Paris – Day 3 can be found here.
A leisurely start to the day, given that our pastry tour doesn’t start until 10 am – and made all the more leisurely by us making ourselves breakfast for perhaps the first time in two weeks. Cereal and toast never tasted so good.
Our meeting spot was at the Eglise St-Germain-des-Pres, so that meant about a 30 minute walk. We tend to meander, so we left 45 minutes and made it with time to spare.
As before, it was a lovely scenic walk:
And before we knew it, we were at our meeting point:
This seemed to be a common meeting point for a lot of tours so it helps to have made contact with your guide in advance. Context Tours starts a group chat between you and the guide several hours early, while for this specific tour our guide reached out via text. We replied via WhatsApp because Canadian roaming fees are utterly ridiculous.
On the subject of roaming, I was horrified to discover that – despite turning off data roaming and having an eSIM – my phone was still transmitting brief bursts of data that were activating Bell’s Roam Better program to the tune of $16 a day.
I initiated a full stop to data, and I’m hoping they’ll reverse the bill when we get back. Immensely frustrating considering that I followed their own instructions for how to prevent roaming charges. Anyway – not worth letting it ruin our holiday. And my wife’s phone, with the same settings, did not incur the charges – it seems to be iPhone 15 specific.
We met our guide Maria Alicia promptly at 10 am, and she took us to a lovely bakery – Secco – where she discussed some of the history of pastry in Paris and ran us through an entertaining quiz entitled Cheese or Pastry? – which proved to be a lot more difficult than it sounded.
We were surprised to learn that the croissant is actually an Austrian invention, and wasn’t introduced to Paris until 1839. It’s part of a group of pastries known as the Viennoiseries – in reference to their Viennese origins – which includes pain au chocolate, pain Suisse, Brioche, Chausson aux pommes, and so on. We then got to sample a range of delicious Viennoiseries.
We also then tried two different types of baguette – a plain baguette, and baguette traditionelle. Baguette traditionelle is subject to strict rules in terms of its ingredients and how it should be handled. You can immediately taste the difference – the baguette traditionelle has a much thicker crust and the bread itself is softer and richer.
From here we went to Maison Mulot where we tried the Parisian marshmallows in a range of flavours, including vanilla, raspberry and blueberry, as well as their eclairs.
Marshmallows!
Marie Alicia noted that a proper éclair should have firm sides that don’t fall under its own weight, and that the cream should be thick enough that it doesn’t ooze out of either end.
This one was truly delicious – it had a rich, thick chocolate taste without being overly sweet.
Next we went to Arnaud Larher for macarons and chocolate. Macarons are sweet meringue-based confections made with egg white, sugar, almond meal and usually some sort of ganache or thick cream. They’re best if you eat them soon after purchase, as they are stored at ideal conditions at the bakery.
Some bakeries will fly their macarons to North America, but the temperature and humidity changes have a noticeable impact on the quality. Just in case you need further justification for a trip to Paris…
For our macarons, we had two salted caramel, rose and raspberries, and black tea infused with red fruits. All fantastic.
We also tried some of Arnaud’s chocolate, which was exceptional – including a bar of 100% cocoa.
Marie Alicia also pointed out a sign on this bakery that read: “Meilleur ouvrier de France” or “Best Worker of France” – this is a juried competition held for craftsmen every 4 years, and is highly recognized by both the craftsmen and the public alike.
Something to watch for if you’re looking for a topped-ranked brasserie or patisserie.
We also tried a moelleux, which is a sweet cake filled with chocolate ganache. Delicious. (And another item on our Cheese or cake? Quiz.)
Next we went to Maison Le Roux, where we learned that salted caramel was originally invented in Brittany by pastry chef Henri Le Roux in the early 1980s. Brittany is known for its quality salted butter, and its combination with caramel created a new and distinct confection.
There were a range of different flavours to try including chocolate, raspberry, blackberry, and many more.
Lastly, we went to Aux Merveilleux where we tried a kind of ganache inside of a sweet brioche. Marie Alicia suggested we split it four ways, which initially seemed a bit cautious – despite all the treats we’d already eaten – but she was right, it was incredibly rich and delicious.
Delicious enough to dive into…
A quarter of this was plenty!
We also picked up a Merveilleux for the kids to try later.
We then said our goodbyes to Marie Alicia and thanked her for a fantastic tour – highly recommended.
After, we decided to stop for lunch at Breizh Café – recommended by Marie Alicia – where we had some delicious buckwheat crepes.
Our next tour wasn’t until 4 pm, but it was too far to head back to our apartment so we decided instead to pick up a few new books. We swung by San Francisco Books Co.
Which had an excellent – and reasonably priced – selection of English children’s books in the back.
