’ve ever had!  I think they probably use more yolk in their omelettes (With all of that macaron baking, they will have a plethora of extra yolks).  I read some poor reviews about the omelette about it being cold and I feel sorry for those people because mine was delicious!

 After the waiter allowed us to enjoy the salon for several hours, we headed downstairs.  A note about dining in Paris – you must ask for the bill.  They won’t present it to you automatically.  It is considered rude to force someone out of their seat, so the waiters will wait for your signal.  A lot of Americans think that the waiters are being rude and ignoring you, when in fact, they are being nice to you and not rushing you through the wonderful dining experience!  Imagine it from their view: you are paying top dollar to dine in a fine tea salon on the most famous street in the world! No rushing here!

We headed downstairs after eating to the store.  Enjoy some eye candy…

 

 

 

 

After staring for a while at all of the sweets, we eventually we were able to choose some macarons to take back and enjoy later.  We arrived early in the day to the tea salon and store which I highly recommend!  Later in the day, i.e. in the afternoon, there will be a VERY long line to get in to not just the tea salon but the store downstairs.  We had no line.  That was around 11am.

 I highly recommend choosing a pretty box so you can take it open as a souvenir!

Laduree Paris Macarons

Macaron Tasting Reviews

For all of the macarons we tasted, they all had perfectly baked cookies with perfectly smooth tops and perfect feet.  We did not have a single one that was bad.  They are fragile and got beaten up a bit as I carried my loot around Paris all morning, but that’s okay.

Laduree salted caramel macaron

Salted Caramel Macaron – The salted caramel macaron as delicious.  It was one of my favorites.  I have nothing bad to say about it.  You MUST try this one.

Laduree cherry blossom

Cherry Blossom Macaron – The cherry blossom macaron was very pleasant.  It tasted, like, well, cherry blossoms!  I didn’t know what cherry blossoms would taste like, but if I were to go and eat them I am guessing they would taste like this!  This one is not a must-try.

Laduree pistachio macaron

Pistachio macaron – The pistachio macaron was very very good.  The shell had pistachio in it to give the pastry more pistachio flavor.  The pistachio cream inside was very pistachio tasting as well.  Sometimes other places’ pistachio macarons do not have enough pistachio in them for my taste.  This one was VERY good.  Must get this one if you love pistachios!

Laduree orange blossom macaron

Orange Blossom Macaron– Onto my *favorite* macaron from Laduree… the orange blossom macaron!  This is one of their original and signature flavors.  It really does taste like an orange blossom.  But it isn’t too floral.  It is REALLY good. REALLY REALLY GOOD. You MUST try this one.  You can also check out my blog post which features their recipe if you can’t wait ’til a trip to Paris.

Laduree lemon macaron

Lemon Macaron – The lemon macaron was okay.  There wasn’t anything special about it.  It wasn’t bad, but… there are other flavors that are more amazing that I recommend!

Laduree raspberry macaron

Raspberry Macaron – The raspberry macaron was really good.  I love raspberry macarons.  The tartness from the raspberries go really well with the almond shells.  Can’t go wrong with this one.

Laduree Lily of the Valley macaron

Lily of the Valley Macaron – I was surprised at how much I loved the Lily of the Valley macaron.  I bought it as a last-minute decision… and I ended up just loving it.  It has a really nice refreshing taste.  It does taste like the smell of lily of the valley.  This flavor was just REALLY good.  I’ve tried to find a recipe for it online and haven’t yet…. I guess I’ll have to make my own essence of lily of the valley.  This is a must-try.

Laduree macarons

Other Flavors that we tried but I forgot to take pictures of because we ate them too fast…

Mikimoto Macaron – this is a rose lychee macaron and was okay.  I don’t love rose nor lychee things, so I didn’t expect that I’d love it.  However, Pierre Herme’s rose lychee ispahan croissant is to-die-for.

The Marie Antoinette Macaron – the blue one in the picture above.  It tastes like an Earl Grey tea.  If you like earl grey tea flavored desserts, than this one is for you.  I just felt like they had other flavors that are worth your money and calories that you should try first.

