I am seriously hooked on this coffee.
Green tea, what green tea? ;) Someone save me! No, actually don’t save me. I don’t ever want to be apart from this coffee. I’m sad because I hear that the coffee back at home won’t taste as good as Paris coffee. Is this true!?
What are your favourite brands of coffee to make at home? We do have a brand new coffee maker that we have only used twice for guests before (it was a wedding gift). Perhaps I should dust it off when I get home. ;)
The highlight of breakfast this morning included this VOO Parfait my sister made for herself! I was so proud.
My breakfast was similar to my previous days. :) Delicious and filling as always.
Then we were off to Versailles! We walked to the train station. I meant to mention the other day that the Metro (subway) system is just amazing here. It was a piece of cake to navigate once we figured out how the lines worked.
We were serenaded on the train…
It was charming.
That is, until he walked up to each person afterward, stuck out his coin purse, and asked for money. lol.
After about 30 minutes on the train, we made it.
If you couldn’t tell, the weather here has been perfect! Sunny every day and around 20-25 Celsius. We couldn’t have asked for more. I heard Paris is typically cloudy and gray, but we haven’t had any clouds the entire stay!
The Palace of Versailles is amazing!
Ohhh yea.
Those are some fire logs!!
The gardens were beautiful and went on forever!
Afterward, we stopped into Starbucks for a refresher.
This is the face you make when you find out that Paris Starbucks don’t make Pumpkin Spiced Lattes! I wonder if pumpkin is not popular in Europe? I haven’t seen any baked goods made out of pumpkin yet.
Kristi has a little obsession with Pumpkin Spiced Lattes. ;)
Not long after our stomachs wanted food once again. We stopped in at a nearby restaurant for lunch.
We started with Guacamole and chips:
My mom had the chicken salad which was humongous and so beautiful! The presentation here is just wonderful.
And Kristi had another kind of salad that was equally as beautiful!
They loved both of them!
I decided on a pizza!
It had roasted red peppers, artichokes, eggplant, and mushrooms. It was SO delicious!
They brought me this pizza oil and it was really good to drizzle on.
Part II of our day is coming on up. :)
Wednesday is our last full day in Paris and then we depart Thursday morning for home. Six nights goes by so fast!
Are you putting cream in your coffee?
soy milk
can you imagine how much work it is to take care of those gardens?! oh my goodness, i would die! i feel like i’m in a little fairytale when i read these recaps :)
gah its so beautiful! No pumpkin spice lattes though? what has this world come to!
your pictures are stunning!!!! i’ve been drooling over them in every post you make imagining I was there with you ladies.
as for coffee, I’m one who loves my 1 cup of coffee in the morning before work, preceeded by a big mug of green tea for my morning at work. ;) the best of both worlds! I absolutely love all of the President’s Choice coffees – the Great Canadian one is my favourite, but they’re all amazing. (the price is right too!) DO NOT buy Foldgers. I swear it’s like poison! (not literally but you know) My fiance and I bought a big container over a month ago because it was a great price and we regret that purchase every single time we make a new pot. The PC coffee is a million times better.
Enjoy the rest of your trip!
I used to drink Folger’s at work (mainly out of boredom), because that is what they buy. And it made me nauseous every time I drank it. I didn’t figure it out until the second time I drank it. I will never buy that stuff!
Ditto on the Folgers! No bueno. I prefer Taster’s Choice. lol Actually, my absolute favorite is Caribou Coffee, Espresso blend which I get ground for an automatic coffee maker. I drink it black. Soooo good! ^ ^
I actually love folgers… am I missing something. The black silk is wonderful!
I love Folgers too! We drink “classic roast” though.
As for whole bean coffee, my boyfriend and I love Kicking Horse Coffee. :) I would say the blend that we like best, but it has a swear word in it. ;)
Oh my goodness. I know I keep saying this, but every one of your posts is making me want to go back to Paris. Versailles is so beautiful! I told my mother (the biggest American Francophile OF ALL TIME, I kid you not) about your posts and she’s been LOVING them too…she even suggested going back in the winter/spring. If I get a trip to Paris out of YOUR trip to Paris, I will be eternally grateful!!
That pizza looks fantastic!! There’s a pizzeria in the Bronx that does authentic Italian pizza with roasted red peppers, tomatoes, artichokes and arugula. No cheese. It’s one of my favorite dishes on earth.
Enjoy your last few days!
I hope you get to go!!
It seems like you just got there… and you already must leave?
I bet Eric will be excited to see you!! :)
Keep the pictures coming!!! I love them!
Versailles is such a pretty place. I loved their gardens.