From here we walked through Le Jardin du Luxumbourg:
Until we stopped at Mademoiselle Angeline, where the kids read and enjoyed some delicious hot chocolates:
We also got to check out a fascinating new concept car by Dacia, just outside the museum:
But it wasn’t long before it was time to head over to the Louvre for our tour.
On the way, we swung by the Notre Dame Cathedral – which is still under construction following the fire there in 2019.
They’re hoping it will be ready to reopen by the end of 2024.
It was a lovely walk and when we arrived at Café Palais Royale, our meeting spot for the tour our guide, Laurent, was waiting for us, and recognized us immediately.
He started by providing some of the history of the Louvre, particularly surrounding the fact that it had once been a French royal palace before Louis XIV had Versailles built. He also noted the Masonic symbolism of its construction – specifically the presence of 5 pyramids, at least one of which is always hidden.
(If you’re not sure which, I won’t spoil it for you – but if it’s really bothering you then leave a comment and I’ll explain it.)
Laurent had already picked up our tickets, so it didn’t take long before we were inside the Louvre and starting our tour. He began by asking the kids what they wanted to see – their answers were Greek and Roman statues, Egyptian antiquities, the French crown jewels and the Mona Lisa. No problem.
There’s absolutely no way I can pass along all of the fascinating details that Laurent conveyed to us during our three hour tour, but I will give some of the highlights:
– Many of Louis XIV’s rituals were designed to help keep the wealthy nobles in line. By creating a system of wealthy indulgence, he was able to effectively bankrupt many of them and prevent them from organizing against him. Even something as simple as the presentation of the King’s shirt by the most-favoured noble was designed to diminish that noble in the eyes of the others.
– One of the places in which Louis XIV’s younger brother enjoyed partying was in a slaughterhouse after hours. This particularly affectation led to his shoes being stained red – which then prompted a similar fashion within the King’s court. Is it coincidence then that the iconic Louboutin shoes also have red soles?
– Most of the beautiful, pristine white statues created by the Greeks and Romans were painted at some point in time. Also – most of the better-known Roman statues are copies of Greek statues. If it works, there’s no need to fix it.
– They’re not actually certain whether the Venus de Milo is a statue of Venus. Many of the statues were disfigured by later religions destroying ‘idols’ so it’s possible she could be someone else entirely. Two other candidates are Aphrodite or Amphrodite, the wife of Poseidan.
– One of the ways that you can tell the origin of the statue is by looking at the toes. ‘Greek feet’ in statues have a second toe that is larger than the big toe, whereas ‘Egyptian feet’ has a big toe that is larger than the second toe. Many of the Roman statues are copies of the Greek statues, which means that they also have ‘Greek feet’, however there are also unique ‘Roman feet’ where the first two toes are in line with the big toe.
– Painting was something of a stagnant art until the 15th century, as most of the works done in Europe until then were done with tempura or egg-based paints that lacked depth and nuance. The rise of oil paintings was among one of the strongest elements of the Renaissance, and completely transformed painting. Early painters like Van Eyck and Hieronymous Bosch cleared the way for artists like Leonardo da Vinci to create masterpieces like the Mona Lisa that endure until this day.
– The jewels in the French crown are not jewels at all, but glass. The jewels themselves were sold in 1885 to rid France of the symbols of the monarchy.
Thankfully some of other historically relevant jewels were kept.
– While Greek statues were of gods, Romans pioneered the concept of statues as a record of actual people. This arose initially through the practice of creating a wax funerary mask following a person’s death, which would then be used in later funeral precessions. But the wax masks did not endure – so instead they began to use statues as another means of immortalizing Romans.
– We also had a look at the foundations of the Louvre, in which the blocks are signed – a way of keeping track of how many blocks were paid from one week to the next, and how much the masons were owed. Amazing to think that this section of the building wasn’t discovered until the 1980s!
Unfortunately the Egyptian wing was closed that day – apparently due to staff shortages. But otherwise we managed to cover an incredible amount of ground, up to and including the Mona Lisa.
Context Tours had recommended this time slot (4 pm on a Friday) as one when the Louvre would be less crowded, and I think it was a wise suggestion.
At least we got to see a Sphinx… but still hoping to return to the Louvre later in the trip
Laurent offered us a great restaurant recommendation, but as we stepped out of the Louvre we realized that we just wanted something simple – so we walked home, and I picked up Dominos.
Another beautiful night in Paris
French and authentic? No.
Easy and necessary? Yes.
We all soon fell into a deep sleep, grateful for the knowledge that we had absolutely nothing on the agenda for tomorrow – other than the wonderful gift of figuring out how to spend a free day in Paris.
Continue reading Paris – Day 5.