Group sized pastries in the front window.
Individual pastries inside the shop.
Chocolate candy.
A tower of Macaroons!
Strawberry and fig deserts
One final look at the front window goodies. So beautiful.
Paris - Gerard Mulot - Death by Pasteries
I'm normally very chatty, but I was stunned by this shop and could only mumble to myself that I have never seen anything so amazing. See your yourself. Let me know what you think.
Group sized pastries in the front window.
Individual pastries inside the shop.
Chocolate candy.
A tower of Macaroons!
Strawberry and fig deserts
One final look at the front window goodies. So beautiful.
Group sized pastries in the front window.
Individual pastries inside the shop. Chocolate candy. A tower of Macaroons! Strawberry and fig deserts One final look at the front window goodies. So beautiful. 
How to zip through Versailles in 11 hours
Phew, what a day. This was to be one of the easier days because we were going to see only one thing. It was a day of learning and discovery. It was exhausting and totally delightful. The photos are on the big camera, so I will add some of my favorites later.
We decided to leave on the early train. Alarm clocks went off by 7AM, and we were out the door and on the way to the Les Halles Metro center. A quick stop at the little shop to purchase some chocolate breakfast treats, and then to the Metro. No espresso this morning.
The first order of business was to purchase a round trip ticket from here to Versailles. We had Museum Passes, so all that we needed was the transportation part. We walked up to the ticket window and in Frenglish (french and english) explained that we wanted roundtrip tickets. The clerk spoke rapidly in French only (she didn't appear to be as fluent in Frenglish as we were) and pointed at the two machines set off to the side. In English she said "just pick Versailles, round trip." That sure sounded easy enough.
We stood in line to use one of the machines. The screen gave three selections and we touched the screen several times, each time harder, to get our selection to register. Then we saw that there was a rolling pin thingy at the bottom. We rolled it and noticed that the selection changed. A click on the button to the right registered the selection. A long list of options appeared, all in French. At the bottom of the screen was a language selector, so we selected English and everything became a little easier to read. We selected "round trip outside of Paris" (we swear that we did!) and then the V to get the list of V places that you could select. Roll, roll, roll down to Versailles. Cool. Then the payment options came up: coins or card. Selected card, thinking that it was a credit card. Having learned at the train station that you had to leave the card in the reader, in it went and we waited. "Can't read". Pull the card out and put it in the other direction...and wait. "can't read". Hmmmm. Put it back in the first way and slid it out, slowly. "can't read". Well, d**n it, put in coins, then! So we pull out coins and as we are trying to determine if we have enough in 2e, 1e, .50, .20, .10, .02, and .01, the screen says "time has expired" and it quits. RATS!!! People behind us switch their wait from one leg to another, but no one says anything. We get out of line, smile, and open the machine up for those in line to use. After two people get their tickets, we have our coins pulled and ready to purchase the tickets. We stop midway through our purchase to help the young couple at the next machine, since they were rookies. I only got as far as showing them how to select "English", and then said "ok, you can take it from here." They looked grateful.
We boarded the Metro train first, and then did a quick change through the corridors and found our train, headed in the right direction. We were off and running on RER C line, headed for the Chateau.
Continued....
We decided to leave on the early train. Alarm clocks went off by 7AM, and we were out the door and on the way to the Les Halles Metro center. A quick stop at the little shop to purchase some chocolate breakfast treats, and then to the Metro. No espresso this morning.
The first order of business was to purchase a round trip ticket from here to Versailles. We had Museum Passes, so all that we needed was the transportation part. We walked up to the ticket window and in Frenglish (french and english) explained that we wanted roundtrip tickets. The clerk spoke rapidly in French only (she didn't appear to be as fluent in Frenglish as we were) and pointed at the two machines set off to the side. In English she said "just pick Versailles, round trip." That sure sounded easy enough.
