This is a slice of pear pastry from Paul's Patisserie, a bakery chain in France. When I lived on campus in a suburb outside of Paris in 2003, sometimes I'd buy myself a pastry when I went to the local mall to do my grocery shopping. Okay fine. Most times I went grocery shopping, I bought one. And I'd watch contentedly as Paul's people packed it up in this cute little cardboard box so it wouldn't get squashed by my generic supermarket supplies. Each pastry would only cost two euros and it would have its own little box. I loved that. Then I would walk back to my dorm room, make a cup of tea, eat my pastry and share memories from the pre-Internet era with my imaginary grandchildren.
My favourite Paul's sandwich is the "Henry 4th" ("Henri Quatre") but that sandwich is just about impossible to order. Trust me, it's hard to say. You need a double-jointed tongue to pull that son-of-a-bitch phrase off. If you don't believe me, rent Before Sunset and watch the scene when Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy get on the bateau mouche and Ethan Hawke tries to buy a ticket to "Quai Henri Quatre". It's so pathetic I almost weeped the first time I saw it.
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