Île Saint Louis

How many times can one college student afford to go to Breakfast in America per semester?

I think we’re going to find out.  Today was my third visit to Breakfast In America, which I have blogged about in the past.  It’s a fantastic American diner that serves all-American food…perfect for a study abroad student who is craving a (literal) taste of home.  I had a delicious vanilla milkshake, a ginormous cheeseburger with fries…and a pancake with dark chocolate chips and raspberries…decadent, and oh-so-unhealthy.

It’s okay though, because I decided to walk it off afterward.  Caitlin left to explore the Louvre, Lindsey went to meet up with Chris and the others, and I decided to explore Île Saint Louis, which is one of the two islands in the middle of the Seine.  Notre Dame is located on Île de la Cité, so I have been there several times.  Île Saint Louis was exciting though, partly because of its size, and partly because it’s much quieter than the rest of the city.  There is no public transportation running on the little island as far as I know (maybe a few bus lines, but I didn’t see any), and so almost everyone who was there arrived on foot.  I walked in and out of stores filled with adorable and interesting knick knacks, and eventually sat myself down on a little ledge overlooking the river.  I sat there, people watching and soaking up the Parisian sunshine. After about half an hour, I started walking back to the apartment.

Oh, and I can’t forget to mention my second visit to Marché aux Fleurs, which is a beautiful market filled with flowers, plants, and unique garden decorations.  They had a lot of other stores with even more trinkets and souvenirs, so I really enjoyed checking everything out.

After a couple of hours at the apartment, Caitlin returned and we got ready to meet up with the others at Sacré Coeur; we were planning on watching the sun set over Paris (my favorite thing in all the land).  We were running a little bit late, but we met up with Chrissy and the others shortly after 8 and snagged some spots on the steps in front of the beautiful basilica.  There must’ve been about 15 BC kids and Chrissy, our adopted BC buddy.  We had a lovely assortment of wine, and were sipping it in quite a classy manner as the sun attempted to set in the hazy Parisian sky.  Although the sunset was less than spectacular, it was still so nice to be in such good company.  A few people were playing guitar and singing in front of us for a while, which was great.  A guy came along a bit later with a speaker, and began to beat box…most unfortunate.  I think he and an Algerian man were pretty close to getting in a fist fight, but for some reason the fight was avoided when the beat boxer gave the mic to the Algerian to do his Algerian pride chant…?

After a couple hours at Sacré Coeur, we left to go to the Moose, which is the Canadian bar just around the corner from my house.  Chrissy and I were ecstatic to learn that they had bottles of Bulmer’s, and thus had a lovely evening reminiscing about Ireland and sipping on our bottles of Bulmer’s.

All in all, an excellent night.