A Typical Day

We wake up around 8, take showers, and Steve goes out to the bakery for croissants. When he returns we have a breakfast of hot chocolate, yogurt, fresh fruit, and croissants with jam. After breakfast I plan the day's itinerary, which might include a museum and/or a stroll through a far-flung neighborhood. Lunch can be a sandwich on a park bench or a salad in a café. Today followed the usual pattern: by subway to the Champs-Elysées to see the Biodiversity Festival, again on the subway to the Jacquemart-Andrée Museum, on foot to Monceau Park (crêpes from the concession stand for lunch), and home by subway. We check email until 5 o'clock or so, and then we start the evening with kir (white wine and crème de cassis) and little nibbles--olives and crackers with tapenade or eggplant caviar. Dinner is sometimes at home, sometimes at a nearby restaurant. If we eat at home, we assemble our meal from the deli at Monoprix or one of the traiteurs at the Marché Saint-Germain. If we're in a more festive mood, we'll go to one of our three favorite restaurants: Lyon de Bruxelles for moules frites, Golfe de Napoli for pizza, or La Crêperie des Cannettes. We always order a pichet of wine, never a bottle--it's very good and saves beaucoup d'argent. At home, though, we drink Bordeaux from the supermarket; it costs less than $10 a bottle and is better than any wine we've ever had anywhere. If only we had enough room in our suitcases to bring home a case or two! After dinner we improve our listening skills by watching French TV. Our favorites are the detective shows Une Femme d'Honneur and Alice Nevers: Le Juge est une Femme, both of which star fashionable, flirtatious, feisty French women solving grisly crimes. In fact, it's time for an episode of Alice Nevers now, so I'll have to go. À plus tard!