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Tag Archives: Montmartre

Paris in Montmartre ‘n More

The very end of our 9 week trip we spent 9 nights in a large apartment in Montmartre close to Sacre Coeur. Our 3 daughters and 2 son in laws joined us. This was the beginning of May 2018 and the weather was mostly sunny!

Across the street from where the composer Erik Satié once lived we had a large modern apartment of two levels located also across from the Museum of Montmartre. The photos above were our neighborhood!

The Montmartre Museum was once home to many artists including Renoir. It’s two buildings with courtyards and gardens combined together. As many homes in Paris, including our apartment rental, the outside is plain and basic but the interior is more elaborate and inviting

There are gardens to explore here too! This is a view of The Montmartre Vineyard from the museum gardens

La Maison Rose is a picturesque spot in Montmartre. It’s a historical cafe serving fresh foods

Arugula pesto and salad

Fresh ricotta and herbs

A dinner in Montmartre at Poulbot

As we explored other areas of Paris we made reservations for Apertifs at Le Mary Celeste! They featured exquisite cocktails and small plates of creative foods!

Here is Diana’s reservation time and name written on the top of our table! So cool! 18:45 is 6:45 pm

Ellsworth located on Rue Richelieu was a favorite for dinner. The ambiance was very simple. The food delicious, creative and plentiful!

Touring the Eiffel Tower was top on our list! We bought tickets several weeks ahead directly from their website. We had tickets to go to the top and separate tickets for lunch on the 2nd floor at 58 Tour Eiffel

First we had lunch

Then we returned to the ground level and found the lift to take us to the top!

This was our only rainy day but we persevered!

Another day we had booked in advance a cooking class at La Cuisine Paris. The Intensive Macaroon Class! This was a 3 hour lesson where we learned to make the Italian and French style macaroons and several fillings. Thoroughly enjoyable!! I’ll definitely take another class next time! Highly recommended!!

We each came home with a box of macaroons!

Another memorable beautiful day we took a private tour of the Louvre, enjoyed the Tuileries and then an exquisite evening dinner cruise on the Seine!

The Louvre private tour we booked though Airbnb with Kate Chartier who is an art historian and a portrait painter. We met first at her apartment next to the Louvre. She gave us an overview of the art history and then took us to the most important pieces of art at the Louvre. We avoided the long lines and saw more than we would have on our own. It was great to all be together

After our amazing tour we enjoyed relaxing in the Tuileries, the gardens outside The Louvre

The dinner cruise boarding on the Seine was a short walk away. We booked Calife Seine Dinner Cruise a few weeks ahead. It was marvelous! The boat was small, the food amazing and the scenery was picture perfect! Paris glitters and shines at night!

We took a walking tour through Montmartre, a food walking tour booked through EdibleParis.com and we explored all over Paris on our own!

Merci! A cute beachy vibe shop

Roue de Paris the transportable Ferris wheel

Montmartre and Abbesses regions

We had a marvelous stay up on Montmartre! Great views of the city below

Our last evening together we had dinner near the Eiffel Tower at Les Grand Vernes

Look for my post on our day trip to Monet’s Gardens at Giverny soon!

Paris Bakery Tour

In the Montmartre area of Paris, March of 2018, we had lessons and a tour of the Le Grenier bakery and pastry shop. We signed up online through Viator. Olga was our superb tour guide!

It was a very cozy space with friendly bakers. We learned the bakers day began at 3 am and ended at 1 pm. The dough is made the day before and includes sourdough, yeast, flour, salt and water. There are over 3000 bakeries/boulangeries in Paris, but only 300 make their own bread and pastry from scratch on site! To check if your bakery makes their own, look for mixing machines in the back of the shop and workers baking!

A baguette should have many different sizes of holes inside and also a very crispy crust like you see here:

I will show you some of the steps involved. Most bakers keep their recipes a secret, so I do not have that to share.

Here is a video of the dough made the morning before. It is full of bubbles and is being poured into a square machine that cuts the dough into baguette size portions:

The next step is spreading this dough with flour and closing the lid. This cuts the dough into baguette size pieces:

Now the pieces of dough are placed in the Panimatic which rolls the dough into the long thin shape:

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The baguettes are placed by hand into rolled cradles of heavy cloth for resting:

The baguettes are placed on baking sheets which roll in and out of the ovens:

The baguettes are rolled into the ovens, baked and then rolled out to cool:

Baguettes are placed in the tall basket for customers to purchase at the counter:

Here are some quick pics of the pastry kitchen!

Using a scale to add ingredients for French custard:

Only the best pure butter is used:

Candied fruit is drying on racks waiting to be used to decorate the pastries:

Voila!

Nina in the Kitchen outside the Paris bakery