When I first moved to Boston, I thought I would be flying off to Europe every chance I got. The reality is I don’t get there nearly as often as I would like to. But I have had some wonderful experiences, discovering new markets, new cities, and new events.

I recently returned from a short trip to one of my favorite cities in the world, Paris. I have had sketchy experiences when I was a college student abroad, and fabulous experiences later in life with friends. This trip combined my love of exploring the city with delicious food experiences.

As with any of my trips, one of my favorite things to do is researching places to visit. My list is always longer than I could possibly hope to explore on my trip. Considering the short time we were there, we did and ate quite a lot.

Being a tourist

As this was a first-time trip for some of us, we included some classic tourist moments like taking the bateau mouche down the Seine; viewing Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower; and taking in the view from the rooftop of Galeries Lafayette.

Exploring Rue Montorgueil

A new area we explored was Rue Montorgueil, a place I read about and have wanted to visit for some time. It is the kind of area I wanted to live near with boucheries, patisseries, and fromageries – like a grocery store that extended for an entire street and where I could indulge in whatever I wanted for dinner that evening.

Paris by Mouth

For me, the highlight was a walking tour of the St. Germain area in the 6th arrondissement. My friend booked a tour through Paris by Mouth which offers small group tours led by English-speaking guides. Not only did we experience delicious breads, pastries, cheese, and wine, we also learned quite a bit about what made the foods special. We learned how to judge a good baguette or croissant, as well as the rigorous process it takes to become un Meilleur Ouvrier de France (MOF).

Some of the places we visited were:

• Eric Kayser, boulangerie
• Charcuterie st Germain
• Laurent Dubois, fromagerie
• Patrick Roger, chocolatier

Exploring on our own

We also ate delicious meals at

Le Petit Cler, 29 Rue Cler, 7th arrondissement

Café Bords de Seine, 1 place du Châtelet, 1st arrondissement

And of course, we couldn’t leave Paris without a few macarons

À la prochaine fois, Paris

Believe it or not, there was so much more that we saw during our short visit. Maybe I will share them in a future post. While I crossed a few things from my list of “things to see and do in Paris”, I suspect I will add more before I’m able to visit again. Until then, I will live off the sweet memories of this trip.