Two Canadians in Paris

Mmmmmmmm, pain au chocolat, croissants, Mont Blanc, crepes avec Nutella, baguettes and more...is what I ate for breakfast in Paris!! My stomach is still trying to recover from these culinary delights.

Last weekend I flew to Paris to visit Erika who is studying French there. Last month, I saw Erika on MSN and I asked her how Korea was (she had gone there from Toronto to teach English) and to my surprise, she had finished her contract and was now in France.

I flew to Beauvais airport just outside Paris with Ryanair for 70 Euro, taxes inc and Erika met me at the bus stop in Paris and we started our adventure. We first went to Basilique du Sacre Coeur. It was beautiful and located on the top of a hill overlooking Paris. We then wandered around the cobble stoned streets, watched the many artists and painters and ate crepes.

We saw so many attractions that I cannot possibly remember the order in which we saw them. Here is a list of what we saw throughtout the weekend: Funiculaire de Montmartre, Theatre de la Madeleine, Opera, Palais de Chaillot, Champs-Elysees and l'arc de Triomph, Jardin des Tulleries, the Mona Lisa in the Louvre, la Pyramide, Chatelet les Halles, St Michel Notre Dame, Ile St-Louis, Bastille, Montparnasse, Champ de Mars tour Eiffel, Tour Eiffel, Hotel des Innvalides, Moulin Rouge....lets say we were really really tired from walking each day that I was there! Good thing there were lots of yummy treats to keep our sugar levels soaring!

The highlight of the trip was the Mont Blanc dessert which we bought from Angelina's right beside le Louvre (ummm, twice). The brown chestnut cream is sweet and dense, yet tenderly supported by whipped cream in the middle, and the combination adds a sense of lightness to the intensity of the chestnut cream. Underneath all the cream is a strong meringue layer that gives the two soft layers a distinct personality and texture....mmmmm....it was the best dessert i've ever tasted!!!

Another highlight for me was the Eiffel Tower. They covered the first level of the Eiffel Tour with snow and had free snowshoes that you could borrow....so I got to snowshoe around the Eiffel Tour while looking out onto the city of Paris!!!

Supprisingly, Paris was actually cheaper than Dublin for eating out. We had 3 course dinners for 10 Euro...oh god....the food I ate....

Thanks to Erika's great hospitatily, I had an AMAZING time in Paris and would love to go back! Paris is really as good as they say it is! Maybe I should move there next.......will add pictures later! Bonne journee!