My family and I love to eat.  In the spirit of the Food Network show by the same name, we’re going to share the best thing we ever ate and hope that you will tell us your favorites too.

Of course we had all kinds of delicious food in Paris, but you know my family, we love sweets.  I had read about French macarons and was eager to try them.   Here in America macaroons (spelled with two o’s) are little mounds of coconut cookies, but French macarons (spelled with one o) are entirely different:

A macaron is a sweet confectionery made with egg whites, icing sugar,granulated sugar, almond powder or ground almond, and food coloring. The macaron is commonly filled with buttercream or jam filling sandwiched between two cookies. Its name is derived from an Italian word “maccarone” or “maccherone”. This word is itself derived from ammaccare, meaning crush or beat, used here in reference to thealmond paste which is the principal ingredient. It is meringue-based: made from a mixture of egg whites, almond flour, and both granulated and confectionery sugar.  The confectionery is characterized by its smooth, domed top, ruffled circumference (referred to as the “foot”), and flat base. It is mildly moist and easily melts in the mouth.  -Wikapedia

To learn even more about macarons, read Serious Eats: “Introduction to French Macarons”.

We had our first macaron right down the street from our apartment at Maison Georges Larnicol on rue de Rivoli and after one bite we vowed to have as many macarons as possible while in Paris!  They are insanely delicious!  Delicate, yet bursting with flavor, each bite is heavenly.  I don’t know how they pack all that flavor into such a little tiny cookie.

At Maison Georges Larnicol we had Caramel, Citron (lemon), Bergamot, Pamplemousse (grapefruit) and our favorite at this location, Rose macarons.

Our next macaron tasting was at Le Grand Epicerie Bon Marche, an incredible “grocery store” on the ground floor of the high-end department store Le Bon Marche.  We ate macarons of Framboise (raspberry), Chocolat, Caramel á la Fleur de Sel (salted caramel) and Pêche (peach).  Our favorite macarons  from Le Grand Epicerie Bon Marche were Pêche and Framboise, although all were very good.

Our 3^rd macaron experience was at Angelina.  Since we were there to drink Angelina’s famous hot chocolate (read about it in my next blog post), we only had one macaron on the way out, Manderine Passion. Tropical and fruity, this macaron was different and delicious!  We regret not buying more macarons for later.

Finally we had macarons at the legendary Ladurée.  This was on my “must eat” list and after my first macaron at Maison Georges Larnicol, I really wanted to see if Ladurée’s macarons lived up to the hype.  I can tell you that Ladurée’s macarons were the most expensive ones we tried, but I can also tell you that they were worth every euro.  They are incredible! You can buy them at the shop or have them with a pot of tea in the tea salon next door.  We did both.  The tea was delicious and the salon is beautiful.   Ladurée’s macarons can be packaged to make nice gifts, however it is best to buy gifts at the airport location because macarons must be eaten within 3 days.  We went crazy at Ladurée and tried several flavors: Pistache (pistachio), Chocolat, Cassis Violette (black currant violet), Citron-Thym, Vanille, Coco (coconut), Framboise (raspberry), Café, Caramel á la Fleur de Sel (salted caramel), Pétales de Rose, Melon, Goyave (guava) and Fleur d’ Oranger (orange blossom).  Girly’s favorite was Pistache.  Honestly all the flavors were delicious, but the stand out was Caramel á la Fleur de Sel; it had the perfect mixture of sweet and salty and melted in my mouth.   Mmmmm….it was divine!

It’s a good thing that French macarons are not available near me because I would have a problem!

(Oh, and since leaving France I’ve had a macaron at a “French chocolatier” in Los Angeles.  Not even close.   I’ll wait until my next trip to France to have a real macaron.)

Photos:

Macarons in Maison Georges Larnicol.

Macarons in Ladurée.

Au revior!

*Read about the rest of our Paris vacation and London adventures too!

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© 2011, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

Much of our time in Paris was spent wandering around just exploring (and lost!), but we did see some of the sites that you “had” to see while in Paris–but we also missed so many!  I’m sad about not seeing the Champs-ÉIyseés or Arc de Triomphe, but it just wasn’t possible to see everything in six days.  I guess that means that we just have to go back to France!  Here are some of the sites that we did see:

Musée d’Orsay

My family likes going to art museums.  We are members of Atlanta’s High Museum and often visit the art museums in New York City or other places when we travel, so we were excited to see art in Paris.   The first art museum that we toured in Paris was Musée d’Orsay.  This museum is in an old train station so even before we saw the art, we appreciated the beauty and design of the building.  There was a special exhibition of Manet’s early work and that was a treat.   A large part of the museum is dedicated to impressionist art by van Gogh, Monet, Degas, Gauguin—some of my favorite artists.  The kids were excited to see so many paintings that they recognized from books.   (We were not allowed to take photos in the museum.)

