the neighborhood

Being able to live like a local is one of the benefits to staying in an apartment while traveling. As wonderful as restaurant food is, it was also nice to have some simple meals "at home." We stayed in the sixth arrondisement where there's no shortage of vendors, but no matter where you are in Paris, you are close to many wonderful food purveyors and markets.

our apartment building's courtyard

the neighborhood

benefits of city living

bon appétit!

musée d'orsay - part two

Here are more of my favorite images from and of the Musée D'Orsay...

Manet's The Luncheon on the Grass

architectural motif in the museum

Monet's Woman with a Parasol, Facing Right

Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux's Prince Imperial with his Dog Néro

Monet's Rue Montorgueil in Paris, Celebration of June 30, 1878 (end of World Fair)

Jean-François Millet's The Gleaners

close-up of the beautiful clock

Van Gogh's Self-Portrait 1887

Van Gogh's Self-Portrait 1889

the gorgeous museum dining room

Degas' Little Dancer of Fourteen Years

musée d'orsay - part one

The lovely Musée D'Orsay is housed in a former train station and has a large collection of Impressionist works. Here are some highlights from our visit.

view of the front end of the museum

Seurat's The Circus

Degas' The Ballet Rehearsal

Van Gogh's Mademoiselle Gachet in her Garden

Charles Cordier's Sudanese Man

Eugène Carriere's Louis-Henri Devillez In His Studio

Renoir's Dance in the City

Monet's The Tuileries

Van Gogh's Bedroom in Arles (3rd version)

Degas' The Pedicure

museum's rooftop terrace

view from museum rooftop

les macarons

Let me start by warning you that I will be blogging many, many posts about the food we enjoyed in Paris! I'm beginning with one of my all-time favorites, the macaron. No, not those Mounds-candy-bar-type coconut macaROONS but macaRONS which are buttercream (sometimes other fillings) sandwiched between two delicate cookies made of ground nuts (usually almonds), sugar, and egg whites. Pâtisseries have really gotten creative with their flavor offerings of these confections and some even make savory versions. If you don't want to make your own, here is a resource to help you find macarons around the world (or try Googling your city).

Japanese pâtissier, Sadaharu Aoki

unusual flavors included sesame, wasabi, and different green teas

other beautiful pastries

we sampled genmaicha (green tea w/roasted brown rice) and yuzu (a citrus fruit)

Pierre Hermé

decisions, decisions...

pink grapefruit and salted butter caramel

Ladurée patisserie and tea salon

they always have beautiful window displays

hubby snuck an interior shot before they told us no photos allowed!

Gérard Mulot has it all

sweet...

...and savory (also makes great breads!)

macaron tower

we tried (clockwise from top left) ginger pineapple, nougat, mint, walnut coconut

another macaron tower spotted at Dalloyau

Angelina is famous for hot chocolate, but these uniquely-shaped "macalons" caught my eye

bienvenue mes amis

Welcome to the beginning of many posts about our trip to Paris. We took what seemed like a million photos so I'll just try to hit the highlights and not bore you to pieces. I'm still getting over jet lag so I'll be easing in with only a few today.

Hubby and I took it very easy the first day in Paris after a long journey and tried to get some rest before heading out to a book launch at WHSmith for David Lebovitz's wonderful new book, The Sweet Life in Paris. It was just happenstance that the event was the evening we arrived and I wanted to take advantage of such a unique opportunity. I read the book on the plane ride over and highly recommend it. David gives you a taste of what it's like to live in Paris and shares some great recipes, too.

doorway into the apartment building in which we stayed

david lebovitz reading from his book and sharing other funny stories

the back of my head as david signs my book