Pam versus l’abeille

I decided to sleep in (9am!) so I got a slow start to the day. For breakfast, I visited the iconic Cafe de Flore and miraculously ordered completely in french! “Un croissant et un cafe s’il vous plait.” Thanks DuoLingo! While I sat, I planned out where to head next. I knew I wanted to try a jambon-beurre sandwich (ham and butter) and I knew just where to get it! YouTube sensation Jay Swanson has a Paris in Your Pocket series detailing the best place in Paris for … beer, coffee, sandwiches, you name it. In his list, he mentioned Carcatere de Cochon, so that’s where I set out to! I ordered in French and then the conversation quickly turned to English because apparently there was a lot more information needed to build this sandwich. First I had to choose the style of ham I wanted, cooked or cured. I chose cooked, which led to another set of questions, which style of cooked ham did I want? Plain, truffled, or herbs? I chose plain. Then I was asked if I wanted cheese but opted for none since apparently I wanted this to be the most basic sandwich ever. Once I had secured my sandwich, I thanked the store clerk “Merci! Bonne journee!” and continued on my walk.

I knew I wanted to dig into that sandwich as soon as humanly possible so I set off to find a park. I came upon the Square du Temple- Elie Wiesel Park. After finding a bench, I tore excitedly into my sandwich. Just then a freaking bee made a “bee”-line for me and circled my sammy! Helplessly, I tried to swat it away. As my arms flailed about, a chunk of ham went flying and landed on an elderly gentleman’s shoe. Mortified, I rambled on about how sorry I was (in English.) He looked at me like I was crazy because not only did he not see what happened, he didn’t understand, and now I’d taken to miming the entire event for him. Finally he said, “Oh, l’abeille” (bee, in french) and walks away. Red faced, I nodded, then took another bite of my delicious ham and butter sandwich.

I next headed to Panama Brewing Company to sample their brews. I had been following them on the gram for quite sometime and didn’t get the opportunity to visit last year. Well, I’m very glad I managed to make it this time. I loved the venue, the people, and the beers! That’s the Triple Play for me. Not many breweries in NJ get those high marks! I even got some Jersey brewery branding in when I gave them a Jersey Cyclone sticker to display.

Sated and delighted, I was off to the Palais Garnier (Paris Opera House). OMG. Let me tell you, snicks, this place is absolutely stunning. Numerous times throughout the 1.5 hour long self guided tour, I began to cry. I was taken by the exquisite beauty of this grand theater.