Joie de Vivre - A mini guide - Day 2 - all the Ms, Montmatre, Marais and 1st ever escargots!

A little know fact is that in 2005 I studied in Melbourne as part of my University media course. Living with new people from many different countries, Australia, France, America, Sweden, Sri Lanka, Colombia. The lucky thing for me is that lots of the people I've met, I'm still friends with 8 years later!

Including my beautiful French friend and her hubby who runs Cantine California (www.cantinecalifornia.com)  who live in old gay Paris and who I now get to see every 6 months! More on this later!

With time off on a Friday evening, I braved the crazy Parisian snow in a taxi to head to the North of Paris, to Montmatre, near the Sacre Couer (must see for a tourist). After abandoning the taxi at the bottom of rue de Trois Freres, I met my friends in La Famille. A super cool restaurant/come bar with a crazy mojito menu! I had the Framboise Menthe Poivre - or in English, Raspberry, mint & chilli. Sounds strange but it was lush! Its in the detail at La Famille, the drinks were served with dry ice and a mint flavoured sweety teddy. I also tried the Peche, Gingerembre - Peach and Ginger beer which came avec flying saucers! I could not choose between the two.





Peche et Gingembre Mojito



Framboise, Menthe et Poivre Mojito

The menu was simply & with my new found French I tried to disect it with a little help from my friends to choose the salmon to start and the Fazzoletti au Crabe, a flat pasta with crab. The salmon was really delicious, and the crab and pasta was too. The only downside to La Famille, is that the food is served on cold plates, therefore the food does go cold quickly. I'd been pre-warned so I didnt waste any time in eating my meal!



A big load of meat!

Cocotte de ta Mer




Saumon

La Famille

Fazzoletti au Crabe

Boys will be boys! Montmatre snow ball fight

Street Art - Montmatre





Le Menu - La Famille

The second M of my post is Marais. Described by A Paris Guide as " Very similar in feel to the West Village in Manhattan, with a different feel architecture of course... the small crooked medieval lanes are alive with bars, restaurants, hotels, high and low fashion boutiques, trendy shops, hip designers, old fashioned bread shops, jewelry, wine shops, fashionable art galleries and museums all crammed into one small area." This was my second visit to Marais and a much colder one. Theres something about pottering around Paris with a big coat on, taking pictures of the sights and generally get a feel for the Parisian vibe. The centre pompidou is a building to behold and looked even better through my fisheye lens.



Centre Pompidou

Street Art & Bikes - Marais




Andy Wahool - Marais




One of my favourite decor shops - Fleux




And then the snow began! Taking to the Time Out guide once again, I headed to Le Loir dans la Theiere. It was a little daunting as it was bustling with people and as I was alone knew I would have to have a real go at speaking French. But after pushing myself to go in, I was seated at a little table along with other people and thrusted with a menu full of hot drinks and a irresistible cake selection. To drink, a hot chocolate served in a little jug, that was really thick and a slice of tarte au citron or lemon meringue pie to us English. I had to push a lot of the meringue off the top as I genuinely thought I was having a sugar induced heart attack. It was so cosy and busy, people stopping off for a hot drink, or a bite to eat, tourists and locals, the cafe was a perfect spot for a snowy getaway adorned with images of the mad hatters tea party, paintings and posters.




Tarte au Citron and Chocolat chaud

Le Loir dans la Theiere




Mad as a hatter

Finally, it wouldn't be a trip to Paris without talking about my escargot (snail) experience. Typically on our trips we stay in Dupleix and vist a local restaurant round the corner from our hotel called le bistrot d'en face. After a glass of champagne, I plucked up the courage to order the snails with a colleague of mine. Luckily they weren't in the snail shells, but in a dish with 12 perfect size holes filled with butter garlic and parsley AND I really bloody enjoyed them!

L'escargot!

We ate: Fruits de la mer (Seafood) Saumon, Crab pasta, Tarte au citron

We Drank: Mojitos!! Red wine, Hot chocolate, champagne
We Talked about: Cantine California, Life in general, Travel plans, Paris
Selling point: The ambience in la famille along with the cocktail menu, Marais in the snow & supersized cake, SNAILS!

Oh and Paris in general.

I can get enough of this city, Paris, je t'aime.....xx

References

Le Bistrot d'en Face

24, rue du Dr Finlay 75015 Paris
Tél : 01 45 77 14 59

Le Loir dans le theiere
3 Rue des Rosiers 75004 Paris, France
+33 1 42 72 90 61

La Famille
41 Rue des 3 Frères 75018 Paris, France+33 1 42 52 11 12