Some Cheese Please

Why am I so lucky? On my way to the bank today to set up my French bank account, I wandered down the main drag of Antony - the suburb where I'm staying, 30 min south of Paris by RER.

Check it out on the map!

Let me tell you what I've got available to me in my little downtown drag:

• Monoprix (The European Target - maybe not quite of the same par, but close)
• Une Fromagerie
• Un Chocolatier
• Societe General (My bank with English speakers!)
• Plenty of Patisseries
• Boulangerie that specializes in Pain de Compagne
  
• Un Supermarche
• ...

I realized that the little chocolate shop I went to on Rue Cler was in fact a French chain that is also in Antony - Jeff de Bruges.

MMMmmm.

Then I quickly looked up how to say"I'd like one hard cheese and one soft cheese please. What do you recommend." ("Je voudrais un fromage à pâte dure et un fromage à pâte molle s'il vous plait. Qu'est-ce que vous recommendez?") because I was off to the cheese shop.


I ended up with Saint-Marcellin for the softie. It came in a little clay dish :-) And comté for the hard. Before eating my cheeses, with saucisson (salami), pain de compagne, and grapes for brunch, I took a little jog at my favorite neighborhood Parc Sceaux - this time I remembered my camera.




I just felt really lucky to have always lived next to some big and beautiful natural preserve: Rancho San Antonio, Golden Gate Park, and now Parc Sceaux.

PS - As I was jogging I was listening to my favorite and free weekly French Podcast from iTunes - Coffee Break French, and learned how to say the ever important, "I'm just browsing." It's "Je regarde juste."