What a wonderful report. I love your photos. You must be really enjoying yourselves ♥
I'm going to look into one of those canal rides for our trip. I think it'd be very fun (and a nice break from all the walking we'll be doing)! Thank you so much for sharing.

Thanks for sharing your report! We leave in about a month and a half, for about 8 days, but I'm already getting excited.

As an ancestral <i>Lorrain</i> I will answer your blog question about quiche vs tart. A quiche is a traditional Lorraine dish made with <i>lardons</i> (chopped bacon), cream and eggs. If there are any other ingredients, it is not a quiche! End of story, so the place where you ate was correct and respectful in calling something with other ingredients a tart (actually it is a <i>tarte salée</i> = savory tart).

However, the term 'quiche' has been extended with no respect for tradition, both in France and throughout the world, to describe just about any savory tart. Last Friday, we had some employees leaving my office and on Thursday afternoon, my boss said he was going to buy some quiches as the main food item. I warned him against it immediately since we have a number of Muslim employees. He said "I wasn't going to get any quiches containing pork -- I am planning on buying a spinach and goat cheese quiche, a salmon and onion quiche and a courgette quiche."

I replied "those are not quiches" and walked away. He was perplexed.

That night he sent me an email saying, "you were right" and attached a link defining quiches, which made it clear that other savory tarts are often called quiches "abusively" and that the only authentic quiche is a quiche Lorraine.

Having been vindicated, I ate those other tarts with gusto, as they were excellent.

HA, thanks Kerouac! This is especially good for me to know, as I don't eat pork. However, I think that while the restaurant may have been respectful in calling this a tart, they were disrespectful with what they called a quiche, as it definitely contained tuna, and not pork.....So I wonder what they think the difference is!

Lantana - the canal cruises do look nice, although I've only ever taken the ones on the Seine. However you should know there are a bunch of locks and they do take some time getting through, so it's more of a slow cruise...

LOL Kerouac! sharbear84, please do report back about closures on Easter S & M-this question is coming up.

Nice blog--a tarte by any other name....

I'll be here all month. I enjoyed Canal St. Martin today and look forward to whatever you have planned for tomorrow! I've only been to Paris in the winter so I'm enjoying a spring visit ;-)

Thanks for all the kind words and encouragement to keep writing!
Here are some thoughts (and my 100th blog post): http://www.eatdreamtravel.com/2012/0...le-things.html

Hi Sharbear...happens to everyone...I went to the Louvre on Tuesday a few years ago! Duh!

I have had my education today and now know that real men don't eat quiche...it's most likely a tart and that's ok! :-)

sidney - pleased you liked the canal st. martin - did you go north to south or south to north?


lucky you to have a month in Paris!

At least I made it back to L'Orangerie today...and of course one of the jokes the "cruel" guards played on me was telling me the museum was closed! I freaked out a little and then they felt bad, ha!

Enjoyed the photos and am still happily jealous! The bread, radishes and butter are a combo in Jacques Pepin's fast food cook book. Slice french bread, butter the bread, arrange very thin slices of radishes in a flower-like design and salt it.

We LOVE Jacques Pepin..I wonder if that is where my husband first go the idea for the radishes - they are his favorite thing with bread and butter. Here we have discovered the amazing salted butters to go with them!

From your blog: "And seeing everyone walk around with baguettes under their arms makes me happy."

During our stay in Paris last year, we began to notice that it was very rare to see an untasted baguette being carried. Just too tempting. We were certainly amenable to following that practice!

Yes...I always have to take a bite of mine..especially when it's hot!

The lovely end of the baguette that everyone bites off has a special name, but I cannot remember what it is. Anyone recall what it is?

annhig--my sarcasm didn't translate well. When I said "here", I meant in front of my computer following along on sharbear's trip. :-( I did wander around Canal St. Martin once--in February--so didn't get to experience the vibe I imagine exists in the warmer weather with lots of people around enjoying the cafes and people watching on the waterfront setting.

Tip of the baguette: le quignon? or le crouton? I've seen both, not sure which is right.

In Paris, we generally call the end of a baguette the <i>crouton</i>.

Congratulations on your 100th post! I think it's just great that you have a whole month in Paris. What an opportunity.
I'm really enjoying your blog :)

I will be having my month in Paris this year through you Sharbear. I am looking forward to "my trip".

Schnauzer

sidney - desolé!