Paris--Day 4

Since my foot was still hurting, I decided to take it easy today...well, taking it easy for Paris.
I went to my local bakery to get yet another lovely pain aux raisin of which I finally have a picture (my first picture wasn't that great so in the name of research, I bought another one. Anything for research).

As it was rainy today, I decided to do mostly indoor activities...yeah, mainly shopping. My first stop was Pierre Hermé to get chocolates for my friend's birthday. Unfortunately, she is allergic to nuts so I wasn't sure what I could get her. Once again, the Pierre Hermé staff impressed me. The shop assistant took out a big binder and went through to find a chart of the chocolates by ingredient. She was able to make up a box for me of nut-free chocolates also taking into account my friend's love for dark chocolate. She kept apologizing for how long it took (maybe 4 minutes) and then gave me a chocolate for my patience! I am definitely a fan!

My main shopping goal was to find something cute for my friend Jen's baby girl who will be born in March. I looked through just about every single stuffed toy at Galerie Lafayette and Printemps, but nothing struck my fancy or my budget(50 euros for that stuffed bunny? Really?). At this point, my foot was hurting and I was getting hungry. I started to weigh my options. Then I remembered someone from the Paris online forum I'm a member of mentioned that the Madeleine church has a little cafe that they run. Since I was nearby, I thought I'd go and see.

Sure enough, it was open and the lovely church ladies ushered me in and explained the system. It took me a while to find a seat as I was looking for an appetizer that looked good. I finally settled at a small table with hard-boiled eggs with a light sauce.

It was delicious, light and simple. A Parisian lady sat down at my table directly across from me and started eating. Soon, a gentleman sat down next to her and started eating. I was eating with real live Parisians! Unfortunately, they were not up for conversation and my French is horrible, so horrible in fact that the sweet lady serving us had to take me to the serving area for me to choose my main dish because I didn't understand her. I had the aubergine stuffed with meat and cheese with sides of veggies and rice. It was wonderful, homey and filling. I chose the cheese course for dessert (mostly because it was the only word I recognized). How was I going to convince my friends and family that I actually had lunch here!

Full and happy, I walked across the street to Fauchon! Good thing I had just eaten because everything looked beautiful but not as tempting as if I was hungry.


Once again, I had a dilemma: what to do now. It was still drizzling a bit, but it was too early to just go back to the apartment. I decided to take the Metro to Chatelet and decide there. I decided on Ile Saint-Louis in search of gelato and a restaurant I was considering going to later this week. It was too cold for gelato and I never did find the restaurant, but I did find this lovely Police officer!

I have a habit of greeting law enforcement (well, except the men at the Gare de l'Est with the automatic weapons) and so I greeted this lovely man and turned the corner, thought about it, came back and pretended to be taking a picture of the distant bank and then zoomed like crazy. Too bad he put up his scarf. Oh well.

Afterward I made my way back to Shakespeare and Company and spent an hour browsing books, sitting in odd places and reading bits and pieces of the books on display.


On my way back to my apartment, I was met by 4 violins, a viola, two cellos and a string bass in the Metro! They were really good. They had their frontman trying to sell CDs by walking up to you and sticking the CDs in your face. I have to admit I pulled out my German. I've found in Paris if I want someone to leave me alone, I don't answer in French or in English, but German. No one even tries to communicate with you after that.

After resting a bit at the apartment, I headed down for round two of the pain aux raisin (research of course!) and ran into Hilary and Nigel! They were bummed that today's weather was so bad since the primary reason they were there was for Nigel's photography hobby. They were buying bread and heading back to their apartment.

I pressed on and found a darling kids clothing shop on the way to Monoprix. It's called Tout Compte Fait and not only are the clothes cute, but they are affordable. Tomorrow they start their buy one get one 50% off sale so I will be back for sure. While I was browsing, a precious little French grandma, came up to me and commented on the coat I was looking at. I explained that I didn't speak French and she said she didn't speak English, but kept talking to me rapidly in French. I was trying to explain that I was looking for a friend's baby, not mine as I have no children, but for the life of me I couldn't remember the French word for friend! I said, "Amiga, no, um...amica, no...freundin...a friend..." She laughed, waved her hand about and said, "Don't understand," and went on shopping.

I picked up the necessities at Monoprix (yogurt, fruit juice and macarons) and hobbled back to the apartment where I was almost hit twice by the same darn street sweeper! I know they move slowly, but so am I these days and I could just imagine the headlines, "American tourist slowly brushed to death by Parisian street sweeper vehicle. Film at eleven."

Tomorrow, I think I'll do the guided tour of Opera Garnier and possibly head up to Sacre Coeur depending on the weather. Hard to believe I've already been here four days. It's gone so fast and I know oh too soon I will be on a train again, heading back to the cold of Bavaria. But for now, vive la France!