Today started with a brisk walk from our apartment to the Musée des Arts Decoratifs, at the far end of the Louvre (right about where the Tuileries Metro stop is on this map):
No photos to show from the museum, I’m afraid, but afterward I wanted to sit in a cafe and recuperate, and my iPhone told me Café Angelina was only 5 minutes away. You’ve heard of the amazing hot chocolate at Café Angelina, right? It’s thick and whipped, and they serve it with a pot of whipped cream that’s as thick as pudding. I was there so late (7pm) that the kitchen had closed, so there were no pastries and I had to make do with macarons. Poor me!
The lovely Belle Epoque dining room was filled with a mix of French-speaking clients and obvious tourists like myself.
Afterward I thought perhaps I should head home, as it was around 8 in the evening, but just across the street in the Jardin des Tuileries was this:
so I had to investigate. It turned out to be the Fête des Tuileries, a traveling fair that reminded me strongly of our own Blue Hill Fair, if the Blue Hill Fair were laid out in a formal 18th-century garden.
(By the way, I’m awfully sorry about the obnoxiously large copyright notices on the photos, I’ve no idea why they turned out that huge, and it’s just far too late tonight to try to fix them.)
I did spot a few differences from the typical American county fair. One was the number of gambling opportunities. In Maine these tend to be lower key and run by charities.
Another cultural difference was the amount of clothing worn in the decorations.
Since this is an American blog, I strategically oriented the railing:
When I came to the end of the fair, I found myself near the Bassin Octagon, so I pulled up a chair and watched people eating ice cream and watching ducks
until it suddenly got chilly and I realized the sun was setting. Oops. So I headed over to the Place Concord to catch the Métro, and promptly got distracted by sunset over the Champs Elysées.
Eventually the sun set, and I went home.
Another fun walk in Paris – thank you for sharing so much of it with us! I have read about the hot chocolate at Cafe Angelina – yum. Didn’t you just want to slip one of their little chocolate pitchers into your bag? I would want to! The flags are a fun touch on that whirling white and pink fair ride and yes, the signage is definitely more risque than we have in the states. My favorite photo is the last one with the fountain spray and the Eiffel Tower in the background.
Yes, the chocolate pitchers were adorable!