E. Dehillerin Kitchen Store

In an homage to Julia Child, I visited the E. Dehillerin Kitchen Store in Paris. This store dates back to the 1820s and is located on Rue Coquillière right next to Les Halles. I read the online reviews before partaking in a visit. I entered the store with some trepidation as all the online blogs mentioned "unfriendly", "no patience for tourists", etc. Much to my surprise, it was much the opposite. From the outside, this store looks like a hardware store, but inside the shelves are packed with highly specialized cooking implements, amazing copper pots, molds, whisks in every shape and size, knives not for the faint of heart. A cooking lover's paradise!! Yes, you need to look up every price in one of their huge notebooks, but it's not such a daunting task. I even asked a question in French and was answered with a polite and helpful response.

If you have the chance to visit this kitchen store, it will take you back in time, and perhaps you will even hear whispers of Julia somewhere in the far corners of the store. Bon Appetit!!

Ile de Saint Louis

This area of Paris near Notre-Dame is a charming, albeit touristy area, but it is worth a stop. The one main street, Rue. St. Louis is lined with small intimate shops that offer good "leche vitrine". Of course, one can find the famous Bertillion Ice Cream here. This is worth the trip alone. Choose from such flavors as Mirabelle, Espresso, Caramel au beurre de salé just to name a few. Afterwards, enjoy a coffee at one of the outdoor cafés facing the pedestrian bridge and watch the world go by!!

leche vitrine: literally means "licking the windows"- expression for window shopping

Hangin' at Luxembourg Gardens with some Atlanta Friends!!

Fête de la Musique 21 Juin

The fête de la Musique, held every year on the summer solstice is a popular fête open to any participant who wants to perform in it. Musicians perform for free in museums, streets, parks, train stations. One can hear a variety of genre - something for everybody. We listened to these groups in Le Pecq - our town.

Luxembourg Gardens

Luxembourg Gardens is a beautiful park in the 5th. You can grab a chair or two, your picnic and enjoy the scenery. And yes, there's alot of it!! Also, right in the center is a beautiful lake where children can sail a boat for a ridiculous cheap price of 2 euros for 1/2 hour ($3.30). You are given your boat and a baton* and spend the next half-hour chasing your child 'round this lake as they try to guess how their boat will traverse. When the boat finally reaches the side, you use the baton to push it out again, and away she sails and off the child goes to find their boat again.

In another corner of this lovely park is a bee garden. Yes, Thousands of bees humming along in their hives making their honey. It's amazing to watch. Apparently, in the fall, one can purchase the honey as well. In the meantime, it's a quiet place to grab a chair and watch the bees "work" away.

This park is by no means a hidden gem, definitely a big tourist draw, but still a wonderful place to come.

*baton - stick

UnCivilized Driving

Driving on the left side of the road is not as simple as it sounds, and of course the steering is on the right as well. While in Ireland, I tackled this driving situtation, not too simply, I might add. The first hour of our arrival, the GPS put us on a remote country road where I was sure I would take out a sheep or two. Well, even worse, we ended up in a ditch!! And how were we rescued!!!??? By a tractor of course!! The next day, I managed to drive around the rotary the wrong way and completely stopped traffic. I guess the drivers thought it would be better to stay put and let the idiot American driver sort herself out. As well, even the lanes for slow and fast are opposite - didn't know this and couldn't figure out why all the drivers were flashing me in the right hand lane!!

Oh well, at least we didn't end up over the side of a cliff and I didn't injure any cows or sheep in the process!!

Balancing Act

Sometimes when you want something so badly, you find a way to get it, in this case (not very exciting, but something I wanted) a wooden folding table. Well, sounds easy, but if you have no car, transporting it home becomes somewhat of a challenge. Bikes become your wheels for everything. I always seem to purchase way more than my saddle bags can carry and ride with bags on handlebars, groceries in saddlebags. Well, yesterday my girls and I were in Monoprix, and the spring folding tables had finally arrived!! I was determined to buy one as Rachel said, " Mom, how are you going to put that on your bike?"Well, I figured, where there's a will, there's a way. It started out a bit precarious, but eventually I managed to hook it to my handlebars - courtesy of a suggestion by my 10 year old - why are they so much smarter than we are?! So I proudly rode home with a folding table hooked to my handlebars.

Later that day, my friend casually mentioned to me that her boyfriend and all his friends told her to "Tell Tama that bikes and tables don't go together" (loosely translated from french). I was mortified that they all witnessed this hilarious event sitting inside the café. Of course, my comment was, why didn't they come out to help me??!! Oh well, c'est la vie!!