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Family Trip Report - London, Paris & Amsterdam July 2016 PARIS DAY 4

Posted by (Western NY) on

Paris Day 4 7/11

Daughter's choice on this trip was to take a macaron baking class. She loves macarons & would like to make them at home. After reading reviews, I chose a 2 hour class (10-12) at La Cuisine Paris. There's a more intensive 3 hour class, but she thought 2 hours would be good. The cooking school was just on the other side of the Ile de Cite, so we were able to walk there in about 25 min. The school is in an old building & the kitchen was in the basement. It was a very nice set up, everything clean & pretty, but still with the old stone walls. The class was a total of 8 & we would work in pairs. Our teacher was Chef Eric. He was born in Paris, raised in the U.S. and returned to Paris for his culinary education & decided to stay. He was a good teacher & funny as well. He asked us to go around telling why we wanted to take this class, our baking experience & our favorite flavor of macaron. The class was listed as making 2 flavors - vanilla & lime. He allowed the class to choose a third flavor & pistacchio was chosen (daughter's favorite, so she was excited!). All the ingredients were measured & waiting for us. With only 2 hours, we needed to move quickly! First we made the filling as it had to chill. Next the cookies - what a process! Complicated, but Chef Eric was guiding us so it seemed easier than it would be at home alone. Each team chose a different color for our batter & the leftover batter would be put together. Those cookies looked like tie-dye! The hardest part I thought was piping the batter into circles. Mine mostly came out tear-drop shaped. Each team worked well together & soon we were piping the filling & putting the macarons together. And tasting - they were good! As good as any in a Paris bakery we all thought! Each person was given a box & we all took a sampling of the various cookies. I think we all ended up with about 2 dozen each. Class finished shortly after 12 & we headed back to the hotel to drop of our cookies. Luckily we had a small refrigerator in each room to keep the cookies fresh.

I will probably never make macarons at home. Daughter said she might attempt it for a special occasion. We both loved the class. I would take another one, probably croissants (mmmm!)

Posted by
85 posts

Paris Day 4 7/11 continued:

We met husband & son back at the hotel. They had walked around while we were gone, just enjoying Paris. Our plan for the afternoon was to see the Arc d'Triomphe. This would also be our first trip on the Metro. There was no way we were walking to the Arc, so the Metro it was. Got directions from the front desk to the nearest Metro station & off we went. We purchased 2 carnets from the machine & headed down. We easily found where to wait for the train & soon we were on our way. A quick trip, we reached our stop & followed the signs out to the Arc. Why was I worried about taking the Metro? Seems silly now.

My father was a soldier in WWII & had been in Paris at some point. I have pictures of him in Pars & that he took in Paris (specifically the Arc). It was very moving to me that he had been here as well. He died when my daughter was small & before son was born, but I try to talk about him and I reminded them of the pictures we had & that Grandpa had been here too. Husband was wondering how on earth we were going to get across to the Arc, but since I had read my RS book, I knew about the walkway under the street! We did see 1 person crossing the street & thankfully he made it!

You can't imagine the size of the Arc until you're standing next to it. The French flag was in the middle, I think because Bastille Day was in a few days, unless it's always there? As we were standing there we could see a few planes off in the distance. As we watched, they flew right over the Arc! Bombers, helicopters, fighter jets, all kinds of aircraft! We heard someone say they were flying in the for Paris Airshow. They just kept coming! We walked all around the Arc, admiring the sculptures & taking pictures of the Arc and the aircraft. We thought about going to the top, but the line was very long. This would have been better planned if we came early or later to avoid the line.

We crossed back over & headed down the Champs de Elysses with aircraft still flying over head periodically. Husband, son & daughter went in the middle of the street with the rest of the tourists to take pictures with the Arc behind them. I couldn't watch! Next order of business was food. We found a fast food sandwich type place to eat. Food was ok & the desserts were pretty good. We headed down the Champs de Elysses, going in and out of shops. We had to stop in the various car dealerships too -husband & son are car enthusiasts. We had seen some amazing cars on the streets of London & were surprised at how many we saw in Paris as well. It was fun going in the dealerships to see the newest models. Daughter found many clothing stores & thought she would buy herself something since she couldn't afford Harrods. We ended up in a huge store & she found several items to try on. The sales person was helpful, finding her some things in her size. I chatted with the dressing room attendant while she tried things on. The girl wanted to know where we were from & we talked about what it was like in New York. Daughter ended up buying 2 pretty dresses at a reasonable price.

We continued walking for a while longer, then checked our map for the nearest Metro stop. Back to the hotel, then just watched some TV for a while before bed. For once, we did not have to be up early the next day.

Posted by
9631 posts

Have enjoyed reading all your trip reports (I've been reading them a bit out of order!). That is absolutely fantastic that you were able to visit somewhere that your father was years ago during his service -- what an amazing experience to be somewhere you had seen photos of all your life.

It sounds like you really found some wonderful activities for your family, and the macaron class must have really hit the mark.

The planes flying overhead weren't for the Paris air show -- they were practicing for the flyovers they do during the Bastille Day parade.

Posted by
85 posts

Hi Kim:

Good to know about the aircraft. I'm sorry now that we left Paris on Bastille Day morning. I'm glad we got a little peek at the planes at least!

Tina

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