Pastry & Chocolate Tour - photo fail :-(

Yesterday we met our Pastry & Chocolate Tour guide in Saint-Germain-des-Pres, the fashionable side of town.  We met a chatty, lovely couple (she said 'that's lovely' a LOT) from Australia that joined us and our Parisian tour guide, Elisabeth, in tasting chocolates and pastries from various shops.
Unfortunately, Cari was the official photographer of the day (because I wanted to just experience the tour and not take photos) but her camera decided that it was going to reject the memory card today.   Hopefully the photos from yesterday and this morning were not lost, but they are definitely inaccessible for the moment.
Almost every shop we stopped at had a line out the door - and these were primarily specialty shops only selling chocolates or pastries or bread.  The prices were acceptably high but not outrageous - when you realize the attention to detail in the making of the pastries and chocolates, the high quality of the ingredients and the time invested in researching and producing such a beautiful product it is worth every penny.  One chocolate shop was set up like a jewelry store with the chocolates displayed under glass cases and spread out like precious gems.  The cash register was even hidden in the back of the store to emphasize the privacy and seriousness of the transaction.
We enjoyed the tasting part of the tour and also the social part of talking with the Australians (they, too, were amazed at how people young and old step right out into traffic) and with Elisabeth.  She took us to the Bon Marche food market and it was incredible.  This is a very expensive store, not the bon Marche we knew and loved in Seattle.  Inside its food market there are specialty foods from all over the world, plus their own staff-created pastries and deli items.  The produce area was set up like an indoor farmer's market and the place was VERY busy.

Here is the lone photo I have of the pistachio custard topped with caramelized nuts and pistachio mousse that I purchased yesterday on the tour.  It came in the little cup with the porcelain spoon and was amazingly delicious, with a berry surprise on the bottom.  This came from Arnaud Larher, an elegant shop with a variety of pastries and sweets all created with beauty, perfection and deliciousness in mind.