-Double, Toujours-

He's sitting quietly against the window of the café, nursing a beer and still tasting the last cigarette he stepped outside for. Suddenly he spots a man outside - dashing down the street, hopping onto the sidewalk, and running past our café window. The man in the café jumps up and is immediately on his cell phone, still watching the running man and saying, "Il a passé la, il a passé la!" (He passed here.) He pauses, sees me watching, and sits down to finish his beer, as if nothing had happened.


This was my afternoon at Café Richard. I'm still not sure what exactly happened, but I think I've discovered the French Secret Service and managed to put myself on their watch list.
My other discovery is that my coffee habits - despite my best efforts to stick to water - have followed me overseas, as thus far I have only ordered doubles cafés (double espresso shots), while others take their caffeine in the more moderate café crème (American latte-almost) style. So for moi, it is double toujours - always a double. Can anyone say they're surprised?

Before this short burst of excitement, my day started at the Musée du Louvre, passed the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo (arm-less statue), and lots of paintings, before it continued to the Tour Eiffel to hike up enough stairs to reach the 43rd story of a building, and rested for a bit on the second floor (the top floor is currently closed). There, I enjoyed a magnificent, 360-degree view of Paris.

The bad news today is that I forgot to take my camera with me, so I cannot share. I promise I will visit the Eiffel Tower at least once more in the next 4 months, and take my camera, but next time I'll probably take the elevator.

Until then, I must ready myself now for a less-leisurely schedule, because tomorrow I begin classes at the ACCENT centre, and my classes at La Sorbonne begin Thursday. All I have to say about this is: fingers-crossed.