We stood in line to use one of the machines. The screen gave three selections and we touched the screen several times, each time harder, to get our selection to register. Then we saw that there was a rolling pin thingy at the bottom. We rolled it and noticed that the selection changed. A click on the button to the right registered the selection. A long list of options appeared, all in French. At the bottom of the screen was a language selector, so we selected English and everything became a little easier to read. We selected "round trip outside of Paris" (we swear that we did!) and then the V to get the list of V places that you could select. Roll, roll, roll down to Versailles. Cool. Then the payment options came up: coins or card. Selected card, thinking that it was a credit card. Having learned at the train station that you had to leave the card in the reader, in it went and we waited. "Can't read". Pull the card out and put it in the other direction...and wait. "can't read". Hmmmm. Put it back in the first way and slid it out, slowly. "can't read". Well, d**n it, put in coins, then! So we pull out coins and as we are trying to determine if we have enough in 2e, 1e, .50, .20, .10, .02, and .01, the screen says "time has expired" and it quits. RATS!!! People behind us switch their wait from one leg to another, but no one says anything. We get out of line, smile, and open the machine up for those in line to use. After two people get their tickets, we have our coins pulled and ready to purchase the tickets. We stop midway through our purchase to help the young couple at the next machine, since they were rookies. I only got as far as showing them how to select "English", and then said "ok, you can take it from here." They looked grateful.
We boarded the Metro train first, and then did a quick change through the corridors and found our train, headed in the right direction. We were off and running on RER C line, headed for the Chateau.
Continued....
How to do laundry in Paris
I determined that my sore knees and calves needed a rest and declared today a stay-in day. Also, I've been on the road for about five days and it was time to do laundry. Meet my fancy apartment sized combo washer and dryer. It's a front loading model, with a gazillion buttons and settings on the front. It is in the bathroom between the sink/toilette area and a slatted wooden rack to hold your stuff. The apartment is randomly stocked with products, likely left over from prior tenants. You use what you need, buy some more things and leave it for the next person (which is why we had wine the first night!). I digress. THANK GOODNESS for graphic artists who draw pictures on boxes because all of the fancy words printed on the box would not get me past utter confusion on which of the products under the sink where for the clothes or the toilet. 
After bypassing the containers that had toilets on them, I found a box that looked promising. It had a cloth and bubbles on the front, and the instructions on the back showed clothes swirling around in a machine similar to what was here. Since there was nothing else like this, I used these little towelettes for the soap and tossed one in with my dainties, slacks and a few tops. I glanced at the instructions and starting pushing buttons (techies don't like written instructions). I selected some settings in the middle for the material settings and temperature (all in Celcius. I figured top was high/hot and bottom was low/cold, so middle would work just fine.). One button flashed at me, and giving credit to the engineers who design these machines, I pressed it. It started beeping and another button was flashing so I pushed it. 1.30 showed on the little display, so I thought "Hmm. An hour and a half. That is not bad." The machines started a slow run of water and then would spin. I looked up at the instructions again to confirm that I had done it all correctly, and realized that I hadn't selected any dryer settings. I tried to stop the machine, but it was well on its way so I backed off. While I was looking at the instructions, I noticed that there was also information about how to turn on the radiators. Ohhhhh, now I get it. The thermometer is in there, but each radiator had its own on/off knob. I ran around the apartment turning on all of the heaters and could feel the warmth radiating off of them immediately. (Is that why they are called "radiators"?) I felt that I had evened the score: Machine 1 Human 1.
After 90 minutes of whirling and spinning, the thing beeped proudly to let me know that it was done. I took out the damp clothes and draped them around the room on the newly discovered radiators to dry. I also noticed that my pearly white dainties were a calming shade of cream. Nice touch.
Feeling very confident, I started load #2. I put in the clothes, the pseudo maybe laundry detergent, and pushed all of the buttons including the dryer one. 3.13 popped up on the window. 3 HOURS TO DO A LOAD OF LAUNDRY???!!!!! This is now all starting to fit together: tiny closets, tiny stores with tiny containers of laundry soap and tiny washer/dryers. You cannot have a lot of clothes and wear them all, with the intent to wash them all on Saturday. This won't fly here.
So, after five hours, the laundry had dried on the radiator and in the dryer. I gathered the clothes and organized it all. Everything was folded and hung in the closet, ready for more outside adventures (enough inside for one day).
I settled in to tackle more technology: the phone. I guess that all things considered, it should be used the same as a phone in the US. Except that I wanted to CALL the US. I had been able to connect to the Internet (another LONG story since I initially thought that it was wireless and after a few hours of trying to get it to work, discovered that it had a cable connection. Plugged it in to my little laptop and it worked right away. DUH.) I had to Google how to make a phone call from France to the US. Found complete instructions (00 1 area code then local number...how easy is that?) and dialed my Mom. She answered and we chatted. Pretty cool.
