macaroons! (or, alternatively, macarons, for the persnickety ones)

and naturally, we went to ladurée.

amazingly enough, i didn't take many big picture photographs. surprise. i'm always fascinated by details and always miss The Big Picture. it's my MO. so please expect lots of photos of the insides of places and very few of their storefronts entire.

relevant side note - ever hear of paris syndrome? fascinating! i'd never heard of it until a few days ago, after we'd gotten back from our trip. while i didn't suffer from such physical symptoms, i will admit that the honeymoon paris of my mind didn't jive fully with the honeymoon paris in real life.

1) paris is hella expensive. it was definitely a little intimidating. the one place i really wanted to go to for duck confit required reservations, so we thought we'd pop in for lunch. pop in to a little unassuming place for a holyjesusthisisgoingtobeanexpensivemealbutwhatthehelllet'sdoit andohmaneveryoneissonicelydressed-shouldihavethisbackpackon kind of lunch. of course, we were refused. not in any mean way, just in a wedon'thaveanytablesyouneedareservation kind of way. even though i could see empty tables. alas. also, we're cheap, so overall we just aren't that good about splurging.

2) paris was kind of cold! i knew this going in and thankfully had pretty warm clothes, but most of the flowering trees weren't quite there yet. i imagine it would be far more beautiful in the spring (though hell on allergies). april in paris - now i know why.

the macaroons, however, were amazing.

so here are some outside close-up shots of ladurée. can you feel the strange pastel old woman feel of the place?



i wanted to go in and see cats and feathers and smell old mothy lavendar candies. for the best, that's not what we got. ... my mouth wets itself extensively to just look at these pics.



i want to lick the displays.



we did not get any of these. ^

there's a separate, slightly crushing, cordoned-off spot for people who are just purchasing a quick bite, though their seating area looked absolutely adorable - very high tea. planning on savoring them later, we grabbed 4 of the biggie macaroons (because we're american and because sometimes when someone asks me something in public i mentally freak out and say the first response that comes to mind without thinking).



here's the raspberry.



and here's the coffee.

for the record, i love meringue. so a light cookie made with meringue?! BEST COOKIE EVAR. it was light and crisp and melty in the mouth. and the raspberry jam! delicious.

i'm intrigued to try my hand at making them - maybe later in the year. too much on my plate as it is. though not too much to not squeeze in macaroons to EAT. i'm down with the eating.

oh god, i'm so hungry right now.

in any case, when we got back, we had brunch at datz and grabbed a few macaroons from their bakery (although i really don't know if they bake them themselves... something to ask next time). and no pictures!!! nothing to visually compare. i suck. your loss. moving on.

i believe we got raspberry, chocolate, basil and caramel. very good, but not as good as ladurée. but also, 8 hours closer to our house. it wasn't as ... light and flaky, and the raspberry jam was definitely not as good. that parisian jam was so pure and unadulterated. i'm sad we never bought some to bring back with us.

"next time".