Taste of Paris

I spent the majority of my Parisian weekend ambling about with various classmates and trying more types of food than possibly ever in life. I cannot reiterate enough how big of an accomplishment this is for me. During Friday's wine lunch cruise with the class I ate my entire salad. This may not sound like a big deal, but it was in fact a feat for me as this particular salad included sardines (or anchovies, still not quite sure), quail eggs, and tuna. Later that evening I had salmon lasagna for dinner and on Saturday I had a croque monsieur for lunch. The croque monsieur was basically a hot ham and cheese sandwich made on the toastiest toast with the cheesiest cheese ever! I do not usually eat ham (see I really went all out this weekend) but the cheesy goodness drowned out the ham perfectly.

I ate the croque at a cafe that could have easily been a movie soundstage for a hollywood romance. The weather was beautiful, there was a fountain, and people were bustling about. At one point a woman came up and graced us diners with "Yesterday" by the Beatles, complete with her own accompaniment on acoustic guitar.

As I was taking in the sights of people everywhere; the sounds of the traffic, music and other

cafe patrons; and the smell of strong coffee and fresh wafting from inside the cafe I thought I would surely experience sensory overload. Then a man came from nowhere and began feeding the birds near the fountain and I remarked to Kaitlin to the effect that if the cherubs in the fountain started singing that were were in fact in a Disney movie.

I hate to be stereotypical, but Paris was decidedly Parisian. It was everything that I had seen in magazines and movies and the weekend did not disappoint. The people were fashionable, the food was delicious, and the language sounded lovely to hear. I think a weekend was just enough time to get an adequate taste of Paris and I cannot wait for my next Paris adventure! Maybe next time I can spend last long enough to take a picture on the observation deck at the Eiffel Tower, because as Tara says "if you don't take a picture, then it didn't really happen!"