A and I (okay, it wasn't really A) needed a little pick-me-up one morning. A patisserie window beckoned to me and drew me closer. What was it saying? Have ME! No, ME! Mon Dieu! Which way to go? What to have? Tuiles?
Meringues?
Meringues or Tuiles? What a dilemma. The Tuiles would have been a bit neater to eat, but I went for the meringues and what a good choice!
They were crispy, even crusty, on the outside. They were flecked with almonds and had a chewy inside. And they tasted so toasty that you might have thought they were made with brown sugar, but I was pretty sure that was from the almonds. Excellent addition. They were simply the best meringues I have ever had.
Now that my sugar needs were out of the way, we could continue our unending quest to find museums that no one had ever heard of...much less ever visited, even if they had. A and I set off for the Musée du Vin, in order to discover the origins of this ancient libation.
We walked down the Rue Passy, in the 16th and down a few other streets and finally found this little stair-welled alley that went down and down and down. It was a really long stairway, in case I wasn't clear.
a REALLY long stairway.
This was it from the bottom.
And then we found it!
It WAS an attractive building.
This is where the folks next door live.
After buying our tickets and trying the audiotour that used mammoth-sized 20th century headphones that didn't work, we entered the museum by way of a dark cave-like tunnel. The displays were all old and dusty and, unfortunately, in incomprehensible French. I guess the minutiae of the history of wine-making has a very specific technical language all its own.
We did find out that various saints protect the vineyards. Each saint has his own special time to watch over the grapes..
But, oh well, to the short history lesson. At least there was a complimentary wine tasting afterwards. Never mind that it was 10 in the morning. We were psyched! Actually, A really couldn't stomach any wine at that hour, but I forced her to have some.
These were the wines we tasted. Stay away from them.
À tout à l'heure!
3 comments:
You're changing my mind about meringues. I didn't think they were a big deal, but now I'm starting to see where you're coming from. I need to make some cookies or pavlova.
That stairwell is incredibly long. Wouldn't that be great exercise?!
What if you accidentally fell, and started rolling down the stairs?
Tant pis.
So you got a tour of ...wine - and then couldn't even get a decent glass to drink?
I think the best wine tour I ever had was at the Rivendell Winery in New Paltz where I got a tour of the operations by some young guy who looked like he must have been a stoner in college who managed to find his vocation in alcohol production.
Beautiful building though.
Oh, Em, meringues can be transcendent. Super-sweet, chewy, crispy. What's not to like?
Luckily, I didn't fall. I just almost had a heart attack walking UP the steps. (I left that part out.)
Hi Rach,
Yup, that's about it.
I wish we had HAD a TOUR. At least we would have gotten something out it.
I had a tour by that guy's sister at Frog's Leap.
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