Notre-Dame

Notre-Dame was a short walk across the Seine from our apartment, so we had to see it.  While it is a pretty impressive structure from the outside, it is amazing on the inside.   Breathtaking.  Jaw-dropping. Even with all the tourists milling about making noise, there is a stillness and holiness that brought tears to my eyes.   The soaring ceilings, stained glass windows, chapels, altars and art affected me deeply and I must go back again.  I took photos, but photographs cannot capture the beauty of Notre-Dame.  If you ever have a chance, please go see this beauty for yourself.

Musée du Louvre

We couldn’t come to Paris without going to the Louvre and so we did on Bastille Day—along with everyone else who decided to take advantage of the free admission for the holiday.   But the line moved quickly and within 30 minutes we were inside one of the most famous art museums in the world.  I knew it was large and that we wouldn’t be able to see much; I thought maybe we could see a whole wing.  I was wrong.  The Louvre is enormous; we were there for several hours and I think we saw a hallway or two.  It’s that big.  We did make a point of seeing the rock star herself, Mona Lisa.   Despite the massive size of the museum, she was easy to find, we just followed the crowd.   She graciously posed for photos and then sent us off to admire her renaissance peers.

Tour Eiffel

It is actually the one time in Paris that I felt a bit unsafe because there were just so many people at the Eiffel Tower.  We also took the bus there and our bus tickets didn’t work when we boarded, so we were already a little off-balance when we arrived.   But we went right up to the structure, stood underneath and wowed.  It’s impressive.   I was glad we made ourselves go out after a long day of touring.  The twinkling light show was magical.

Château de Versailles

In retrospect we should not have gone to Versailles that day.  We were up late the night before (all week really) and we were tired from 5 full days of touring Paris. Versailles is big, really big.  Really, really big.  It is not the place to go if your feet already hurt before you get there.  Cobblestone streets are not for tired feet.  But it was our last day and if we wanted to see Versailles, it was do or die time.  And so we went.

We saw the chateau gardens (very lovely) and The Grand Trianon and Petit Trianon and some of Marie Antoinette’s estate.  And grass and trees and more gardens.  All lovely.  We saw all of this by walking, walking, WALKING all the day.  At one point my son refused to go any further and just sat down.  It’s a lovely place, gorgeous!  And it was beautifully sunny day, perfect for walking and exploring the extensive grounds—but not for people who were on their last day of a 12 day high energy trip.  By the end of the day I was calling my husband Clark Griswold from National Lampoon’s Vacation; he brought his family all the way to France and we were going to see Versailles, dammit!

Honestly even if we weren’t already exhausted, I think it would be hard to see all of Versailles in one day unless you got there very early (well rested of course) and used one of the transportation options offered at least part of the time.  Silly fools we were, we scoffed at the tram and golf carts.  Don’t make the same mistake.  If you plan to see the chateau, other buildings and grounds on the same day, use transportation in the form of the tram, a segway, a golf cart or bikes.  Biking seemed to be a nice way to get around. You cannot walk all of Versailles in one day without injuring yourself.  Do not try.  Also, it might be a good idea to bring your own lunch unless you plan to eat at one of the restaurants.   Several of the snack bars ran out of food.  Check out my rant video:

We finally toured the chateau and it was amazing! I’m glad Clark Griswold my husband insisted on Versailles Do Or Die.  I do want to go back again to see the parts that we missed.

Photos:

Notre-Dame.

Notre-Dame: cross.

Notre-Dame: stained-glass window.

Tour Eiffel

Musée du Louvre

Me & Girly outside Musée du Louvre

Château de Versailles: in the garden.

Château de Versailles: Hall of Mirrors.

Au revoir!

*Read about the rest of our Paris vacation and our London adventures too!

© 2011, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

Bonjour!

I didn’t get to blog from Paris everyday like I had planned to do because we stayed out very late each night; most nights we didn’t even eat dinner until after 9pm (like true Parisians).  So, I’m going to capture our trip in a couple of blog posts.  These are just the highlights of course; our days were very full!

You read about our Eurostar “adventure” from London to Paris in my last blog post; Yikes!  But after we got on the train, we had a lovely ride, a great driver to our Paris apartment and a warm welcome from Catherine, the apartment owner.  While researching Paris accommodations, it quickly became apparent that it would be better for my family to stay in an apartment rather than a hotel.  Somehow I got to the website Haven In Paris and found a lovely apartment for rent in The Marais section of Paris (the 4th arrondissement).  It was perfect!   The apartment was stylish, stocked with everything we needed and spotless.  Catherine even had a bottle of wine, bread, chocolate, fresh flowers and other goodies waiting for us.  The location couldn’t have been better; we were near 2 metro stations, several bus lines and a few blocks walk to the Seine river.  Best of all was the wealth of cafes, restaurants and shops right outside our door.  It’s always tricky renting an apartment online, but we couldn’t have been more pleased.  We made ourselves at home and felt very French.

