Un Jour à Paris

In the rush of the last week departing Madagascar, I haven't had time to post about my adventures. I'll try to catch you all up on the most important things.

I'll start with a photo essay of my 36 hours in Paris.

With only one day to enjoy the wonders of France, team BCOP decided to narrow our tour to a single focus: food. Three months of rice and beans left us craving delicate flavors and artful arrangements, and where better to find exactly that than in Paris? Setting aside momentary culture shock at spending as much money on one meal as we had in one month in Madagascar, we set off to explore the best of the best (or at least the best of the mid-range affordable) treats in Paris.

Our second sign of culture shock was that when we left our hostel at 8:30 am (late by Malagasy standards! Days there start by 6:30), the city was still dead. Nowhere was open. No one was wandering the streets. We had hoped to start the morning with tea at a mosque tearoom, but sure enough, the salon was closed until 11. We wandered the streets in the meantime, and finally came to the Arab Institute, a building renowned for its modernistic architecture. The structure is almost solely glass, and the ornate windows use sensors to detect the amount of sunlight coming in and open or shut metallic "shades" accordingly.

The rooftop of the Arab Institute offered us a great panoramic view of the city spreading out across the River Seine, but unfortunately that was all we got out of it. The rest of the building was closed until 1pm.

Finally, growing impatient with the late hours (on a weekday, no less!) of Paris, we found our way to Dalloyau, a tearoom and patisserie that had just opened. Maybe 10am is too early for macaroons and tarts for some people, but not for us! We each ordered hot tea and desserts to share: a strawberry tart, one cannele, and raspberry, pistachio, cognac, and vanilla macaroons.











Next stop: lunch. BCOP was split on what to eat: crepes? falafel? crepes? falafel? The New York Times had put out an interesting review of Parisien falafel stands before we left the States, but crepes are so traditional--how could we not eat one? As a compromise, we ate two lunches. The first was at a small restaurant called Crepe Show, where I tried their lunch special of one savory galette (I had Sicilien, with mozzarella and tomatoes on top),
one sweet crepe (I had apples and cinnamon),
and one bowl of cold cider to drink.

Lunch #2 was falafel from the Jewish quarter. Falafel stands line the streets, and the owners compete for customers in any way they can. Overwhelmed, we stopped at the first one we came to and ordered. We found a comfy sidewalk to sit on to eat, and although our stomachs were pretty close to full, we didn't leave behind a crumb of mediterranean deliciousness.

Sufficiently stuffed after tea and two lunches, we attempted to rent bicycles through Velib, Paris' city-wide bike sharing program, to ride to the Champs-Elysees. It would have worked, too, if only American debit cards had microchips in them like European ones do. The rental machine wouldn't accept our cards. We had to walk.

It is a fairly long walk across the city, and since our flight had gotten in so late the night before, we felt ourselves getting sleepy. The solution: tea #2! I was too stuffed to indulge, but Patty, Brennan, and Olivia all got a hot drink as we sat at a small sidewalk cafe by the Pompidou Center.

We spent the afternoon digesting as we strolled down the ritzy Champs-Elysees. We took in the Arc de Triomphe, the ginormous Louis Vuitton flagship store, and - of course - the famous patisserie Laduree. We wanted to have afternoon tea and dessert there, but the line was outrageous. After asking and finding out that they were open until 11pm, we left and decided to come back later.

Around 7 pm, we were finally hungry for dinner. We attempted to go to a fancy restaurant recommended by a friend of Patty's - Brasserie Bofinger - but the line there was also too long, and we couldn't get a table until 10pm. Too hungry and impatient to wait, we walked across the street to the cafe version, run by the same restaurant. This was more of a family restaurant than a classy date-night affair, and the menu was smaller, but the food was good. We opted for the prix fixe menu, selecting one appetizer, one entree, and one glass of wine each. I started out with tuna and fresh herbs with a basil sauce and finished with a dish of salmon and mashed potatoes. My meal also came with a glass of Riesling and unlimited baguette!

Finally when dinner ended around 9:45, we hopped on the Metro to go back to Laduree. The Champs-Elysees is gorgeous by night.

Laduree is also gorgeous, and so are their macaroons. We waited in line to buy a few as gifts, then sat down in their outdoor cafe for tea. I tried a wonderful rose tea and we again split four macaroons: vanilla, mimosa, pistachio, and violet-black currant. Although Dalloyau was delicious, I have to admit that Laduree is better. It was an absolutely perfect end to a wonderful day. Stuffed full of delicious food (and with our pockets significantly less full of Euros), we Metro-ed back to our hostel, where we snuck into bed around 1am for just a few hours of sleep. Next stop: America.