Galaries Lafayette

What an interesting night. Fell asleep at about 11.30pm, my dreams starting almost before my head hit the pillow. However, half way through the night I awoke suddenly to massive thunder and lightning and pelting rain! I didn't even know Paris had thunderstorms and so initially wondered if all the pastries I've been eating were finally getting to my head. I somehow managed to continue to sleep despite the deafening roars filling the night air.

This morning we set off to the 9th arrondisement for a spot of shopping at Galaries Lafayette, the most extravagant store known to man kind. With about 4 metro transfers to get there, its definitely worth your while (if you can ignore the hoardes of other tourists getting snap happy under the magnificent ceiling). We decided we needed more energy to deal with the throngs of khaki laden, camera weilding Americans so headed accross the street and down a petite rue (where the food is slighty cheaper as its away from the tourists, albeit still expensive) and found a delicious creperie.

I chose a crepe avec confiture des framboises and it was divine. Its delivered like an ice cream, wrapped up in a cone of paper and its perfectly acceptable to eat with your hands (at least thats what I'm guessing judging by how few stares we got). We happily nibbled away while people watching and eavesdropping in an effort to decipher our fast talking Parisian neighbours (mission failed).

With a full stomach we headed accross the street from Galaries Lafayette to H and M. My dream came true. Its just as good as I remembered it (of course, who could ever doubt the wonder and enchantment of this place), and was filled with racks upon racks of french style vetements delight. The french assistants milled around judgingly, the tourists took photos of coat hangers and I stared in disbelief at where I was. Before we had time to try on every single item in the store we headed back to the metro to catch a train to class, the rain failing to put a damper on the fairytale setting (plus I was half thanking the weather God for finally relenting on his insane heat).

Walking through the giant arches that flag the school, its still hard to believe that the historically beautiful Haussman style buildings are really home to my new study space. There is something about the cobblestone pavement and the rich architecture of St Germain de Pres that will never cease to stop me in my tracks.

After signing up for the boat trip through Paris' wonderments and smiling my way through Methodologie class (due to the array of accents in my group, there's something about a Brazilian speaking French to a Slovakian speaking English that really gets me going), it was then time for the walking tour of St Germain de Pres and the area surrounding SP. We were shown various cafe's and restaurants and the coolest bars to hang out in during school time (not during school you understand, after classes...most of the time). We were led through winding streets with apartments home to cute wee flowerboxes and wrought iron spiral balconies, with old women hanging out washing, smiling young children (and smiling older men, but not in a good way).

Before we noticed it was well past 7pm and we were all sent back to the metro to head home. Taking my standard route home, I had a dinner of crackers, bread and apricot puree followed by a trip to Marche FranPrix were we brought fresh pastries from the boulangerie amidst the locals buying baguettes (its not a stereotype, there are almost more baguettes here than people, obviously that wouldn't be possible if you think logically but you get my drift).

A cooler night is welcome after the stifling heat from the previous days. Tomorrow is set aside for buying a cellphone and exploring an arrondisement while Sunday might be a trip to Versailles!