Musée du Louvre

This is my third time to the Louvre but a Paris trip wouldn’t be complete without a visit to home of the Mona Lisa. Besides, there is always so much to see it is certainly worth multiple visits. After admiring probably the three most well-known treasures of the Louvre (Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and Winged Victory), I also made sure that we visited one of my favorite pieces at the Louvre, the sculpture of Cupid and Psyche. Afterwards, we proceeded to make our way through various wings of interest, starting with the Egyptian Antiquities, with which both my sister and I hold a strong fascination. We spent a good amount of time studying sarcophagus, mummies, and artifacts before moving onto other areas such as the Michaelangelo Gallery, Medieval Louvre, and Mesopotamia Antiquities. We ended our visit in Cour Marly and Cour Puget, which essentially form the sculpture garden at the Louvre. Our legs were certainly sore by the end, but I think we barely covered a fraction of the museum!

Hiramatsu (Paris)

Hiramatsu (52, rue de Longchamp; M: Trocadero) came highly recommended and it certainly lived up to every expectation. It is a 1-star in the Michelin Guide and offers a 3-course lunch menu for 48 euros that is worth every penny. We started off with an amuse bouche of gazpacho with tomato “ice cream” and it was very refreshing and the flavors complemented each other. Then for appetizer, we all chose seared foie gras on brioche with a cherry sauce (we are all big fans of foie gras) and the foie gras was nice and fatty. For my main course, I chose beef with artichoke hearts and chanterelle mushrooms, and the different textures of the ingredients enhanced each other. For dessert, I had strawberry “soup,” which was a lightly whipped concoction of fresh strawberries with vanilla bean ice cream. It was not very sweet and it’s perfect for a summer day. To finish, they presented us with an assortment of “gourmandises,” which included a chocolate macaron, a banana financier, cream of pistachio, apricot and raspberry-flavored jellies, and a spoon of tomato with light cream. The service was also impeccable – it was truly a 3-star experience for a reasonable price. No cute guys, but very highly recommended for food!

Fete de la Musique

It’s officially the first day of summer, and the French celebrate it by partying hard in the streets with music performances everywhere, otherwise known as Fête de la Musique. I’ve heard about how crazy it can be, so of course I had to go check it out myself. I met up with N and his friends and we started off near where I live, in the Latin Quarter. After enjoying performances by many different bands (I have no idea if any of the bands were famous but we were just following the crowds and there were bands playing on practically every street corner). We slowly made our way over to the Bastille area, where it was even more happening, with stages set up and people everywhere. It was definitely quite an experience – someone described it to me as Mardi Gras amplified and it’s celebrated across all cities in France. So if you ever are in France on June 21, be sure to join the fun and enjoy the music!