Paris: part 2

On the first "normal" day of our trip (ie not the day we arrived & tried to stay awake for 48 hours) we had signed up for French cooking classes taught in English in Montmartre. Ellie took a French desserts class and my mom and I took a 3 hour (!) macaron class.  These classes were really fun and really everything you could hope for in a cooking class. They made us feel a little like Paris insiders. We met locals (the chefs) and visitors (our classmates). It was the perfect first day thing to do. 

On the second day (Tuesday) we set out for the Louvre. There was no line! Turns out (guide book  user fail) the Louvre is not open on Tuesdays! This wasn't a big deal. We headed for the Musee d'Orsay instead and then the Saint Germain des Pres area for some shopping and Laduree for some tea and...more macarons.

a playground in Montrmarte.

We took the Metro on the first day. It was a little daunting to figure out, but there is a Paris Metro app that makes things pretty easy. By the end of the week, we had the hang of it.

Sacre Coeur in the background.

 No line at the Louvre! No line at ALL.

 Musee d'Orsay clock overlooking the city. 

We'd read about these fountains in this guidebook & it was fun spotting them around the city.

Apparently Parisians aren't crazy about all these locks because they're making the Pont des Arts bridge dangerously heavy. Whoops.

Behind that graffiti plywood is locks that stretch across the entire bridge on both sides. 

 Another fountain.

Macarons from scratch = really complicated and very detailed. Also, our extremely French chef/teacher is also a huge fan of Myrtle Beach, SC! 

 Folding food coloring into the dough for the cookie part of white chocolate lemon macarons. There is one recipe for the cookie part of the macaron; the only difference is the addition of food coloring. The flavor is added via the filling. We made salted caramel, dark chocolate passion fruit and white chocolate lemon. Choosing a favorite would be like choosing a favorite child.

 These girls made four different kinds of desserts in a fraction of the amount of time it took us to make macarons.

The girls' chef, Constance. She was as sweet and adorable as she looks.

The girls' finished products. That molten chocolate cake lasted about 10 seconds.