A New Tradition

Crystal and I have a new tradition since my last blog. We spend most of our days during the week wandering Paris while the kids are at school. One thing we love to do, and joke about, is to eat our lunch on the steps of monuments. This all started last Saturday when we ate on Saint-Germain-des-Pres, one of Paris's oldest churches. 

Sunday: 

We relaxed. We slept in, read near some fountains, strolled around the Eiffel Tower, and ended the evening in a cafe drinking Hoegaarden beer with Jacques (friend of Crystal's mother & Parisian taxi driver). We did not eat on any steps on Sunday, FYI. 

Monday:

Happy Labor Day! Apparently France's Labor Day is not until spring. However, this is fine with me since the kids went to school and I had some time to myself. After I finished my cleaning chores, I met up with my French buddy Sylvain for some coffee. A few weeks ago he told Crystal and me that if you want the best coffee in Paris, you must go to this place. 

Well, Crystal and I never made it, so I went with Sylvain instead. Unfortunately, I forgot the name of this fabulous little cafe. It was charming. It was very small...only room for a few tables. They had more types of coffee than I have ever seen. I'm not talking about espresso, latte, cappuccino, etc. I'm talking about different types of coffee beans from all over the world. We both had Kenyan coffee, which was excellent. I had no idea what to pick, so I went with Sylvain's favorite. It was soooooo good. I do love my coffee! Since I had no real plans until picking up the kids except for wandering with my pal Crystal, Sylvain suggested we wander through some of Paris's passages built in the nineteenth century. So we did. They are really cool. Basically, they're like streets, but they're covered to keep out the elements. We found several, but did not venture too far from where we started. Some are very fancy. Apparently they get a little less classy the further North you go. 

Anyway, we had fun wandering and discovering new enchanting things about our favorite city. 

Oh by the way, we ate lunch in front of Bourse, which I found out is Paris's historical stock exchange. We opted for a baguette sandwich from a little boulangerie (basically a bakery with pastries and delicious ready-made sandwiches) instead of a do-it-yourself Monoprix sandwich. 

Tuesday:

Well, Tuesday is not over, but I do not see anything truly exciting happening in my near future. I have to get the kids in a few hours. Today Crystal and I met up at Place de la Concorde at an Egyptian obelisk. Only in Paris... haha. 

We then decided to spend a few hours wandering the area near the Opera. We strolled past the first Chanel store, a true landmark in fashion. 

We finished our afternoon together by eating on the steps of the Opera. Apparently this is a popular place to eat lunch because most of the other people there were doing the same thing. 

That's all for now. Just some pretty pictures.