Découvrir

(Saturday, 18 Oct, 4pm)

...means ‘to discover’. It sums up my day so far.

I accidentally found my favourite café, in the 20eme, called Culture Rapid. It had a bit of a revolutionary themed / DIY art decor. It felt nice, was friendly, with good music (Laurie Anderson when I arrived, followed by some reggae). I ordered a crepe with my coffee, so I could stay a bit longer. They have an evening events program including spoken word, cabaret, and erotic puppetry, so I’ll be making a trip back. And I only found it because I got hopelessly lost, heading to the 3eme (which is in the opposite direction). Thus proving that being lost need not be bad.

On the way to the café I also discovered a Moroccan restaurant, with €6 vegetarian cous cous. I misread the address though, and now I can’t remember where it is. I remember where I thought I was, but of course, that’s where I wasn’t. It was closed then, but should be open now. I think I’ll set out to find it, but that could be a difficult task.

The border of the 11eme and 20eme is another of my favourite spots. There’s a Vietnamese pocket, a Jewish pocket, more African people and shops, a few queers. There’s also a lot of old French traditionals – I liked how Café Progres was only patronised by old white French men.

Another discovery was my new favourite bookshop. The children’s books were amazing, and at one point I had three in my hand. I put two back (for now) after contemplating my suitcase. But I dare say I’ll return. They also had a large Kristeva selection, and cheap! €8.50 for the French version of ‘The Powers of Horror”, which I bought (half the price I’d pay in Australia; and it’s the original French text; and it’s further incentive to learn French).

My final discovery (so far) was an Algerian patisserie. So so unbelievably good! I now want to visit Algeria more than ever. For now I’ll just make do with the sweets. I tried a pistachio one and a hazelnut one (which means there’s approx 45 others I’m yet to taste).

Something’s going on outside. Rue de Filles du Calvaire was blocked off when I passed through, with Police everywhere, and I could here a marching band. Now I can hear street crowds. Maybe it’s some special day. Watching the traffic was quite amusing though. All the side streets had traffic jams that weren’t able to move anywhere, and horn tooting was getting more and more frequent.

Time now to cherche pour les cous cous. And maybe I’ll see what all this racket’s about.