Paris for Pentecost

The past weekend was Pentecost. It was also the last weekend I have to travel before leaving France. So I celebrated the Apostles being burned alive by the Holy Spirit AND the culmination of my travels in Europe. I went to Paris. How appropriate.

This was my third time in Paris for those of you who are counting, and like my past visits I didn't have an agenda (save for a couple of chocolatiers). Instead, I meandered around and enjoyed the unbelievable weather. Paris was actually pretty during the day because the sky was blue and the flowers and trees were in full bloom. You might say: Paris's plants were pretty on Pentecost. Alliteration is my favorite.

This statue is in the Jardin des Tuileries. This poor guy looks upset. Maybe it is because he is hot, standing in the sun and all. Maybe it is because he is naked. Maybe both.

There was also walking around Montmartre. Just to the west of the Sacre Coeur is a nice neighborhood in which artists paint pictures of naïve tourists, cafés and souvenir shops overcharge the same naïve tourists, and then… this.

There is even a vineyard involved. I'd imagine the wine is terrible and the price outrageous. This is Paris, after all.

And a windmill that is not the Moulin Rouge.

I spent a good portion of my trip in cafés. I don't think I stressed the café scene in the past, but on a warm and sunny day, sitting outside a café with a coffee and/or cold beverage, reading a book or newspaper, watching the people walk by, is a dream come true. If there were American crossword puzzles involved (of the New York Times Monday/Tuesday variety, please), I would probably never leave. Here is a nice example of a typical café in Paris.

They are usually on a corner (but that is not obligatory), there is always an awning, nobody actually sits inside, the tables are big enough to hold exactly two beverages, the chairs are a synthetic wicker of sorts, and they all face the road. If you pay for a coffee, you have the right to sit there all day long. That friends, is a good day.

Alas, some cafés are better than others. Take, for example, these two:

Les Deux Magots and Café de Flore are on the Boulevard Saint Germain, a really nice street that runs through the fifth and sixth arrondisments (just to the south of the Seine River). Here is an idea of what it looks like.

Back to the cafés, they both have some pretty famous clientele. Jean Paul Sartre (French author and philosopher), Albert Camus (French author and philosopher), Simone de Beauvoir (French author and philosopher), Ernest Hemmingway (one of these things is not like the other…).

I went to Café de Flore with a couple of friends for breakfast. I got a freshly squeezed orange juice and croissant.

The orange juice tasted more like oranges than most oranges. The croissant was one of the best I've had. The bill had big numbers on it. It was worth every centime.

Other highlights I don't have pictures of:

~Angélina (a café that overlooks the Jardin des Tuileries in the first arrondissement) for some Chocolat Chaud à l'Africain. Supposedly the best hot chocolate in the city, it was thick, rich, hot, and chocolaty. It was also hot outside. That didn't matter one bit.

~Ladurée (a salon de thé with multiple locations around the city) for some of the best macarons in France. I had six (don't judge me): caramel, café, dark chocolate, lemon, raspberry, and pistachio. The raspberry tasted like a dream, but the pistachio was my surprise favorite.

~Le Petit Chalet for a nice lunch with friends. This is a small, French restaurant that looks right at Notre Dame. I think a lot of tourists miss it because it doesn't advertise 10 Euro, three-course meals like every other tourist trip in the area. In fact, the food was notable and the atmosphere just right. Plus the view.

~À La Petite Chaise for a great lunch. Another tiny, French restaurant, this one sits on a side street where unknowing tourists are not likely to wander in on accident. It is a traditional French restaurant: male waiters and everything. The dining room sits around 20 people. I had an avocado and salmon salad which was nice and refreshing after walking around a steamy Paris all morning. For dessert, a raspberry mousse with raspberry jelly, and fresh strawberries. There was also a Bordeaux red involved.

I also looked for some entertainment. For example, did you know the French Open started on Sunday? Well, all of Paris did. I got close enough to see the main stadium, though.

And if I'm honest with myself, I would have gotten bored after 20 minutes of watching a neon yellow (or is it green?) ball bounce to and fro. And in the sun? That's a recipe for a crabby me.

Instead, I went to a free organ concert at Notre Dame.

Philippe Lefebvre played that organ like nobody's business. There were Latin chants by Bach and some other guy (a little on the boring side). And for the finale, Lefebvre, the titular organist at Notre Dame, improvised some. Okay, he improvised for like twenty minutes. But the sound that came out of that organ was unbelievable. The end of any organ piece is the lowest and loudest note on the instrument. I thought the Cathedral was going to collapse. It didn't.

And I also bought some chocolate. I went back to see Denise Acabo at her shop À l'Étoile d'Or near the Moulin Rouge. My friend Laure went with me.

Denise is probably the sweetest person in all of Paris. She is passionate about chocolate. She loves her shop and its décor. She likes to talk to people about her store, even the wrapping paper she uses for gifts. She told us Meryl Streep was there not long ago. And she wears a plaid skirt. Come on.

The next day, I went back to Jacques Genin. From the outside, his chocolate shop doesn't look like much.

But inside, it's as modern as they come.

I got a millefeuille: a pastry that is made with buttery, tender puff pastry and, in my case, chocolate mousse. Some say it is the best in Paris. The pastry is as buttery and flaky as they come. It melts in your mouth, and when you cut it, it flakes into a million pieces (hence the name). The chocolate mousse was rich and dark, but not so much that it overwhelmed the pastry.

After a nice snack in the sitting area, I went to buy some presents. I picked out various flavors to fill up some boxes - a task more stressful than it sounds. The woman who was helping me kept giving me free samples to ensure that they were worthy of my gift boxes. I kept tasting them. And what is this? There was one that I've had before. From where though?

When the boxes of chocolate were full, we went to the caramel counter so I could get a little sample of his acclaimed caramels for myself (they are not to be missed if you like caramel!). After I picked out some flavors, the woman handed me a fruity-looking candy. When I left the store, I opened it up and tasted it. I've had this before, too.

And then it hit me. These were the mignardises from my lunch in Lyon at Nicolas Le Bec. Jacques Genin supplies chef Le Bec with his candies. What an appropriate way to end my culinary adventures in Paris? It was all meant to be.

Before I left, I went to Point Zero, a little circle just in front of Notre Dame from which everything in France is measured.

They say if you stand on it, you will return to Paris some day. I stood on it.

Au revoir, Paris.

Je t'aime.