The Time We Escaped the Heat with Macarons

Walking in the heat in Paris is pretty awful. Though it's funny when we complain, because then we realize how ridiculous we sound. "Oh help me, I'm spending my summer walking around Paris. Poor me." But regardless, it's hot.

Today our walking tour consisted of the Palais Royale, Galarie Vivianne, Place de Victoires and walking through the Louvre exterior, which used to be the palace. 

(Church at St. Germain l'auxerrois. Good escape from the heat)

(A man was playing Bach on the guitar in front of the arches and glasswork)

(Example of classic style)

(A hot garden pathway with rows of shaded trees with light peeping through leaves)

(The fountain in the garden)

(A modern art installment)

(The Louvre pyramid)

I really enjoyed walking through the galleries today. There were tons of rich stores, but I liked that they're inside like a mall, but very fancy with gold decor, glass ceilings, and plants. It felt like walking through a train station in the jungle or something. 

After our tour, a few girls went to Laduree - a famous macaron shop that's apparently really popular as an upscale dessert place, though I hadn't heard of it. We think this is the original one. 

I went and tried three mini macarons flavored rose, licorice, and "Marie Antoinette Tea" which turned out to be the best. I can't place the flavor - I'm guessing it's tea-related but it was almost coconut-y as well. The black licorice, though I usually enjoy that flavor, was not very memorable. All the tastes were mild and the cookies were incredibly light and not as chewy as I've usually had before. So airy! These must be the correct way to make macarons, since they're Parisian.    

The decor of the room was Chinese-themed, with bamboo style print wallpaper and Mandarin writing that some of the girls translated to "Ear, hand, nose" etc. At the front we found the dessert counter with rows of pastries and the macarons of course. Worth the little experience. 

A few of us went back to Marais to look at shops, but everything was either really expensive even with the summer sales, not my style, or available in the US. We found this store called COS that had really simple clothing but it was edgy, with weird shapes and cuts that looked like French fashion. Wish we could wear holographic or waist-less dresses in America.

For dinner, I had a crepe in the upper part of Paris because I met a high school classmate there. This just proves that the street crepes across from our hotel near the Eiffel Tower are really the best, as Teo says. My crepe, while perfectly decent by all American standards, was boring compared to the street crepes. It wasn't as soft or harmonious or cheesy, but instead the fillings were layered and not stuck together nor mixed together in one bite. 

Then we spent midnight in Paris on the Seine, which looked like an impressionist painting.