This morning I had a leisurely start with a food tour of the Marais starting about 10 min walk from the hotel. I didn't quite know what to expect but found my fellow tour mates to be a couple in their late 50s/early 60s and a grandma with her 8th grader grandson. It ended up being a great group with the various ages really contributing to a lively atmosphere. The 8th grader definitely kept up with the adults! We started at an award winning bakery with fresh baguette, croissant traditionel and sweet gougere. Our guide, Claire, is originally from Ireland but has been in Paris for several years and works in pastry and other aspects of the food biz. She turned out to be charming and wonderfully knowledgeable about the history, processes and backgrounds of the foods we ate. From the bakery we stopped at a spice shop with a sniffing bar, a charcuterie, a tiny jambon maker, cheese shop, and a wine bar where we had a table to try some of the wares she'd picked up. Claire carried all kinds of things in her bag to help us on our tour, like trays and knives. We drank 3 wines with our cheeses, terrines, and pates. After a nice lunch, we walked back towards the bakery to find a small artisan chocolate shop across the street from our initial bakery! We tried chocolates of course, but also jellied fruit and caramels and each item was better than I thought it was possible to be. If I'd known how ridiculously good French fruit jellies were, I'd have bought some at Patrick Roger. There not even the same universe as the lousy versions we have here. And the caramels just melt smoothly in your mouth, no sticking to teeth.
After a brief stop at the hotel, I headed towards the Opera, making a stop to check out an old covered market called Galerie Vivienne. The place is a wee bit run down but the shops are wonderful, very artistic, very French, beautiful displays. From the market, it took about 15 minutes to walk to the Opera. After taking some pics, I strolled the area, stopping at a clothing store with a sale (bought some stuff) and Galerie Lafayette to check out the beautiful dome. Unfortunately, the booths inside were all traditional multi-national brands and no longer so special. They have a new food court where I bought a mascarpone eclair. I had heard that these were the recent 'new' thing in Paris pastry. This food hall is a great place to go if you want to try out a bunch of patisseries and chocolatiers all at once.
Before our tour, I went to the Opera gift shop where I ran into several of my fellow tour mates.
The tour started downstairs at the back of the Opera. We went through the back up to the main entry and to the main level. Our guide explained all about the way the building was designed to showcase the new bourgeoisie before they even got to their seats to create an experience of going to the theatre. He identified the source of each of the many types of marble. We saw the different foyers where patrons would kill time during the hour long intermissions of the time (because it took ages for men to manually raise and lower the sets). We saw the theatre interior with its beautiful Chagall dome. From there, backstage in the wings, the stage large enough to hold the Arc de Triomphe, behind the fire curtain to the beautiful Foyer de Danse where dancers used to 'entertain' wealthy patrons, downstairs to see the pool under the building (where the Phantom may lurk?), and way down to the original giant wooden spools used to lift and lower the sets manually. On our way out, we passed several dancers heading in to get ready for the evening's performance.
Dinner was a small group of 4 of us at a neighbourhood place.
After a brief stop at the hotel, I headed towards the Opera, making a stop to check out an old covered market called Galerie Vivienne. The place is a wee bit run down but the shops are wonderful, very artistic, very French, beautiful displays. From the market, it took about 15 minutes to walk to the Opera. After taking some pics, I strolled the area, stopping at a clothing store with a sale (bought some stuff) and Galerie Lafayette to check out the beautiful dome. Unfortunately, the booths inside were all traditional multi-national brands and no longer so special. They have a new food court where I bought a mascarpone eclair. I had heard that these were the recent 'new' thing in Paris pastry. This food hall is a great place to go if you want to try out a bunch of patisseries and chocolatiers all at once.
Before our tour, I went to the Opera gift shop where I ran into several of my fellow tour mates.
The tour started downstairs at the back of the Opera. We went through the back up to the main entry and to the main level. Our guide explained all about the way the building was designed to showcase the new bourgeoisie before they even got to their seats to create an experience of going to the theatre. He identified the source of each of the many types of marble. We saw the different foyers where patrons would kill time during the hour long intermissions of the time (because it took ages for men to manually raise and lower the sets). We saw the theatre interior with its beautiful Chagall dome. From there, backstage in the wings, the stage large enough to hold the Arc de Triomphe, behind the fire curtain to the beautiful Foyer de Danse where dancers used to 'entertain' wealthy patrons, downstairs to see the pool under the building (where the Phantom may lurk?), and way down to the original giant wooden spools used to lift and lower the sets manually. On our way out, we passed several dancers heading in to get ready for the evening's performance.
Dinner was a small group of 4 of us at a neighbourhood place.
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