Ice Cream Review – Yes, we tried their ice cream.  I shouldn’t call it ice cream, it’s more like a sorbet. It got hot one day and naturally we had to try it.  We tried both the raspberry and lemon flavors.  They were REALLY good.  The raspberry was very intense in raspberry flavor.  The lemon was tart but sweet at the same time.  I feel like their glaces do not get enough praise.  If it is a hot day in Paris, it is worth getting some!

FINAL THOUGHTS – What is not to like about the perfectly packaged patisseries from Laduree?  People have complained they are over-priced… um, yeah, duh. I wasn’t headed to Paris with bargains in mind.  Are there other macaron bakers in Paris that are good? yeah, sure.  But do they come in cute little boxes? No. Do they have an orange blossom macaron? No.  I HIGHLY recommend going to Laduree on your trip to Paris.  They have several tea salons throughout the city and then several macaron selling carts scattered about in popular areas… including one in the Louvre museum and another in the airport so you can pick some up to bring home to your friends (oops, then you eat it on the long 12 hour plane flight, sorry friends!)  You don’t have to do dine in the tea salon to get the experience… it was just something special I wanted to do.

My 6 recommended macaron flavors to purchase for your perfectly packaged box are: salted caramel, orange blossom, lily of the valley, pistachio, raspberry, and oh, another orange blossom!

I’m reviewing Pierre Herme next and will also try to answer the burning question… Which macarons are better, ones from Pierre Herme or Laduree?

If you’ve missed a Paris trip post, catch them ALL RIGHT HERE !

SaveSave

Follow:

Buying a Louis Vuitton on Paris… yes, it’s cheaper!

We use affiliate links in our posts and our site. This means if you make a purchase using these links, we may earn a small commission. You don’t pay a cent more than you would otherwise! Our full disclosure is available under About.

As you all know, I had been excited for months knowing that I was going to buy a Louis Vuitton in Paris!  I know to a lot of people this isn’t any big deal… who would get so excited about buying a purse anyway?  But to me, my day of shopping in Paris will be full of memories.

And yes, it’s true, buying a LV in Paris is cheaper than buying one in the US (so long as the dollar is strong).

Guide to Buying a Louis Vuitton in Paris... yes, it is cheaper!

 

I’m writing today about my experience buying a LV in Paris! I’ll break down the cost in this post.

Now, I thought I had decided what purse I was going to get before I went.  But then when I got there they had just put out a brand new purse that was “10 days old”; one I had never seen before.  And of course I had to have it.

This is the purse I bought…

picture from LV

I had been thinking I wanted a purse in the blue and white print, aka the Damier Azur but then I thought I was going to get the classic speedy bag in the classic print.  But then I saw this one with the pink interior and knew this was the one!

 A view from the side…

The other nice thing about this purse is that it has 3 separate compartments in it.  I really like the zippered center so I can put my wallet in it.

 

There are several different LV stores in Paris.  Before I went, I read some people’s favorite LV was in St. Germain because it was less crowded.  I went to that one, and while it was less crowded, it also had less stuff.

I highly recommend going to the flagship store on the Champs Elysees.  If you want to avoid crowds, get there right when it opens.  If you go later in the afternoon, there will be a line.  I went there when it opened and there were hardly any people in the store.  How could you not want to wander through 5 stories of LV products??

all of the LV stores in Paris

Okay, let’s talk about money.  Since I had a hard time finding out on the internet before I left if an LV was cheaper or not in Paris, I’ll break it down for you for here.

The purse I purchased was 1200 Euros total (1000 for the purse and 200 for the VAT).  VAT is a tax.

We will be receiving 144 Euros back from the VAT refund.

Now, let’s convert it to dollars. (in 2015).

In US dollars, we paid $1295 for the purse.  Plus a $34 foreign credit card transaction fee.

We received approx. $160 back from the VAT refund.

The total US dollar purchase price with the credit card fee and VAT refund was $1169.

The price for the purse on the LV website in the US is $1820.   The purse was $651 cheaper in Paris than in the United States.

