Monet’s ‘La rue Montorgueil à Paris’, is a painting depicting a jubilant celebration during the French festival of 30th June 1878.
The painting doesn’t only confirm the historic significance of this market street; it also manages to capture, to some degree, the spirit of this vibrant and colourful street.
Rue Montorgueil is a pedestrian market street, home to some famous restaurants, cafés, bars, bakeries and other excellent food markets.
Stohrer has been making fine pastries at their 51 Rue Montorgueil location for nearly 300 years.
And of course, L’Escargot, which seems to be in a bit of trouble at the moment, has been around since the late 19th century.

It truly is the food lover’s paradise; charming and lively with so much to explore from little cheese shops, fish markets, green grocers to candy shops, and patisseries.
It’s where to go to people watch; and observe regular Parisians go about their day, which naturally involves a lot of time in cafés
This is one of my absolutely favourite places in Paris, although I haven’t explored it enough to offer any helpful insights, save for pretty pictures – but David Lebovitz has a handy post on the awesomeness that is Rue Montorgueil.

I had no plans to visit the Ladurée in New York.
Hard to believe, I know, but apparently there wasn’t room in our bloated itinerary of things to do in New York for a trip to ‘a sweet shop’.
So there I was, having a nice stroll in Central Park on my way to Belvedere Castle when I spotted a cute couple perched atop a rock having a little picnic, I stopped when I spotted the pale green bag… and with a daringness usually reserved for people I know, I asked them where the Ladurée shop was.
“71st and Madison” they said, “it’s pretty close too, you could be there and back in twenty minutes tops”
That’s all I needed to hear – I cut through the park, meandered through the Upper East Side and minutes later I was in pastel coloured confectionery heaven…

The macarons are flown from Paris everyday, which I guess works, because macarons are best eaten two days after they are baked.
Luckily, the wait wasn’t long; they were unfortunately out of the salted caramel (my favourite).
I went for the classic vanilla, pistachio and rose.
The macarons were delicious – smooth, slightly chewy and soft.
And I added another jewellery box to my collection of cute Ladurée boxes.

Maison Ladurée
864 Madison Ave
(between 72nd St & 71st St)
New York, NY 10021
(646) 558-3157

 

The Metropolitan Museum of Art – 1000 5th Ave, NY

One of the first things I did when I visited New York during the Easter break was go to the Met.
I’d put off the Met for years. It was always one of those things on my itinerary that I never seemed to get to.
I decided to do it first this time… because when it’s between spending my last day in New York on the High Line and a museum, chances are I’ll choose the park over the museum every time.

With scant hours to spare, I did a few collections from a section of the museum and decided to leave the rest for another time (a tip I got re the Louvre).
I loved everything about the Met; from the stairs, to the collections I saw, to afternoon tea at the café with the views of Central Park.

The American Wing Courtyard

I spent most of the time getting through the amazing collection of ‘Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas’ – nine galleries in all, which was about all the time I had.
It reminded me of Quai Branly, which is probably my favourite museum.
I find that I’m drawn to ‘indigenous’ art (not surprising, really), it’s inspiring and motivating, I come away wanting to create.

The African galleries includes an extensive collection of pieces from the Dogon people. Fascinating people…
I loved seeing was El Anatsui’s ‘Between Hell and Heaven’ – his installation ‘Akua’s Surviving Children’ is one of the most moving works of art I’ve ever seen.

And here are a few photos from the Met…

Entrance – The Met Stairs

Art from Oceania & Sunlit courtyard

Necklace - René Jules Lalique

Between Earth and Heaven – El Anatsui

Couch and footstool with bone carvings & More art of Imperial Rome

Marble Sarcophagus

Afternoon Tea at The Petrie Court Café

The Struggle of the Two Natures in Man

I found these cool Daft Punk inspired cokes in Paris last year (Club Coke 2011); I liked them so much I brought them home to add to my eccentric coke bottle collection.
I put them on a display shelf when I got home and forgot all about them.
For some reason I assumed coke had a long shelf life, but I checked this evening and it turns out they expired two months ago… oh well, I just wanted the bottles anyway.

Moulin Rouge (the red mill) is the world’s ‘most famous and best’ cabaret.
Located in the Pigalle quarter in Paris, it first opened in 1889.