Trip to Paris, December 2009

Back in July my sister Susan called to inform me that she had found an amazing trip opportunity----airfare and four nights in Paris for $399---- and then she asked if I thought my daughter Lisa would like to go with her. I squashed my initial response (me? how about me?) and told her to call Lisa. Later I got an email telling me since I am the family trip planner, I needed to come as well. YEAH!!!!

I LOVE to plan trips. To me, it is half the fun. Or rather, I get twice the fun as everyone else, as I enjoy the trip as well as the building anticipation of all the fun things that we will do. So I have more fun!!

I started by asking what they each wanted to do. Like me, Lisa had been to Paris before, albeit only a couple of days. She said she had really enjoyed the jazz club she found one night there, so it went on to the list. Sue, never having been, listed all the things most people think of when they plan to go to Paris: the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, the river boats. Upon further questioning she admitted she had no real personal interest in going to the Louve, but since Paris is know for art, please plan in some galleries or a museum if there is time.

So, how do you plan to fill FOUR days.....way too short. Luckily we three are pretty compatible in terms of energy and things we enjoy, so once the ground rules were set, the fun could begin. The ground rules were simple: start early, end late and go go go the whole time.

And we did. Phew!

In looking at my photos, Graham said it looks like the theme of this trip was food......so let's start with one topic---the MARKETS.

During our 4 days we saw 4 outdoor markets and went into a few grocery stores. We passed windows of shops that offered ready made delicacies and we enjoyed treats at a number of patisseries and places where we stopped for coffee. Let me share a few with you.

Let's talk about bread.

The bread in Paris is amazing. From large loaves with crunchy crusts to the flakiest lightest crossants, there is something for everyone except maybe those people in the US who prefer only soft white bread. Parisian bread is something that you sink your teeth in, tear into and savor on your tongue.

And when you talk about bread you need to talk about cheese. Soft cheeses, hard cheeses, strong flavors like bleus, mild ones, large wheels of cheese and tiny pots. Cow cheese, Goat cheese, Sheep cheese. We even saw horse cheese!

More about markets in the next section.