I wouldn't have expected making it to a third post on the same subject, but here I am.These are some of the more personal things, in the sense that I actually spent a decent amount of time in these places.
Here is our city's Monoprix, which is a French store found (so far as I know) only in cities. That is to say that they're never really all that large but they serve as one of the main and only chains of grocery stores to be found directly in bigger cities. Our city was not big, but it was definitely nice to have a store like this in the center. Having said that, let me mention one important fact. Monoprix is EXPENSIVE. I paid around 30 dollars for the cheapest towel they had, and it was tiny. I still go there sometimes to pick up one or two things that I need at the last minute, but it was not an economically sound place to buy the majority of my groceries.
Just next to the Monoprix is my bank. I guess I shouldn't blame my bank for the fact that I'm always broke, but to be honest I'm a little salty towards this institution. When I had to overdraft my account in December to pay for taxis getting to the airport for my flight back to the US, this bank (BNP Paribas) was a complete dick. Getting back to my room, I had three or four pieces of mail from them threatening to make it so that I could never open another account in France for as long as I lived if I ever overdrafted again. I'm tempted to call their bluff, but I think I'll err on the side of caution and just get money out of my American account when necessary (as I just did about an hour ago).
Here is my bakery. There are so many things I could say about this place, but let me just start with; don't ever think that your baker is hot. Once you do, you'll be walking through the city and thinking to yourself, "Hey, why don't I go get a baguette even though we already have one at home? Then I can see the hot baker." This is a trap. THIS WILL MAKE YOU GAIN A LOT OF WEIGHT. I can't even imagine how many crumbles, sandwiches, croissants, and pain chocolat aux amandes I bought here. Not to mention ATE. This is, hands-down, the place that I love-hated more than any other (let's be serious here. Mostly loved).
You want a dollar store in France? Too bad (tant pis). The best you can get is "C'est deux euros..." or as it translates into English: "It's two euros..." As you could probably guess, the name implies the concept; everything in the store costs two euros. One of my favorite places to go right after payday to buy something completely unnecessary and AWESOME.
Coming up is a look at some of the cafes I went to the most often. All of them were distinctly different from one another, and it was nice to get a mixture of the three (as well as some other randoms).
This cafe was pretty classy, and had mostly older clientele. I usually went here with Lusia to discuss future grad school plans, why my life was falling apart, how things were going with teaching, etc.
Bar L'Endroit (Bar the Place, if you translate literally) was my bar. It was here that I filled out my graduate school application forms, where I downloaded music and TV episodes when the University was closed or I wanted coffee while doing it, and where I heard some of the new music playing in France (which is to say American music that I hadn't heard yet). The bar owners were really nice, although sometimes the other people in the bar made it a bit obnoxious.
This was definitely the trendy cafe, where everyone was young and the coffees came in a billion different varieties. It had offerings much more similar to an American cafe, in comparison with the other spots. I came here with Marlene a few times, and always got one of the girly coffee drinks, even though I normally take my coffee super strong with some sugar and cream. I just couldn't resist the temptation of having something similar to a mocha, oh god I love mochas so much... but I digress.
Dear Tourism Office,
I will forever be in your debt for the list you gave me of the free wifi spots in the city.
Love,
Jared
Speaking of looking for free internet, here is the park where I spent several desperate hours moving from one bench to the next hoping, in vain, that through some miraculous stroke of good luck I would stumble upon free internet. It's also a nice place to go eat one of the delicious crumbles I get on a pretty much weekly basis from my bakery...
There you have it. That's my city. Not the coolest place in the world, but it works.
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