Happenstance in Paris

Happenstance is the name of an adorable French movie, the first French movie I ever watched as a matter of fact. The French name is something to do with a butterfly and how a butterfly flying over the Atlantic can cause a hurricane in the Pacific or something like that. I don't remember—I watched the movie in Buffalo back when I didn't speak French at all, so I wasn't too intent on memorizing the title that I couldn't understand. 

But happenstance is also the name for strange coincidences that somehow seem to happen in Paris! I would say that my semester abroad was a happy occasion for happenstance, because it really did lead to me being at Princeton, studying exactly what I study now. But, that's not what this post is about either. It's more like the story of last summer, when I was sitting in a café with Mélanie, her friend Marine, her boyfriend David, Alix, and then suddenly, my old host brother walked by! He didn't even know I was in France, but somehow managed to see me sitting in the café surrounded by a bunch of people he had certainly never met, yet he recognized me and invited me to dinner. Yes, that is one of those lovely parisian coincidences that just never seems to happen anywhere else. And yesterday, after playing The Carnival of Venice, I had another chance finding!

I got onto the 21, the bus that goes straight from here (Justine's apartment) to Opéra (where the BnF is), passing through the Latin Quarter. I didn't feel like going to the library yesterday, so I just went to the Latin Quarter and decided to walk around, get a bite to eat, visit the Italian Cultural Center to find out if they had any activities I could practice my Italian at, etc. On the bus, I went all the way to the back to sit (which I never do), and when I got there, I saw a familiar face, on this random bus, in Paris. The face was that of Vanessa, a Swiss German girl who was in the Avignon program with me last summer. Well, I told myself I must be mistaken. Why would Vanessa be in Paris now, in this particular bus? I remembered she had never been to Paris before, and brand new tourists never take buses! Just the métro! I must have stared at her for ten minutes—she was reading a Michelin guide book for Paris—and then she looked up and said "Natalie?" I guess it was her...

Anyway, that is my funny story about yesterday! I should also mention that Alix and I finally tested the Berthillon "Salon de thé." There was a HUGE line, but there's never any wait next door at their fancy Salon de thé where they charge an extra Euro for everything, so we just figured it would be fun to try it! I got a fondant au chocolat (the melting chocolate cake) with a scoop of fraise des bois ice cream, and Alix got a café Liégeois, which is like a coffee sundae, I think. Anyway, here are some pictures!

My fondant/ice cream

Alix and her ice cream!