Belated travelogue post, Part I

Better late than never, right?

So, first I went to France. And it was excellent.

Murielle and I were happy to see each other.


I was pretty darn exhausted, though. That first day we went to lunch with her new (to me), awesome boyfriend Herve at this delicious little restaurant with a very cute, quirky ambience and place settings. Josh's mom would've loved it. We walked around quite a bit, and zoned out quite a bit at the hotel, since the jet lag stick had pretty much beat me upside the head by mid-day. As per usual, we had plenty of dorky fun, no matter what the activity. We were just so durn happy to see each other.

Our hotel was right in the middle of downtown - ideally placed for maximum wandering. (Check out the view.) The next day we went to a cooking class at the Musee du Chocolat. It was a fun Valentine's Day-themed menu where we learned how to make a lovely three-layer mousse au chocolat and these chocolate-dipped pralines. It was awesome, not just because of all the chocolate, or because Murry and I kept giving each other amused looks during the chef's somewhat bungled demonstration, but because I actually understood nearly all the French. That boggles my mind.

Later that night we went to see A la Recherche du Bonheur with Herve. Fun! And, more importantly, I managed to stay awake throughout. This was key, people. We had to bid adieu to Herve (unfortunately, didn't get to see all that much of him, but enough to know that he is a good egg and cute enough for my best friend). Later that night, we went out to dinner at the savory Canas y Tapas restaurant, where we plotted our screenplay.

Monday was our last full day together -- alas! Time always goes by way too quickly. Even so, we tried to enjoy ourselves. We spent a rousing day going throughout the city for various reasons. First, we walked all over creation in search of a crepe restaurant, finally finding an open on (Crep' Mili, where I had some yummy alcoholic apple cider and a galette with zucchini, gruyere, and garlic. It was incredibly satisfying.

Post-food we did a spot of shopping. We first made some failed attempts to navigate French clothing stores, but then headed for the fnac. Fnac has everything. Okay, not everything -- it's more like Borders smushed with Best Buy: you can find books, CDs, DVDs, and computer equipment. Murry and I trolled around for livres en francais. I snatched up Ne tirez pas sur l'oiseau moqueur, while Murry grabbed a French translation of a Jonathan Kellerman mystery.

Next, it was on to Auchan. Auchan really does it have everything. It's like Target, on steroids, with a supermarket attached. We went in search of cooking supplies, but milled around and found all sorts of things. For some reason, I find it absolutely delightful to look at grocery stores when traveling abroad. It's both foreign and familiar. Murry introduced me to the most addictive snack, and I also picked up some cute ghost crackers for later. Why are they so cute? I have no idea. They just are.

That night we ate pizza, watched Les Poupees Russes, and talked until late. The next day, Murry and I woke up late, took a lot of dorky photos, and then had to hustle in order to make it on time to our respective workday and flight.

And that was it. Another visit, short but sweet.

I'll get to Dublin soon enough...