Pantheon and Dinner at Au Bourguignon de Marais
Upon arrival at The People Paris Belleville, we had to wait 45 minutes to get into our room so we had a coffee while waiting and mapping out our day.
Our tickets to enter the Pantheon were for 4:30, we left the hostel at 3:40 and it was an hour walk. So we walked as fast as our tourist legs would carry us all the way across the city to the beautiful Pantheon surviving still on just an apple turnover and coffee.
Pantheon is a big building with lots of famous dead people and art dedicated to the revolution. The architecture was stunning and we used Rick Steves to guide us through and teach us things. We missed the entrance to the panoramic view unfortunately but probably it was a lot of stairs and we were quite hungry (well, mostly me).
As we walked to dinner, we thought it was a great idea to stop for an espresso martini. Is that a thing in Paris? Let’s find out! The French lady in the bar said “espresso martini” back to me, we heard the espresso machine, we heard the shaker, and voila! These looked beautiful!
But as you know, looks can be deceiving.
Here were some of the descriptions we came up with to describe the “espresso martini”:
When you’ve run a coffee pod through several times and the result is dirty being water sprinkled with tobacco from an old cigarette
Aftertaste of chicory root, and straight up cacao nib
Dirty dish water
Like you’ve accidentally drank your cig ash cup
Horrible drink. Undrinkable. But we drank it. We were unsure if it even had alcohol in it. But we paid 18€ and moved on with a terrible taste in our mouths. To make up for it, we stopped at a boulangerie that smelled delicious and shared a pre-dinner bread.
Finally, dinner time.
Au Bourguignon de Marais is a Burgundy wine bar known for their Beef bourguignon. Rebecca claimed she could “eat for 4” but I know this meant she might eat what I would consider a light meal as she often eats about 1/3 of what I do. Still, for our first meal in Paris we went all out.
Foie gras - delicious. Came with a fruity onion type jam and warm bread. So much Foie though.
We ordered “Ham Terrine” which we weren’t quite sure what it was. He described it as coming with onions and cornichons and mustard so we took a risk. It was the least favorite dish as the ham, parsley, garlic mix was kindof bland even with salt and pepper.
Also ordered the “Eggs Mimosa” which we would call deviled eggs. They were delish but heavy on the truffle. We agreed the truffle was overpowering and the shaved truffles should have been shaved much thinner.
Finally, beef bourguignon. It was delish, the meat was so tender we actually inquired as to what cut of meat it is. The waited said it was from the neck? Confusing but so tender. The sauce was perfect for dipping lots of bread.
We could have stopped there but this was no time for quitting. Two espressos, two glasses of dessert wine, and three little desserts: creme brûlée, caramel cream puff, and something chocolate soufflé like. All delicious and amazing and the perfect ending to a loooong day.
Bonus content:
Rebecca and I looking at each other from our bunk beds.
