It snowed. It snowed in Paris. WHILE I WAS HERE. 

I think I can now lock myself in Australia for the rest of my life and die happy knowing I saw it snow in Paris.

Note this is not how much snow we got today. We had 30 minutes of flakes. But this picture was prettier. Thanks to I’m Just Saying blog.

Also, I think I could stop writing this blog here and you could all be happy knowing I saw it snow in Paris. But many more things have happened that make my trip fabulous that you should read about (and based on the comments on my latest Onya Magazine piece, I want everyone to know just how crazy lucky I know I am that I’m here at all).

I didn’t get much work done this morning after the excitement of the snow – it’s hard to concentrate whilst sitting at your kitchen table watching the flakes fall onto the street ouside, in Paris(!), and I was far too distracted by just how warm and fuzzy it made me feel (as opposed to actually feeling warm when it’s -3 degrees outside). Sarah volunteered to do the coffee run again (bless her!) and after many vin rouge last night, I think we needed it (though I could really have smashed some Vegemite toast).

The plan today was to visit a gluten free cafe in the 10th, NoGlu (get it?? No Gluten!!) and later, see a film. Breakfast at Tiffanys and Roman Holiday are both playing in the city, but we elected to head to the little independent cinema at the end of our street, La Pagode, to see Silver Linings Playbook (known here at Happiness Therapy).

But first – food. At minus 1 degrees when we stepped outside rugged up, it was a chilly walk to the Metro and a brief train ride to the right bank where we emerged onto the street, right in front of an Australian pub. Serving VB, Fosters and Tooheys, the Oz cafe screens all your favourite AFL games and has a Collingwood poster on the wall (vomit). Our wanderings took us down a laneway arcade (similar to Melbourne’s Royal Arcade), where we literally accidentally stumbled across the gluten free cafe.

NoGlu greeted us with with a buffet of cake and a quaint dining room where we quickly decided we were here for lunch rather than just some sweets. A club sandwich and roast pork ordered, we settled in for a lovely afternoon. The food was amazing, and by gluten free standards, incredible. I haven’t had bread that good in years – in Melbourne or Paris – and by the time we put our forks down, noting how full we were, dessert was on the table. The chocolate tart was too good for words. I can’t wait to return to this spot.

A wander through the arcades and laneways filled with bookstores and cafes saw us invited to dinner by an older gentlemen (in a totally non creepy way, he really was quite lovely) as we explored the other side of the river. Our final return to Saint Germain and a quick look though the ‘posh’ supermarket (think David Jones foodhall on steroids) and the spectacular Conran Shop before we back arrived at our apartment. 

Our film started at 7pm tonight, our last evening in Saint Germain. Amusingly, the cinema heating was broken and we sat in our coats and gloves with blankets in the theatre, while it was minus one outside. Tomorrow we move to le Marais – a whole new district to explore, get lost in and fall in love with.