My cousin says in France - - it really depends on your own personal philosophy on whether the 13th is a bad or good number. Shouldn't that be the case for any day? I like that.
At 12pm, my cousin T and I are scrambling to be out the door on time as he had class (chemistry major) and I was going to meet a friend of his that spoke pretty good English; which is always like home away from home - but with a stranger of course.
Shower. Toasted baguette. Poured homemade coffee (nestle instant cafe with sweetened condensed milk) into a KFC paper cup. Spread pate du canard et porc on my baguette, placed sliced grape tomatoes on top and a little ham - wrapped in seran wrap. Ate a banana while running around the house and grabbing a rice pudding to throw into my messenger bag. Here we go:
We hurriedly walk to the Metro line 7 onwards to exit Jussieu; my cousin's University. Per title of this blog, we hear a man singing Opera-like tunes acapella (sp?) and it was so beautiful I had to turn around and see! Voila - a Chinese man! It was great.
Just at the nick of time; we meet up with his friend Flo and he shows me around the campus and invites me to an organic chemistry lecture - - my thoughts? Sure, why not??? And sure enough, I didn't understand a word and did the best I could to disguise my true identity: American Tourist ;) After about 20 minutes or so, I am off to find Le Rostand Cafe, nestled right across Le Jardin du Luxembourg and pretty close to the Sorbonne University.
I relied on Flo's hand-written map loosely because I decided to go on different streets and intentionally get lost to find more hidden treasures. And, of course, hidden treasures are everywhere in Paris:
I run inside a vintage store and ask, 'Quelle heure est-il?' to find out the time. Although sightseeing is always a blast - I had a rendezvous to attend to at precisely 330pm and must not be late. (When one does not carry a mobile phone, it really is best to be on time!)
After asking a few Parisians where a certain street and cafe was located, I finally arrive and meet an old landlord/friend B. He and I drank un vin chaud which was red wine, with a slice of lemon, cinnamon, and sugar. Sooo good on a cold winter day with a high of only 42 F! It was so nice to chat in English for a few hours about life, love, The Beatles' favorite songs, and travel stories!
Following this lovely afternoon meeting, I head back down to the University because I remember a little Crepe cart I wanted to try out. I order a "crepe avec beurre et sucre" which, at first, I misunderstood "beurre" for beer - - it's actually butter; melted in my mouth, and ate in about 4.5 seconds...maybe longer than that but you get the gist - it was Bomb.
And only 1.80 Euros.
You just can't beat that! But, oh, it gets even better because for dinner - I was invited to a lovely Morrocan dinner. My cousin T and his three close friends he has known since Junior High School welcomed me with smiles, stories, and some pretty impressive English - once again! Nothing beats great conversations, meeting new people, and eating delicious food on any given Friday the 13th.
I certainly hope you made this so-called bad luck day into your type of day. :)
xoxo,
C
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