Beautiful Flowers

I've save this post to almost the last....will share some of my favourite photos of flowers. Which do you like?

Flower shop in Marais.  I love the various colours of pink.

A typical French shop with flowers

Poppies from Monet's Garden plus bee!

Tiles and pansies behind Hotel Baudy - in the village of Givernay

Floxglove behind Notre Damn

Flower market at Versailles, love the blue tones.

Sweet Peas!

Peonies...interesting on how they are placed

All things delicious to eat!

Food, food, glorious food.  I couldn't decide what to post regarding food, vegetables and spices, so here is a selection of what was so beautifully displayed at the local food markets.  Enjoy - Linda

Dried fruits in the Greek shoppe

Beautiful heirloom tomatoes

At the butcher - fowl with legs to identify specific type, sometime the head is left on too

Beautiful tomatoes of any kind

Spice Market - Curry Powder

Fresh Eggs

One of my favourite photos - artichokes

Asparagus - white & green

How do you like your honey?

The local vegetable market selection

Pere Lechaise

Lindsay and I took the #69 bus from Marais to the east side of Paris to the famous cemetery Pere Lechaise and entered from the back-side and walked downhill to the entrance.  It is the resting place from many famous people; including Jim Morrison and just regular folk.  We spent 2 hours wandering the "avenues" of the cemetery and following groups of tourists to see who they had "found".  I loved the statues, memorials and grounds.  Here is a reflection of our visit.

I love the graceful detail.

Beautiful detail on a crypt door

It's almost like a photo of this lady and her dog.

So many different designs of a family crypt.

Edith Piaf - French singer

For the love of Cheese!

Today, I thought I'd share with you -- pictures of cheese.  The French love their cheese and every Frenchman knows that to enjoy it in between your main course and dessert, you collect a fine selection to include goat, sheep and cow-milk cheese; including a range of flavours from mild to strong.  As you present the cheese board, don't forget the Normandy butter; either salted or not....cut a small amount of cheese (including the rind)...you trim to your liking, take a baguette slice, butter and cheese...that's the way to enjoy cheese as the French do.


At our cooking class, we had the opportunity to sample and taste.  Several of the last photos come from that cheese shoppe, where the selection was amazing.  


Now if I could only remember which ones I really liked!  I guess it will require a trip to St. Lawrence Market to sample good quality French cheeses to select the ones that remind me of our cheese tasting!   Enjoy!

Marche des enfants rouge

A classic cheese shoppe - next to Pere Lachaise

Cheese Truck at the Vernon Market (Monet's garden bike tour stop)

Heart-shaped brie & butter

Cheese preparation - day of cooking class

Normandy butter

Fresh eggs from the cheese shoppe

Food, food and more Paris Eats

Okay...hang on to your chair, you are about to go on a magical food ride of photos taken in Paris on our trip.  For the record, I didn't gain any weight, but Lindsay would eat up to 3 sweets per day...and did gain a few pounds, but it was sooo good!  Every meal was a feast for the eyes and fresh, well prepared food.  Presentation was always fabulous.  


Take a look, you'll see what we ate.

Cafe Gaudeamus

Lunch at the Cafe

Tea at Mariage Freres

Tuna Provenical at cafe beside Pere Lachaise

Croque Monsieur at Museum d'Orsey

Fish appetizer at A La Petite Chaise

A beautiful, small old cafe - cira 1650's

Fruit Tart on the Seine - on the way to Monet's Gardens

Breizh Cafe...savory crepes

Street food - Paella!

Lindsay's Birthday Adventure - May 10th

We began Thursday with a visit to Montmartre quarter where Sacre Coeur Basilicia is located, a top of the mountain with breathtaking views of Paris.  In an earlier photo I shared with the clock face, the basilica is shown from D'Orsey museum.  We ended the day with an amazing cooking class with cooknwithclass.com where for 185 euros we got 6 hours of information, instruction, 3 course meal, including a cheese board, dessert and wine.  Lindsay said it was the best adventure of the whole trip.


I'm also sharing pics from Montmartre area, including the artist that I got a cute Parisian painting.

Sacre Coeur completed 1919

Artist from Montmantre

Brie in the cheese shop

Items for dinner 

Chef Patrick showing us how to prep white asparagus

Slicing Duck Breast

Plating the main course

Molton choco cake with strawberries

I hope you enjoyed these photos....we really feel it was a great day in celebration of Lindsay's 32nd Birthday.