Looking back on the day, I realized that I hadn't showered yet, didn't make it to the market, and hadn't written catch up on the blogs. But it was a great day of adventure, all confined in 600 square feet. And all while looking out the window at a Paris street. This is just what I wanted to do! I'm very happy.
Louvre and Orangerie - Paris
It's Fall in Paris and the leaves are turning yellows and reds. Every day seems to get more colorful. This photo was taken in the Tulleries while walking from the Louvre to Orangerie.
The day was rainy as we walked on rue Montmontre to the Boulangerie to have the morning pan au chocolat, stopped at the Tabac Cafe (a little place) for an espresso, and then on to rue de Louvre. It wasn't a hard rain, but a gentle downpour that was enough to warrant an umbrella. Our umbrellas were bright and colorful: one blue with white flowers and the other black with bold red, orange and yellow women's shoes. We entered the Louvre from rue de Rivoli on the northeast end of the building. This took us into a courtyard, Cour Carree. I had to walk carefully across the cobblestones and kept my eye out for an easier path. We rounded the corner and the glass pyramid was in front of us. A small devise was working its way up and down the glass to clean (clever...always wondered who cleaned the glass). I directed the walk to the pedestrian passage way on the north side of the building to the entrance for the Museum Pass holders. The guards told us to use the main entrance to the pyramid and just go right in. We returned to the pyramid, looked at the long line, then went to the open entrance and showed our passes. Straight through, past the long line, and down the escalators. The main lobby was filled with people waiting in line for tickets, but we zipped right past them and up another escalator to the Denon Wing. It was easy to find my favorite sites: Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, Venus de Milo, and Liberty leading the people (a woman my own heart). We stopped for a lunch break at Cafe Mollien and enjoyed salade du frommage and wine (because it's Paris!). We left the Louvre and crossed under Arc du Carrousel. I stopped to talk photos: eastward towards the Louvre and westward across the Tuilleries towards Place de al Concorde. (Photos are in another format and I'll add them when I return.)
The Tuilleries were glistening after the rain. The open air cafes, nestled in the trees, were empty as we strolled by, and warmed only by the glow from the kitchen. I heard them yell out to me as I walked by "Stop and have a cafe creme!!" But, I had to keep moving towards the Orangerie Museum.
We walked up the ramp to the museum. As we reached the top sidewalk, the Place de la Concorde with all of hustle and bustle activity drew our attention. Cars, busses, motorcycles, bicycles, all whirled around the monument obviously heading somewhere very important. The Tour d'Eiffel appeared in the background with the top section hidden by the fog. Statues and lampposts glistened with the wetness from the rain. (Yes, there is a great photograph...on the "big camera" so stop back later.)
Musee de l'Orangerie houses eight very large Monet paintings from the time spent at Giverny. I took a lot of close up photo to use as screen savers on the computer. I had seen these the first time I visited, before I went to Giverny. Now the photos came to life as I imagined being at the house and the pond, with the long branches of the trees hanging down into the water, and the reflections from the surrounding plantings mingled in with the flowers on the pond.
I had intended to take the Metro, or at least a bus, back to the apartment. But the traffic was going the wrong way! and so were the busses. We ended up walking through the shops on Rivoli, enjoying all of the sights and the sounds, and made our way back to rue de Louvre and the neighborhood. I was exhausted and went straight up to the apartment. Dinner was a yummy selection of cheese, baguettes, grapes, and wine...of course.
Isle de la Cite & Rive Gauche
Today's journey took the route through Isle de la Cite and into Rive Gauche, the Latin Quarter.
The morning walk went south on rue Montmartre. Stopped for a breakfast of pan au chocolate (chocolate croissant) and quiche lorraine from the local boulangerie. Carrying the treasures, the next stop was a nearby Tabac cafe for an espresso standing at the bar. The cost of the espresso (at the bar) was 1.1 euro and the breakfast treats could be eaten at the same time. Left the shop, walked south again on rue Montmartre until it ended at St. Eustache church and consulted the map for the best route to Notre Dame. "Friendly Frenchman #1" stopped by to help with the directions and quickly pointed out the quickest route. He sent me east on rue Rambuteau, past the Pompidou museum, then south on rue Beaubourg. This route went past the incredible Hotel de Ville, with a glimpse of Bazar de l'Hotel de Ville.
