Friday 20 December 2013

Day 7: Laduree & Notre Dame Cathedral

After spending about 1.5 h at Arc De Triomphe, we strolled along Champs Elysees for a look-see. 

The little one was upset that the Big Sister got to take a picture. Took some time to pacify her.

Me: (to Baby) Hey look! There's your favourite place ... oh no, your second favourite place, Mc Donald's!
Coco: (puzzled) What's her favourite place?
Me: (poker face) The bathtub.

Before long, the girls were requesting for some food. And we chanced upon Laduree along Champs Elysees, the place that makes the 'most delicious macaroons'.

So we tried one of each flavour that we fancied.

It turned out that the Salted Caramel was the best, according to Coco.
I am not a big fan of macaroons. I tried a bite or two on a few. The only thing I can comment on the pastry is that they were softer than the other macaroons I had tasted. Other than that, they were equally sweet as any other macaroons. And I don't have a sweet tooth.

The outdoor seating

Had read that customers are not always right in Paris. I had a whiff of that when the waiter mistook that I wanted some tea, but strangely, he warmly offered to help me with the directions when he saw me trying to figure out how to get to Notre Dame. 

I was grateful nonetheless.

The Laduree restaurant

There was a long queue at the side entrance for macaroon-takeaway.

As we walked towards the train station, we were shocked to see cars coming out from the underground in the middle of the pavement!
It was a 'like that also can ah' moment.

Notre Dame finally.

I had booked a Paris walk which started from the cathedral. Unfortunately, we were 15 minutes late and the tour guide could not be found. When I got back to the hotel, I emailed an apology to the tour guide and cancelled the 2nd walk as well, as I doubted the girls, especially Baby, could last the walk, judging from their stamina for the day.

Baby held me to my promise of searching for a Mc Donald's after we reached Notre Dame. 
We took a ten-minute walk to one near Centre Pompidou.

My only complaint was: their fries don't come with chilli. 
Well, when in Rome, do as Romans do.

On our way back to Notre Dame, we walked past this beautiful architecture without knowing its name

I gave a euro or two to the bubble busker for entertaining Baby


Parisians are romantic people. 
They sit around River Seine ('Cent' without the 't') to pass their time.

I bet we would have thought a waste of time to linger around Singapore River.

Entering the cathedral was free, unless you are going to the Bell Tower, but you still need to join the queue as there would be a long line to the entrance.


Paris churches are not as restrictive as London's. You can take pictures in the building, but do it without the flash. So thank God for DSLRs.

Confession Room


A mass was going on

The architecture was very intricate.


We thought the churches and cathedrals in both Paris and London are very gothic.
It made me wonder if people in the olden times saw God as rigid, judgmental and unforgiving. 

Coco was disappointed that we didn't see the Hunchback at Notre Dame, but she got her wish when we had our tea break at a nearby cafe.

Paris is big on crepes, and their crepes are good. I don't remember complaining about the crepes even though Coco had them just about every day.


The cosy crepes cafe

And we bade Notre Dame farewell

By now, I was missing black-haired and yellow-skinned people badly.

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