Things Not To Do When Stuck in a Restaurant

Bonjour tout le monde!

So, I've successfully not died during my first week in France!! Wooohooo! *Celebration* I haven't really done anything of huge import or interest. Mostly last week was a lot of paperwork, and this week is the beginning of classes.

However, I did manage to get stuck in a restaurant with Maddie and Cindy. No joke. We were hungry out on the town Saturday evening, and decided to get something to eat. After searching for quite some time (and finding a game shop I must revisit when sales start tomorrow!), we finally found a little bar/restaurant on the rue de Borgogne - the Bar Tapas.

Anyway, we go inside, we seat ourselves, and wait. And wait. And wait and wait (and wait and wait). And.... well, you get the idea. I think we sat for a good half an hour before we were finally able to catch the guy who was working (just one guy working) to ask for menus. He brings us some menus. WONDERFUL! Except they're drink menus, not food menus, and Cindy is practically starving. We decide to make the best of it, and wait another 15 minutes (or so) to order our drinks.

Note to self (and everyone else): Affligem aux fruits rouges is the best beer ever invented. I hope they have it in the States, or I'm never drinking beer again.

We sat for a while sipping on our drinks, trying to figure out whether we should just drink our drinks, pay and leave and find somewhere else to eat, or stick it out. Well, we were all WAY too embarrassed to leave, so we stayed. Eventually, we were able to catch the guy again to ask about food menus. He said, "Oh, they're up on the wall!" (Except he obviously expressed his sentiments in French.) And then he told us he'd give us a few minutes to look everything over. So we take about 2 seconds to decide. And then we wait. And wait and wait and wait. Finally, probably another 20 minutes later, we got his attention so we could place our orders.

This whole tryst took about 2 1/2 hours in total. Angela thinks this is normal. Maddie thinks that it's not. Judging by my previous experience in French restaurants, it was very strange. But I suppose this was my first time in a French bar. So I'm not entirely sure. It was an adventure anyway. And the guy who worked there was very nice. :)

Oh, and we went to see the Cathedral d'Orléans as well. It was gorgeous. I only have a few very bad photos, unfortunately. I'm not a very good picture-taker.

Here's the front of the cathedral! It was kind of rainy that day. (Welcome to Orléans! It's rainy a lot!)

A plaque to remember the American soldiers who fought in the World Wars.

Relics! Pretty cool.

This flag made me laugh so hard. It translates to "Bastard of Orléans". There were a bunch of other flags around with people's names on them. No idea what this is about.

After the cathedral (and before dinner), we got hot chocolates at a little café - La Pipe de Bois - near the cathedral.

See those little colorful squares? Those are sugar. Just in case your super rich hot chocolate isn't sweet enough for you. Want some sugar with your sugar?

Alors, I think that's all for now! I think we'll be going to a chateau this weekend, so I should have some interesting updates about that sometime next week.