A Woman's Reflection on Travel: Yesterday I finally became a tourist

So, yesterday I finally became a tourist. I have a friend who is from Paris and she recently asked me where I have been in Paris so far. Let's see, the Apple Store, the bank, the post office, a few patisseries, a few chocolatiers and trying to catch up with Meet-up groups for people like me who are here on our own. But not one single tourist attraction. I'm in a beautiful city and I am doing "errands"! Well, that has got to stop!

So yesterday I met my niece's friend, Sheri, who is also residing in Paris and we went to a well established local French café that is barely on the map for tourists - except that Yelp has now picked it up so it may become crowded very soon! The place is called . . .

Isn't it just charming! I guess the locals have been hanging out here for years! I got us a table and while I was waiting

for Sheri to show up the waitress came over and asked me, in French of course, what I would like. I tried to give my standard "Je suis L'Ameriken. No parle Francais" when the server gave me a questioning look and a lady nearby asked me what I wanted "in English" and told the server that I was waiting for a friend. And of course, that opened up a nice conversation with my new friend Maha. She is a native of Paris. She said that she used to come to this café when she was growing up but now she lives in Brussels and is in Paris on business. She said that if I ever get to Brussels to look her up. She gave me her business card and viola! I am planning a trip to Brussels hopefully relatively soon!

So, when Sheri showed up we had the morning coffee/tea thing going on and I blundered through asking if we could order food. No, that's not until noon! Ok, we planned on hanging out here for a while visiting anyway, so lunch at noon it is!

Well, when I go to a new place I like to try a bunch of stuff because chances are I may never be going back to that restaurant again so I really want to check it out. So, Sheri and I ordered . . .

A salad called "eggs with mayonnaise". Ok, so what exactly is that? Well, it's a hard boiled egg topped with mayonnaise! Just like it says on the menu for Pete's sake!

Then we decided on another appetizer that was highly rated by Yelp. Mozarella and tomato. And here's what we got.

Will ya take a look at this! It's a work of art! As you can see there is prosciutto on top, daps of melted mozzarella, tomatoes, deep fried mozzarella that looks like toast, and a pesto sauce. It was delicious!

Then we wanted two main courses to share so we ordered Salmon (that word we could read) and St. Jacques something (that word I couldn't read) but the server said "scallops". I love scallops! So there you have it!

This is the salmon believe it or not!

. . . and this is the lovely scallops wrapped in bacon on risotto. Both very tasty!

So, the French have kind of an unwritten rule, NO LEFTOVERS! I taught myself before I came over here that I would have to deal with it so we nibbled on our main courses to save room to nibble on dessert! So, Sheri left it up to me to decide what to order for dessert and again, we have to taste this fun stuff, so we ordered two different desserts and shared. We had crème brulee, of course, and this cherry custard kind of dessert that the guy next to us ordered that looked really good.

And it was really good! The French really know how to bring out passion in cooking.

And take a look at this cute business card!

Sorry, I haven't exactly mastered how to use this program so you are just going to have to lay on your side to look at it! But, isn't it incredible clever?

So, Sheri took her leave. She is actually working remotely from France and had to go to work. Clever girl!

So, now I am going to show you a couple of sights around town.

This is the park close to Victor Hugo's former residence. The day is warm (okay so it's 60 degrees) but the people are out enjoying nature.

Victor Hugo, who wrote "Les Miserables" had a home in this neighborhood. The museum is free to the public.

Of the artifacts displayed in Victor Hugo's former home, I chose to take a picture of this. It is one of the books he wrote, opened up, with the sign Je Suis Charlie - the slogan many people were saying during the demonstration for freedom of speech this last January. The French have long been proponents of "Libertad",