After such a long & busy week, we opted not to set an alarm & figured we’d wake up on our own, probably by about 9:30 AM. What ended up happening was we woke up at 8:30 & fell back to sleep until 11:30! With half of our day gone already & Shawn needing to do groceries for the week (plus we needed to pick up our picnic fare), I figured today would not run as scheduled & I mentally prepared myself to go with the flow & just be happy to have togetherness time with my hubby. We had brunch in (humus, eggplant, pita & mango juice (what I had eaten for breakfast most of the week & what Shawn lives on!). We headed out to Monoprix. I had a tough time deciding on what to buy for our picnic, as they had so many choices, particularly for cheeses. Shawn’s discovery of a line of light cheeses called Bridelight (5% mf!) won out & prevented me from going crazy with full fat stuff – we got a spreadable whipped cheese with herbs & a brie type cheese as well. We (with Shawn’s influence keeping me good!) chose a terrine made with duck & turkey versus a pâté de foie gras. The rest of our picnic purchases included a sundried tomato tapenade, crunchy little dill pickles, a couscous & olive salad, a whole-wheat homemade bread, 2 kinds of crackers & for dessert : fresh field strawberries & fig Newton cookies. The store has a back wall of wine that rivals a whole SAQ store here – choices are endless & after annoying Shawn a little, I finally picked 4 wines that were to bring (well, smuggle! Since we’re only allowed 1.5 l!) home – a Brouilly, a Grenache, a Côte De Rhones rosé & a Chardonnay.
After a stop for water at Franprix on the way home & packing up, we headed out to the Eiffel Tower. It seemed to take really long to get there on the metro. We arrived pretty late in the afternoon and marveled at the crowds waiting to get in to climb up the tower (which we had not planned on doing that day). After taking in some of the sights (like the menu for Jules Verne, which is a tourist attraction in itself – 140 EUR for the tasting menu!), we picked a spot that was not too shady or sunny or crowded & laid out our picnic spread & enjoyed it with some small bottles of red wine Shawn had been saving in his apt for my visit (1 brand was good, the other not so good!).
It was early evening but still bright & sunny when we finished. We walked around to take more pics & watched 2 men playing instruments they’d made from plastic pop bottles that sounded beautiful! We had intended to head home & go out for a late dinner. I also really had wanted to go to a nearby Club, just to say I’d been to one in Paris! But, Shawn realized we were approaching ‘l’heure bleue’ – the best time to take pics right before dusk, so we headed to the Champs d’Elysées in front of the tower. We once again realized we weren’t really ‘following the Paris beat’ properly, as we saw tons of people setting up their picnics on the grass whereas we’d already eaten! Shawn wanted to stay until they lit up the tower with the flashing lights (as we had observed from the Seine the night before), and this only happens at 10pm. The atmosphere held a certain anticipatory quality, it felt like everyone was anxiously and patiently awaiting a show to start, but voices were at a regular level, almost hush, everyone seemed so serene and calm and content – no raucous laughter, no yelling. There were guys walking around with bottles of wine & champagne, trying to pawn them off, but no one was buying, as everyone seemed well supplied. When the light show started, everyone stopped talking & audible gasps were heard & everyone applauded. It seemed like most people around us were locals though, so we were wowed by how everyone, locals & tourists alike, fall under the spell of this magical place. I wondered aloud if we’d spend our Saturday evening here if we lived here. It stayed lit up for about 20 minutes.
We finally decided to head home, and since we were still not hungry, we figured we wouldn’t need dinner & we’d just head out to the Club after changing. I could not keep my eyes open on the metro ride home & kept nodding off to sleep. After going to the bathroom once home, I lay down on the bed, intending just to rest for a minute & gather up enough strength to start getting ready & as each second passed, I wondered more & more how I was going to be able to stay awake at a club for any amount of time tonight! After a few minutes, Shawn came in & saw me passing out & convinced me that it was ok that we stay home (“I can’t take you out like this, you’re a zombie!”) & that we could go out next trip. I was too tired to argue & was relieved to crawl into bed!
After such a long & busy week, we opted not to set an alarm & figured we’d wake up on our own, probably by about 9:30 AM. What ended up happening was we woke up at 8:30 & fell back to sleep until 11:30! With half of our day gone already & Shawn needing to do groceries for the week (plus we needed to pick up our picnic fare), I figured today would not run as scheduled & I mentally prepared myself to go with the flow & just be happy to have togetherness time with my hubby. We had brunch in (humus, eggplant, pita & mango juice (what I had eaten for breakfast most of the week & what Shawn lives on!). We headed out to Monoprix. I had a tough time deciding on what to buy for our picnic, as they had so many choices, particularly for cheeses. Shawn’s discovery of a line of light cheeses called Bridelight (5% mf!) won out & prevented me from going crazy with full fat stuff – we got a spreadable whipped cheese with herbs & a brie type cheese as well. We (with Shawn’s influence keeping me good!) chose a terrine made with duck & turkey versus a pâté de foie gras. The rest of our picnic purchases included a sundried tomato tapenade, crunchy little dill pickles, a couscous & olive salad, a whole-wheat homemade bread, 2 kinds of crackers & for dessert : fresh field strawberries & fig Newton cookies. The store has a back wall of wine that rivals a whole SAQ store here – choices are endless & after annoying Shawn a little, I finally picked 4 wines that were to bring (well, smuggle! Since we’re only allowed 1.5 l!) home – a Brouilly, a Grenache, a Côte De Rhones rosé & a Chardonnay.
After a stop for water at Franprix on the way home & packing up, we headed out to the Eiffel Tower. It seemed to take really long to get there on the metro. We arrived pretty late in the afternoon and marveled at the crowds waiting to get in to climb up the tower (which we had not planned on doing that day). After taking in some of the sights (like the menu for Jules Verne, which is a tourist attraction in itself – 140 EUR for the tasting menu!), we picked a spot that was not too shady or sunny or crowded & laid out our picnic spread & enjoyed it with some small bottles of red wine Shawn had been saving in his apt for my visit (1 brand was good, the other not so good!).
It was early evening but still bright & sunny when we finished. We walked around to take more pics & watched 2 men playing instruments they’d made from plastic pop bottles that sounded beautiful! We had intended to head home & go out for a late dinner. I also really had wanted to go to a nearby Club, just to say I’d been to one in Paris! But, Shawn realized we were approaching ‘l’heure bleue’ – the best time to take pics right before dusk, so we headed to the Champs d’Elysées in front of the tower. We once again realized we weren’t really ‘following the Paris beat’ properly, as we saw tons of people setting up their picnics on the grass whereas we’d already eaten! Shawn wanted to stay until they lit up the tower with the flashing lights (as we had observed from the Seine the night before), and this only happens at 10pm. The atmosphere held a certain anticipatory quality, it felt like everyone was anxiously and patiently awaiting a show to start, but voices were at a regular level, almost hush, everyone seemed so serene and calm and content – no raucous laughter, no yelling. There were guys walking around with bottles of wine & champagne, trying to pawn them off, but no one was buying, as everyone seemed well supplied. When the light show started, everyone stopped talking & audible gasps were heard & everyone applauded. It seemed like most people around us were locals though, so we were wowed by how everyone, locals & tourists alike, fall under the spell of this magical place. I wondered aloud if we’d spend our Saturday evening here if we lived here. It stayed lit up for about 20 minutes.
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