What happens when chocolate fiends die? They go to Paris. Every October for the past 10 years, there has been Le Salon du Chocolat. Sort of like a convention, but much better. A huge hall of about 100 exhibitors, all with samples… This is amazing.
My favorite was the chocolate “au cepes.” Thats right, the ganache with a hint of mushroom. Where does an idea like that come from? I should have bought a whole box.
Oct. 18
You can see the Eiffel Tower, not exactly from our apartment, but from the window in the hall right outside. Not bad. Like a looming mountain, it appears close, but is actually probably a bit over a mile walk. It is very cool approaching from a quiet angle – the guys playing boules may have invited us to play – I wasn’t paying close enough attention.
Did I mention that the Eiffel Tower is really tall – I mean when you go up to the tippy top in that tiny elevator with almost nothing around it. Don’t really need to do that again. The view is good of course.
Exhausted, taxi back to the apartment and eat at the first place we find, across the street. It’s a bar and the food actually sucks, but fish flavored steak is something of a rarity and well, why would you eat in a bar anyway. We were desperate with hunger, and got desparation food. We lived and went to bed. Did grab some dessert from the amazing patisserie down the block – cafe eclairs and such. Yum.
Tomorrow is my birthday, and the Salon du Chocolat!
Oct 18
No apparent troubles arriving in Paris on Day 1 of their transportation strike. The Parishuttle van was on the spot with clean van and handsome driver. Excellent tour through Paris, as Charles de Gaulle (the French say Roissy – say Charles de Gaulle if you want a blank stare) is on the north side of Paris and our apartment was on the south. Arrived fine at apartment. Less the one bag I forgot to pick up at the luggage claim. Oops. Oh well, lunch sounds better than luggage tracking anyway.
Oct. 17
We depart via Baltimore, through Philly. Who knew Philly was an international hub? Nice to see an airport with non-chain stores. No chocolate eating today – I’m trying to sleep on the Paris flight. I did pack a bar of my favorite Valrhona “Le Noir Amer” 71% chocolate – as a baseline to compare other chocolates.
amazing food the chocolate salon the best fair trade chocolate yet all with the clothes on my ba…
…yeah, so you can post to the blog using the web brower of my iPhone, but it’s a little difficult. Research this.
We’re staying in the 15th – on the lower left hand side of a Paris map. Pudlow’s Paris calls it a ghost town and then goes on to list restaurants and bistros enough to fill our entire week. My friend Betsy says that it’s a good place to find historic Paris and actual Parisians. The fact that the area falls off the edge of many tourist maps should mean that we won’t be shoulder to shoulder with other tourists.
2 days out from our Paris trip. Le Salon du Chocolat begins on my birthday this year. It’s time to share the love. Chocolate is powerful magic – and it tastes great too. How much can I carry home? Will I be patted down by secuity? How much chocolate can I enjoy before launching straight off the face of the earth? These questions and more, on the Paris Chocolate Tour, Fall 2007.
