Trip 38 Day 15

One of our favorite places along rue de Rivoli is Angelina. Though they serve meals, they serve delicious pastries and, what we came for, chocolate chaud l’african (hot chocolate). It’s so thick and it’s served with a small pot of whipped cream. You’re supposed to mix it into the hot chocolate, but some people have it simple (by itself). On a cold day, the line can be quite long, but not today.

L’african

Like other restaurants and cafés, there’s no hurry to finish and we had to work a bit to catch the attention of the serveuse (waitress) to get the ticket. I don’t think the prices have changed since we were here in November, 2021. 17€ (~$18).

We decided to check Cedric Grolet’s other boutique on Ave Opera to see what different items they might have today.

We had a latte at Pret A Manger while enjoying our St Honoré. Carmelized top with a crunchy base, quite good and very different than the Pamplemousse from yesterday.

Someplace we return to almost every time we visit Paris is rue Cler on the left bank, near the Ecole Militaire metro stop. We’ve stayed at a hotel on rue Cler several times in the past, but the main attractions are the markets and shops (video)

There are shops that specialize in fruit & vegetables, cheese, wine, honey, seafood, flowers, butchers, cafés and of course, the boulangerie (bakery).

The street is nominally closed to traffic unless it’s a delivery vehicle or a taxi, etc, so normally, people walk down the street. We had been looking for the vendor that makes crepes, though it looks as though that store may have closed. But in walking back, found that the boulangerie made them.

Crepe with bananas and Nutella, yummo!

We sat down at one of the boulangerie’s tables to enjoy the crepe.

Roissybus tickets for our trip to the airport in a few days are sold near the Opera on rue Scribe as well as the Metro stations. We once learned a lesson about this. Don’t wait until you’re ready to leave and find out the ticket machine isn’t working and you have to go find an ATM to buy a ticket on the bus.

While waiting on the Metro, we noticed a couple of vending machines that allow you to pay with your phone (“appuyez pour payer” or “sans contact” – tap to pay). Most stores use tap to pay terminals and it seems most people pay (NFC tap to pay) with their phone, something not as common in the US. Rarely do we have to use the physical card and even more rarely, cash. They haven’t perfected their Navigo Easy pass though, I can buy more tickets within the pass, but neither of the phones I have seem to allow “appuyez pour payer” (it’s supposed to work) and I have to use the physical card.

A little light show from the Eiffel Tower (video).