Mommy and Me take on Paris/eat a lot part deux!

WOW! Ok! So, it's been a while since my Mom visited, so this entry might be a little sparse with writing and a little photo-heavy. This was the weekend prior to Easter weekend, so the city had this thing going on with all the churches... some sort of initiation into the religion or something? It was a festival promoting Christianity, basically. Which is totally fine! Nothing against it! It was cool seeing such a unity between different parts of the city. There were stages set up and stuff outside of Notre Dame for (I'm assuming) Christian musicians. It was such a surprise! A sunny Saturday down and Old Paris and BAM festival. Anyways, the church was surprisingly not packed and it was sunny so the stained glass was absolutely breathtaking. Photos!

Freaked out about the Dali print in the church... kind of ironic.

Beauty! So we spent some time in the church, then wandered towards Ile Saint Louis for lunch. After much wandering, we settled upon this cute little creperie which had authentic galettes (so gluten-free Mommy could have some!).

The coffee was great, and the cups were so cute! Finally a substantial enough amount of coffee for Mommy's tastes ;).

Galettes: savory buckwheat crepes stuffed with hot, gooey goodness.

Can you SEE the butter? Mm...

The inside of the cute little place. I can't remember the name, but it's right down the street from the main cafe's off the bridge connecting the islands. It wasn't too bad price-wise either, if I remember correctly.

Then we went to Bertillon, of course, because everyone has to try this stuff. The line-up was virtually non-existent... guess Sunday really IS the busiest day for the islands! I got salted caramel... mmmmm!

We checked out the lock bridge again and scoured for some of the cutest locks. Of course, the sceptic in both my mother and I was like, "I wonder how many of these locks lasted longer than the relationship." We are mean.

Mommy checking out the seine. This definitely wasn't posed...

Up by the Sacre Coeur there is this restaurant, L'Ete en Pente Douce, with a great reputation for cheap, delicious food. NO! WRONG! Example: The photo above. Tell me that isn't burnt. Tell me that 22 euro meal isn't completely burnt. This is the house specialty, half a duck stuffed with fruits and vegis, wrapped in a plum puree slathered crepe and salted and baked to 'perfection'. Naturally, I tracked this place down, drooling. I was so excited I even was sure it was supposed to be burnt, because, how do you f*ck up your house specialty? But the duck was dry and tough and I was so sad. 

Mom's plat du jour on the other hand, was perfect! Canarde L'orange, regional specialty.

The aftemath of eating every bit of edible stuff on that plate. Notice how much is left? Yea, probably about 8-10 euro worth.

I still felt bad not finishing, so I hid some on my mom's plate. It's like a whole wing! I feel like such an ass hole for wasting so much food! But it... sucked!!! Anyways, then we went to do Mommy's mandatory tourist shopping where we purchased a trillion scarves and I somehow went home with a beret. Oh god.

This is the color palate of our next hotel room. I thought it was hilarious. It was a little boutique hotel by Madeline and it was super cute and, surprisingly, very comfy.

Romance balcony! Stoked. 

Another day, after some convincing, I got my mom to splurge for lunch at Cafe de Flore. I desperately wanted to try some real chocolate chaud, and she wanted a good fresh meal. Success! This is her endive salad. Pretty epic, lot's of strong flavors. Blue cheese and walnuts = I happily stole some from her plate.

This is my omelette. I cant be 100% sure, but I'm like ... 90% sure that the liquid was straight butter. Mmm...

When a waiter asks if you want a green salad on the side, say no. Especially if your mother is ordering a huge salad that you will want to finish. It's 8 euro and it's lettuce. It's really, really, really beautiful lettuce, perfectly dressed and crisped and mm... but it's 8 freakin' euro.

Beauty.

CHOCOLATE CHAUD AHHHHHHH!!!! 

Mom's Cafe Creme... mmmmmmmmm...

Look at that! Om nom nom nom nom....

This is a pitcher, by the way, and you get a good 3-4 cups of this stuff in it. The drink is 8 euro, but that includes the real whipped cream and the new snobbery you will have for PSHA americain hot chocolate.

All mixed up with some whipped cream... oh gee.

Mommy looking beautiful and joyful! Everyone loves chocolate!

Beautiful, perfect, day for the Luxembourg gardens. Absolutely breathtaking blossoms on the magnolia trees. But they were nothing in comparison to the tulip beds. Ah.

We also did the whole Picnic-under-the-tower thing where mom grabbed some Monoprix sushi and I grabbed a crepe from the crepe stand at the carousel. I waited for a good 20 mins in line at this place that usually takes five minutes because 'Richard' was getting 20,000 hot dogs for his giant family reunion. So FUNNY! The first kid who got his was like, "Ohhhhh look at this" and then all the women were like, "TAKE A PICTURE! TAKE A PICTURE FIRST!" So every single person needed a picture of him with his hot dog and the eiffel tower. And then women were telling, "RICHARD! RICHARD! WHAT IS DAT!? RICHARD! GET MINE WIT MUSTARD!" Sooooo funny. This poor guy, Richard, was getting yelled at by EVERYONE! Finally I got mine and I could walk over to where Mom was waiting for me so we could begin our picnic. We waited for the 'sparkle show', and it was sooo amazing, even after seeing it several times I love it. I go into toddler mode and burble a lot.

This is out of order, but on our way to the tower (we did a LOT of walking this day) my mom saw this sign for a place to plug in your car. Cute!

Next day, we spent the day getting breakfast at our favourite Pomme de Pain and then trekking to the train station where I said goodbye to Mommy as she hopped onto the RER to CDG to head back home. Tears! But, it was very worth it to get to see my mom and boss her around in MY city :)!