After a neighborhood tour from Catherine we took off on our own and over the next few days we explored the neighborhood and absolutely fell in love.  We peeked into a few vintage stores and I found a dress that I wanted badly, but didn’t think that I would wear anywhere.  It was too expensive to just hang in my closet, so I took a photo instead.

We had our first macaron right down the street from our apartment at Maison Georges Larnicol on rue de Rivoli and after one bite we vowed to have as many macarons as possible while in Paris!  They are insanely delicious!  Delicate, yet bursting with flavor, each bite is heavenly.  I don’t know how they pack all that flavor into such a little tiny cookie.   You know my family, we like to review food–especially sweets–so look for a blog post comparing different macarons shops.

The food in Paris will make you dizzy; there is so much to eat!  We at in several cafes and restaurants, had take out sandwiches from boulangeries and ate food at the grocery store as well.   I couldn’t possibly comment on every cafe or restaurant, but believe me when I say that was pretty much ALL good!

However, I must comment on a few establishments that were particularly outstanding right in our neighborhood.  Every morning we had croissants from the corner boulangerie for breakfast and took a baguette in our day bag to snack on while touring.  We tasted other boulangeries in the city and they were all good, but our corner place was the best.  A few blocks away on rue Vieille du Temple were a couple of restaurants highly recommended by Catherine.  She was correct; our meals at Le Petit Fer á Cheval and Les Philosophes were outstanding.  I don’t eat beef, but I had to try a tiny bite of my son’s Beouf Bourguignon; wow!  The meat was so tender and the red wine flavor was present, but not overpowering.  It was incredible.

Our neighborhood is also home to a famously delicious falafel place called L’As du Fallafel.  We got falafel and chicken shwarma to go and ate it on the street.  It was huge!

Parisians love ice cream and gelato; I think there was a frozen treat shop on every block.  On the same block as Petit Fer á Cheval and Les Philosophes was the best gelato shop, Amorino.  The gelato was delicious to eat, but also artistic; if you got two flavors on a cone, they designed the scoops in the shape of a rose.

I promise that we did more than eat in Paris!  Read about our sight-seeing adventures in the next blog post.

Photos:

Google Map of our location.

We are inside our apartment.

The view outside the apartment window.

Girly on the apartment building stairs.

Girly outside our apartment building door.

The kids with Catherine, the apartment owner.

Vintage dress at a store on rue Rivoli.

James standing outside “our” boulangerie.

Bread in our boulangerie.

L’As Du Fallafel.

Schwarma from L’as Du Fallefel.

Amorino gelato storefront.

Amorino gelato.

Au revoir!

*Read about our London adventures too!

© 2011, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

Wow, we had fun in London! We saw so many wonderful things, but we also had fun just riding the Underground (also called the tube), the public transportation system in London. The tube station was a 2 minute walk from our hotel and on 3 different tube lines, so we could be practically anywhere we wanted to go within 15 minutes. We bought an Oyster Card the day we arrived and I do believe that we got our money’s worth because we used it several times a day. It was so easy to use and so clean! I only saw one slightly disturbing incident during our week of using public transportation and that was at the train station (not the tube, the rail station) in Windsor. I saw a man peeing in the corner of train station, right in front of the women’s bathroom (when I was about to enter). What’s even stranger is that this was in a tiny, cute town an hour outside of London and a stone’s throw away from the Queen’s residence. Needless to say, I held my pee for the train ride instead of using the bathroom at the station. I think I may write the Queen a letter about that!

We had a few hours before our Eurostar train left London for Paris, so we checked our luggage at the hotel and went to Trafalgar Square…..home of the most aggressive pigeons in London. Did I mention that my husband has a phobia of pigeons? And my son has recently developed the phobia as well. So perhaps you can imagine that they did not enjoy Trafalgar Square at all. There was a lot of ducking and squealing. We stayed there about 30 seconds before they begged to leave.

We walked to Covent Gardens to an area called Seven Dials, seven streets of boutiques and fantastic vintage stores. I love vintage stores! Unfortunately we only had a short time to explore before we had to get back to the hotel, collect our luggage and make our 3pm train to Paris. “We have time,” my husband said, and encouraged my son to try on and buy a sweater. By the time we paid for the sweater and got lost finding the tube station we were pushing our time. We had no margin. I believe in margin. I live by margin in my everyday life, preferring to be early later than late. Margin is crucial while traveling in a foreign country. My husband does not live with margin, he pushes the limits of time. He is always flying out the door, trying to make a flight that leaves in 15 minutes, a whirlwind of forgotten laptop plugs in his wake. Can you guess what happened?

