A Vegan in Paris

Paris was the best part of my European vacation - I loved the sites, the people (much to my surprise - the reputation of the Parisians should in fact NOT precede them) and the company, and I even got a chance to practice my high school French! Which was very limited, mind you, but in the end sufficient ("may I see the wine list, please").

It was a ladies' weekend of old friends and new, good times made even better by countless glasses of the newly released Beaujolais Nouveau 2009. A simple and inexpensive wine that makes for a perfect refresher when taking sightseeing breaks.

I probably consumed more BN09 than I ate, which is less a testament to how much I liked the wine than it is to how committed I was to meeting the challenge of eating vegan in Paris. (no small feat!). Needless to say, food options in traditional French eateries were not great - and I never considered them all that great in the first place when my diet was slightly less restrictive as a vegetarian.

Mostly I bought pre-made tabbouleh salads in grocery stores and mixed those with nuts and all veg pre-made salads (cooked beets...grated carrots...) and olives - ingenious, I know. :)

Cafe noir to start the day.

Roasted chestnuts from street vendors to snack on.

I did pretty well, I think.

And now, here are a few of the awesome pictures I took, starting with Notre Dame at night.

The Winged Victory of Samath Race (do you know how hard it was to get this shot without a random tourist ruining my pic?!).


Sacre Coeur!


I will spare you a shot of the hotel room. We stayed near the Place de la Bastille, and I am convinced that the prison was not actually razed but instead converted into our hotel. I was happy to bid that place adieu - but of course very sad to say goodbye to my friends and our wonderful weekend together. Hopefully it won't be too long before our next rendezvous.