Day 7 - Trouble in the Streets

After not doing much except the Longchamps ride yesterday, I wanted to knock out a few items today. First on the list was Angelina on the Rue de Rivoli. It's a very fancy chocolat boutique. It was recommended by my cousin Gus in Miami. I had to go or he might hold that over my head and say, "Dude, you missed out man!" I purchased two chocolate bouchees. Those two little items cost almost 7 Euro. Rent on the Rue de Rivoli must be very high. They also need to pay for the extravagant environment at this place.

Dale purchased the hot chocolate l'Africain. I am not a fan of hot chocolate but this stuff...WOW!! It's decadent. lethally rich, liquid chocoate. The best I have ever had. We didn't try their famous Mont Blanc. I can try it next time.

The next stop was also a Gus suggestion: Pierre Hermé in St Germain, another fancy chocolate boutique. I bought a caramel macaron and packed it in my bag along with the bouchees for consumption later.

A bike shop was next on our list. It was suggested by our American contact here in Paris, Andrew, as a possible track bike resource as I wanted to race at the Vincennes track. We located the store in a somewhat rundown part of town. The shop itself was a hole in the wall packed tight with all sorts of vintage parts. There was a chrome bike by the front window that had a €3950 price tag on it. It must have been an antique. With all the crap in there, that was an unlikely sight. The shop was closed and this little paper sign on the door stated that it would open at 15:37. An odd time I thought. We decided to take off to our next objective.

We started to see lower-tier street markets and not-so-friendly looking people on the street. We were not in the tourist zone for sure. However, it wasn't so bad that we needed to worry about our safety. This changed a bit when I noticed a heated argument in the street. Traffic was blocked and some police officers came in to break it up. I stopped and started filming the scene. One guy objected to this and started to let me know about it. He even nudged my camera a bit. Another guy got in my face and started asking me why I was filming this. I didn't understand his french but I knew what he was saying. I wish I could have said, "Because it's interesting." I just shrugged my shoulders and put my camera away. He started to reach for my bag and I gathered that he wanted to take my camera. I stiffened up and pulled on my bag hard. He backed off and motioned for me to leave. So we did.

It intrigued me that this young 20-something guy would care so much about a simple filming. I would imagine that in the U.S., a kid like that could care less. Perhaps he saw it as an invasion of privacy or some other sort of social faux pas. He is someone I could have handled physically but with a crowd around me and Dale getting concerned, we left.

We crossed back through the tourist-zone membrane and stopped for another of Dale's beloved art nouveau metro entrances. While he snapped his shots, I helped out two British women with directions. It's always to nice to connect with english-speaking people in a non-english-speaking milieu.

The Café des Deux Moulins was an intermediary stop for us as Dale recognized this locale as a scene in the movie Amelie. Required pics were taken.

The Moulin Rouge was right around the corner. Numerous tourists were there taking shots with dancing poses. I wanted to see a show but with tickets starting at €150, I decided to skip it. We hung out in the sun for a while and continued on.

La Maison du Chocolat was our third chocolate shop of the day. One could really gain some weight here with all these decadent sweets. That's why cycling (and other activities) is so important. You bring you exercise regimen into your vacation and that negates any diet fluctuations. Plus, you get to experience new venues for your sport such as parks, paths, etc.

I had two scoops of ice cream instead of chocolate this time. One scoop of special vanilla and the other scoop of pistachio. Delectable to say the least. Dale was certainly pleased with the quality of his sorbet and the other items he purchased.

After showering at the hotel, we walked over to the Galeries Lafayette. This is a very nice shopping center spanning three buildings. The interior space showcases a 10-story ceiling with stained glass. We went to the souvenir section and bought a couple of t-shirts and refrigerator magnets. I buy magnets in every significant town as a nice memory of my vacation. I go into my frig so often that I get reminded frequently.

The gourmet grocery section was hideously expensive. The beluga caviar was €180 per kilo. I have never seen beluga caviar before. There huso variety was even more expensive. I looked briefly online and I saw prices that are way higher.

I bought some pancetta to compare it the stuff I buy here. I tried sampling it afterwards but it was took hard to chew. I also bought some canned duck foie gras for €22. I hope it's as delicious as the other stuff I had.

Dinner was at a Bistro Romain on Boulevard des Italiens. I had the Spaghetti Bolognaise after some foie gras and toast. Delicious as usual. After walking back to the hotel, I rode over to Haagen-Dazs one last time and ordered the usual. I took the ride home a little slower as it was my last one in Paris, at least for a while. The bike was packed. The suitcase was packed. I even had time to surf the web before I went to sleep.

Bonsoir.