Mommy and Me take on Paris/eat a lot Part Un

I honestly have no idea whether I can sum up this last week. It was a crazy whirlwind of lovely and terribly confusing and impatient moments with my mommy. In order to even attempt to document this week (without internet! AH!) I took lots of photos. So... naturally... the journey begins with food and... likely... ends with food. 

Before my trek to pick up mommy at the airport, I picked up a mystery pastry at the boulanger across the street. I anticipated a chocolate coated kind of cream puff when I saw this but it ended up being an icing and sprinkle coated chunk of sponge toffy-ish stuff. SO sugary. But, of course, I found it necessary to devour the whole thing (it was so hot out the icing was melting!!!) despite it being the size of my heart.

Then... the airport. OH GOD. So I made it my goal to show up at arrivals joyful and with food for our train ride back into the city. Unfortunately, over 10 euro later, I arrived at Orly to receive a text that my mom's Air Canada flight in to London had been late so she missed her connection to Paris and would actually be arriving at the CDG airport instead. In a couple hours. So I go to Information and ask what I should do and the very helpful man and the desk just says, "If I were you, I would cry right now." To which I responded, "Oh, it's not that bad! It's kind of funny, actually!" and then cried for 20 minutes. He did also tell me I had to go 'downstairs' to catch a shuttle to CDG that would cost me *shudder* 22 euros. So I went 'downstairs' and found myself in a parking garage. Went to another part of 'downstairs' and found a sign pointing into a wall for the shuttle. So I said, "SCREW THIS AAAH" and paid for the RER train ticket back into Paris. So, two hours of travel and I spent 20 euro of RER train tickets to end up exactly where I started. I also ate all the food I brought. I then bought the RER ticket to CDG (just over 9 Euro) and took that train trip and arrived just in time to wait an hour without internet and no where to sit besides a 'cafe' where the barrister was trying to help this old French man figure out his new cell phone. The coffee was awful. No 'free' WiFi.

The screen at arrivals finally announced my mom's flight had landed (half an hour later than anticipated) and then it seemed liked everyone but my mommy had come through the door. Finally, I get a text from my mom that they had lost her luggage somewhere along the way -- despite the fact she had asked if they could guarantee it was on her flight and they said YES! BAH!

After pacing around for about another half hour my mom burst through the door sans luggage! Joyful huggy reunion with both of us a little delirious from our travels. The rest of the evening was a bit of a blur, we did nothing but find her hotel for the night and get details on her lost luggage because this debacle had taken the entire day!

The next day we got lunch by Trocadero and I showed off my neighborhood to my mommy. This is my duck confit lunch. Below is my mommy's niscoise salade.  

Cafe gourmand lalala! Underneath that dollop of whipped cream is the most lovely chocolate mousse ever!  

This is my house. All of it. That's my 'cat suit'! I'm trying to figure out where the hotel we'll be staying is.

We eventually track down the new hotel, and mom's luggage is there (thank god) and the hotel is very nice! My mom ended up bringing a bunch of 'necessities' for me, including contact solution, peanut butter, mini eggs, microwave popcorn and my books! WAHOO! I was very excited for all of this (and some of my Calgary clothes she also brought), and very glad it didn't get lost in transit forever. We then went for a walk to Concorde and down the Champs Elysees to Arc de Triomphe. 

You can see Defense from the Arc, which is super cool. 

Then, oh man oh man, we discovered Chez Papa. The most beautiful place on earth. Cheap sud-ouest french food, and lots of it. AND the waiters are adorable, friendly, and give you extra stuff! I don't remember what my thing was called (the darker dish) but my mom got Casoulet which was enough for two people easily and amazing. 

We also got a little apple tart (I can NOT seem to manage to photograph anything before I eat some of it...) for free! The waiter left it off the bill, we told him and then he said not to worry about it! This was after we butchered his language, he taught me how to say spoon in french (kwee-ehr!) and he entertained our girlish giggling. How lovely. This is my new fave place to eat in the world.  

Next morning we went to a chain restaurant for lunch called Bistrot Romaine. It was good enough we didn't realize it was a chain, and again the waiter was super nice and accommodating. 

These little breads were very stuff-in-your-purse-for-later friendly. And, bread is so magnificent to me, so I loved them. 

Mom's salad and my risotto below. 

Tiramisu! I told my mom, "Don't breathe in the cocoa and choke on it", and then I did just that. To which my mother laughed.

EXCITING STUMBLE! The macarons of Paris, we got one big one to share (since they were so pricey). Ours was gilded.

From our hotel window! The one building had blue glowing windows... hmm...

Our room! So good. So nice. Guess what else it had? A PRIVATE BATHROOM!!! That someone else cleaned every single day! Luxury. 

We saved the macaron till after our Monoprix dinner. Om nom nom! 

The first time we got up early enough to indulge in a continental-style breakfast at our local Brasserie. The guy actually ran out to the local boulangerie and bought the croissants and bread for us right after we ordered. So cute! I got a 'chocolat chaud' that was most definitely powder based. I would have cared if he hadn't just ran down the street to feed me. The croissant's were oozing buttery goodness. Also, this orange juice was delicious! And I usually hate juice of all kinds!

 

Apres la petit dejeuner we went to the catacombs. We got there early on and still waited about an hour to get in. Oh well! Pretty dang cool. 

I'm pretty sure it was in here sometime that we went to the Orsay museum for the Degas Nude exhibition which was AMAZING! It was absurdly amazing. I really can't express how perfect it was. Google it.

Later on that day we ended up by the tower for our boat tour we agreed we needed to do. We went to a cafe which we were sure would be crazy expensive, but we wanted dessert before the tour, and my mom wanted coffee. The waiter was a meany and condescending and I even practised my french before ordering! We did not like him. Plus, the dessert was sub-par and both tasted like they'd sat around all day. AND I felt sick later on. But, chocolate is chocolate sometimes, and I love chocolate. 

This is the water my sunglasses fell into right after I almost dropped my camera. Lot's of sad faces after this moment. I still haven't bought new ones. My eyes! I also couldn't figure out why my left eye was having such a hard time focusing until I took out my contact that night and it had a slice down the middle. It was new too! Poor manufacturing! I then had to wear glasses until we could make it to my apartment again, so I guess sunglasses wouldn't have been very helpful anyways!

Here are some pretty photos from the cruise...

KITTY!

After the boat we wandered around for a really long time trying to get home (I got us REALLY lost) and we didn't get to dinner until about 10:30 pm. Luckily, our favorite place on earth, Chez Papa, is open till 2 am. LALALA! I got a veal thing, and my mom got some salad with a lot of different organs in it. It was delicious, but I felt so nauseous by now (dessert plus boat cruise? Maybe the thought of eating innards?) That we basically ran home after dinner. Which was such a shame, because this waiter was so cute and gave us free apertifs and also helped me with my french. I love this place. 

Free drinkys! Passionfruit something.

Mommy's salad and the half-way-through progress where I started trying to help her eat it. We didn't finish it. I felt really bad.

OK! That's about half-way through our adventure, and I need to go eat something besides mini eggs. A bientot!