Paris, Ville de l’Hiver et Pommes

Since my first time in Paris, in 2010 I have been returning with great curiosity for more discoveries. We planned this trip well in advance so we found affordable tickets for the Eurostar, we chose and booked a dinner spot and reserved a day for a revisit to the Musée du Louvre.

On March 12, we were giddy, dragging our suitcases around London, ready for the trip and within a few hours, just as giddy, we had to kill that buzz when the train got cancelled due to a snow storm. Some rearrangements were made and with a bit of luck we managed to get a booking for next day.

Paris.

Paris.

After a few months of watching art history videos on Khan Academy and listening to the brilliant storytelling of Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker, we were keen to see some pieces live at the Louvre. There was no point in trying to see everything, but we had a few good hours to walk around and absorb. I really loved the chilling sculpture, part of a series dedicated to the four seasons, L’Hiver assumed to be by Pierre ler LEGROS and some majestic Mesopotamian pieces. We also had a walk through the Napoleon III apartments and a quick lunch at Le Café Richelieu, well worth a stop for a tea and a view.

Paris.

Paris.

Paris.

Memento Hunting
We stayed at our regular hotel now, the lovely Familia Hotel. Right in front of it there is a well supplied bookshop, where I made my only purchases during our stay. I was also ready to depart with some money at Shakespeare and Company but I resisted, this time. I learned of the legendary bookshop from the series ‘Paris: the Luminous Years, about its beautiful history in supporting writers and creating a meeting place for exchanging ideas. As we went through the levels, packed with both locals and tourists, I think I could still smell the cigarette smoke impregnating the walls and sparking images in my head of beautiful ideas floating on little puffy clouds of tobacco.

Food Craving
We followed a recommendation from Lost in Cheeseland and went for Pomze. True, we got there when we were absolutely starving, but I would like to believe it was a beautiful meal anyway. The restaurant shows a love for everything apple and we started with a cheese platter with a supporting role from a selection of matching apple ciders. I don’t even like ciders but the combinations were divine. We even had the apple cider tasting throughout the meal and we could still look at apples after dinner and not want to run away.

This trip is long gone and I am writing about it now, as I am slowly catching up with things. A move to Toronto, Canada took place in the meantime and who knew that it takes time to settle back into a routine :). There is a reason why the tagline of this blog is “Slowly getting there”. We may not see Paris in the upcoming months, but it will not be long until we venture for a quick trip again.

Paris.

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