Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Paris


Bonjour tout le monde! I have returned from Paris. WOW - crazy trip! We flew overnight on Thursday night (got some sleep thanks to some pills) had a full day Friday, Saturday & Sunday, then got back on a plane Monday around noon, and I was back at my desk on Tuesday!

We did A TON of walking -- and we covered a lot of the city. It was great. I had been one time before about 10 years ago, but only for a day or so, and I saw the Louvre, Napoleon's Tomb, the Arc, and the Eiffel Tower.

This time - we really wanted to explore the different parts of the city, and maybe see a few tourist sites. We definitely did, but we also spent a lot of time in St. Germain des Pres, the Marais, Montmartre, etc. I LOVED hanging out in the neighborhoods -- St Germain & the Marais were my favorite. 

We did A TON of cafes -- basically every breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner involved sitting in an outdoor cafe taking in the scenery - PERFECTION.

So -- that leads to eating. I've gotta admit - it was a bit hard. I didn't want to go out of my way to find gluten free, I'd much rather have no plan and just eat wherever. Yeah - unfortunately, that doesn't always work out. I think I lost about 4 pounds between all the walking, not eating a few meals, and just not being that hungry due to jet-lag.

As you see from the pic above -- I found my french macaron's in the Marais at an adorable little store. 

Probably my next favorite thing ever --- eating cheese, olives and marshmallows, and drinking wine at a cafe. See here:

UGHH -- that cheese was INCREDIBLE. There are bits of fig on top. And a salad just dressed in fantastic balsamic vinegar and olive oil. We drank a fabulous Cote du Rhone, and they had a little tin of marshmallows on the table that were SO GOOD. I almost ate the whole thing myself. Sadly, I had a pack of gluten free crackers in my suitcase that I forgot about, so I just ate the cheese on it's own.

Every day - I carried around a little ziplock bag of cereal --- which I snacked out of the two mornings I didn't get an omelette.... I just drank my cafe creme, fresh squeezed jus d'orange, and snacked from my purse! I also carried around a little candy bar or two, trail mix, and some crackers. I was glad I brought so much, because I ate most of it.

One night, we stopped outside at this fabulous place we were told to visit called Les Deux Magots (in St. Germain) and had a fantastic cheese place, some delicious Sancerre, AND -- I got my Pierre Herme Macaron!!! IT WAS SO GOOD:

It was rose-petal flavored and absolutely the most amazing thing ever. It was filled with whipped fresh creme and raspberries. Ughh... I'm drooling.  Also - sorry about the pics. They are all whacky colored - I refused to use my flash and draw attention to myself, and we were sitting directly under a heating lamp that was causing the color to look neon.

Sadly, one day I got sick -- and I'm pretty sure I ate something I shouldn't have, but I'm not sure what. It didn't help that I was a tad hungover from over indulging in the Bordeaux, and I was pretty off due to the jet lag -- but I had to visit quite a few french bathrooms that day (sorry tmi)... 

Overall though, it was a FANTASTIC trip - we had such a great time and Paris was gorgeous. I would love to go back and have a little more time, and skip all tourist attractions and just enjoy the city a bit more... Then maybe I could figure out some more food to eat (although, did I mention the Steak Tartare?!  YUM -- it was on every menu there, and I happen to love this dish, but it's not for everyone -- raw steak! -- but it was fantastic, I only had it one night, so delicious)... although I was completely content just snacking on my snacks and taking in the sights! 


13 comments:

sallybranwyn said...

Oh man, how cute are you two?

Paris sounds as magical as it should be. Sorry to hear about the sickness and the occasional food hardships. Seems to be the curse of traveling with Celiac...still, surely it was worth it!

Liz said...

Awwww! I love the pictures! The first one it too cute and I love the last one. It sounded like an awesome trip! I can't imagine being gluten and dairy free there though.

I was there in high school, but don't remember much. Are you two planning a honeymoon after the wedding? I love that you went on this trip; I'm sure it was a nice break from the wedding planning.

Allie said...

liz - yeah, being gluten AND dairy free there would be really tough. You would basically be brown-baggin' it all over the city.

and yes - we're going to maui & napa for the honeymoon - this was a totally irresponsible thing for us to do with everything going on but we had a blast and it really was nice to get so far away for a bit ;)

Amanda on Maui said...

@Allie

I live on Maui. I have a blog: http://gfmaui.blogspot.com

Let me know if I can be of any assistance while you are staying here!

Amanda on Maui said...

Also, if you want some gluten-free bread while you're here, you should absolutely try Auntie Judi's gluten-free bread. It is sold at Mana Foods in Paia. It is the best gluten-free bread I've ever had.

Anonymous said...

wow! i'm so jealous.
your pictures are beautiful :)
-erin @ glutenfreewithapurpose

Julia said...

Sounds like such a great trip and the pictures are so cute!

Can't wait to hear more details!

H.Peter said...

Brilliant post.

Paris. One of the cities everybody should go to and visit. AND EAT!

Marlow said...

I'm glad you had fun! That top picture is GORGEOUS!! Love it!

Allie said...

Thanks all! It really was such a great trip.

Amanda - thanks for the recommendation! I will definitely be on the look out for gluten free things on Maui... I may email you for more info later!

valree said...

Great blog!

Sounds like a great trip. My sister is a macaron freak so I'll have to tell her that you went to Pierre Herme. It's her favorite place. I don't know if you watch Gossip Girl or not, but the character Chuck said he went to Pierre Herme for macarons!

Allie said...

valree - YES! I saw it - love that show, I don't know anyone else who watches it though! :) but i loved that part!

Anonymous said...

Que je suis jalouse!

I have lived in Paris for a few months here and there. Now that I'm GF, I've been wondering how I will manage to ever live (and eat!) there again. This post gives me hope.

Pierre Hermé macarons are divine--good to know they are on the GF list!