Travels with a pen and a camera.

The tour group consisted of a family from Miami and myself, and we followed our guide Ariane like ducklings through the Saint Germain streets. Ariane, spilling with the knowledge of a true local, took us to chocolatiers and bakeries throughout the neighborhood. After starting with dark truffles, our second stop was a traditional Parisian bakery. Ariane promised the best bread in the city.

We entered Poilâne, where crusty sourdough loaves adorned with a swooping cursive P on the crust sat proudly on thick pinewood shelves across the bakery walls. Poilâne opened in 1932, when the sourdough loaf suffered in competition to the iconic baguette preferred by Parisians. But Pierre Poilâne believed in the loaf, and 83 years later the bakery still stands and the loaves still sell.

We sampled spongy slices of bread and crisp butter cookies. I welcomed the simplicity after the decadence of the chocolate. The bakery was small, barely large enough to contain the massive shelves and front counter, and I looked around while slowly chewing the last bits of crust from our sample. Behind the counter, inside the kitchen, a chandelier hung low from the ceiling. It was thick and sturdy, not at all elegant like chandeliers should be, and the material seemed at first to be wood. But I looked closer and noticed: it was bread. It was stale, stiff, but undeniably bread, and suddenly the fixture really was elegant, a work of art in all of its gluten glory.

It turns out Poilâne, after an encounter with Salvador Dalí, began creating artwork based on his craft. On the walls of the bakery hung portraits of loaves posing like renaissance models. Along with Dalí, Poilâne created pieces ranging from light fixtures to furniture, all made from bread, a surprisingly versatile material. I left the bakery with the understanding that this would now take the title of my favorite museum in Paris.

Ariane ushered us out of the bakery and explained that the next stop would include some of the city's best macarons.

“Oh good,” said the girl from Miami. “That bread was too plain and boring.”

Don't listen to her. If you're in Paris, certainly enjoy a baguette and visit Ladurée for the rainbow selection of macarons. Don't miss the Louvre or the Musée d'Orsay. But also find your way to 8 rue du Cherche-Midi, where risen dough turns to art. Buy yourself a sourdough loaf, amble along the streets of the 6th arrondissement, and enjoy the wonderful simplicity of good bread in a great city.