Le Grand Epicerie picnic, Giverny

During one of our first weeks in Paris, we visited Le Bon Marche and what we thought was Le Grand Epicerie. It turns out that we had gone to the cafe of Le Grand Epicerie instead of to the store itself. It's a gourmet food store the size of a supermarket. It reminded me a little of Marche in Toronto but a whole lot bigger!! Any foodie would love strolling the aisles of Le Grand Epicerie.

They had food aisles that represented the different parts of the world. For the U.S. and Canada, they had peanut butter, Dr. Pepper, Kraft Mac & Cheese, and lots of marshmallows. It's too bad that they didn't have any ketchup chips!! It was interesting to see what was considered "American" since the one "American" meal I can think of (hamburger and fries) isn't even really American (origin was from the German port of Hamburg).

Le Grand Epicerie has everything you could think of. They carry 5kg jugs of Nutella, duck confit in a jar, and have huge sections for the usual French staples (bread, pastries, fish, meat, different ethnic deli stations, produce, wine, etc.). I guess the sections are much like any other supermarket but the food is just so much better!

We went shopping for a picnic lunch and picked up Bordier butter (beyond delicious - recommended on David Lebovitz's blog), a baguette, comte cheese, wine, chocolate croissants, foie gras, and prosciutto. We had an amazing time sitting in the park, being goofballs, and feasting on our picnic. Today's picnic was one of my most fav experiences so far in Paris.

After we were all stuffed full of French goodness, we headed towards Gare St. Lazare to catch our train to Giverny. Giverny was the location of Claude Monet's garden and home. The water lily pond in Monet's garden was often the subject of his famous painting. The gardens and the pond were beautiful. I got a little snap happy with my camera!

Gelato pit stop (as we stood in line to get into the gardens and Monet's house)

Monet's beautiful gardens

Reflections on the water lily pond