Day 14- Last Day of FRANCE

Well, here it goes, day 14, the final day of the trip! :(

We are very sad it had to end, but we can't wait to get started on the holidays and making our store even better! We also can't wait to see our friends/customers! 

We miss you all. A day doesn't seem complete without the company of all of our regulars and our not so regulars who brighten our lives so much!

 We had our macaron making class at Le Cuisine Paris. 

We can't say enough great things about them! What a class company! We had so much fun and made, and ate a TON of macarons! 

 I think we are both good enough now that we will be constantly featuring macarons! So get ready!! 

We have made a pledge to not use artificial coloring in our food, ice cream or even our macarons, so they won't look like these.

 That being said, it sure was fun making them all those amazing colors! We thought our bright blue and purple ones were the best, besides the instructors tie-dyed ones.

 They were delicious! We made 4 flavors of fillings and are going to be even better with that then our macarons in the past, so get ready!!!! 

 After that, we went to a place I found on TripAdvisor called Kraft Hot Dogs.

 It was rated the 66th best restaurant out of over 13,000 restaurants here in Paris. It's a tiny place that serves like 5 types of hot dogs each day and they were SO good. If you follow our blog, you'll remember we went to a burger joint in Orange in Provence and it was a very similar experience. They asked where we are from and when they heard we are from America they were excited and thrilled, a lot like we are when French people come in to try our shop.  The owner followed us outside and asked what we thought of the hot dogs. We told him we loved them and he did a little victory dance that made us SO happy for him. We know that feeling very well and it's one of the things that keeps us doing what we do with the passion we still and will always have! 

We left there and walked through the Marais district and just wandered. It was fun and fascinating.

It's very alive! Even in the middle of the afternoon on a Tuesday. We walked through the Jewish area and spent a lot of time looking and shopping at all the amazing Jewish bakeries and absorbing all the history of this very interesting neighborhood.

 We decided to head back to our hotel from there, but I HAD to stop at Berthillion, the most famous ice cream shop in all of France. 

It's VERY expensive for ice cream, but WOW the flavors were intense and SO good!

 I had chocolate, salted caramel and coconut. Emily had vanilla and honey nougat. 

We were very happy with our choices and felt satisfied with the experience. It's almost like a pilgrimage for me, and I'm glad I made it there! 

 Then we made it to our hotel and got ready for a late dinner with our friend in Paris again. 

For the first time we went back to a restaurant for the 2nd time.

 It was the steak place with the amazing frites and the crazy green sauce called Le Relais de l'Entrecote. It's my sisters favorite place in France and I can see why. It was good enough to go back twice that's for sure!! Amazing!!!

 So, we wake up early tomorrow and head for the airport and come back to Michigan. 

Then head back to Charlevoix to see how much if any smoke damage our house has suffered and to assess the damage to our beautiful town we love so much! 

We are so sad that this journey is ending, but, we are married, finally and that journey is just beginning. I keep telling Emily, our Honeymoon won't end until we stop talking about it! So please, come visit us in our little shop, see what we have learned, introduce yourself to the new Mrs. Emily Freund and talk to us about France and our experiences! That way this amazing experience never has to end!

  Thanks again for supporting us, helping make all of this possible, and following our journey, both at home and on our blog! I'm a very lucky man to have the life I have! I have a beautiful amazing wife. A business that I love and enjoy. A community that I adore. Friends that look after us and that we look after as well. And being able to share it with so many people makes it all the most amazing journey of my life. 

I love you all and I can't wait to see you all again, at the store and out!

 Until then...VIVA LA FRANCE!!!!!