I guess since I can’t be in Paris, I will get excited for actually having pumpkin. And my first pumpkin latte of the season tonight. :)
Bonsoir! Unfortunately I have to confirm: pumpkin is not so popular in Europe. Not that we don’t like it, it’s just that, well, we don’t use it a lot, it’s a very North American thing. We mostly use pumpkin in soup or gratins sometimes, but that’s about it. Fall is not such a big deal pumpkin-wise over here ;-)
How long are you staying in Paris?
Good to know :)
We leave Thursday
I was about to post the same thing – I grew up in the French part of Switzerland, and the only pumpkin things I knew of was soup and even then that was pretty rare. When I came to the U.S. for college, I was completely in love with all things pumpkin – bread, muffins, you name it :)
Exactement Valerie! :-)
I read mostly US and Canadian blogs, and whenever I see “canned pumpkin” in an ingredients list, I cry.
Oh well, we have other tasty things over here :-)
Pumpkin is getting popular in Europe. It is very traditional veggie for europe but not appreciated. I am living in Amsterdam now and pumpkins are everywhere. I think it depends on place. Poland is famous for pumpkins too. I love pumpkin a lot !!!!
I live in Vienna, Austria. Pumpkin Spice Latte is not a regular on the Starbucks menu here. They do have them in fall/halloween though.
I find it really hard to be a vegan in Europe. There are still a lot of prejudices and vegan restaurants are rare. So it’s really interesting to read how you’re handling the situation in Paris.
Salut Angela! Tu as l’air de passer un très beau voyage! :)
I just wanted to say that you should perhaps get your camera sensor cleaned when you get back home. The little black dots and squiggly bits you see in the sky of some of your photos is in fact dust on your sensor… It would make for much happier little blue skies on your fantastic photos ! :-)
Amélie
Such beauuutiful pics and food!!
Yeah, pumpkin is not popular in Europe at all! Neither is peanut butter :( it sucks!
I think that is the one thing I have never done in Paris and it looks so beautiful. Next time I go, I’ll have to plan a visit to the Palace.
Gorgeous! I’m so enjoying your posts these days.
As for coffee, my favorite splurge is Illy brand. (that’s I.L.L.Y… it looks funny in this font, haha). It’s an italian import I think but it’s sooooo good. If you’re used to tea, you might prefer coffee in a french press. You make it about the same as tea and it’s really way better than any coffee pot.
I second the Illy!! so worth forking out the few extra bucks for it :)
Second the French Press. It’s the magic trick for achieving the frothy, creamy, richness in the coffee. It also works fine when the power is out, so long as you can boil water with a nonelectric source. The French Press is in my hurricane survival kit ;-) French Press rules. Another good tip is to buy the coffee beans and grind your coffee fresh each morning. As for kinds of coffees, I like to buy in bulk so I can have a sampling around. Fair Trade, Bold, typically from a latin american country. Sounds like you like the French coffees though. You shouldn’t have any trouble find a good French coffee.
I just read your post – I’m going to get this bc of you. It IS so good. (I’m sort of a coffee freak… hehe)
My all time most favorite coffee is Peet’s Coffee beans made in a French press. I’ve never had coffee in Paris (oooh la la ;) ), but Peet’s is one of the highest quality aribica beans out there imho. Always look for arabica beans… I’m not knocking it, but coffee that comes pre ground (esp brands like Folger’s, Yuban) will NOT give you the same rich flavor. A purist might say you should grind the beans fresh every time you make it and only use beans that have come from an open container that has been open less than a week (used to work at Starbucks – my favorite job of all time) ;) so glad you are loving coffee! We’ll see if you’re trading in your tea pot when you get home… ?
Delurking to say that I’ve loved you being here in Europe and on “our” time! It’s always strange to see breakfast posts in the afternoon and dinner posts the next morning since most of the healthy blogs I follow are written by you lovely North Americans. So big thumbs up for that!
Oh and I will agree with Emmanuelle and Lisa. Pumpkin unfortunately isn’t very popular over here. Which is why I’m dying to try a pumpkin spice latte someday!
I am so glad you are truly enjoying yourself!
I’m an instant coffee drinker so I can’t give you any coffee tips :-(. I REALLY want to live in the Palace of Versailles though, maybe I’ll just plop my suitcases down in one of the rooms when I’m in Paris lol. We’ll see how quickly I’d be arrested :-P.
We went to Versailles too when we were there in July. It was so huge. Were there still big lines now that it is back to school time? We had the museum pass but we still had a long wait to get through security. Glad you are having a nice time and getting good weather.
Paris is such a magical place! I remember walking around with my mouth wide open and in awe. Every building is so grand and beautiful. Love it there. Enjoy!