Bliss, beer, & books

Paris weather has hit a beautiful 50 degrees. Despite the fact that I am still trying not to hack up a lung (and probably aggravated my lungs by taking a nice, long, much-needed drag yesterday night), I’m feeling a sense of calm and happiness that I haven’t felt in a very, very long time. It’s enough to inspire me to write again; good God, it’s been years since I’ve felt this way. Expect some clumsy pseudo-literary attempts in the near future – I think I’ll be posting my photo essay up over the course of the next few days.

A little incident happened yesterday that could have made yesterday a pretty shoddy day, but everything in Paris has a way of working itself out. Namely, I was supposed to meet my friend, Jordan, for hot chocolate during his one week stay in Paris… and, well, I waited outside the restaurant for 45 minutes, panicking about his well-being, while Jordan was chilling inside the restaurant for 1.5 hours, wondering where in the hell I could be. I’m a little disappointed I didn’t get to enjoy hot chocolate with Jordan, but decided that since I’d finally dragged myself to Angelina, I wouldn’t let the opportunity for hot chocolate and delicious dessert pass me by. Therefore, I made a call to a certain lovely lady (who goes by the name of Maranda =) ), and did some exploring as I waited for her to make her way to the tearoom. I dropped by Galignani, “the first English book store established on the continent,” and found out that they carry every W.G. Sebald book… except for the one I need for my B.A. Then, around the corner, I found this beautiful church:
By the time Maranda got to Angelina, I was starving and in desperate need of chocolate. We quelled my thirst for chocolate with this beautiful spread:


From Angelina, I went straight to the Académie de la Bière to celebrate a beer-loving friend’s birthday. I had a delicious Hoegaarden Grand Cru, Kriek Saint Louis (a little too much cherry for my taste), and some beer-boiled mussels (so amazing. SO amazing). I don't really have a good picture of the place/us, so just use your imagination =)

I’m about to head out to roam around some bookstores around St. Michel/along the Seine, FINALLY get my Louvre pass, and visit the Alexander Nevski Cathedral. At some point, I’ll need to write up an Amsterdam recap…

xoxo,
D