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Ten Delicious Days in Paris
By Anna Riddell www.bonjourparis.com
"How can we craft a travel plan?" asks Sally Peabody, President
and founder of Your Great Days in Paris.
This is the question du jour, and I can't give this lady the answer she
is anticipating. As a culinary student in Paris for eight months, I can,
and admittedly have, wooed my friends and family back home with my knowledge
of Paris and its culinary delights. But with one look at the itinerary
I realize I only know the touristy Paris,
and Peabody and her ten day tour offers a taste, or should I say, dégustation
of the real Paris.
For Peabody, crafting a travel plan of Paris means bringing ten strangers
from the States on a ten-day whirlwind tour of the gastronomic capital
of the world. It means showing guests the caves of the Mumm Champagne
house, the workshops of copper pot artisans, and the delicious secrets
of Corsican cheese. Of course the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, and the Champs-Elysée
are seen and admired, but this tour focuses on one thing alone: food,
how to get the crème de la crème of Europe's tastiest city.
The Paris Culinary Treasures Tour is actually
the brainchild of Sally Peabody and Alan Kalik, a software designer and
part-time French teacher at Southern New Hampshire University. As the
President of Your Great Days in Paris, a
specialty travel company which advises independent travellers on how to
best access Paris, Sally has explored personally explored nearly every
edible nook and cranny in this city. In addition to running Your Great
Days, Peabody also writes about food, wine, and life in Paris for both
national and international publications, including Bonjourparis.com. Alan
is no stranger to the City of Light either. Possessing a near-perfect
Parisian accent, Alan is not only the linguistic vehicle for the tour,
but also the comic relief as well. Within the first two hours of meeting
him I am already repeating sentences in French, "No, one more time
- it's like this." This guy really
knows his stuff, and becomes invaluable to the group.
The tour lasts 10 days and covers several of the 20 arrondissements in
Paris, each with its own distinct feel and attractions. In between zipping
from place to place, guests unwind with two- and three-course meals at
upscale bistros hand-picked by the woman herself. The beauty of this tour
has to do with its thoughtful planning as well as flexibility. Guests
pop in and out as they please and plans are easily adapted to the specific
wants of each group. Unlike other tours, where the itinerary is fixed
and wandering off for a few hours is a no-no, this one has a distinctly
laid-back vibe and one can participate in as much or as little one desires.
After a quick stop to freshen up at the comfortable 3-star Hotel Cervantes,
just off the Champs-Elysées, the tour commences with a stroll down
the impressive boulevard to introduce first-timers to the city. "What
I like to do is scope out what people want," says Sally. "I
like to think I'm giving people a feel for the city." Feel
for the city is an understatement of elephantine proportion. Prior
to departure, prospective participants are given a crash course in culture-
shock 101 to intellectually prepare them for what lies ahead.
Upon arrival, guests don't just superficially glance over Paris, they
dive in, explore, consume, and in some cases, develop a relationship with,
the City of Love. Peabody herself is an ardent Francocophile with borderline-frightening
amounts of knowledge of the country's art, history, architecture, and
of course, edible secrets. Every tour, every meal, every detail down to
the best route to walk from place to place has been first-hand tested
and approved in order to make sure the trip runs like clockwork. The combination
of Peabody and Kalik works perfectly, so smoothly in fact that it is easy
to forget how much advance planning is necessary to make a journey of
this length and depth without a hitch. Guests, leaders, everyone including
the charter-bus driver to Champagne seems not just satisfied, but actively
happy with their experience. "Every single day I kept saying this
was the best day of all," quotes one tour member. "How can it
get any better?"
Already by the third day, when I first join the group for a tour of the
Place d'Aligre market, food and wine is on everyone's lips, and I mean
this literally. Nestled behind the Bastille in the 11th, the market is
both a bric-à--brac and food haven. We seem to be the only English-speaking
gob-smacked tourists, smelling, tasting, photographing, and buying our
way around the market, admiring the simplest things from the stunning
shape of artichokes to the assortment of two- euro scarves. Within the
first hour, tour members are already purchasing Spanish ham and olives
from delicatessens and sharing them around. We end up at the Baron Rouge,
a wine bar and shop where a mini picnic is set up. "It's mid-day,
do you think it is too early for a drink?" asks one tour member.
" It's never too early for a drink," chants the rest of the
group in unison, and thus the true Paris experience has begun.
While the itinerary is pretty jam-packed with sightseeing, tastings and
a lot of walking, tour members also get to unwind with a gourmet lunch
or dinner included in the tour price. "My favourite meal so far was
at Les Papilles in the Latin Quarter," the group comments. "The
restaurant had a fixed menu, and the Chef, Bertrand Bluy (ex-pastry Chef
of 3-star Taillvant), was absolutely gorgeous and so hospitable."
Even the simplest of lunches is relished by the group, such as the felafels
from L'as du Falaffel eaten in the street in the heart of the Marais district.
With the motto toujours imiée jamais égalé,
literally "always imitated but never equalled," even Lenny Kravitz
has endorsed these bundles of goodness.
The tour not only savours food, but also tackles the confusing and sometimes
daunting topic of French wine and Champagne. Sally seems to pick Paris'
most passionate lecturers, including Cherif from the Corsican fromagerie
Fil 'O' Fromage, who speaks for hours on how to marry cheese with the
perfect wine to taste each flavour. I find myself sipping some Gascon
wine while nibbling on my Corsican cheese plate, in amazement with how
the flavours complement each other. Tim Johnston, from Juveniles Bar à
Vin, is equally as passionate about wine. We taste six different wines
from different regions of France with expert and often humorous explanations.
Most of the wines have screw caps in place of corks. "You should
always be able to taste the wine and not the wood," he professes.
"This is a raw cocoa bean, I'm warning you now it doesn't taste
like real chocolate," says Lene Boehm from the Danish owned Peter
Beier Chokolade, close to the Luxembourg gardens. Boehm is right: the
bean tastes horrible and bitter, much like a coffee bean. But we go on
to taste luscious chocolates. I instantly fall in love with this place
with a chocolate fountain at the entrance and café upstairs that
serves the best and most interesting flavours of hot chocolates, including
mint and chestnut cream. Another treat for the sweet tooth is at the famous
patisserie Gérard Mulot in the St Germain district.
The Paris Culinary Treasures Tour is ten days of living, breathing, eating
and drinking all things French. Don't even think about being on a diet
during these ten days - it will be broken within the first two hours.
By the end of the tour guests feel like Paris is their home away from
home, many vowing to return in the near future. How many people trudge
through this magnificent city without ever savouring the true Paris? Of
those accompanying Sally Peabody, the answer is none.
The 2006 Paris Culinary Treasures Tour price is
$2,850.00 (based on double occupancy). Airport transfers, daily breakfast,
group meals, métro passes, all tastings and admissions, and the
amiable company of two expert guides is included.
For more information visit the
tour description page or contact Sally directly
at sally@yourgreatdaysinparis.com.
The dates of the 2006 tours will be May 4-14 and October 5-15, so book
your ticket now... |
