I know you’re probably all thinking that I gave up on the discovery challenge. And you wouldn’t be totally off base to guess that I spent the weekend curled up in a ball in the corner, praying to the baby gods to show me the righteous path to non-screaming baby life.
But you’re wrong! Despite a dear sweet cherub who’s been waking up every 3 hours to yell at me, I’ve been busy discovering things. Here’s a recap:
Friday: Pastries
I took advantage of the gorgeous fall weather to walk all the way across the river to Hugo and Victor, one of the patisseries on the best patisseries in Paris list.
And since I walked all the way there, I decided to taste-test at least 3 pastries. So from the very fancy glass cases on the wall I chose from the pastries representing the shop’s 3 “star flavors”: the vanille, the chocolat and a caramel mille feuille.
The pictures really don’t do them justice. And my formatting sucks. But let me just say: SWEET BABY JESUS IN VELVET PANTS. These were some extraordinary pastries. The vanille was the most vanilla-y vanilla you could ever imagine, the chocolate so deep and rich but feather-light at the same time. And the caramel? Come. On. Caramel pastry cream wedged between delicate layers of puff pastry cannot ever be bad.
But you know what really got me? If you order a sampler of chocolates or biscuits from Hugo and Victor, they come packaged in a beautiful box that looks like an old book. I may have squealed with glee when I saw this:
Saturday: O-Chateau
After a very sleepless night, we needed a break from le bébé. And a lot of wine. So we joined some friends for the Tour de France of Wine at O-Chateau. Five wines, one champagne and several hunks of stinky cheese later, I can highly recommend this place for anyone looking to do a wine tasting in a beautiful old stone cave just down the street from the Louvre. We had dinner afterwards at the wine bar upstairs, which was also wonderful – and I got the chance to try a Malbec from France. I didn’t even know those existed.
Sunday: Speed Pho
It was a cold, crisp day spent mostly lounging on the couch, trying to catch up on sleep. But around 4:30pm I got a hankering for some pho. And apparently the best place to get it is at Pho 14, all the way down in the 13th. With bébé’s impending bedtime, that left us about 2.5 hours to go 12 metro stops, grab a table, eat, and sprint home. Which is exactly what we did.
It was kind of like an Amazing Race challenge, complete with surly Vietnamese waiters. Thankfully we were seated immediately, served quickly, and asked to get up and hand over our table just as fast. The pho was fabulous though and we made it home without any major complaints from our third wheel.
All in all it was a great weekend, filled to the brim with new things. Which is why yesterday I discovered the beauty of afternoon naps.
Unlikely Diplomat 