You finally convince yourself to leave the house and brave the rain in search of a fresh cup of coffee and a warm pain au chocolat. You know this is never going to happen though so you decide to settle for an itty bitty cup of espresso and whatever slightly stale pastry that has made it until 3 in the afternoon.
You wandered towards the laundry mat, vaguely aware that there is a patisserie with-in walking distance from there, that serves fresh OJ with their slightly less than burnt espresso. However you are in an "adventurous" mood, and by adventurous of course we mean lazy, so you cut through a side street knowing it should put you in the general area that you are looking for, but also knowing that you will inevitably become lost as soon as you reach the other side.
Sure enough this is what happens. Everything looks familiar but you've never seen it from this direction, and you don't remember there being this many streets so you aren't sure which one to turn down. You pop your head in to a little patisserie on the corner before you decide to stay on the road you came out on and head for the larger road you can see a few blocks away. You make it to within half a block of the big road when you realize that you are going the wrong direction, so you decide to run across the street and turn back to avoid that awkward sensation that people are aware and judgmental of the fact that you have to turn around because you went the wrong way.
As you are crossing the street though you notice a brightly colored sign, that almost seems as if it was done by a street artist. You double take a read the sign, which suggests that the building is an art gallery, you look n the front window and sure enough three painting are hanging against a white wall. A man comes out and tells you that the gallery isn't currently open, but that you are more than welcome to go look inside, or at least that is what you think, he then says "It's ok, go in and look if you wish." Apparently your face says "I don't speak French" more often than you thought. You decide to check it out, after all you are in no hurry, the art seems like it may be interesting and the man was very nice about it.
As it turns out the man who invited you in is the best friend of the artist whose work is in the window, he also serves as a front desk man for the gallery. He tells you about the works in French and English and after a few minutes call into the back room. Soon his friend, the artist, appears and the three of you begin talking about the combination of street and contemporary art, about differences between Japanese and American comics, and about artists like Norman Rockwell. Another artist comes in, he is setting up some new works on the bottom floor of the gallery and seems intimidated by the fact that you all are mostly speaking English. So he scuttles off out of sight, every now and then answering questions that your little group hollers down. You learn that the current show just opened yesterday, hence their excitement. You talk a bit longer, more interested in the people than the art by this point, and eventually you leave with an invitation to come back whenever, even if it is just to practice your French. You give up on finding caffeine and baked goods now that it is nearly five and decide to head back home for a bit before heading back out to the farewell dinner for the rest of your study abroad companions.
You stop in the store on the corner to pick up some random foodstuffs/ use a few of your meal vouchers since they expire in a week, and then find yourself eating Pim's and yogurt for breakfast at half past five in the afternoon on a simple rainy day afternoon in Paris.
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