Sunday in Paris, Part 2

This is the continued recap of our first Sunday in Paris, a day when most shops and restaurants are closed but some neighborhoods, like Le Marais, remain open.  Catch up on Part 1 of our day to read about the other stops we made along our foodie afternoon walk.    

Pierre Hermé: Yogurt & Lime Macaron

We continued our walk around Le Marais and found ourselves at Pierre Hermé. They were celebrating Macaron Day (March 20) and customers got a free macaron with a donation of spare change. We selected 4 macarons to try out: yogurt/lime, chocolate/fig/foie gras, fresh mint/red berries, and pistachio/strawberry. I first tried Pierre Hermé macarons in Tokyo and then again when my parents brought a box back from their Paris trip. I loved how among the typical flavors (pistachio, lemon, chocolate, salted caramel, etc.) there were also very unique flavors with atypical ingredients (foie gras, yogurt, truffle, etc.) that seemed to change throughout the years. People often say there are two camps of Parisian macaron eaters: Pierre Hermé or Ladurée. I will expound further on this in a future post, but for now I'll say that of all the macarons I tried in Paris, the ones from Pierre Hermé are my favorite.

Our next stop at Rose Bakery was our original late lunch spot, but by the time we got there we were still full from our previous snacks. Rose Bakery is a British-themed cafe opened by a Franco-British couple. They're known for their quiches, salads, and baked goods, all of which are sourced from local and organic farms. We picked up an aubergine (aka eggplant) quiche and lemon polenta cake to save for dinner.

Jacques Genin: Handmade plain caramel and mango passion caramel

Walking back towards the Place de la République, our final stop of the afternoon was Jacques Genin, a chocolate and pastry shop. The shop is filled with several glass cases harboring handmade caramels, colorful pâte de fruit cubes, and delicate chocolate truffle squares.  It was like being inside a jewelry store, but cheaper and more appealing.  I picked up two caramels - plain and mango passion. When I ate them later, I was reminded of how amazing fresh, handmade caramels taste. It was nothing like the hard Milk Maid caramel chews I grew up on, the ones that made me dislike caramels for how difficult they were to chew. No, the Jacques Genin caramels were soft and smooth. They did stick a little to my teeth, but whatever remnants were stuck easily melted away in minutes. The plain caramel had a fragrant buttery flavor and the mango passion one was surprisingly fruity. I wish I purchased more!  Jacques Genin is also known for their pastries, which they used to sell for takeaway but now only serve at their sit-down cafe. The line for the cafe was long (and I was reaching my maximum sugar intake for the afternoon) so we opted to pass, but next time I would definitely sit down to try their famed eclair, mille-feuille, or paris brest.

We ended our walking tour back at our hotel where we picked up our luggage and headed to the République station.  We took the metro to our Airbnb stuiod for the next week in the 7th arrondissement. Nearby was an open Carrefour City market, where we picked up some groceries for dinner.  Throw in a fresh baguette from a neighboring boulangerie and we had ourselves a satisfying dinner with salad, bread, cheese, coppa, and the Rose Bakery quiche.

Dinner on our first Sunday in Paris

It was a great way to spend a Sunday and I barely noticed the closed stores around me.  I think we covered pretty good ground for our first full day in Paris, don't you think?

As promised, below is the path we took for the day.  We covered all of it in about 4 hours at a leisurely pace, but it would be easy to stretch it longer if you sat down for a formal lunch and/or afternoon coffee at any of the stops.  There's actually so much food that you could even split this into two days.  I added a few extra spots (yellow markers) that we visited on other days.  I would suggest getting food from Marché Bastille for a brunch picnic at Place des Vosges, Rose Bakery for late lunch, walking back towards the Seine for the dessert shops, and then sitting down for coffee and dessert at Jacques Genin.  It may seem like some backtracking compared to our circle below, but all that extra walking just means you can eat more!

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