Pear and Almond Tart and Our Paris Trip

This time around I am not going to list the ingredients or provide a recipe.

I have adapted the recipe from here.

Tart filled with almond filling and sugar poached pears

Tart is ready

But, I want to tell you all about our recent Europe Trip. Yes, finally we went took vacation for few days and spent a good time on beaches, on the streets of Paris and watched sunsets every day in Greece. So, we went to Paris and Greece for our vacation. Where do I start Europe is so different in so many ways than America.

While planning our trip to Greece we were getting a long layover but which we had to spend only at the airport , that didn’t attract me that we go to Paris airport and then take another flight to Greece without even getting out in Paris and getting the feel of Paris.

So, after a lot of research we found one flight which was giving us that perfect layover in Paris but just for one day. Unfortunately, my husband had to be back in certain time so we had to stick to our plan very strictly. I was even happy that we could visit Paris at least for a day. What if we couldn’t really get to see all that Paris had to offer. Next year or in future we can spend more time in Paris.

Outside train station Gare Du Nord

       Lovely building!

So, after booking our tickets and packing our bags we set off to Paris. We had decided that we would use the public transportation in Paris. So, as soon as we landed we got ready and went to our hotel which was very close to Gare Du Nord station which like the most important and busy train station. Our hotel was two minute walking distance. So, that was a relief. We set out to sightseeing once we checked in the hotel. Anyways, the room wasn’t ready for us so we left the bags with concierge and set off.

First thing on our list was Museum of Louvre. When we reached, I was totally aww struck I am not lying. What a building and the architecture not to be missed. We sat there , enjoyed the surrounding and took lots of pictures. We had planned to see the different exhibitions but when we saw the line to get in we decided that let’s skip it and keep it for our second visit to Paris. After spending  good time, we headed our ways to Palais De Garnier , the Palace of Opera.

Museum of Louvre

Looking at the beautiful building we were excited  about the interior.

There was in fact no line to buy the tickets to visit the Palace from inside so we decided to go in and see the beautiful palace.

Palais Garnier from OutsidePalais Garnier interior

The palace had such beautiful architecture and lovely art work on the walls. We sat there and admired the beautiful interior for sometime, saw the oil paintings and then decided to head out for lunch. I had already thought of having lunch cum brunch at Angelina’s but wasn’t sure whether we could have it or not. But, luckily Angelina’s has many locations and one of the location was close to us. So, we headed our way to lunch.

Late Lunch at Angelina’s Tea house

And, their famous Mont Blanc dessert

So, Mr. pickyeater ordered a simple herb omelette which came with salad and a caffe au creme and I went with Zucchini Quiche which was also accompanied with salad and for drink I had caffe au lait my favorite! Angelina’s is also famous for desserts, but we were kind of full and decided to order only one dessert and so we went ordered their popular Mont Blanc. It was made with a meringue , creme filled and chestnut filling. It tastes just like an Indian dessert that we make during fast, of course it is made with chestnut flour and so it resembled the taste.  Overall, Angelina’s was okay to us. We could have dined at a better place. The food was kind of bland in terms of seasonings. As we were heading out of the place, I saw Pierre Herme macaron parlor. Immediately, I told my husband we have to get them. I am glad that we didn’t eat more desserts at Angelina’s. We got the assorted ones and decided to have them while enjoying the view of Eiffel Tower.

After lunch, our next stop was to see Pont Alexander III. We spent about half an hour . It is a beautiful picnic spot. There were lot of boat cruises that we saw while we were sitting there.

Pont Alexander IIIWe set out to our next stop which was the E. Dehillerin Shop. Honestly, I was super excited to buy something from the shop but as our luggage had directly been sent to Greece. We were left with no choice. But, they also ship overseas. I might order something online. I was so excited to see the copper pots hanging around in the shop.

E. Dehillerin shop (above pic) and copper pots hanging inside the shop (below pic)From there, we headed to famous lock bridge. I do not understand the craziness about tying a lock to the bridge. I have heard that it is causing a lot of problems to the local authorities as the bridge cannot really bare the weight of the locks. We just took a selfie over a lock. I don’t think lock symbolizes our love.

Famous Lock Bridge

Our, second last stop was the Arc De Triomphe. It is a famous monument in Paris as it honors all those who fought and died in France for the French Revolutionary.

Arc De Triomphe

The beautiful sculpture depicts the soldiers 

Eiffel Tower!

Our last and final stop was Eiffel Tower. We had decided we would be spending dawn and then the night to see the lights. We sat in the park and enjoyed our macaroons that we had bought from Pierre Herme and waited for the sun to set and lights to sparkle. We wanted to see the twinkling lights, but we had heard that it starts around 10 o clock, but we were so tired that we decided to head out to our hotel and we also had to eat our dinner. But, exactly when we started leaving the Eiffel Tower started twinkling lights. And, we were so happy and excited to see it. That just made our day and trip to Paris successful. And, oh the macarons were so awesome although they were expensive. I think we have tried so many different flavors and also bakeries for macarons. But, I have to say these are our favorite, period. Unfortunately, the Laduree disappointed us. The macarons were okay.

Assorted Flavors of Macarons

 With this our day almost ended in Paris. We went to our hotel and ate at a nearby bistro. With more excitement to come our way, we slept in a cute and cozy hotel. Next day we had our early morning flights to Athena, Greece.

Bonjour and Merci Paris for giving us a wonderful day to remember. Oh, Paris of my dreams…

Hey, don’t forget the Pear and Almond Tart. Give it a shot! It comes out really delicious and dream about visiting Paris. Such a beautiful city.

Bon Appetite!