Let the games begin!

This past weekend my friend Charlotte came to Paris for a visit (she's in Strasbourg now), and she brought us real 'pain d'épices' or 'gingerbread,' as they translated it. It contained none of the ingredients I consider integral to gingerbread, but it was tasty. I killed the bag last night. Oops.

On Sunday, Charlotte and I went to Belleville for ravioli soup. Don't be put off by the name, it's the super Chinese part of town (although typically this isn't where you'd think of), and this was Chinese ravioli soup. Delicious, and CHEAP. Looks like I found my new substitute Chinese-American food ...

This random building had 1984 spraypainted on it ... Reminds me of that mailbox near Chez Prune last year. Another conspiracy?! If so, it's not very subtle.

EMMA WRIGHT, THIS IS DESTINY. They had a giant advertisement in the window for Bubble tea, and I stopped dead in my tracks.

Then Charlotte and I stopped in some random store packed with oddities. The top says "Sacred bonds of marriage," and then "Together for life." I'm praying that this is meant ironically. Please, please, tell me this is intended as a gag gift. I wish the packaging made the "joke" more evident.

Resisted the temptation to buy this. For the time being anyway ... I can always go back.

Before meeting up with friends in an Irish pub for hot chocolates (I know, it blew my mind too), we did a run-through of H&M. Found this "creation" (their word, not mine, but I find it surprisingly accurate). Know what that pricetag says?

199€.

No, I did not accidentally type a second 9. You read it correctly. 199€, for a dress that looks like the one the fairies make in Sleeping Beauty, before they decide that they're too incompetent to do anything without magic. I would love to see the cashier ring someone up with one. How could ANYONE keep a straight face?

I went to two different concerts at the Salle Pleyel this week (Monday and Wednesday nights). Monday was the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, and I fell in love with a second violinist. Unfortunately I was in the third row, and I think he saw me staring at him. FORGOT THEY CAN SEE YOU IN THE THIRD ROW. Oh right, and he's Russian. SEE YA.

On the way home I peered down the Champs Elysées. Not sure why I went home this way, in a moment of disorientation I chose the incorrect 'fastest route home.' The blaze of light in the middle-ish is the giant ferris wheel at the other end (Concorde). The lights on the trees look really pretty.