On a mission

So after the horrors that was Sacré-Cœur, my friend and I went through the rest of the day on different missions. The first was to drown our anger in frothy cappuccinos and the sugary goodness of crêpes. As a matter of fact, most of our missions were food related... Food always helps. Especially delicious, French food. 

By the time we had eaten every last bit of the amazing nutella and chestnut crepes, it had started to rain. Walking through Paris in the drizzle, the city is still beautiful.

  

We met up with our other friend, and went on to our second mission: find macarons. It was one of my main objectives in going to France - to taste proper macarons. Our plan for today was to buy some with us to eat while on top of the Arc de Triomphe, watching the Eiffel Tower sparkle in the distance. That was the plan. But for some reason it was really difficult to find (sensibly priced) macarons in the capital city of France? Every patisserie seemed to be out. We did find other beautiful mini cakes, but only stopped to take a picture of those. After drooling a bit, of course. We did stop by properly in the Lindt shop, to smell the chocolate, and buy some gifts (not for ourselves. Well, not only for ourselves, anyway). 

Would you look at these?

I want them all

 Most of the restaurants we'd found in Paris had one glaring fault - terribly boring vegan and vegetarian options. So tonight, being the last night, we'd done our homework and made our way to one of the best vegan places in Paris - Hank Vegan Burger, on 55 Rue des Archives. Go there. It's an order. Book your flight, and go now. Had we known about it sooner, we would never have settled for the dull chèvre chaud sallads we'd had the other night. Hank Vegan Burger was amazing, with five different burger options to try, potato wedges and coleslaw sides (and probably others), organic drinks... Even if you normally eat meat, you wouldn't be disappointed with Hank. My friend can attest to that statement in court. 

After pigging out and getting a happy from the food, we took the metro to the Arc. Then we went into a small mall close by to wait for nightfall. Which was around the time I realised I'd made a horrible mistake. A mistake that had us calling the restaurant to ask if the shopping bag I'd left there (stupid) had been found. By them, not a random thief. It had. Well, a shopping bag with chocolate had been found. To make sure it was mine, we asked if it also included the pink lingerie I'd bought. The poor French dude on the phone stuttered out that, indeed, it did. We took the metro back. 

Chocolate and lingerie safe in hand once more, we took a third trip under ground, and emerged by the Arc as darkness had engulfed the city. Not that Paris ever gets dark. It's the city of lights after all, and we made our way up the many, many steps to enjoy the view. It was mesmerizing. Standing there, on a monument dedicated to the memory of those who died in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, looking out over a city so full of light and life, eating a few incredibly delicious macarons, watching the Eiffel Tower sparkling in the distance... It really was a wonderful end to a, despite this morning, brilliant trip.