PARIS: DAY 2

On our second day in Paris, it was time to continue working with a visit the the Salon du Chocolat. As I explained to all of you in the previous post, I'm gonna document the work stuff with a Tabblo, coming soon. But suffice it to say, it was crowded and crazy. There were so many people there that it was a big battle to get anywhere near the booths, let alone grab samples. It was fun checking out chocolatiers who don't have shops in Paris, and I was able to get some great caramels from Le Roux and an assortment of other bars.

During the afternoon, I went to check out the famed flea market at Clignancourt, which was just a 10 minute walk from our hostel. I didn't take any pics cause it was so crowded and busy, filled with hundreds of vendors and thousands of visitors, and i didn't want to get pegged as a tourist and have anything stolen. But I did wander about for a couple of hours and had a great time, watching people shop, interact and sell. I figured out that the Parisians also enjoy hot dogs as quick take out food, but would rather have a crepe or a panini. ( I also observed a McDonalds about 20 feet away from a KFC, and unfortunately, people were actually eat there. Sigh. )

For dinner that evening, we set out for the Rotisserie Beaujolais near the Bastille. ( I realize I spelled that incorrectly, but I'm also too lazy to look up how it's actually spelled). There weren't as many dinner options on Sunday, since many restaurants are closed. Luckily this place was open. We got there an hour too early, cause my clock hadn't reset itself for daylight savings, so we ended up wandering around the neighborhood and checking out the Place du Vosges. And we did walk by a bunch of cute restaurants that I would've like to try out. When it rolled around to our reservation time, we went looking for the restaurant, but couldn't find it. I probably wrote the address incorrectly and neither of us had the phone number. So after searching for 10 minutes, we gave up and found a neighborhood bistro specializing in seafood.

At the restaurant we chose, they didn't have any written menus. Just a chalkboard with the dishes they had for that day. And neither Tom or I were really able to understand most of the dishes. So I went the safe route and ordered what I did understand, a seafood soup and a shrimp salad with parmesean. Tom got some shrimp ravioli and a grilled whole fish. I'm sorry I don't have any pics for you guys. It was just too dark in the restaurant and I didn't want my flash going off like some crazy American tourist.

At any rate, I was not in love with the food. For my soup, I expected something more akin to a boullaibase. Instead, I got some soup that was essentially thickened fish stock. It was passable, but not great. I could've made a better version myself. My salad turned out to be waaaayyyy to parmeseany and tart. The thing I enjoyed the most at dinner was actually Tom's fish, which was simply prepared and quite good. So our second day was not our best food day, but at least I got some work done!