Tea at Ladurée

Today marks our last full day in Paris.  Sad as it is, all trips eventually come to an end, and as of today I have exactly spent what I had budgeted for this trip, my feet have become accustomed again to miles of walking, and my luggage is moderately full of all kinds of stuff.  I have taken about 4,000 photos, I think, and the contents of Reve are basically finalized around the images and experiences of this trip.  I decided that I should include a feature on the Louvre, and my tips for seeing the museum, how to get around most efficiently, and what I suggest you don’t miss.  So this morning at 9am I was over there, and finished what I had wanted to see and document by 11:30, which wasn’t bad.  After that, I stopped at the flat to get my laptop, make a tartine for lunch, and then go for a tea at the Ladurée which is closeby, on Rue Jacob.   In Reve I will show you my favorite place for coffee or a light snack, but today I was hoping to see more of the interiors of this location.

This is the Ladurée that is in the former digs of Madeleine Castaing, and I really wanted to see the blue salon upstairs, but that was closed off for the morning and everyone was on the Chinoiserie-inspired terrace.  The ceiling has linen-looking panels that roll back when the sun is out.  Paris is crazy for a little sunshine, especially after the cold weather we’ve had.

With tea, you are given a generous bowl of sugar cubes, which are perfect, just like the ice cubes you get in most of the bars here.  How do the French do it?  Raquel and I keep pointing out to each other, the French really do get style, in many ways.  I love good French sugar cubes, and though I don’t take sugar in my tea, I brought just a few home with me~

The lemon was perfectly sliced, very thin, with a toothpick.  And on a perfectly pale-blue plate~

Which happened to also match my teacup.  And in another way that the French get style & function right, there are small sleeves for the metal handles of the tea pots, so that you don’t burn your hand since the hot water for the tea also heats up the pot, of course.  The older French teapots go one step further, they have wooden handles made of something like palissandre, which is a rosewood.  In any case, these sleeves are nice and they are cute branding for the house~

You can go broke in Paris without doing a whole lot.  Tea cost me 6 Euros 80, which is about $9.  That is without any sweet like a Macaron, which would have cost me about $5 for one. That may not sound like a lot, but you can extrapolate from there about what things cost in Paris.  Though of course I did sit for almost two hours while I wrote and looked at iPad photos, and I did get a carafe of water, a few slices of lemon and a second pot of hot water.  It’s prime real estate, in Paris 7eme, so there is a cost.

I left through the gallery front, and there I found a large display of vaporisateurs, and I got my camera out and asked if I could take a photo.  No, the Japanese vendeuse said, it’s forbidden.  She was very polite about it, and I usually ask in the stores if it’s ok.  Usually it is, though Raquel has been in two stores where the saleswomen literally leapt in front of her lens waving their arms.  Pas de photos! Pas de photos!   It’s a simple workaround, really, as I am not trying to photograph their display to copy it, I just want to show you what the product is.  So I just go outside and look in the vitrines or store windows.  The merchandise is usually also found there.  This is a room spray with the old fashioned spray pump.  It costs 45 Euros, so about $60.  They come in various fragrances and colored bottles~

Now I am on my way again.  I have to get a few more avenue shots, and I need a photo or two of someone with a few baguettes under their arm.  Yesterday we had a perfectly amazing Sunday in Paris, but I won’t be able to finish that post until later this week.  Still much much more to show you of Paris, as well as pulling together everything for Reve.  Every day I get a little more excited about the project; it’s going to be really, really beautiful.  It’s going to show you my Paris.

Passez un excellent lundi~