Saint Valentin

I spelled the title right, merci beaucoup c'est en francais.  If you've walked outside today, looked at a calender, or even glanced at facebook, you know it's Valentine's Day!  I was quite curious to see how the City of Love would celebrate. 
But the Parisians stuck to their usual black outfits, and maintained their usual level of public displays of affection (which is actually quite high).  I think there were more red or pink scarves and shoes on the metro this morning though.  So how to celebrate Valentine's Day in one of the most romantic cities in the world? 

BY EATING CHOCOLATE BIEN SUR!  After class, some of my Sweet Briar friends and I decided to hit up one of Paris' most celebrated patisseries, Angelina's Cafe (http://www.angelina-paris.fr/#/home/) .  The store was listed on an article about five of the best sweet treats in Paris.  You can read the article here .  I plan to stop at all of the locations before I head back to the good ol' USA.  Angelina's is famous for it's hot chocolate.

Today they were quite busy, but thankfully you can get the chocolat chaud (hot chocolate) to go and sip away across the street in the Jardin des Tuilieries.  We also shared a Mont Blanc, which is some sort of chocolate thing with whipped cream in the middle.

 Happy Valentine's Day!

Who needs love when you can have chocolate?

However for this particular chocolate confection, you also need 20 euro....

 Les Mont Blancs....

Angelina's is also famous for it's Mont Blancs.  Here is how they describe their creations, "This absolute must cake is a wonder combining meringue, light whipped cream and chestnut cream vermicelli for the delight of your taste buds. Up to 600 are sold every day in the historical tearoom, rue de Rivoli !".  Needless to say, my taste buds were certainly delighted.

OUI, ILS SONT MACARONS!

 Mon chocolat chaud et le Mont Blanc avant de partager (before sharing)

It doesn't take much to make me happy.  Just give me chocolate and a carousel and I'll be good to go.  We also discovered trampolines in the Jardin des Tuileries!  I'll be going back when I'm not bursting with chocolate and pastry.

Angelina's chocolat chaud was one of the most delicious and rich beverages I have ever had in my entire life.  American hot chocolate (aka chocolate water) can't compete.  Their recipe is top secret, but to me it just tasted like they melted some dark chocolate and put in into a cup with a little something extra.  Nutmeg maybe?  L'amour? Je ne sais pas.  It wasn't super sweet, just very rich and the most chocolaty hot chocolate I have ever tasted.  Happy Valentine's Day!

Bisous,

Allison