A foodie's paradise

Tuesday morning started out with some drizzle, so we stayed close to home for breakfast, stopping in at the nearest boulangerie for a brioche au chocolat (me) and croque-monsieur (Ryan) followed by coffees next door. The rain was pretty light though so we then headed out and caught the metro down to St Germain des Pres which used to be the hangout of various famous writers and artists but which is now more a mix of tourists and upmarket hotels and designer stores.

We made our way to the Raspail markets, apparently one of the most chic and expensive in Paris, but offering heaps of different meats, cheeses, breads, seafood and vegetables, amongst other things. Some nice Italian bloke offered us a taste of his foie gras (a duck one and a goose one) and started discussing the rugby as well as ways to sneak said foie gras back into Australia. Ryan loves a good fat liver so bought a tin of the duck (canard) foie gras, but assured the guy we didn't have to fool Australian border security as we had plans to consume the tin in the coming days.

The Louvre

After the markets we continued on our foodie tour, to La Grande Epicerie, a grocey store for foodie lovers! It had an insane amount of gourmet delights - everything you could ever want and/or imagine! We then continued on, stopping in at a boulangerie for some sustenance - Ryan choosing a quiche and me, an almond croissant. This fuelled us for a long walk past the Louvre up to the massive department store Galeries Lafayette which also had a massive gourmet food section, which leaves the David Jones food hall looking a little light on. We stopped in at their seafood bar for some lunch - a seafood platter accompanied with a glass of Chablis. It was pretty damn good!

Seafood platter at Galerie Lafayette

Heading back towards the Seine/Louvre area, we got some of the famous Pierre Herme macaroons, just to finish off the seafood with a sweet hit. We soon went back to the hotel so that we could rest and re-group to head out again in the evening and see Paris at night for the first time. This night we walked up to the Montmartre area which was not far away from our hotel. We stopped in for a drink at La Fourmi (which I later read is frequented by fashionable Parisians and in-the-know tourists!) then headed up the hill to Rue des Abbesses for some dinner. We found a cafe/bistro type place, where I had a massive bowl of mussels in some delicious creamy sauce, while Ryan had a steak tartare (after assuring the waiter he understood what it was). It sure was a lot of steak tartare too, but was very tasty (and with no nasty side effects!).

Ryan with steak tartare and cone of French fries

By this time it was around 9pm but still light so in order to see Paris at night we had no choice but to stop in at a couple of small bar/cafes nearby for wine and/or coffees to kill time until the sun finally decided to set. Ryan has become obsessed with having little espressos, and the smaller cup the better he says. As the photo below would suggest, I think Ryan is taking this whole European thing a little too seriously.

Ryan, European-style

Anyway, that aside, after sipping various espressos and wines it was finally (nearly) dark so we headed down to where the Moulin Rouge is. Lit up like Vegas, and swarming with tourists, it was quite the sight to see. A show at this place costs over 100 Euro though, so a few pics were enough for us to be satisfied. We then continued along the main drag which was pretty seedy - lots of sex shops and strip clubs - kind of like Kings Cross I guess, and then wandered back down the hill home for a restful night after another action-filled day!

The Moulin Rouge!