New Paris Walking Tour

Chocolate & Pastry Tour - Paris

Walking along the very picturesque Rue du Cherche Midi, we start our " sweet tooth " experience at the bakery Poilane, founded in 1932. You will first taste their famous sourdough bread (made from stone-ground flour and baked in a wood-fired oven), and then try their renowned "Punitions" (= punishments) butter cookies. Depending on the day of your visit, you may even be able to visit the cellar where they bake their bread.

Continuing along Rue de Rennes towards Rue de Sèvres, your next destination is “La Maison du Chocolat" where you will have a wide tasting of their different chocolate flavors imported from Venezuela, Madagascar, Mexico… Your tour continues to Rue Bonaparte and Pierre Herme's shop, "the Picasso of Pastry"! There you will experience some of his creations with the names of "Dune", "Mogador", "Ispahan","Satine", a real fireworks for your taste buds!

Then you’ll cross Boulevard St Germain to reach Rue de Seine for a stop at Gerard Mulot’s, a pastry chef who still makes patisseries the traditional way, which became popular worldwide. You will taste the different types of éclairs, the St Honoré, the cherry clafoutis...On the same street, you will visit the boutique of Pierre Marcolini , the "dream maker" who challenges conventional techniques and ideas! His chocolate creations are delicate, harmonious, very intense and therefore alive … a moment of pure pleasure!

Your “Chocolate and Pastry Discovery Tour” will end in one of the oldest and probably the most famous pastry shop worldwide : La durée, where you will treat yourself to the best macaroons in the world.

Tour rate is valid up to 8 people; the tour is 3-hours long with English-speaking guide

$550 total regardless of 1 or 8 persons and anything in between!

Unique Dining Experience in Paris

Passing this along, found on Budget Travel:

http://current.newsweek.com/budgettravel/2009/06/skyhigh_dining_in_paris.html

Warhol Exhibit at the Grand Palais - Paris

The Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais in Paris present the exhibition Le Grand Monde d'Andy Warhol (Andy Warhol’s High Society) from 18 March to 13 July 2009.

In 1962, Andy Warhol painted the portraits of Marilyn Monroe and her rival Liz Taylor, and reinterpreted the Mona Lisa and Elvis Presley. From 1967 up until his death in 1987, he produced, on commission, the portraits of dozens of personalities – some famous, others unknown – offering a world fascinated by appearances a flattering, dizzying mirror, a view of “Andy Warhol’s high society”. In doing so, he restored the status of a neglected genre, applying new codes which were to leave an indelible mark on the history of portraiture.

Alongside stars of the stage and screen (Brigitte Bardot, Jane Fonda, Mick Jagger, Sylvester Stallone), the exhibition Le Grand Monde d'Andy Warhol presents the portraits of artists, collectors and dealers, political figures (Willy Brandt, Edward Kennedy), fashion designers (Yves Saint-Laurent, Sonia Rykiel, Hélène Rochas) and members of the jet set (Lee Radziwell, the Princess of Monaco). Some better known than others, all take on something of that aura which Warhol’s genius sought to bring out.

With this series, Warhol painted the portrait of an entire society, and set in place a new form of serial, almost industrial, artistic production. A selection of 250 works, taken from the thousand or so portraits he painted from the early 1960s onwards, are presented in the exhibition Le Grand Monde d'Andy Warhol. They are arranged according to different themes looked at by Warhol at key moments in his career.

Practical information:

Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais Official Website

http://www.grandpalais.fr/en/Homepage/p-617-Homepage.htm
3, Avenue du Général Eisenhower
75008 Paris
+33 (0)1 44 13 17 17

Open daily, except Tuesday
Opening times: 10 am to 10 pm / Closes at 8 pm on Thursdays
Entry: €11, concs. €8

Published on Franceguide.com