Living it up French Style at Paris’s "Salon du Chocolat"
Oh, what a perfect day...a sunny and warmish October 30th, the leaves are finally taking their dive, the skies are clear, and Mr. Hall and I have actually managed to get out of bed this Saturday before noon. But it's not just the weather. It's not the pre-Halloween joy of already having our costumes (a nun and an archbishop). We are on a mission. We are going to the 5th Annual Salon du Chocolat.
On Our Way! We don our geeky helmets and take off into the streets of Paris on our bicycles. Gotta build up an appetite. At a red light, I stare at the Salon du Chocolat ad on the side of a city bus. Little pictures of éclairs and bon bons and truffles, oh my! I almost don't notice the two pedestrians at Pont St.Michel, screaming and waving at us. It's our friends Claire and Shelly, who live nearby, and are also, amazingly, out before noon. We wave and continue on our way along the quais towards the Espace Eiffel Branly, the leaves falling around us as we dodge scooters and tourists. We arrive without any problem, lock our bikes to a pole, and enter the best-smelling place on Earth.
Chocolate Heaven! Because I love chocolate like any warm blooded female, I've been looking forward to the the Salon du Chocolate since I first heard about it. We mill about, eyes and hands open, for the delectable free samples (as close to Trick-or-Treating as we'll get this year). Of course, all of the big boys of the chocolate world are here. A giant M&M greets children at the door, and Toblerone, Godiva, Fauchon and Nestle have their own glitzy multimedia arenas.
We head for the small locals' booths, places we've never heard of, and bought some milk chocolate bars, and a Champagne bottle-shaped chocolate creation (for a birthday, they write 'Bonne Anniversaire' on it in chocolate for us). Mr. Hall buys his jar of fois gras, although I don't see how they got into the chocolate salon.
Chocolate Crise de Fois After trying everything conceivable in chocolate, seeing the haute couture gowns from chocolate, and sitting in on a Lindt Chocolate talk, we hauled our booty outside and bungee'd it onto the back of our bikes, and arrived home safely, chocolate intact. I never thought I could eat too much, but a chocolate hangover is a nasty thing. I would recommend keeping it down to once a month.
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