Food & DINK
We travel. We eat. And we travel to eat.
Chapter 6: Finale
We rose with heavy hearts knowing this marked our last day in Paris. We planned to go out, much the same way we’d come in. Pastry breakfast, classic site in the afternoon, gargantuan bistro dinner.
The walk to Tout Autour du Pain (formerly 134 RdT) seemed endless, but we finally arrived to eat croissant, baguette, and chocolate/almond croissant. The latter was cloyingly sweet, but the baguette may have been the best of the trip.
We took the metro to the Palais Garnier where we went on a spirited tour with the most aggressively “blind-friendly” guide we’d ever encountered. Roughly grabbing Paul’s hand, she’d steer him toward statuary, furniture, draperies, telling stories and letting him feel the sites she described.
From the sweeping marble staircases to the Chagall ceiling, it seemed each new sight was more breathtaking than the last. Both fans of the book and musical versions of The Phantom of the Opera, we enjoyed the Phantom factoids that peppered the tour.
After the tour, we decided we couldn’t leave Paris without another taste of Angelina’s decadent hot chocolate and we lucked into a prime table in their pastel princess castle of a dining establishment, feasting on French onion soup, omelet, croissant with ham and scrambled egg, enormous macaron, and the famous Mont Blanc dessert with its wispy chestnut dome.
Delicious lunch consumed, we took one final walk through the Marais, headed back to the hotel for showers, packing, and some rest before our final Paris dinner.
That evening, we sipped on Kir Royale at Les Philosophes near our hotel before enjoying confit de canard, boeuf bourguignon, and Grand Marnier soufflé at the quintessential Paris bistro Josephine Chez Dumonet. Good to the last bite, Chez Dumonet did not disappoint, but offered up quality, standard fare.
Perhaps there was a touch of wistfulness that we didn’t go out on one stunning bite of chocolate soufflé, or a herbaceous garlicky falafel, or a sip of a 1990 Burgundy alongside Gratinée Savoy—but these are all options for future trips. For this is assuredly not our last trip to Paris!
This is the end of our review of our perfect week in Paris. To read about more of our travels, head back to our Travel Page!
Food & DINK 