Visiting Paris is an opportunity to savour some of the most wonderful food on the planet. When I visited for two weeks in early June, I made up my mind ahead of time that I was not going to deny myself any of their culinary treats and I followed through on that promise. I erased carb and calorie-counting entirely from my vocabulary and opened the door to desserts and bread, figuring I’d deal with the weight gain when I got home. From French baguettes and chocolate chaud to delicious wines, I sampled as many sinful Parisian taste treats as I could manage during my stay and most often from a seat at an outdoor café.

During the course of my stay in Paris, we visited local cafés as often as three or four times a day. Who wouldn’t? Mid-morning coffee/tea/hot chocolate break, outdoor lunch, and mid-afternoon wine-tasting rest break, often followed by a fourth stop for dinner. It was a rough life.