I think this is the very first Sunday I’ve been in Paris because I don’t remember ever being here and having to worry or think about things being closed. We were trying to arrange a lunch with Chris’s parents, who arrived several days ago, and it took me almost half an hour to find something between TripAdvisor or Yelp that was actually open, affordable, and decently rated (I read both the French and the English reviews; thankfully, the Yelp presence seems quite good in this city, unlike many other parts of Europe). I ended up picking a cute and cozy creperie along a small street near the Paris Catacombs, which we planned on visiting afterward. The entire little street was full of creperies, one after the other. If I hadn’t done any research beforehand and were forced to pick one out of the many, I would have been overwhelmed. The place we picked turned out to be delicious – I had the classic buckwheat crepe with ham, egg, and cheese, and we all shared a bottle of red. The edges of the crepe were thin and crispy, and the ham was so good. The last time I had ham this enjoyable was in Brazil last year. Ham in the U.S. is so hit and miss… and usually miss.

When our meal ended and we were getting ready to leave, I went to the restroom and noticed a diner’s dog lying on the floor by their table with his eyes closed, his tail wagging. I smiled and thought about how that would never fly in the U.S. at any indoor restaurant because of the seemingly strict health codes. I’ve never really cared about people’s pets coming into stores like Walgreen’s or Duane Reade, or even grocery stores like Fairway or Lucky. What’s the big deal anyway if the animal is on a leash? We seem to pride ourselves on food safety and such in the U.S., but I don’t really think that people in France get food poisoning at a higher rate than back home, and even if they did, it definitely could not be because of the pets going into drug stores and restaurants.