France Day 13 - Last Day in Paris (sigh)

We had a great workout in the state of the art gym in the hotel. I'm used to pretty weak hotel gyms, but this one had 2 spin bikes, ellipticals, treadmills and new weights. Of course our petty attempts at physical fitness were not doing much to counteract our marathon eating day that started at breakfast and ends just before bedtime but we had to do something, right?

For our last full day in Paris, we headed to a market in the Latin Quarter. All I can say is WOW and let the pictures speak for themselves! Once again, we are blown away by what these markets have to offer from produce to meats, cheeses, wines, you name it; it's there and out of this world! A feast for the eyes (and the stomach of course)... the breads were amazing and I actually spent some time learning to pronounce 'pain aux almondes' thanks to one baker and much to the chagrin of the hungry patrons behind me!

We finally gathered our picnic goodies for the day and headed to Notre Dame. It was packed with tourists but it was worth it when I realized they were saying Sunday mass. It was incredibly beautiful but I still think it is second to St Peter's in Rome - at least for me. We also visited some ruins beneath the site of Notre Dame then found a small park along the Seine to have a picnic.

After stuffing ourselves, we decided to do the tourist thing ourselves and took an hour long sightseeing cruise along the Seine. It was a nice way to see more of the city and took photos through the drizzle. We also squeezed in a late afternoon trip to the Eiffel Tower but couldn't bear the long lines to take the elevators up and decided our time was better spent back in the hotel room enjoying our final bottle of wine.

When we arrived at the hotel, the concierge sadly informed me that the Spanish restaurant I wanted as my pick was booked so I furiously looked through his Zagat and picked a Vietnamese restaurant with a 27 (out of 30) rating for food. I just hope we wouldn't be disappointed!

We left a bit early to allow for time to have a glass of wine at a brassiere near the Sorbonne and finally made it to the restaurant, Coin des Gourmet. It looked super casual from the outside and if I wasn't nervous enough before I certainly was now! I didn't want our last meal to suck - the pressure was on!

We sat down, ordered a bottle of 2003 Bourgogne Cote d'Auxerre Pinot Noir from Domaine Anne Goisot Arnaud and eventually a rose' from Mas de la Dame in Les Baux de Provence and after navigating the menu and the language barrier between us and the waitstaff dinner went like this:




HaKao - dumplings... I am a dumpling junkie and have yet to find a dumpling I didn't like
Rouleaux Jardineries aux 12 legumes - veggie spring rolls
Fondue Gourmande - hot pot
Nem Nuong - pork meatballs

The hot pot was the standout item here and ordered by yours truly. We were brought a pot of steaming curry flavored broth over a sterno with a plate full of cuttlefish, beef, shrimp, rice noodles, peppers, tomatoes and lettuce. It took a minute for me to realize how the process went and once I got a system down, continued to dish out bowls of the flavorful spicy broth to Mitch & RRR. It seemed that no matter how long the meat or fish were in the broth, it was always cooked to perfection.

Mitch ordered a 3 course tasting menu but forgive me for having pretty limited notes on her dishes and the ones listed above since I was happily busy cooking up the hot pot for the table. Vietnamese was a light tasty change of pace from the exhaustive multi-course meals we've been having on our exciting journey through France and a pleasant way to end our trip.

We had a bittersweet toast to our last night in Paris - we've had a blast but we were also a bit exhausted and understandably stuffed at this point and tomorrow was the long journey home...