An early morning walk, Baguette making and a lovely breakfast in Paris

Jacques dividing the dough and getting ready to pop the baguettes in the oven

The lovely little Patissier in Volontaires, Paris

The Tempting array

Checking that all is set and ready to roll

The Baguette making machine

 It all began with the phone clock not being adjusted to the new  time zone..

And turned into a delightfully memorable early morning walk in Paris.

On our first morning in Paris I had set the alarm for 630 am as we were planning a day trip to Versailles.As it happened, the alarm rang and call it years of discipline,  I promptly woke up, had my tea and a quick shower. Something looked a little different- was a it just a shade too dark outside? The curtains were drawn and I didn't really want to open them for fear of waking the family.

About fifteen minutes later, Avi appeared- all dressed and ready but with a pained look on his face.Then he said-"Do you realise? Its only 5 am!"

And that was when I understood- what I'd thought was an alarm for 0630 hours was actually set for 0430! Well that was that and not wanting to disturb Neha,  we stepped out for  a very early morning walk.

Everything looked different, the streets were empty and every now and then a few people passed us- those returning from the night shift and work and a couple looked at us in surprise- wasn't 0530 a little too early for a walk? 

Being familiar with the area from our last visit, we knew that we would pass Pasteur, with its  famous Lois Pasteur Institute and this would be followed by Volontaires about two kms later.The sun was rising and there was a beautiful nip in the air, one which made me wrap my jacket a little more snugly around myself.

Three kms later, we were thirsty, but I'd honestly say, a little more hungry. And that was also when we saw it- the sweetest little Patissier that looked so very welcoming.

A cheerful looking lady welcomed us and asked us what we would like for breakfast. We chose the Continental one with a chocolate croissant for me and the cheese version for Avi and paid up. Looking through the glass window and smelling the delicious aroma of freshly baking bread all around, I simply asked her if I could step into the kitchen where the baguettes were bring made.To my delight, she agreed, and there I was, right where Jacques was getting ready to make the next batch of baguettes.

Look through the sequence of photographs that I've posted and its really self explanatory. With something as simple as this machine, Jacques turns out anything between 300-800 baguettes a day (depending of course on the demand.) 

Golden brown and smelling  delicious!

Yes, one batch is ready

Ready for customers coming in during the day

All that watching made us hungry- So here's a well deserved French Breakfast!

Must confess, all that walking and then clicking the pics almost had me drooling and this is what  we settled down to - a simple, delicious, very early morning breakfast on our first morning in Paris...