I want to clarify, I’m not saying $1169 is a good deal for a purse. Yes, it’s an expensive splurge.  I’m just saying, if you are going to buy one and are going to Paris soon… get it there.  You can tell the price differences by logging into the Louis Vuitton France website vs the Louis Vuitton US website.

Now, How do you get the VAT refund?? 

At the LV store, they will fill out a VAT form for you.  You *must* have your passport with you when you purchase the purse or any other products that are over 165 Euros.  If you purchase over 165 Euros at one store, you qualify for the VAT refund.  You will only be able to earn it if you bring your passport.  Got it?

Now, getting the refund at Charles de Gaulle.  We left out of Terminal 2E.  The customs office is somewhere between check-in area 2 and 3 I believe.  You must have your goods with you and you must do if *before* you check your bags.  If you check your bags and then the customs agent wants to look at your goods, you won’t get your refund.

You need to have all of your VAT refund receipts with you, your purchased goods, as well as your passport and either your ticket for the airplane or your printed itinerary from the airline.  We did not have our actual ticket for the plane yet and they let us use our itinerary.  You must also do it the day you leave from Paris; you can’t go there early and do it.

Once they approve the form, go over to the big yellow Poste box and throw it in the mail. You do not need a stamp.

Make sure you give yourself plenty of time to do this.  Our flight left really early in the morning so there was no line, but they had a large area roped off for a line that I’m assuming would be completely full later in the day.

Other tips… tell Louis Vuitton that it’s a gift.  They will wrap it up in a very nice gift box for you!  They will do this in the US as well.  The gift box *almost* didn’t fit in my suitcase.  But I just barely squeezed in it and voila! Made it home!

a beautiful gift box to place a beautiful bag in!

I certainly hope you found my buying a LV in Paris guide useful!

If you’ve missed a Paris trip post, catch them ALL RIGHT HERE!

Pictures may not be used to sell products on other websites such as eBay and etsy without permission.

SaveSave

Follow:

Upcoming Trip Plans to Paris: Tour du Patisserie

We use affiliate links in our posts and our site. This means if you make a purchase using these links, we may earn a small commission. You don’t pay a cent more than you would otherwise! Our full disclosure is available under About.

I’m headed to Paris next week on what I’m calling my “Tour du Patisserie”.  I’ve been to Paris a few times before, so I’ve “been there and done that” to some of the most famous attractions.  My husband has never been, so we will be going to the Louvre and Eiffel Tower, but I have some other things in mind…

 

…It involves things like…

…This raspberry ispahan macaron creation from Pierre Herme…

picture source

 

Eating my *favorite* French cake… Le Fraisier! It is light sponge cake with yummy mousseline creme, with strawberries sandwiched inside… topped with a thin layer of marzipan and sometimes honey. It is so light and refreshing.  My wedding cake was a frasier cake.

Fraisier Cake from Gerard Mulot, source

I want to try this rose ispahan croissant from Pierre Herme… I’ve read wonders about it… It is a buttery croissant glazed with rose-flavored almond cream, then drizzled with candied rose petals and filled with raspberry litchi pate.  I’ve read even for those rose flavored dessert haters, this is like a bite of heaven!

 

Or perhaps trying this caramel eclair from Cafe Pouchkine

source

This caramel mille feuille (napoleon in English) from Hugo et Victor is mouthwatering… layers of crunchy caramelized pastry with a caramel creme in between.

 

source

A tarte citron with a crunchy shell, smooth lemon curd, with meringue on top looks amazing from La Patisserie des Reves

source

And yes, of course, Laduree is on my list… I plan to visit more than once to try a bunch of different macaron flavors….

