#15: Paris….via Greece

After spending 10 days in Athens and the island of Santorini, I headed home with my friend Monica, via Paris.

Here are some highlights:

• Marche Biologique (Organic market): located on Blvd. Raspail and open Sunday mornings. I was able to buy a bottle of Pommeau (Calvados brandy + apple juice= delicious aperitif but difficult to find outside of Normandy)
• Dinner “Picnique” on Pont des Arts: drinking wine, eating baguettes and cheese. There were some musicians there and it was a lovely evening and a different way to “dine” in Paris.
• Visited the Musée d’Art Modern de la Ville de Paris to see the Henri Cartier-Bresson exhibition. If you are not familiar with the name, you are most likely familiar with his photographs especially his street photography and candid photos from the 1940s and 1950s.
• Dinner at one of my favourite classic French bistros: Restaurant Perraudin (157 Rue Saint-Jacques in the 5arr) where we shared a bottle of Bordeaux and had escargots, lamb stew, and an apple tarte.
• Shopping at Galeries Lafayette and my favourite store for ladies fashions, Carolle.
• Rented Velib bicycles and visited the Catacombs. Had to wait in line for almost 2 hours and spent 45 minutes walking through the tunnels which are filled with skulls and bones. Many have been there since the 1700s. I much preferred seeing the wall sculptures (Sculptures de Décure)
• Went to the highly rated L’Epi Dupin for a lovely dinner (1 Rue Dupin in the 5arr): Amuse-bouche, Galette polenta with shrimp, Filet de Canette (duck), cherries on ice cream, and a bottle of Costière de Nimes. Service was efficient (maybe too fast) and the restaurant was HOT. (It was late July, but no air conditioning in this restaurant).