Back to Paris

In addition to Aaron's birth (see below), we had a nice long weekend in Paris. Click here for some pictures from the weekend, including a video of a Raphael and Henry "wiggle party," and a video of me and Raphael attempting to introduce two very disinterested parties (Henry and Cashmere). There is a point during this video where both Henry and Cashmere look at the camera as if to say, "what the heck is going on here??" which I find hysterical.

There are also pictures from a great little restaurant we went to called "Creperie des Canettes." (Canettes being the name of the street that the creperie is on). If our last trip to Paris included a restaurant that featured souffles, this restaurant, as the name suggests, featured mostly only crepes. I had a delicious crepe called "Mille Sabord," which included egg, cheese, spinach, and creme fraiche. Delicious!! Interestingly, "Mille Sabord!" is a curse that pirates used to use. The restaurant had a decidedly nautical theme, as crepes originally come from normandy and britanny (a fact of which I was previously unaware. One learns something new everyday. Especially when living on a new continent). For dessert, I had a crepe called "Mont St. Michel," which included caramelized apples, cinnamon, and whipped creme. Equally delicious!! True to the nautical/ Normandy theme of the restaurant, Mont St. Michel is an elevated rocky cliff of sorts in Normandy. Here is a link to what Wikipedia has to say about Mont St. Michel. For lunch, Raphael had a crepe with only camembert, and for dessert, he ordered a crepe of Nutella and banana, and customized it by asking that it also be flambed with calvados. Not exactly appealing to me, but he loved it.

Picture from Creperie des Canettes

(During the weekend, we also ate at Mariage Freres, but I am so enamored by that place, that it will be its own post to come soon...)

I believe I am officially eating my way through Paris, and I couldn't be more pleased. In addition to tasting all that Paris has to offer, I am also learning a great deal. This weekend, I learned a bit about Paris architecture under Hausmann. We also did short walking a tour of Le Marais. Finally, we did a driving tour across Paris at night, which hopefully began to improve my orientation of the city. Even if I don't retain the understanding of how the various neighborhoods connect, it was simply beautiful to drive around in the Paris twilight. The driving tour also included a visit to the home where Annie grew up and the home where Raphael lived for a few years during his childhood. I thoroughly enjoyed this trip down memory lane. So, an additional thank you again to my unofficial tour guides/ sponsors/ hosts: Annie and Robert. One truly couldn't ask for a better customized and enthusiastic (and ongoing) tour, where room and board are included.