The projected 30 minute tube ride to the train station turned into a 60 minute traffic-clogged taxi ride. When the taxi pulled up to the train station we jumped out, ran/pulled our luggage through the train station and cleared security and customs within 5 minutes. We had a chance to make the train leaving in 3 minutes! The attendant called up to the train to tell them that we were coming; we still had a chance! Except….the elevator was already full with a woman and her luggage…..and it was the last elevator the train conductor allowed up to the platform before pulling out the station.

Yup, we missed our train to Paris.

The ticket agent tried very hard to find seats on the next few trains, but there were no seats available for a family of four. Rather than wait several hours (or maybe even the next day?) for an available train, my husband bit the bullet and bought upgraded tickets for the next train, leaving in only 30 minutes. The First Class car was practically empty (except for one other family with, unfortunately, unruly toddlers and disinterested parents–Bebe’s Kids). Our ticket price also included a delicious snack with red wine for the adults and hot chocolate for the kids. It was a lovely way travel; we were in Paris in just 2.5 hours and only 30 minutes behind schedule. However, it was an expensive reminder to always leave room for margin! It was an adventure and will be a funny story to tell of our vacation…..some day.

Photos:
A tube station in London.
Girly on the tube.
Our snack on the Eurostar train, traveling between London and Paris.
Girly reading on the Eurostar train.

Until next time (from Paris),

Cheers!

*I am blogging and posting from my iPhone and iPad so please excuse any typos.

© 2011 – 2012, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

I am sad that we just spent our last day in London; I could really stay here another week. There was so much that we didn’t get to see! But this place is so rich in history and has so much to do that we couldn’t possibly do it all in less than a week. I knew that this would just be a “highlight tour.” We ran hard (my kids don’t know how to rest) despite never really getting on the correct time zone and staying up past 1:00 a.m. each night.

London decided to let our vacation end with a bit of sun and warmth. Just a bit…it still rained, but only for awhile and it wasn’t cold. It was a perfect day to visit a few royal residences.

We started the day at Buckingham Palace because my daughter really wanted to see the Changing of the Guard; she was determined to see “the fuzzy hats” in person. We got there early to get a spot up by the gate and still it was packed with people and very uncomfortable, but she got her photos of the fuzzy hat guards and she was happy. And what makes her happy makes me happy. The palace was closed until the end of July, so we couldn’t go inside. Instead we took an hour train ride out of the city to see Windsor Castle.

Starving when we got there, we researched and found a highly regarded restaurant called Gilbey’s in the little town of Eton, home of Eton College and next door to Windsor. The food was delicious and the restaurant was really lovely. We felt very refreshed and tranquil after the crowd at Buckingham Palace and long train ride. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the pudding of the day was Eton Mess, a pudding of meringue, whipped cream and strawberries. I had seen Nigella Lawson make this dish on her Food Network show and intended on making it someday myself. And now here I was in the town of Eton–where the dessert originated–eating it in a lovely little British restaurant on a cobblestone street! How perfect! It was as delicious as Nigella had made it sound on the show and we left the restaurant ready to see Windsor Castle.

As we walked from Eton to Windsor Castle and saw the town, shops and Thames River, I was disappointed that we hadn’t gotten there early in the day. Besides the castle, it really is a place to spend a whole day just walking and exploring; it is so different from the big city of London. If you ever go, do plan on spending the day there.

By the time we got to Windsor Castle we only had about 90 minutes to tour before closing, so it wasn’t ideal, but we saw the grounds and all the allowed inside rooms except for the chapel. We are allowed to return within one year with our current ticket and while I think it is highly unlikely, I will hold on to it just the same. You never know.

The castle was amazing! We weren’t allowed to take photos inside the State Apartments, but it was fun being in the very rooms that the Queen uses when she entertains guests and dignitaries. The castle sort of sits on a hill, so the view of Eton below is fantastic. I was surprised to see the castle is really part of the town. Of course it is heavily guarded, but shops and restaurants are just steps away from the front gates. There’s even a Poundland (like the Dollar store…get it?) a block away. I guess even the Queen likes a good bargain

Photos:
Buckingham Palace: Changing of the Guard
A street in the town of Eton
Eton Mess
Windsor Castle
Poundland

Cheers!

*I am blogging and posting from my iPhone and iPad so please excuse any typos.

© 2011 – 2012, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.