We grabbed lunch at a Greek place and then stopped at a bakery to get some treats. I got a chocolate coconut macaroon. Definitely give it a thumbs up! My favorite flavor so far! After eating all our treats, we went over to the Marais district to find some vintage shops. We went in to a few of them, but they were very expensive. We happened to walk into this cute little store and the lady to greet us was so friendly. Usually when people find out we are American students, they immediately start speaking English. This lady explained everything to us in French about her store! We talked with her for a bit and I ended up buying a really cool vintage wallet made from advertisements back in 60s. I was happy with my purchase :)
Since it was freezing and we had about 4 hours to kill until our dinner reservations, we headed to find a cafe to sit at for an hour or so. The hot chocolate here is so rich that you need to add sugar to it. It's delicious though! After the cafe, we took the metro over to the visit Moulin Rouge. I was nervous because I heard it was in a bad area, but there were a lot of people around and it seemed more racy then dangerous, anyways! So we still had about 2 hours to kill until dinner so we were looking for a bar to go to that had happy hour specials, but instead we found a little church that was about to have mass. So we decided to go to mass so we could sleep in. Mass is always one heck of an experience. We usually don't know what's going on, but we really were thrown off when all the people started walking up to the alter way before communion time. We followed and the priest had everyone stand in a circle at the alter and say the Our Father, give peace to each other, and even receive communion! At least we weren't getting trampled this time on our way to receive communion. It felt like this church had a good sense of community and it was nice to experience going to mass in a smaller church in Paris, rather than mass at Notre Dame.
Now it was finally time to head over to Refuge des Fondus for dinner! Our reservation was at 8, but we didn't get seated until about 8:35. The place is very very tiny, and people stay for a while so it's understandable. We all were completely frozen, so it was great when we finally got inside to sit. But then, of course, I was sweating. We got appetizers first, which included some cheese, pickles, potatoes, olives, and sangria. Then, we were served wine in baby bottles and had cheese and meat fondu. It was very delicious! I will definitely go back there.
Today, I finally got to sleep in a little later than usual! I was off to the Chinese New Year Parade in China Town (13e). I met Danielle there, and we tried to meet up with some other girls but it was unbelievable! There were people everywhere and they were pushing and shoving, trying to get through. We just wanted to find a place to stand and watch. Of course, the parade was supposed to start at 1, but probably didn't start until closer to 2. Yet again, we froze! Once we finally saw movement, only 2 little 'acts' came by and then everyone started cheering/booing for someone and taking pictures and running after him. We first thought it was Sarkozy, but people were yelling Francois, so we were so confused. It took a while longer for the parade to start up again and it almost seemed like people were leaving. It was an insane environment and I would never go again. The only thing I really saw was a bunch of dragons, obviously, since it's the year of the dragon. Then we just wanted to get out....but that was a whole other story. We decided to take a side street since the main drag was packed. But, on the side streets, many people thought it would be a great idea to set of mini fireworks in the middle of the roads. We felt safer on the main street, so we worked our way back there and basically ran until we got to the metro. Imagine if one of them went off on someone's foot, or shot up into someone's face?! So so so dangerous. I was glad we got out of there quickly!
We headed over by Notre Dame since there are a bunch of cute little restaurants and cafes. We had a late lunch at one of the cafes and I had a delicious rotisserie chicken with french fries! Finally ordered french fries in France! And of course, to defrost, had to get that chocolat chaud. Always a great treat. Then for dessert, we stopped to get crepes. What a hard life I live....
Oh and funny story today (relevant to the title of this blog post meaning 'every penny counts'). I went to hold my card up for the metro machine to head home and it beeped and turned green. Perfect! But, I heard something fling out of my wallet, so of course, I had to go see what it was. It happened to be a penny, so I picked it up and checked to make sure nothing else important flew out. But then, when I tried to swipe again, the machine denied my pass. I bet there is a time frame of how often you can swipe into the same turnstile so you can't pass it along to a friend...But anyways, I had to climb under the turnstile to get to my metro. I am now just like a bum. AH!
It's going to be very cold this week so we're going to try to hit up a lot of museums and maybe go see a French movie, as well!
Vous me manquez!
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