Le Souffle And The Tower By Night

Our second day in Paris I got sick! It's just wrong to spend a day sick in bed when you are in PARIS!! But that is what I did, I kept telling myself that I should walk across the street and get a yummy treat from Angelina to make up for having to spend the day in bed, but I never felt well enough to leave my room. Luckily I had a wonderful room, with  a beautiful view and a huge comfy bed. My parents took a tour of some fabulous estates a little out of the city and had a marvelous time.

We had made reservations at Le Souffle the day before and there was no way I was going to miss that meal. So upon my parent's return, they collected me from my room and we walked down the street to the adorable and unique, Le Souffle.

This restaurant only serves souffles! How fun is that? They have all different kinds, both savory and sweet that change based on what ingredients are in season. All three of us ordered the three course souffle meal, because, 1.) why the heck not? 2.) and how often are you at a special souffle place in Paris?

We were astonished by how quickly each course came. For any of you that are familiar with cooking souffles at home, you know that traditional souffles can take anywhere from 25 to 45 minutes to cook. So when we ordered the three course meal, we thought we would be there all evening. But just minutes after we had placed our order, our appetizer souffles were on the table. We discovered they had a special souffle oven made, that cooks them all to perfection in just 7 minutes. And when I say perfection I mean they were the most gorgeous and perfectly cooked souffles we had ever had!

For my first course, I enjoyed an olive tapenade and goat cheese souffle while my parents each got a cheddar souffle. I loved my goat cheese dish, the cheese was tangy and the olives added the right amount of salt so it wasn't bland at all.

For our main courses Dad and I ordered the cream of chicken souffle while my mom couldn't pass up the beef bourguignon souffle. Each of our souffles were placed before us, then our waiter, rather dramatically, poked a hole in the top and laded, then poured in the cream of chicken and the beef. These souffles were warm and rich and just what you would want after spending a whole day in bed.

Dessert was fun! We each were drawn to different sweet souffles, mom ordered the Grand Marnier souffle which was doused by the waiter who then left the bottle in case she decided it needed more. She let me have a taste and it was delicious, the light and sweet orange flavor complimented the souffle really well.

I ordered a raspberry souffle which was quite the sight. It was by the the largest of all the souffles any of us had throughout the evening and the center resembled more of a mouse with with raspberry puree than the traditional souffle center texture.

My dad went for the chocolate souffle which had warm chocolate sauce poured down the middle when it was placed on the table. I don't even need to tell you how delicious it was. But what was really good was taking a spoonful of my raspberry dish and dipping it in the rich chocolate sauce...

After dinner, I took dad to see how the Eiffel Tower sparkles at night. The tower only sparkles on the hour starting at 10 pm, so we had a little time to wait, so I got quite a few pictures of it all lit up and looking gorgeous.

We had a little countdown until the sparkles started and then BAM we were blown away by how amazingly stunning the tower is when it sparkles, no video or picture can do it justice. However, that didn't stop me from trying, you can see the sparkles in this last picture, especially close to the base.

It was the perfect evening!

City of Light

After our amazing time in Paris Disney, we were excited to explore the City of Light. We had a list of recommended restaurants that were close to our hotel, The Westin Paris, one of which was famous for having the best hot chocolate in Paris, we decided to try there first for breakfast.

Angelina was founded in 1903 by Austrian confectioner Antione Rumpelmayer and named after his daughter-in-law Angelina. This charming eatery has been the favorite meeting place of Parisian aristocrats for over a century, including Coco Chanel and Proust. The decor, designed by famous Belle Epoque architect Edouard-Jean Niermans, offers a distinct blend of elegance, charm and refinement.

Mom and I got Croquet Monsieurs, and oh my goodness it was one of the best things I have ever tasted in my entire life. Every single bite was like a celebration in my mouth. It was so warm and buttery and melty cheesy, just everything that I love all in one sandwich. 

Dad went light and got an order of their famous hot chocolate and a fancy raspberry pastry. He was nice and let me have a sip of his decadent drinking chocolate, it tasted like melted candy bars, but not nasty, cheap chocolate bars, like super high quality, delicious chocolate bars.

I saw a picture of this raspberry macaroon masterpiece on the menu and knew I had to have one. To this day, I have dreams of this creation. The macaroon was so soft and chewy and flavorful, which is hard to find in macaroons, and it was filled with real raspberries and pistachio cream. I wish I had taken my slr out to take pictures of this food, cause these blurry phone pics just ain't doing them justice.

Then dad and I set out to visit and take pictures of the most well known landmarks in Paris, it was a busy day. Mom chose to relax and enjoy our gorgeous hotel and the wonderful views we had from our balconies off our rooms. The last two times I was in Paris, I wasn't into photography yet, thus I didn't have any pictures of the places I had visited, so I was excited for the opportunity to document our fun adventures this time! 

First up was the Arc De Triomphe. My dad hadn't ever climbed to the top before, so I was excited for him to see the amazing view you get from atop the arc. It was some sort of Parisian holiday, so access to all museums and landmarks was free that day! 

We climbed up the extremely narrow, spiral staircase with the rest of Paris, it was super busy since it was see-Paris-for-free day, but it was a fun atmosphere to be a part of. My dad counted how many stairs we climbed, I think it was somewhere in the 200's

And here it is, the stunning view of the entire city of Paris from the top of the Arc De Triomph!

Next stop was the one and only, Eiffel Tower! There really is nothing like standing in front of this well known, beautiful work of art. Constructed in 1889 as the entrance to the 1889 World's Fair, it was initially criticized by some of France's leading artists and intellectuals for its design, but it has become a global cultural icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world. The Eiffel Tower is the most-visited paid monument in the world; 6.91 million people ascended it in 2015.

Then it was back down to the subway to travel to one of my favorite spots in Paris, Notre Dame. While the church is gorgeous, the reason I love this part of Paris so much are the stalls that line the river, full of old books and prints for sale. They are so charming and I always manage to find a treasured keepsake, last time I bought four small etchings of different Parisian landmarks that now hang in my home. This time around, I found a hardback copy of a compilation of Jules Vern stories in french. The cover was gorgeous and I just knew it would be the perfect birthday present for my sister Bethy who adores Jules Vern.

While we were in the area, I thought it would be fun to visit Lovers Bridge. I had heard so much about this bridge, but had never had the chance to see it in person. It's incredible! It was so fun to walk along the bridge and look at all the sweet locks that had messages of love and represented cute couples.

Plus, you can't beat the view of Notre Dame from the bridge.

That night we dined at an adorable french bistro just a short walk away from our hotel. We were the only ones in the restaurant since we are Americans and eat dinner quite a few hours earlier than most European people do, so we had the entire staff serving us, and they were super fun.

They didn't have any Coke or Pepsi products, the only soda they had was Paris Cola, so obviously we had to get some to try. The bottles were super cute but it kind of tasted like coke with a weird twist to it.

To end our first full day in Paris on a sweet note, we all got chocolate covered cream puffs for dessert then walked home to our luxurious hotel for a good nights sleep.