[photo Hotel de Ville]
Crossed the Pont d'Arcole (pont is bridge) and walked a little further to Notre Dame. I moved up to Point Zero and started the Rick Steves audio tour for the walk. Enjoyed viewing the front of the building and was approached by "Paris Scam #2": woman walks up to you and asks "Do you speak English?" Said "no" (in English) and went back to my touristy action. Entered the church (free admission) with a moderate crowd. The flow was to the right because there was a service being held. So COOL! The organ music filled the air, and the priests were giving the service in French. I walked around, lit a candle for the family, enjoyed the service from several different bench seats, and left the building. The tour continues around the outside of the building and on to Ile St Louis.
It was now time for lunch, so crossed the Pont St. Louis and started to sit at a table outside of La Brasserie de L'Ile Saint Louis. The waiter asked "Boire ou Manger?" (to drink or eat) and when the response was "Manger", he directed to a table set for a meal in the back row. The plat de jour was wonderful roast beef with pureed potatoes, plus a glass of red wine. Total cost was 21.6 e (I'm going to use e for euro until I can figure out how to use the symbol on the keyboard). No hurry during the meal. In fact, the waiter walked outside of the patio and a little behind the building to have a cigarette. Paid the bill and walked across rue St. Louis-en-L'Ile for some of the world famous glace (ice cream) at Berthillon's. I had vanilla cone, yummy! It wasn't as white as US Vanilla ice cream, was in a waffle cone (small) and was worth every bit of the 3e.
(TO BE CONTINUED
The morning walk went south on rue Montmartre. Stopped for a breakfast of pan au chocolate (chocolate croissant) and quiche lorraine from the local boulangerie. Carrying the treasures, the next stop was a nearby Tabac cafe for an espresso standing at the bar. The cost of the espresso (at the bar) was 1.1 euro and the breakfast treats could be eaten at the same time. Left the shop, walked south again on rue Montmartre until it ended at St. Eustache church and consulted the map for the best route to Notre Dame. "Friendly Frenchman #1" stopped by to help with the directions and quickly pointed out the quickest route. He sent me east on rue Rambuteau, past the Pompidou museum, then south on rue Beaubourg. This route went past the incredible Hotel de Ville, with a glimpse of Bazar de l'Hotel de Ville.
[photo Hotel de Ville]
Crossed the Pont d'Arcole (pont is bridge) and walked a little further to Notre Dame. I moved up to Point Zero and started the Rick Steves audio tour for the walk. Enjoyed viewing the front of the building and was approached by "Paris Scam #2": woman walks up to you and asks "Do you speak English?" Said "no" (in English) and went back to my touristy action. Entered the church (free admission) with a moderate crowd. The flow was to the right because there was a service being held. So COOL! The organ music filled the air, and the priests were giving the service in French. I walked around, lit a candle for the family, enjoyed the service from several different bench seats, and left the building. The tour continues around the outside of the building and on to Ile St Louis.
It was now time for lunch, so crossed the Pont St. Louis and started to sit at a table outside of La Brasserie de L'Ile Saint Louis. The waiter asked "Boire ou Manger?" (to drink or eat) and when the response was "Manger", he directed to a table set for a meal in the back row. The plat de jour was wonderful roast beef with pureed potatoes, plus a glass of red wine. Total cost was 21.6 e (I'm going to use e for euro until I can figure out how to use the symbol on the keyboard). No hurry during the meal. In fact, the waiter walked outside of the patio and a little behind the building to have a cigarette. Paid the bill and walked across rue St. Louis-en-L'Ile for some of the world famous glace (ice cream) at Berthillon's. I had vanilla cone, yummy! It wasn't as white as US Vanilla ice cream, was in a waffle cone (small) and was worth every bit of the 3e.
(TO BE CONTINUED
Paris Apartment - 2e Arrondisement
The flight from Dallas to Paris was uneventful. I slept comfortably, off and on, and the arrival was smooth. Customs was uneventful, showed the passport, got a stamp (yea!) and set off to find the tourist booth for the Museum Passes. As I walked, I passed the starting point for the return trip, all well marked. Good!
