Eating My Way Through Paris: Croissants & Ice Cream

This summer, my husband and I took a brief jaunt to Paris. We did all the typical tourist things, including an incredible 10 hour tour-de-force of the Louvre. I loved Paris' art museums, especially the Musee Rodin. If you are ever in Paris, I highly recommend adding the Musee Rodin to your list of must see places. I never knew it was possible to capture such depths of emotion in stone, until seeing Rodin's works in person.

By far, however, one of the real delights of Paris for me were the croissants. Anybody who knows me knows I love croissants almost as much as I love ice cream. The croissants in Paris were nothing short of incredible; not a single one was bad. My favorite croissant was at a little Parisian café we just stumbled into one morning on the Ile Saint Louis, which is adjacent to the Ile de la Cite, where Notre Dame is located. The Ile Saint Louis is described as one of the most romantic and charming parts of Paris. I must say I agree. Unfortunately, I do not remember the name of the café. It was the only place we went to in Paris where they did not speak English. Our entire conversation with the owner consisted of "croissant, oui, café au lait and eau (water). That pretty much exhausts all the French I know. Another one of my favorite places to go for a croissant was a little shop called Paul across the street from the restaurant we stayed in. I did not realize this at first, but it turns out that Paul is a chain in France. Perhaps a bit like Starbucks, only with much better coffee and infinitely better food.

Along with exquisite croissants, we of course also had ice cream at Berthillon. In lonely planet's guide to Paris, Berthillon is described as serving "some of the best ice cream in Paris, in all sorts of unusual flavors - salted butter caramel is a highlight." It was only natural then that I would want to visit Berthillon. Unfortunately, Berthillon did not quite live up to my expectations. I ordered the salted butter caramel ice cream, which I found to be a little too salty for my liking. My husband, however, loved it. Long story short, if you are in Paris, and pass by Berthillon ice cream, try some, but do not go out of your way for it.

Until next time, keep calm and get your ice cream eating on.