Monday, October 14, 2013

you want to party in france?

I continue to be in miraculously perfect health, and so today was yet another delight. Kathia and I woke up sometime before eight and proceeded to the Cafe du St Denis on Ile-de-St-Louis, where I had an omelette du fromage (cheese and more cheese) and we both attempted to write. The attempt was mostly successful, although I still hate Prudence (although Kathia told me I need to adjust my attitude, which is probably correct). We ordered some morning champagne to try to help things along, which I suppose was a good idea, although I think I should probably drink some water at some point while on French soil. Terry met up with us there, and we adjourned to do some much-deserved (not-at-all-deserved) shopping in the Marais.

And thus began my pretty-much-perfect day. Kathia has even more of a weakness for lingerie than I do, and we stumbled upon a great lingerie store where we all spent far too much money on unmentionables. This was en route to the street that I had read about where three or four amazing stationery stores lived - and when I got there, I was so overwhelmed by the window displays that I didn't want to go into any of them. We went into one and I bought a new journal, but I held off on buying more because the other amazing one didn't open until two. So we adjourned to a nearby cafe and had steak and red wine, which was amazing. Then we went back to the stationery stores, I explored the other store, and then went back to the original store and bought three more notebooks.

My heaven should have been complete at that point, but there was more in store; we went to St. Germain and had tea at Mariages Freres, which is a grand French tea establishment founded in 1854 that has six hundred varieties of tea available. The tea list is on a placard, but each tea is explained in more detail in a novel-sized paperback book that comes with the menu. We got three teas, each better than the last, and a tea-infused creme brulee that was tastier than anything should rightfully be. Kathia and Terry also got scones, but I turned my nose up at the flour and instead just had a bite of butter and jam (which is the whole point of scones anyway). Kathia and I wrote a bit more there, but then we adjourned to the hotel so that I could take a nap - at that point I was like an overstimulated toddler at Disneyland whose every childish dream has come true, and I needed to sleep before I had a meltdown.

But I was properly revived by 6:45, so I put on a party dress and we went out to meet a couple of my coworkers who also chose to come to Paris after last week's book fair. We had a v. lovely dinner at Le Petit Chatelet, which is next to Shakespeare and Company (the famous English-language bookstore). I didn't have high hopes since it looked touristy from the outside, but our appetizers were delicious (and I gorged on foie gras, which is illegal in California, much to the shock and horror of our waiter) and the entrees were all delectable. It may shock you to know that I ordered chicken, but the chicken was awesome and I have no regrets.

We all parted ways at eleven, and then Kathia, Terry and I had a nightcap in the hotel lobby. And now I must go to bed. Paris has thus far been pretty much perfect, so I don't know whether to look forward to my last full day tomorrow with anticipation or dread - it doesn't seem like it can get better, and yet it doesn't seem likely that it will be worse. Either way, I will blog tomorrow unless my heart explodes tonight from happiness. Bonne nuit!

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