Croissants and macarons and eclairs, oh my!

Where do I even begin with the French food? It was all delicious, all the time. We had never tasted such delectable pastries or such perfectly baked bread in our lives. Croissants, warm from the oven, were a must every day. The éclairs, filled with chocolate mousse were indescribably good. Boulangeries and patisseries are, of course, in abundance in Paris, including just around the corner from where we were staying in Montmartre. So many varieties of sweet treat, all so irresistible!

 

 

 

 

 

We went to "Laduree" on Champs-Elysees twice.  One day for a box of melt-in-the-mouth macarons, and on our last day in Paris for coffee and pastries.

We drank the best hot chocolate in the world at "Angelina" on Rue de Rivoli.

This omelette at Angelina.

Salmon fillet at 58 Tour Eiffel - the restaurant on the first level of the Eiffel Tower.

Baba au Rhum, again at 58 Tour Eiffel. I wasn't even sure what this was but had to try it in remembrance of my dad who would say "How about a rum baba?" when offering around a box of chocolates. I'm not even sure if he knew what it was! For the record, its a rum-soaked cake, and it was delicious.

Another best of the best - this Crème Brulee at Brasserie La Lorraine, Paris.

Madeleines.

Quiche Lorraine, salad and crusty baguette in our French apartment.

 

I truly doubt that I'll ever again consume such incredible food over such a short period in my lifetime. It was all just so good. We were so lucky to be able to live this indulgent lifestyle just for a little while!

 

Eating our way through Europe.

It wasn't all about seeing the sights on our European holiday.

Trying as many local foods as possible was a big part of the experience. We ate some superb food, some of which is pictured here.

 In London, we went to "Jamie's Italian" where I ate this delicious Pasta alla Norma - eggplant, oregano, chili and basil in a rich tomato sauce.

 

This was followed by poached winter fruits with frozen vanilla yoghurt and smashed honeycomb.

 C's Bellini (Prosecco with peach puree) and my Rossini (Prosecco with red berry puree)

 

Our elegant afternoon tea at the Ritz Hotel in London included this delectable selection. So good. Just as well we were doing plenty of walking in London! 

On our last night in London, we ate the best traditional pub meal: beer-battered haddock with chips and smashed peas, and cider to drink. Delicious, but didn't photograph well in the dimly lit pub.

We ate incredible cake in Germany.

On C's birthday, we were in Austria and couldn't go past the traditional Wiener Schnitzel.

Our Austrian dessert was, of course, Apple Strudel. C really enjoyed her birthday feast, in fact this could be considered the best meal we ate in Europe.

In Italy, we ate pasta for every meal, which was always served as an entrée and always in massive amounts. We learnt that the best pasta sauces are the most simple.

In Rome, we ate pizza at a restaurant with a view of the Colosseum. The pizza was, I think, the third or fourth course in a five course meal. What a night that was!

As with the pasta sauces in Italy, less is more when it came to Pizza. Toppings were light and simple.

 

We drank many, many espressos in Italy, and C found a long-sought-after Cannoli in Florence.

 

In Switzerland, we ate bread and potato dipped in the most amazing cheese fondue.

 

Followed by equally amazing chocolate fondue.

 

 

There were, of course, a couple of less than memorable meals during our European tour - only to be expected, I suppose, when they are being mass produced at hotels for several tour groups. Fortunately, the excellent meals outweighed the bad. 

And no, I haven't forgotten to mention the food we ate in France.

That will be a whole other blog post!

 

Autumn days

Life goes on.

 This kitten is growing up way too quickly.

 He's looking uncharacteristically docile here. In reality, he's a crazy ball of energy.

 

My souvenir London bus has befriended my souvenir New York taxi.

 

More holiday souvenirs - a French edition of "Babar the King" and a jar of euros, francs and pence.

 

What a difference a week makes.
 Autumn is now on display.

Loving the warm, sunny days and cool nights.

Au revoir, Paris

We left Paris a little over a week ago and already it seems like another lifetime.
On our last day, we visited Pere Lachaise cemetery where we followed the crowd to Jim Morrison's grave.
Afterwards, we took the train to Champs-Elysees for a final walk along that famous avenue and said goodbye to all the familiar landmarks which are visible from Place de la Concorde.
Our incredible European adventure was sadly at an end.

That's it for the London/Europe photos. I've edited the older posts to satisfy my need to have the pictures in the right order!
I've also captioned many of them.
I will probably still blog about the divine food we consumed on our trip. Makes my mouth water just thinking about all those French delicacies!

More Montmartre

Managed to find a couple of places from the movie "Amelie". We didn't actually go out of our way to do this, but just came upon them by chance.
Also found a few weird and wonderful arty and vintage stores.
No shortage of colour in this lovely area. 

Cafe featured in "Amelie"

Greengrocer featured in "Amelie"

"Wall of Love"