Croque-monsieur at La Royale in Paris
Our train ride into Paris was quite uneventful, despite my apprehensions about the kind of people who take the train. Our apartment was not on the this train line and we needed to transfer to make a transfer at the Gare du Nord metro station. I hate it whenever I just get to a new place and I need to figure out everything all at the same time. This is not different fortunately, the signs were easy enough to figure out. The trains of the Paris metro weren’t very nice. I was probably too used to shiny new trains that this kind of thing disappoints me. I have to remember that these cities have operated the trains for far longer than their Asian counterparts and thus makes it more expensive to replace everything. Gare du Nord is a major interchange and it connects to four lines. We took metro line 4 to Barbès-Rochechouart metro station where our apartment is. When we got out of the train station I was struck by how many people were just hanging out here. I didn’t mean that in a nice way.
Omelet at La Royale in Paris
The people, mostly men, where all in black and we just waiting outside the train station. I didn’t know what was going on but I didn’t like it. I didn’t feel safe that there were a lot of these seemingly suspicious looking people just waiting to mug you. I just wanted to get out of the station as soon as possible and to find a safe place to get our bearings. To my horror, one of my companions decided to bring out the map to figure out where we were. I told her it was a very bad idea and we should keep moving until we find a place, maybe a shop or something. I think my companions also understood my unease in this place. If they were mugged, I would not be able to do anything. At the end of it all, no one was mugged, though I still feel unsafe, I have come to accept it that this station is how it is. Our apartment was on the other side of the road and we quickly dropped off our stuff before running out for lunch.
The caretaker of the house told us that there is a street which has a few places to eat and we found them immediately. I don’t know much about French food so we just entered the one which interested us. We just wanted a quick meal. The La Royale was this place and it turned out that the place was owned by a Chinese immigrant. The rather young owner already speaks French well and it seems he has been here a while. I think he already grew up here as some of his companions don’t speak good Chinese anymore. We had some sandwiches Croque-monsieur which is essentially toast with what appears to be melted cheese on it. I never had anything like it but I thought it was nice. My friend had omelet but I opted for the more French sounding one. My impression of French food is basically bread and multiple variations of it. This basically confirms my stereotype. I hope I would be able to find other things to eat here.
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