The best part about traveling is stumbling onto unexpected treasures. Years ago my parents bought me some green tea from the French tea company, Mariage Freres. It had a feeling unlike other tea I’d tried. The packing was sleek and sophisticated and the tea seemed fresher than usual.
So one day last week, the five of us were walking around the Left Bank in Paris and my youngest suddenly announced he had to go to the loo. We’d just left a crepe cafe. Before we had a chance to panic, I saw a sign for Mariage Freres. I led my family down a side street and we soon reached their three-story tea shop.
Heading upstairs, we decided to order a cup of tea (which turned out to be three pots split between the five of us). The tea room was delightful!
I bought a little butter dish in this pattern!
There was another tea room upstairs that wasn’t being used, but it reminded me of the old colonial dining rooms in Hong Kong I used to covet when I lived there.
After we finished our tea and bathroom breaks, we went downstairs to the shop.
I really wanted this tea pot, but settled for the aforementioned beuriere.
My mom bought each kid a box of tea, which they chose after smelling just about every sample the store offered.
The basement museum was small, but very nice and fun for the kids.
There was obviously a ton to see and drink here, so it was an unexpected highlight of that afternoon. We had another adventure just after that, which I’ll blog about soon. In this one we found something we weren’t expecting and in the next adventure, we didn’t find something we were looking for. But that’s what traveling is all about.
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