One last Stohrer quiche breakfast, then out into the world. Maybe a little later than we wanted for our last day in Paris, but it is what it is.
First stop today was Partisan, hoping to get the nice “coffee and sit” that we had been robbed of on Saturday. It was definitely less crowded on a Tuesday afternoon but still a little busy, and the only table we could grab was right by the door. Still, I ordered an espresso tonic which was delightful, and we split a piece of lemon pound cake.
It just set us up to get hungry, though — quiche and a croissant are good but don’t really fill you up — so we decided to wander deeper into the Marais to see if we could find a lunch spot. (And to try and see the Liberté Egalité Beyonce graffiti, which H believes must have been destroyed since the construction walls where it was written have been taken down, and that’s sad in and of itself, as it was “of a time” that I have fond memories of.) We did walk past the Centre Pompidou which I have much affection for — and also got to find some Space Invaders that I hadn’t flashed yet.
First lunch attempt was L’As du Falafel, which didn’t appear to have been impacted by the fact that it was a Tuesday or that it was pretty cold out, as it had a line for both takeaway and indoor seating, so we decided to pass. I like L’As du Falafel (as much as Lenny Kravitz does, probably) but I’m not emotionally attached to falafel and there are other options in the area.
(or so we believed)
Next attempt was Schwartz’s Deli across the street, which had literally just closed its doors for lunch. We looked at the menu of Chez Marianne which looks cute, but nothing really moved us. We then excitedly decided to check out Les Philosophes … and then we got over there to find out they were closed for a winter holiday. That left us with decidedly fewer options, so we wandered back towards Pompidou (maybe there was an Italian place we had tried once that way?) but ultimately abandoned Italian to try out a place called Little Café. Food was surprisingly good and I’ll keep it in my back pocket for those “weird closure hours” the next time we’re in the area.
Full and warmed back up (it’s Paris, of course we had wine with lunch), we thought coffee (again) might be next. H waned to try out Noir (a new-to-her and new-ish coffee roaster that has popped up spots all over town) and we knew there was one on Ile St Louis, and now (again, somehow) we weren’t far from the island at all, so we decided to head that way. We stopped along the way at Aux Merveilleux de Fred, bought a sampler pack of merveilleux (little meringue-based towers that look kinda like those pink coconut-covered snowballs? but are fifty times tastier), then crossed the bridge onto Ile St Louis.
We sat in Noir for a little bit and nursed our coffeee, then decided to stop at the St Regis again on the way back out to get a snack. (Neither of us were hungry but it never pays to drink on an empty stomach.) Then another pleasant stroll along the Seine back towards the apartment to end the night.
It was a short stay in Paris for sure, but we know we’ll be back, so I never feel like I need to cram a bunch of stuff in. And now it’s very likely we’ll be back this summer, as Pokemon announced that there would be a big event in June in Paris — so we’ll change up some plans to make sure we have Schengen days to stay a couple weeks then.