 

source

Perhaps we’ll enjoy a sip of Chocolat Africain (aka the world’s best hot chocolate!) at Angelina’s… when my family and I first went to Paris years ago, we stumbled upon this shop which was just down the street from our hotel.  We didn’t find out until years later that our local little pastry shop that we’d go to in the afternoons was world-famous! Ha!

source

Maybe we will try a St. Honore from Arnaud Lehrer. The St Honore is a ring of puff pastry with pastry creme, then topped with pastry puffs that are filled with creme and dipped in either chocolate or sugar…

source

I’ve never had a Paris Brest before, but it is supposed to be like nutella in a bite.  It has praline cream layered in-between two crunchy but soft choux pastry sides with some chocolate in the center.  Patisserie des Reves is supposed to make a fabulous one…

source

I love the fresh fruit tarts… this tarte framboise pistache, aka raspberry pistachio tart from Pain du Sucre is supposed to be delicious…. It has fresh raspberries with a glaze, with a pistachio cake in the center.

source

Alright, so I know, technically, that ice cream does not fall into the “patisserie” category. But I’m adding it to my “tour du patisserie” anyway.  The three flavors below are supposed to be amazing.  They are from world famous ice cream house, Berthillon, and I’m going to wait in line to try them!

Apparently the chocolat noir (dark chocolate) is amazing, but the caramel beurre sale (salted butter caramel) is to-die-for!

left, dark chocolate, right salted butter caramel source

What I’ve read though, is if the fresh wild strawberry (frais de bois) is in season, it is a must try.  It is different than the regular strawberry flavor, it contains whole fresh strawberries and is apparently like no other ice cream.

fresh wild strawberry source

I also *love* croissants aux amandes (almond croissants)… even though most of them are made from day-old croissants.  This one is from Laurent Duchene, and I don’t have a preference where I eat my croissants from! They are all delicious compared to the ones in America!

source

But let’s face it, my favorite favorite thing in Paris is just a plain ol’ croissant.  I have been searching for croissants in the US that are similar to those in Paris and have only been let down.  The perfect croissant is buttery, light and airy, but crisp on the outside. It has the perfect little crunch, but then it is soft in the inside. While I usually go for the plain croissant, the pain du chocolat  (chocolate croissant) is always delicious.  The shelf life of a croissant is 4 hours. Thus, we are to only eat croissants before 10am when they are still fresh…

source

Is there anything I should add to my “Tour du Patisserie” before I head off to Paris in 2 weeks??

Perhaps I need to add some pepcid and tums into my luggage, after seeing my list!  I feel like a little piggy with this list, but I’ve read the best souvenir from Paris is the 5 pounds of pastry weight you gain.  And as for the “diet”, I heard French women don’t diet, so I won’t either…

Images are not my own.

If you’ve missed a Paris trip post, catch them ALL RIGHT HERE !

SaveSave

Follow:

From the Shop

I may earn a small commission if you purchase with these links

Caning Natural Tote Handbag - Universal Thread™
The Hustler High Waist Fray Hem Ankle Bootcut Jeans
Le Panier Pliage Raffia Crossbody Bag
Extra Large Le Pliage Panier Tresse Straw Tote
The Bennet Buttondown Shirt by Maeve
T Monogram Perforated Leather Bucket Bag
Mellow Stud Mule
Le Pliage Marinière Recycled Nylon Canvas Travel Bag
Unseen Sunscreen Broad Spectrum SPF 40 PA+++
Maxine Stripe Cotton Button-Up Shirt
Citizens of Humanity Charlotte High Rise Straight Jeans
Navy Equestrian Traversee M Linen Tote
Cream Carrie Blouse
Ellison Natural
Jolene High Rise Vintage Slim
Citizens of Humanity Blue Jolene Jeans
Charlotte High Rise Straight Jeans
Le Pliage Filet Top Handle Bag
Vintage cotton crewneck T-shirt
Air Heart Sunglasses
Le Pliage Torchon XS Top Handle Bag With Strap
Santorini Raffia Basket Bag
Chuck Taylor® All Star® Lift High Top Platform Sneaker
Please note that I use ShopSense, LIKETOKNOW.it, Shareasale and Amazon affiliate links on this site. This means using them for purchases won’t cost you extra but may earn me a small commission.  Our full disclosure is available for viewing under About in the disclosure policy.
All rights reserved. Our graphics, images and text are all subject to copyright protection.