Meeting Up With Pierre

22 Octobre 2007

I meet Pierre at Sentiers (which is apparently near where he works) for a late lunch. He met me at the metro station around 3pm and we walked around the neighborhood until we found a quaint restaurant to have lunch at. I took a glass of red wine; he had beer. When we ordered I took a croque-monsieur; he took a croque-madame, which is usually a grilled cheese sandwich topped with an egg cooked sunny-side up. (Sometimes this sandwich also has ham in it; just depends on the café.) When the waiter brought out our order, I laughed when Pierre told him “Croque-monsieur pour madame, croque-madame pour monsieur.” It was the truth but I am always amazed at how amusing the French language can be. While eating, a homeless guy came up to us to see if he could get some money. Pierre told him sorry, that we didn’t have anything, without even looking at him. He continued to walk up and down the street. On his third time past us, we had already finished eating but he asked for a cigarette, which Pierre gave him one. Amazing how he wouldn’t share his food, but he was ok with giving a cigarette. Maybe he doesn’t believe in being denied the small pleasures of life. Once we decided to leave the café, we walked to the Forum des Halles, which is a large shopping center that is connected to a metro station. There were tons of people walking around and we went to the FNAC, a large electronic/music store, almost like a Best Buy, a Barnes and Noble, and a TicketMaster all put together. Pierre wanted to buy a ticket to a concert for HocusPocus, a French rap group, but unfortunately he was unable to do so, since the concert was sold out. We continued to walk around the center, looking at different items. After about an hour, we had to leave for different appointments. The attached metro station, Chatelet, is super crazy (with traffic) because there is the metro line and two or three RERs that meet up at this station. I’m learning to appreciate getting to see all my friends from Miami, especially my French friends.