versailles

The Palace of Versailles is yet another UNESCO World Heritage site and is about 30 minutes from Paris (if there is no traffic).

The design of the town is thought to have inspired Washington D.C. to design its city like a wagon wheel too.

Groups entering the site needed reservations and every group had either earpieces or walkie talkies to hear their tour guide speak.

Still there were tons of people all trying to photograph the same things.

We were lucky to be able to see the fountains in the garden, since apparently they aren't always on.

I was amazed that there was a Ladurée shop near the gift shop area and I purchased some tea and their rose nougat.

Right next door to the Palace was a tiny brasserie called Brasserie du Musée.

This is where we got to try galette, a savory crepe made from buckwheat flour.

Our meal started off with a slice of terrine de campagne, which sort of reminded me of SPAM.

Then the galette which was filled with ham and cheese came and it was different from the type I've tried in Japan. The buckwheat flour seemed lighter in France than in Japan.

Dessert was a cup of sliced fruits.

After lunch, we headed back to Paris for a quick city tour and then they "corralled" us all into a duty-free shop...

If you wanted to stay and shop in the duty-free store you could, but Satoshi and I went in search of a shop called Komikku, in J-town.

They sell Japanese comics in French. I wanted to get these two books because the author (who is French) drew about his adventures in Japan.

And then we were off to Rue Montorgueil to Løv Organic.

I bought a tiny tea sampler with Ginger-Lemon, Rose, Mint and 4 citrus teas, I hope they are good.

A couple of doors up is Stohrer, a beautiful but tiny shop that sells prepared foods and pastries.

Satoshi and I tried their chocolate eclair and a dark chocolate nougat...yum.

We also bought an espresso at a Daily Monop' up the street from Stohrer and had a short but much needed rest off our feet.

Satoshi then said he wanted to see the Louvre, so we got security checked and walked the shopping floor of the museum, what a massive shopping and dining area it was!

To get into the museum itself would cost about 8 euros and you'd need a lot of time to explore (at least a day or two), since we didn't have a lot of time to do this I'm glad we got to see the glass pyramid and shopping area.

After the Louvre, Satoshi wanted to go back to see the Notre-Dame Cathedral, which we had whizzed past on our city tour, so we did that too.

Then, we had the crazy idea to walk back to our hotel and got caught in a small passing shower.

It was cold, but I was happy when we stumbled on Berthillion without a long line in front, so we stopped to share a cup of melon sorbet and praline aux pignons (pine nut ice cream).

Lots of walking and eating but we only had one more full day in France...stay tuned!

Ladurée Versailles
Château de Versailles
78000 Versailles, France
Phone: 01.30.83.04.02

Brasserie du Musée
2 place Gambetta
78000 Versailles, France
Phone: 01.39.50.18.08

Komikku
61 rue des Petits-Champs
75001 Paris, France
Phone: 01.40.20.93.44

Løv Organic
15 rue Montorgueil
75001 Paris, France
Phone: 01.58.71.41.25

Stohrer
51 rue Montorgueil
75002 Paris, France
Phone: 01.41.33.38.20

Berthillion
31 rue saint Louis en l'ile
75004 Paris, France
Phone: 01.43.54.31.61