Viva La France!

I am in love with France. Ever since we got to France, I have been begging Brian to move there with me. Sadly, he continues to say no... so far. Don't get me wrong, I love my hometown of Los Angeles, in fact, I have tons of LA pride! There was just something magically lazy and happy about Paris that the city of LA lacks. Let's start with my most favorite things in the world: Food!
Is this not the most impressive ice cream cone you have ever seen?

It was no Berthillion..

But, it sure was beautiful and tasty! Berthillion, on the other hand, was heavenly.
There were also macarons.

We were lucky enough to spend a few nights, a block away from the delicious Gerard Mulot. Above is one of the best macarons I ate in Paris... Nougat flavored! And their baguettes were amazing too!

Below is the ever so famous, Laudurée.


Unfortunately, there were so many macarons, that the unthinkable happened. I am now unable to look at a macaron, without being a little frightened. I know. How could something so adorable be so scary? Well, friends, I have visions of them chasing me now! I can't do the macaron anymore... for now. So, instead of showing you the most amazing macarons in all of Paris, from Pierre Hermes, I will show you the "Montebello" from Pierre Hermes instead.

The textures were incredible in this pastry. And as sick of macarons as I currently am, the texture of the macarons at Pierre Hermes were sickeningly, perfectly good. It was scary how good those macarons were.
Speaking of sickeningly good, who knew the falafel in Paris is so superior than all other falafel? Thank you L'As du Falafel for being so wonderfully tasty and inspring Brian and I to possibly start a falafel truck.

My favorite meal, by far, was our 3 course wonder at Bistro Paul Bert. It was all fantastic, but their Paris Brest, had both Brian and I at a loss for words:

I don't think I've ever had these flavors in my mouth before, so it's hard to describe, but if I had to.. I would just say painfully good, perfection. It literally hurt, it was so good.
Cotton candy as big as my head? Don't mind if I do!

Breakfast at Cafe Mabillion...

Tiny cups of coffee, served with little chocolates...

There were also picnics. Oh yes, crispy chicken, fresh baguettes, fruit from the local marchet picnics...

All this, and what did Brian want to eat? A Royale with Cheese, from McDonalds. Ugh.

I blame Pulp Fiction. You can see my skepticism here.

And, not good. Brian agreed. We were soon back on the diet of baguettes, cheese, and wine.
But, friends, France is more than just tasty pastel macarons and the best baguettes you've ever eaten. Paris is LOVE. Passionate, happy, and blissful love. I love love. I love Paris. And, I love Parisian hotels! Look at all that toile...


Now, imagine walking around the streets of LA in these bad boys:

I have no idea who this person is, but this is probably my favorite picture of the entire trip:

I enjoy this one too:

Paris is also mimes. Modern mimes for modern times.

Paris is Serge Gainsbourg.

Bike rides and picnics in Versailles:



We even did Euro-Disney!

Though, I must admit, our Disney here is much better. Space Mountain an upside down ride? Who knew! It was kind of insane. I loved it... but it made me miss home (LA).
Paris is home (one day).


We also visited tons of museums and famous sites, all documented in my flickr page here. We both agree, just taking long strolls was our favorite part of Paris. It was romantic, beautiful, and maybe some day (hopefully), home.

Back To Reality.

We're home from our amazing trips to London and Paris. Back to a stack of bills and a new apartment full of boxes. After coming home from macaron and baguette heaven, it's a bit difficult not to daydream of moving to Paris... but, LA, despite the bills and boxes, is home. Before I go all into the crafty details and planning of our wedding, here are a few highlights of our trip. I took over 3,000 pictures on this trip, so I think I'll break the trip up into 2 blog posts - one for each London and Paris. Let's start with London:

Now, while we were in London, we experienced some true London like weather. Silly London, didn't you know that spoiled LA kids can't handle weather?

Somehow, we managed.

One of the more memorable days for me happened by complete accident. We got off of our Thames River Boat Tour on the wrong spot and ended up in Greenwich. It was totally my fault that we ended up on the wrong spot - but instead of admitting fault, I swore that I meant to stop in Greenwich. And thank goodness for my stubbornness! We accidentally ended up stumbling into this amazing international food festival!

I can't even remember where these foods came from, but dang... they were good! Of course, we ate too fast to take a picture of this one:

But, I do remember it had a saucy citrus chicken, couscous, and some salad. It was pretty awesome... it was Brian's choice. My choice was a bit better, we agreed. We had a chicken stew, over rice:

And a plantain and bean cake (bean cake not pictured):

Yea, that was amazing. I wish I remember where the food came from, because I really want to make that stew! I imagine it will eventually pop into my head, at 3am, one morning... unless anyone out there in blog land might know?

One of the best days we had in the UK was in Manchester. We took a train out and totally geeked out during The Smiths tour, led by Craig Gill of the Inspiral Carpets. It was pretty amazing. I don't think I've ever seen Brian smile so much, ever! He was in heaven. It was awesome.



What got me smiling more than ever were the simple things in London, like pretty gardens...

High tea...


My first taste of Laduree, and Harrod's bakery...

The craft floor at Liberty (all of my favorite fabric designers in one room... amazing)...

And most of all, seeing the Quilts 1700-2010 exhibit at the V&A.

We also really enjoyed seeing a few familiar faces. Our friends Mark and Olivia took us out to some great pubs and introduced us to Fruli, my favorite new beer.

London was great! We could have used a few more days there... but Paris was awaiting. And friends, I have been waiting for Paris all of my life. Up next, Paris.

For all 3,302 pictures and 6 videos, please visit my flickr page here.