The Day without Crepes

Diane and I actually managed to get through the day without eating crepes.  This is no mean feat, but considering there is probably 40 grams of fat in each one, something had to be done.  We have survived.

It was raining this morning so the start to the day was extra slow.  It is great not feeling rushed here, slow mornings are so pleasant.  Eventually, I went downstairs and had my usual pain au chocolate (we call them “chocolate croissants” in the U.S.) and café crème at the boulangerie two doors down.  They are very nice to me.  A “maxi” pain au chocolate  and café crème costs 4 €.

After the rain stopped, Diane and I walked down to Rue Mouffetard which is a famous market street on the Left Bank just south of the Pantheon.  We strolled the street, ogled the crepe stands, had lunch there and Diane bought herself another scarf. 

There is a Paris Library on Rue Mouffetard, so I went in to test my new Library card.  Horror of horrors: it did not work.  It turns out that my library card was for the “specialty” libraries in Paris (“Cinema”, “Music”, “Fine Arts”, Government Administration” etc).  Fortunately, all you need to get a regular Library card is a name and an address, both of which I had.  Now I have a regular Paris library card too. 

We took the Metro back to the apartment, refreshed ourselves, and jumped back on the Metro again to the Palais Royal area.  Our mission was to follow walk number two in Frommer’s “24 Great Walks in Paris.”  The structure is useful, because there are lots of small galleries and nooks that we would not find ourselves.  We also walked through a few of the major tourist sights, including passing through the free parts of the Louvre complex.

My highlight of the day was finding the large gold statue of Joan of Arc (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_of_Arc).  After a 100 years at war, this crazy 18 year old girl rides up to the King of France and says that she has been charged by God to lead the French army to kick the English out of France.  I am sure it sounded so wacky and nothing else was working that he just consented.  She successfully reclaimed France.  Too bad she was burned at the stake by age 19.  Saint Joan.

Diane made spaghetti and broccoli tonight.  It was awesome.  I almost dashed out afterward to buy a couple of Crème Brules, but lethargy and the fear of calories won in the end.  I have been stooped over my computer chatting with Jen.