PATISSERIE PARIS
JOYEUX ANNIVERSAIRE A MA MERE!
First thing, I FaceTime'd mum for her Birthday, she was having breakfast before preparations began for her Captain's 'End of Golf season' black tie (& Birthday) party in the evening. She had around 40 bouquets of flowers poised for table decorations, how life is wonderfully hectic with the Hendry family!
Chessie and I had a somewhat lazy morning in comparison, and wandered our way to brunch at Maison Plisson (1). It was a place recommended by Charles; where Ches and I both had delicious bowls of granola and a sneaky pastry on the side. This was the start of our Patisserie tour of Paris! Enroute to the metro we stumbled across an AMAZING shop called Merci, a real treasure discovery!
After some purchases (woops), we jumped on the Metro to Concourde and walked through the Louvre gardens, via a Saint Geraud Patisserie shop (2) that we had visited on a previous trip, for one macaron each. We then meandered our way, from recommendation from AJ, along the river bank to see all the street sellers and soak in everything, and we also popped into the most amazing book shop - Shakespeare and Company. We made it to the Notre Damn & île Saint Louis, where we saw a brilliant pianist playing in the middle of the bridge. We then snaked our way back through La Marais, window shopping this time, although popping into Méert Chocolatiers for a yum Praline 'Gaufre' (3) to share! We were heading to Jacques Genin Chocolatier shop (4), which was exquisite, and well worth the half-hour-ish queue for a rich luxurious chocolate 'late-afternoon tea'! We then 'waddled' back to the flat, stopping for some wine on the way home, to chill before dinner. Replenished, we headed to Monmartre for a hike up the steps to Sacré Coeur, and a clouded view of Paris, followed by a drink at a bar and late dinner at La Vache et Cuisiner. It was a restaurant recommended by Hanna (Landor Paris) - very typically French, non-tourist and delicious!
On Sunday we set off to wander around some more, in search of more delicious treats; a 15minute queue this time promised a delicious Almond&Pistachio croissant (5). A reversal of Saturdays journey we wandered back through La Marais and via the Pompidou, near which I bought a new party palm jacket - being 25 has 'changed' me! We also managed to stumble across a Sephora (chess's favourite) and found ourselves amidst an Avalanche 10km run by Notre-dame, the wrong side of the barrier. Finding the escape route, we headed back across the river to Saint-Garmain. Our 'walking tour' took us through the wintery Luxemburg gardens, full of Sunday joggers, and onto a succession of great Patisserie shops, I'd thoroughly recommend a Pierre Hermé Macaron (6). Enroute to 'Les Deux Magots' café recommended by AJ, we popped into Loft (much like All Saints) for a sneaky investment in a denim shirt for me, and a cashmere jumper for Chess (both in the sale, luckily). The Café was wonderful, waiters dressed in black tie and although the coffee at €7 was trop cher, it was brilliantly classically Parisian! We then headed out for some high end patisserie this time, namely Michalak (very trendy) and onto Sadaharu Aoki where we bought two beautiful ensembles (7) to eat at Montmartre, where we'd take our day full circle in daylight this time! We concluded a fantastic weekend together eating our goodies in the view of Paris, and dropping a Pastry box off the edge of the stone wall at the Sacré Coeur! We went back to the flat to gather Chessie's things before I dropped her off at Gare du Nord. It was a real treat to spend my 'Birthday weekend' with my sister-from-another-mister, and thrilled she came to visit!
I got back to the flat early evening and embraced the remaining daylight to run off the rather indulgent weekend, with my backpack on I headed back to Maison Plisson to pick up some groceries for a vegetable-laden dinner and ingredients for weekly lunch. It was a brilliant run, even better with a haul of vegetables on the way home!
