Today it rained so we just decided to take our time and relax. No set agendas. P took a nice long nap in the morning so I got ready and got our room organized so we could actually enjoy it. Then we drove to the old city center of Grasse again, and took a tour of the perfume museum/original factory of Fragonard. It was really interesting to learn about how perfume was originally made. I ended up buying waaaay too much stuff, but I did find a lovely new fragrance called E'Toile. (see collage below-click it to enlarge)
We hung out in the streets and did a fun photo shoot with Penelope. We also had a delicious kabab sandwich that was to die for! So we wandered around exploring all the way to dinner time and had a delicious meal at Lou Candeloun- we were relieved that Penelope wasn't too loud or fussy because it was a very quiet formal restaurant! Whew!
This morning I woke up early and did a little last minute shopping at our local Monoprix (aka French Target) for some beauty products- which by the way is nearly impossible with James and P so I went solo!, I got some perfume, yummy smelling baby wipes (love the Monoprix Bout'chou baby line)- that's right P has to have her beauty products too and a cute t-shirt. After Monoprix I did my due diligence and represented the good ole US of A and got some coffee at Starbucks. Yes I did that. After that I loaded up on some pain au chocolats at r. Bertrand on 10 Rue La Grange (the best!) for our train ride to Nice. These croissants are the most lovely soft moist- yet still heavenly flaky- little chocolate pillows you have ever tasted! We went first class on our train to Nice which was about a 5 hour ride. The journey was interesting. There was a lot of noise from a very squirmy baby! I swear since we left on this trip it seems each day she gets squirmier and crazier! Restaurants I can see are already beginning to become a thing of the past.
After a very crazy confusing drive we found our b&b in Grasse- Lou Pantail. Our host family is so nice. We decided to have dinner at the maison and were pleasantly surprised with Madame Bernadette's creations. The dinner was family-style. We ate with Bernadette and her husband Guy and daughter-in-law Sylvie (pictures of them will be posted soon!) Bernadette made homemade olive tapenade on toast and gazpacho soup with toasted almonds for the first course, a lovely vegetable plate for the main entree, followed by an amazing assortment of local cheeses and dessert. Their was one cheese that was so heavenly light and soft and she said it came from a farm 10 miles away where the sheep roam free- yum. And lets not forget both of the dessert rose wines she served were also created by her. One with a flower essence and one with an orange essence. Unbelievable. We spent the evening trying to understand each other but the conversation was good nonetheless and we managed to actually have a conversation for over two hours. Hilarious (and gosh darn it when it was all said and done we were just exhausted!)
Today we went to the famous Eiffel Tower! Another one I can cross off the bucket list. ;) First though we made a short pilgrimage to Eric Kayser boulangerie in the Latin Quarter for a pain au chocolat. I know there is a lot of hype around this place, at least among Parisians but I don't think their specialty are pain au chocolats. I have to say both James and I were unimpressed. So the search will continue. After the croissant we hopped on the Batobus (Seine River tour bus) and headed to the tower. Good thing we had plenty of time because by the time we waited in line and got to the top to snap about 15 minutes of pics the overall process must have taken at least two hours. When we were done checking out the views we got a hot dog and chocolate crepe and hung out in the park. Very nice. For dinner we tried to eat at a restaurant I read about on the Isle St. Louis but it was closed. So instead we stumbled into this little wine cafe called Cave A Vins. It was a quiet little tucked away place with the most excellent stuffed goose neck salad. I had veal and James had lamb and of course we had the apricot tart for dessert (oh yeah and a bottle of pinot). annnnnddd.... ten extra pounds later.... yeah. So of course the Eiffel Tower is one of the most beautiful things (in my humble opinion) to photograph in the world- so forgive me for having a lot of these on here!
at the top! Finally!
P.S. she doesn't let me put hats on her anymore :( I think she wore this for like 2 seconds.
P.s.s. I can't get her to smile into the camera anymore either. Double :( :( She seems to want to look anywhere but the camera! LOL
Today it rained so we just decided to take our time and relax.
We hung out in the streets and did a fun photo shoot with Penelope. We also had a delicious kabab sandwich that was to die for! So we wandered around exploring all the way to dinner time and had a delicious meal at Lou Candeloun- we were relieved that Penelope wasn't too loud or fussy because it was a very quiet formal restaurant! Whew!
