Paris culture includes eating and shopping: two of my favorite things to do in my favorite city. One place I always go to shop is Galeries Lafayette, a department store that was built in 1912. I love looking at the architecture as much as I enjoy looking at the clothes. The building is topped by a stained glass cupola and each floor has balconies overlooking the lobby. They have fab designers and something for every budget. They even have an entire floor of shoes! It’s at 40 Blvd Haussmann in the 9th Arr.

Good food is important even to the animals in Paris. I visited Le Menagerie, the oldest zoo in the world, located in the Jardin des Plantes and found that the reptiles are fed a diet of oranges, raddichio, endives and mache lettuce! Jardin des Plantes is at 57 Rue Cuvier in the 5th Arr.

After visiting the Jardin des Plantes, we stumbled upon this Hammam (a middle Eastern spa) with a restaurant in its courtyard. The decor included lovely tiled walls and a fountain in the center of the restaurant. The tables were engraved brass trays and the food was really good. Check out the case full of dessert below! La Mosquee de Paris is located at 39 rue Saint-Hilaire in the 5th Arr.

On a quiet side street in the Marais behind the Swedish Institue is the Cafe de Sudeois, a lovely garden where you can sit on deck chairs or on the lawn and have coffee and ice cream. It’s such a pretty setting, and the giant red balls (4 feet tall!) on the lawn and in the trees are kind of cool. I resisted the urge to kick the one below. LOL. You can find Cafe Sudeois on rue Elzivir in the 3rd Arr.

We were invited for lunch and a swim at the house of a friend and her husband. They made an incredibly delicious sandwich that I will definitely try to replicate when I get home. It’s called Pan Bagnat, and fisherman in Nice used to bring it for lunch when they went fishing because it’s an entire meal in a sandwich.

Here is how to make it: Hollow out the soft part of a roll. Pour a bit of olive oil in the bottom and spread anchovy paste over it (hence the name of the sandwich, bathed bread). Then layer on lettuce, peppers, tomoatoes, tuna, a slice of hard-boiled egg, black olives and an anchovy. Add the top of the hollowed out roll and you have a sandwich that is delcious and surprisingly easy to eat!

I love the displays of food in Paris. Here are two I came across that I thought were particularly pretty.

xoxo

Illysia