Today is Sunday, and Jeanne, our favourite food lover, is craving a delicious and creamy Paris-Brest. « Léon, why don’t we go to the bakery where the first Paris-Brest ever was created ? », she suggests to her friend. « It’s located in Maison-Laffitte, in the Yvelines department ». Léon is delighted : there’s a museum that he has been wanting to visit for a while in the same department, Claude Debussy’s birthplace. Let’s go !
To taste the original Paris-Brest, you have to go the the Pâtisserie Durand in Maison-Laffite (9 Avenue de Longueil), the place where the first Paris-Brest pastry was created. It is a little far from Paris, so Jeanne and Léon decide to go there by car.
Paris-Brest is a circular-shape dessert made of choux pastry and a praline flavoured cream, with flaked almonds and hazelnuts. It was invented in 1910 by Louis Durand, the pastry chef of the Pâtisserie Durand, who was inspired by the cycle race Paris-Brest-Paris that went trough the city of Maison-Laffitte. Actually, the round shape of the Paris-Brest represents a bike wheel.
Jeanne and Léon buy two Paris-Brests, one for each, and go back to their car to head to their cultural visit of the day, the native house of Claude Debussy (Maison Natale Claude Debussy). It’s only a 15-minute- car ride to get there from the bakery. Claude Debussy’s native house is open every Wednesdays and Saturdays from 14h to 18h.
He was born in this house on 38th, rue au Pain in Saint-Germain-en-Laye. It was constructed during the 18th century. Debussy’s parents had an earthenware and porcelain in the house. Nowadays, the house is a museum displaying family souvenirs and daily life of Debussy’s childhood. It also shows the objects that the composer liked to surround himself with to create an artistic athmosphere, like Arkel, his favourite frog sculpture.
Finally, the museum is completed with an auditorium inspired from music lounges, to discover the composer’s music in intimacy and coziness.
To end the day, Jeanne and Léon find a bench besides the Seine. Léon puts one of Debussy’s most famous musical piece, Claire de Lune, on his speaker, while the two friends savour their delicious Paris-Brest. What a good day !
You can find more music by Claude Debussy on Spotify : https://open.spotify.com/artist/1Uff91EOsvd99rtAupatMP
Enjoy the music, and the food !
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