Paris II

Yesterday we had quite an adventurous day in Paris! We got into the city around 1 and, since we'd only had a light French breafast, we were starving. Our Let's Go France book had alerted us to the existence of a Breton crêperie near the Champs-Elysées. 2 hours later we were standing in front of the restaurant which just happened to be closed. After a mild temper tantrum, which Sophia captured on film, I regathered my composure and we walked down the block to une petite brasserie where the very accomodating owner/chef/waitress made us some delicious croques madame (sans jambon, bien sûr).

Next, we walked back to the Champs-Elysées to visit the Swatch store so Sophia could fix her watch. After that, we walked to the Rue de Rivoli where we saw a movie/tv show/ commericial being filmed and each had a chocolat afrique at Angelina; very rich, thick hot chocolate that I have been dreaming about since the last time I was in Paris 8 years ago.

From there it looked like the Eiffel Tower was really close, so, forgetting that big things look closer than they are, we set off. An hour later we were there and it was raining. A very helpful employee directed us to the nearest Métro stop after we took a few pictures and we ran through the rain to get there. (side note: despite out stereotypes the Parisians have been nothing but super nice and helpful to us, even when we are butchering their language). On the way to the subway we saw a man so drunk he couldn't walk stumble out of a café. (Keep in mind it was 7:20) He fell over a chair and onto the ground before stumbling off into the rain. Let's all say a little prayer to the traffic gods that he didn't fall into the street. French drivers, or at least Parisian drivers, are as bad as those in Rome.

Despite running through the train station we missed our 8:00 train and had to wait until 8:30. This meant that we missed Aunt Lila who was giving us a ride home at 8:15. So we walked home in the rain and, after walking in pretty much a complete circle around Chelles, Lila found us about 3 houses away from home. Apparently, because of the rain; she decided to wait for us at the train station after all!

We got home at 9:15 and ate a lovely meal with the family (Mélisse was not wearing any pants but since that's pretty standard for her and since she's only 3, we barely noticed).