Merci Madame...

After we climbed back down from the Sacre Coeur, we tried to find a less touristy area for some cheap lunch. We found a man selling crepes and sandwiches out of a tiny little shop on a side street. I thought I had finally found someone who would actually speak French to me instead of English. I asked for a sandwich and a crepe using my most polite French: “Puis-j’avoir une sandwich au fromage et un crepe du sucre s’il vous plait?” (May I have a cheese sandwich and a crepe, please?) and got LAUGHED AT! “Puis-je?!” he said. “You speak very good French! Literary French! You must have learned French in a school.” So thank you to the teacher in high school who taught me to say “Puis-je” for EVERYTHING. It really made this man’s day.

outside the "restaurant"