Bon Appétit à vous aussi!

Before wrapping up on the European adventure: A Tribute to French cuisine! In an effort to keep daily summary of events short and sweet, I regret I wasnot able to give the food the detail it deserves... and so: napkins at the ready my friends, get ready to drool uncontrolably (and if you don't, you need to get your brain checked). LADUREE This sweet haven was founded in 1862, is known as the "inventor of the double-decker macaroon", and sells 15,000 daily. My friend and roommate suggested we go to the store and so we did! Walking up to the makeshift shop across from the real shop on Champs Elysee we literally had no idea what a macaroon was, what is looked like, tasted like, etc. So we were pleasantly surprised when the sweet smell and bright colors greeted up at the door. We found out these tiny treats were as delicious as they were cute when we split a chocolate and a vanilla. We then bought a few boxes for souvenirs for the road and scooted on out :)

CREPES Admittedly I did not gain as much crepe weight as I thought I would -given I have no self-control or shame when it comes to sweets- but alas, I don't think 5 days was enough to really do serious damage. They were of course everything I imagined and more. Our first crepe in Paris at the Place de Tertre was only the beginning- a beginning smothered in nutella and bananas which are of course the best kinds of beginnings.

REFUGE DES FONDUES Another suggestion from the Great Lawrence Trani, all we had to go off of was a name and the general area of Montmartre (which turned out to be VERY general and not in the least specific) BUT it provided me a chance to dust off my very beginner level french on a shop owner to get directions. Once we got in there were rows of tables end to end on the left and right with chairs in the aisle. The waiter pulled out the chair and table a bit, reached out his hand, and instructed me in gestures (and French I only vaguely understood) to jump over the table into the booth against the wall... "I'm sorry, you want me to do what now?"... but I did, along with every other girl along the booth. Once we got settled the asked "red or white?" and "cheese or meat?"... that's all that's on the menu but that's all they need! They gave us three baskets of bread chunks (not all at once, give us SOME credit...) to dunk in our cheese fondu and serve the wine in baby bottles. We chatted, feasted, and of course wrote our name on the wall along with the hundreds of thousands of others who had visited (some from other BA universities judging from signatures on the ceiling!) Such a great meal! Jumped back over the table into the aisle and we were off!

NOTRE CAFE One of our first nigths in Paris, we wandered the city famished and with nary a food recommendation to follow (ok, I tend to dramatize...). All of a sudden, a waiter in typical french waiter garb is handed a backpack and pointed in the direction of a customer walking away. He was off like a bullet, caught the customer, saved the day, and sold us on the cafe. It was called Pont Nuef after the bridge it sits on the corner of... yeah, they really had to dig dip in the creativity department for that one... Anyway, it was a simple menu but just what we wanted and at a reasonable price (which is usually my deciding factor, living life on a budget :)I got a croque madame, Ash a salad and plenty of bread and a little spicy mustard (she and the French hit it off really well upon discovering their shared obsession for mustard. After turning down an offer to go get our swag on and come out dancing (excuse me, I'm seen Taken...) we headed for our home sweet hostel.

ANGELINA's A recommendation from Trani and my JMU friend studying abroad there at the time. Angelina's Tea Room is known for their rediculously rich hot chocolate and was once frequented by the one and only Audrey Hepburn -sold. We waited for about 15-20 minutes but it went fairly quick because once you got inside the door there was plenty to look at from the large seating area bustling with chatter, the pastries to the right, and the antique looking steps tot he left leading to the upper level. We sat upstairs, ordered one serving of hot chocolate (which filled two tea cups) and sipped on our viscous chocolate concoction. I couldn't decide if I was eating chocolate or drinking it but I knew whatever was happening, I liked it :)