i woke up early this morning, for no apparent reason. i’d planned to sleep in but wasn’t tired anymore, so i got up, put on some jeans and walked to the french bakery for some breakfast. it’s four blocks away and the closest i’ve found to authentic in the city. i bought some croissants and wanted a ficelle to make a nice tartine, but ficelles and baguettes aren’t ready until about 8 a.m. (i got there at 7:30).
every morning in paris i ate breakfast here:
this cafe was down the street from our hotel, on the busy corner of carrefour d’odeon and st. gernain de pres. for 6,60 EU (1 EU = $1.39), i got the petit dejeuner complet, consisting of a croissant, a tartine (also known as half of a half baguette with butter and jam; B pointed out that tartine is actually any open-faced sandwich) and a drink; either tea, a grand cafe creme (like a cafe au lait) or hot chocolate. kind of expensive but actually not; the hotel breakfast cost 10 EU and was only cold cereal and watery fruit cocktail, according to C.
in france you can stay as long as you want at an establishment, and you can smoke. (that will change in 2008 when the french government makes it illegal to smoke in bars or restaurants. thank god! nothing like a dude puffing on a gauloise next to you to ruin your meal. then again, the mixture of cigarettes and cafe is oh so french.)
i took this photo on the sly without flash so as not to draw too much attention to myself. when i showed it to some gals at work, they said the place looked american. ? maybe the red vinyl booths have a diner feel, but to me the place screams france.