We had asked the owner of the AirBnb we were staying at for a croissant recommendation. He lived in the apartment part of the year, so I was interested in what he would choose. He told us that his regular spot was down Rue Rambuteau across Rue Beaubourg. An outpost of Chez Meunier.
Chez Meunier has several locations in Paris and this didn't look too promising, but I thought we should try it.
Chez Meunier
18 Rue Rambuteau
75003 Paris
After picking up the Croissant we headed to our destination for the morning heading down Rue des Francs Bourgeois. We passed this cafe, Le Voltigeur along the way. Notice anything interesting?
Notice all the Teddy Bears? Apparently, various cafes across Paris used these over-sized stuffed animals as tools for social distancing during the pandemic! And now they are just hanging around enjoying the fruits of their labor!
There was also some interesting street art along Rue des Francs Bourgeois as well.
As for our destination. I had read that the Musée Carnavalet had just reopened after renovations two months before our visit. The museum, which is dedicated to the history of Paris resides in two former mansions. And best of all; admission is free!
As with many museums we've visited, we took our time. And heck, admission is free and we're sure to return to Paris and can always return.
We especially enjoyed the gallery of shop signs.
Some were pretty easy to figure out.
Others might keep you guessing. Guess the business of this sign.
According to the attached "sign" this was for a cheese maker and hung in the cheese district around Les Halles when it was Paris's central market!
We basically viewed the displays and rooms up to the 198th century and decided to leave the rest for a future visit.
The cafe area is also quite beautiful.
We decided to get some coffee and got us a table in the courtyard.
And had the croissant from Chez Meunier.
Which wasn't very good. Not enough butter, not light and flaky enough, and too doughy.
Oh well, at least the setting was great!
Musée Carnavalet
23 Rue de Sévigné
75003 Paris, France
Finishing our coffee we headed on out. We decided to grab something light for lunch and headed on over to Rue des Rosiers. The area around here is considered the Jewish Quarter of Paris and Rue des Rosier right before Rue Vieille-du-Temple is pedestrian only and is packed with Jewish/Kosher/Middle Eastern Restaurants. There's one place that is quite "famous" and always has a line. L'As du Fallafel. The line on this day wasn't as long as usual, So, we decided to actually try the fallafel sandwich.
The line moves quickly and it was a twenty minute wait.
The guys working here work hard and fast!
The fallafel sandwich looked quite good!
We loved the tender and warm pita and all the tasty veggies. As for the fallafel, well, even though this was better than anything I've ever had in San Diego, I guess our trip to Israel has really spoiled us. The fallafel here were on the harder, drier side and the interior was grittier than we prefer.
Still, in spite of the wait, it made for a decent lunch. And that line stretched all the way down the block as we left.
L'As du Fallafel
34 Rue des Rosiers
75004 Paris, France
We're glad we tried it.
We had a bit of shopping to do before heading back to the apartment. We had dinner reservations and one more full day in Paris. Time just seems to go so quickly when we're visiting.
Nice looking falafel.
bummer the falafel & croissant weren’t too good
It looked better than it was ST!
The falafel was much better than the croissant Kat!