The Myth of the Chocolate Banana Croissant (Croissant du Banane et Chocolat)

We finally heard from our friends in Southwest France. It looks like we are definitely going to be visiting them!

We showered, started our laundry, and were out the door rather fast. It was raining outside as we headed out we ran back upstairs to grab an umbrella. We hopped the metro to the 12e to try to find a computer store so that I could buy a PCMCIA flash card reader.

We went to a place called Sourchat (?). It's a store that is heavily advertised in the Paris metros with all sorts of computer deals blazed on the walls of the metro. It was larger than a typical Silicon Valley Fry's and I remarked that we were in a "French Fry's" which gave John quite a good laugh. I had seen such a card in a book that was back in our studio, so I knew that they had one for a mere 9€90. We found the item and headed for the cashier. What was odd here was that they put the item into a bad and the I went to the cashier to pay. I had to remove the item from the bag to pay, then have a man near the front door inspect the receipt (much like they do at Costco when you are about to exit). It seemed a little weird that they bagged the item first, but I'm sure there's a reason for it.

From there we walked down the street to the Gare du Lyon to buy our TGV (bullet train) tickets for Agen. We were able to get a 25% discount for traveling "a deux" on second class so our tickets wound up costing a total of 205€ roundtrip. I think that when I had checked airfare it was like 189€ each, so this was quite a savings on euros, but not on time, as the ride would be 4 hours in each direction.

Having bought our tickets, we headed to our favorite internet bar, the Pont du Neuf cafe, and had 25cL of wine, a chevre sandwich (not toasted! waaa!), and a mushroom omlette (delish!). By now we had gotten to know one of the waiters that by the name of Pascal. He was very friendly and even spoke English to us without us having to ask. He was always a warm cheerful face for us to see when we'd visit. This time he stopped by and chatted with us. We told him we were going to Bordeaux/Agena and that we were leaving the next day. He gave us his email address and we promised to drop him a line when we got home. Perhaps he will visit us here in the SF area should he make it this way one day.

We tried out the new PCMCIA card while were dining on our lunch and it worked perfectly in transferring pictures from the flash card to the laptop. We really needed to free up space on the camera as the camera was jammed full of pictures! This was a much faster method of of transferring pictures than using the canon cable. Besides, I wasn't able to get the canon software onto Randy's laptop as we didn't have the CDROM device. We checked email and then headed out to try to see the catacombs of Paris...something I'd been looking forward to since before we left.

We took the metro over to the Montparnase area and found the entrance to the catacombs was very very close to the metro. The entrance was actually in the Place (circular area in the middle of a bunch of streets that converge into a cirlce). Unfortunately, the catacombs are closed until May 2005 as they are undergoing a rennovation process. I was really upset that I wasn't going to be able to see them, but I know that John was relieved. He had been grumbling about being underground with 6 million skeletons since I first came up with the idea of touring them. No matter. They're not going anywhere and I will certainly see them on the next trip!

So instead of the metro, we hopped a bus and headed in the direction of the Musee Rodin. John noticed the tomb of Napoleon (Invalides) and decided he wanted to see that instead. It was somewhat late in the day and by the time we found the front of the tomb, it was too late to buy a ticket. Musee Rodin, according to a man at the door, was also closed for the day. So back to the metro we went. Along the way, we came across a parcel left by a Parisian dog. Amazingly, someone had gone through the time to stick a white tag into the pile of excrement with the lable "Merde" on it. I snapped a picture of this fecal oddiity and will post it here. If you don't believe that we made it to Paris, this is proof positive that we were there.

Back on the No 1 Metro, we headed for the Marais. We stopped at the Auld Alliance (first Scottish pub in Paris) and John went in to order us a pair of Guiness while I set off on foot to try to find the shop in the Marais that sold me that Banana Chocolate Croissant the first night we were in Paris. I was foiled by an immobilier office (real estate office) and stopped into to chat briefly with an agent. I took a card from her, a magazine of listings, and made my way back to my beer.

I didn't find that boulangerie/pastissier shop that sold me that fateful Croissant aux banane et chocolate, but if you, my reader, know where this shop is, I will be eternally grateful for the location. You see, I drove my dear John utterly crazy trying to find this shop a second time...to no avail. It is in the Marais, on a street that runs perpendicular to the Seine. The shop is on the right side of a narrow street, and a young man (a "brother", if you will) was running the shop. The shop was tiny, a window on each side for displaying the cookies to the passerbys, and upon entering the shop area for customers was rather small. I think the exterior of the shop was red, but I am guessing here.

I think I shall have to post a reward for the person that can find me this shop.