I'm turning into such a foodie! :)

Bonjour tout le monde! (That's Greetings, everyone :) )

Woke up pretty early today, with not much of a plan for the day. After I made breakfast though, I'd remembered reading in my French textbook about Le Procope, one of the oldest restaurants in Paris, founded in 1696. It was also one of the first places to serve coffee--back then an exotic drink--and great thinkers like Voltaire and Rousseau often visited. I Googled where it was located and set out with my camera.

I got turned around just a little bit after heading in the wrong direction from the metro, but I didn't mind all that much as I had all the time in the world today and the building are just far too interesting to. Here are a few photos from walking around in the Saint Germain-des-Pres area(considered a pretty high-end area these days due to the various stores like Gucci, Prada, Armani etc). Gorgeous, right?

Eventually I turned a corner and found Le Procope. I checked their menu, and while it wasn't terribly expensive, I didn't feel like a full lunch, so I decided to maybe come back another day. I did take a picture though!

Isn't it a lovely looking place?

If you'd like to learn a little bit of it's history, including it's sly name, you can click here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caf%C3%A9_Procope

Looking at their menu after all that walking did make me a little hungry, so I found a creperie nearby and got a nutella-filled crepe. Here's a picture, hehe :)

While eating, I checked my map and realized that I was actually close to my school, le Institut de Langue et Cultures Francaises, so I decided to go take a peek. The gate to the courtyard was open, but just a person here or there milling about. No one bothered me, so went and sat down to put a band-aid on my left heel where my new flats had formed a blister :/ I didn't take pictures, but I will when I have to show up there for our ISA orientation on Monday.

I'd planned on walking to the Jardins de Luxembourg as they were not far, but my band-aid fell off about 5 minutes after I'd put it on and didn't want to be hobbling about painfully. So I called it a day and headed back home.

Once home, I became really sleepy and took a short nap. When I woke up with a stiff neck, I was reminded of how terrible the pillow here is and that I need to look for a good one if I'm going to be here for the next 9 months. I'm also thinking about how I can convince my landlord to put in a bigger bed as I'm starting to dislike the small size of this one.

But at least I felt more awake, and as the sun was just setting, I decided that this was the perfect time to test out the path nearby and go for my first run since leaving home. I'd also be my first time wearing my new and first pair of infamous Lululemon running pants, which I'd splurged a bit on back home, but only as a promise to myself to keep running and stay fit here in Paris. Oh, but the money was so worth it! They fit like a dream, feel great, didn't make my legs all sweaty, and had the perfect little zipper pocket on the lower back to store my keys in. I went on my run, and worked up a good sweat. It felt great, even if I then had to climb the 5 flights of stairs when I got back to my building.

After that, I prepared the last of my marinated dinner, which while I thought it was chicken, turns out is turkey! Haha, and here I thought that 'dinde' was just a type of chicken or something. It's just that back home, you only ever really see turkey in slices for sandwiches, or whole for Thanksgiving. Here's they're sold and look like chicken breast. Oh well, still tasted great.

In fact, I've realized that now that I can eat what I want when I want, I'm brainstorming and planning on what meals I'd like to eat. So I've created a list and am very much looking forward to preparing these meals! :) Before I forget, here is a picture of the Sopa de Fideo I made the other day. Tasty looking, right?

Well, it's Friday night so it's quite lively on my street right now (I can even hear salsa music coming from somewhere--reminds me of Mom's cleaning moods! aha) but I think I'm gonna keep it a quiet night and review some of my French.

A bientot!

Rachael