Made it to the train and metro area, and had a little confusion. There were a lot of signs, but in French! Where are the subtitles? Found the machine to dispense the ticket and used a credit card. I learned that I put it in and took it out too fast. It needs to go in, wait until it is read, and then take it out. Got the ticket, found the platform heading in the right direction, and left Charles de Gaulle airport for the Chatelet/Les Halles stop. Coming to surface again (Boy did they ever dig deep for the trains!) it was easy to get oriented and head off in the direction of the apartment.
The apartment is located at the intersection of Rue Montmartre and Rue Etienne-Marcel.
Made it to the train and metro area, and had a little confusion. There were a lot of signs, but in French! Where are the subtitles? Found the machine to dispense the ticket and used a credit card. I learned that I put it in and took it out too fast. It needs to go in, wait until it is read, and then take it out. Got the ticket, found the platform heading in the right direction, and left Charles de Gaulle airport for the Chatelet/Les Halles stop. Coming to surface again (Boy did they ever dig deep for the trains!) it was easy to get oriented and head off in the direction of the apartment.
The apartment is located at the intersection of Rue Montmartre and Rue Etienne-Marcel.
Andre Rieu 30th Anniversary Tour 2009
This was a surprising and delightful experience: Andre and his fantastic Johann Strauss Orkestra. He has been touring for over 30 years and presents a delightful concert. The seats were on the floor at jobing.com and allowed us to participate in the entry of the orchestra members, a bull, balloons, and a surprise waltz in the aisles. Delightful! One leaves with the heart beating in 3/4 time.Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood
Clapton is as good as ever. He doesn't smile through the entire performance, but has the biggest grin at the end of the show. He's awesome. I know that you can't see him in the photo, but you can see that the seats were good (Section 101 at jobing.com Arena). The people on the floor stood for the entire concert (oh, please) but we had a good section and could sit and watch.I think that they are recording the Clapton/Winwood tour, so treat yourself to a DVD and enjoy it at home.
The Parlor Pizzeria
The Parlor Pizzeria came highly recommended by Kalen. He said that the pizza with the Schreiner's sausage was incredible. (Salsiccia: Schreiner's "Parlor Brand" sausage, Grilled radicchio, sage, saba.) The restaurant is located on Camelback between 18th and 20th Street. It is easier to find if you think that it is "across the street from Best Buy". There is ample parking and it looks like there is access to a neighboring parking lot. Good call, because I think that this place will fill up quickly.
I took my 3Day Walk training partner Samantha to try out this new place. We ordered (and shared) a roasted beet salad and ate it before I remembered to take a photo. Small red and orange beets with cheese and salad greens. Very good! Then we decided to split a 14" Funghi pizza, with wild mushrooms, goat cheese, chives, and drizzled with truffle oil. Sooooo very good. I'll try the Schreiner's sausage pizza on another day as I will definitely return.
We shared two deserts so that we could try both. The first one was a (still warm) deep dark chocolate cake with Italian cherries, vanilla crema and chocolate sauce. It is shown above as an empty plate, and a half eaten piece of chocolate cake. Sorry...we dug into that desert quickly. The other desert was a tart. very good, but it is difficult to follow chocolate done well.
This is a quick shot of the outdoor patio. This will be very nice with the fire going (and when it gets cooler). Perhaps our nights are still mild enough to enjoy this great seeting area.Urban feel, good staff, informative. It is a new additional to the local scene and opened at the end of May, 2009. I liked it and will return.
1916 E Camelback Rd Phoenix (602) 248-2480
For a good review of the ownership and chefs
For a good review of the ownership and chefs
Maizie's Cafe
Enjoyed an early dinner at Maizie's Cafe, located on Central, south of Camelback. Small parking lot in the front (better to park on the street north of the restaurant), and a great patio. This will be a crowed place when the weather turns wonderful again. 
I had a nice glass of Syrah from the featured winery to go with my penne dish, with tasty shrimp, capers, tomatoes and garlic. Service was good, althrough we were early for the normal restaurant dinner crowd. I will definitely return to try some other items on the menu.Station: Camelback / Central Avenue
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