It's fall in Paris...kind of. That glorious indian summer weather finally gave out to fall, which rapidly fell away into winter in about 24 hours. Somehow fall skipped out early and left us with chilling winds and rain. In spite of this we bundled up and headed to the all day wine festival in Montmartre.
(First we stopped at Starbucks to get my usual Chai Tea Latte with soy milk, a Hot Chocolate and a Mocha. I held out for as long as I could. 4 euro and 80 cents later we were on our way).
Hiking up to Montmartre always delights me. It sits atop a steep hill in the 18th, and all streets wind to the very top--Sacre Coeur. The juxtaposition of the countless sex shops, sex video stores, and sex shows (one discretely named, Pussy's) below, and the quaint, winding cobble stone streets above highlights Paris' multiple personality disorder. In a matter of minutes you can go from sketch central, to historic class.
The tiny streets of Montmartre were bustling with tourists, locals and all those in between. No one turns down free tastings of wine, jams and other goodies. One glass of red and a large throng of bodies later, I was nice and warm.
As a red wine enthusiast I didn't even bother with the white or rose. At every station I asked for the stronger, full-bodied wine, and each taste was deliciously spicy. I was buzzed by my second glass.
The wine festival, though packed, was surprisingly intimate. We met vendors who physically made the wine themselves, whose families had owned the company for 60+ years, etc. When asked, each vendor happily pulled out a map and showed us exactly where they made the wines, most often in tiny towns in the South of France.
After tasting quite a bit of wine and buying two full glasses it was time to head home, get dressed, and go back out to a party for airbnb participants in Paris. The real catch, free drinks and food.
(airbnb is a site travelers use to stay in other people's apartments instead of hostels or hotels. That is how we found our lovely October rental with our even lovelier host, the Vivs).
Still buzzed (I think I was the only one still buzzed), we made our way to the 3rd for the get-together. There were free mojitos, punch, wine and plates of meat, cheese, veggies and bread. Score. More free wine...day could not get any better. Plus I think I had a whole baguette to myself.
The get-together hosted an array of people, many french, more foreign. There were old couples, young french hosts, kids, and younguns like us. We ended up talking to this adorable couple from Sarasota, Florida for the majority of the evening. They were in Paris for two weeks and had been traveling around Europe before that. They had been married for only 3 years, but both had kids from other marriages. The husband was in his 70s from outside London, The wife, 50's, from the Middle East and then New York. Both were lively and hysterical and wanted to know all about us. It was nice to be around a mom for a while; and the husband--with his hearing aid--was like an endearing grandfather who couldn't quite keep up with/hear the conversation.
After the second bout of drinking and socializing we decided we needed some dessert...preferably chocolate. We headed to the 6th--one of the most famous and bustling areas of Paris. After much wandering, we wound up at Maison Larnicol, an amazing chocolaterie. It took me about 20 minutes to decide what to get. And after I finally decided I felt too sick from all the wine to actually eat any. Oh well, more for later.
I ended up choosing a mini chocolate egg filled with caramel, a truffle, and an apple Kouignette--what they are famous for. Check it out:
Maison Larnicol
(Side note, we also stopped at Carrefour and picked up other chocolate and candy for later. Problems of a sweet tooth). Ari and Stella also got crepes afterwards.
All in all, not a bad Saturday. Tonight (Sunday) is Pizza at our favorite pizza place, La Comedia. Will post pizza pics later.
Here are some pics of the chocolaterie. Check out my photos at the link to the right, or on facebook to see some of the festival.
French phase of the day:
Quoi de neuf ?--What's new?
No comments:
Post a Comment