Saturday evening I met Quynh (I've been spelling her name wrong) at Galeries Lafayette to tag along as she shopped for a coat. Neither one of us thought about the fact that venturing to the giant department stores on a Saturday during soldes season might not be the best plan. And boy, was it crazy! We literally had to wait to get on escalators. Both of us being more boutique shoppers, we left. I said to her, "What were we thinking? We don't have jobs! We can come here on a Monday or a Tuesday...any day but a Saturday!" Live & learn.
Since we were close, we headed up to my neck of the woods and wandered around Montmartre a little. Once hunger hit, we found a little restaurant on rue des Abbesses and had another yummy dinner with wine. We both skipped dessert this time, and I was proud of my restraint, a trait which rarely shows itself. After more wandering in the cold, cold, COLD night, we ducked into a bar where there was a guy playing guitar & singing, and where we had...dessert. I didn't even really want it, but it seemed like the thing to do. Next time, I'm skipping it. Really, I am.
The next couple of days were pretty uneventful, so on Tuesday, Quynh and I decided to meet at Shakespeare & Co. and wander around a little. On our way to find lunch, I found something else. The cutest red coat! It was, of course, on sale, so I bought it. Now Quynh is the one shopping for a coat, and I am the one buying it. Isn't that always the case? Anyway, we had lunch at a cute little Vietnamese restaurant then wandered more, coat shopped more, and shoe shopped some while we were at it. Then Quynh revealed that she had never had a Laduree macaron, and following that, she had an epiphany. Why not do a taste test between Pierre Herme macarons and Laduree macarons. Well, why not? When it comes to macaron tasting, I'm all in. So we walked to the Laduree in Saint-Germain where she, being the scientist that she is, ordered one caramel du sel macaron and one cafe macaron. For testing purposes. I, on the other hand, ordered three caramel du sel macarons. I mean, I already know what I like, and it's Laduree caramel du sel macarons!
We dutifully put our beautiful green Laduree bags away & headed for Pierre Herme where Quynh, once again, purchased one caramel du sel macaron and one cafe macaron. And I, once again, purchased three caramel du sel macarons. I mean, if you're buying macarons (and I always buy the minis, by the way), what sense does it make to just buy one? I never claimed to be a scientist.
After much wandering and a little picture taking, we ended up in a cafe where we decided the time had come to execute the test. Quynh started with the comparison of the cafe macarons, and, well, you all know where I started. I had a taste of the cafe macarons, but only a little taste, so although I preferred the Laduree, Quynh much preferred the Pierre Herme. However, when it came to caramel du sel, we agreed that the Laduree was by far the best, most tasty, and with the best texture to boot. So it's official, or, more appropriately, oh-fficial. Laduree caramel du sel macarons...get more than one today!
More wandering, then hunger, and since we were both craving Italian food, we looked for an Italian restaurant. It was, once again, very, very cold, so after an unsuccessful search, we decided to ask the person that I think is the most knowledgable in all of Paris--the Parisian pharmacist. Two very nice pharmacists sent us to a very nice looking, not unexpensive restaurant which we decided was a little pricey for our unemployed student budgets. More walking, more teeth chattering, and we decided to ask another very knowledgable Parisian--the hotel front desk person. Score! This time we were sent to a restaurant more fitting our budgets, and dinner was yummy. Of course, on the way there, wouldn't you know that we passed another equally inviting Italian restaurant. That one is on our list to try later.
Tonight we're both going to an "international" meetup, so I'll let you know how that goes.
One more pic that I have to post here...Jerome Mesnager is a painter whose paintings appear as little surprises from time to time on Paris walls, doors, and apparently awnings. I took a picture of the first painting of his I ever saw and had it framed. It is of a magician pulling a rabbit from a hat, and as soon as I saw it, I loved it. People looked at me like I was odd when they saw me taking the picture. Recently, I walked by the wall it used to be painted on, and it had been done away with. Ha! Glad I have the picture. Anyway, walking through Les Halles on Friday afternoon, I came across another one of his paintings...this time of a figure reading a book. It's on an awning over, appropriately enough, a book shop. You may not be able to see it very well, but I hope you can...I just love it!
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