Anu in Amorino

I met up with Anu on Sunday morning and together we went to the Orangerie, with a bit of getting lost between the metro and the park entrance on my part (as always, because I have absolutely no sense of direction even in a place I know relatively well and on a short stretch of pavement). Anu knows a WHOLE lot about art and impressionism in particular, I was genuinely impressed. It was of course not the same visiting without the reincarnated spirit of Monet (Tara), but still, her insights were fab. I need to swot up, as the soon-t0-be Art History student. The Orangerie displays the waterlily paintings so beautifully, because it's just that series of paintings in the room, and you can really lose yourself the way you might in a cinema. Afterward I found a book of coincidental place names to send to Valentina. We then headed to St Paul, where we went to one of Caitlin's many creperies, the one where I went for friends and parents meet-up meal, and this time round I found out that pears and chocolate are a classic and delicious combination!
Next had a wander around the Marais, and Anu launched a hopeless hunt for stamps because apparently every tabac from the swiss cultural center (which had some great books - including one on the kind of person I love/hate/am/wish I was/am not/should not try to be, in Berlin - and a childrens' book called 'The Mouse gets hit on the head and sees the world anew' or something that translates a bit like that from memory) was ALL OUT of world stamps. WHY?!? WHY???? WHY?????? There was no strike. We asked. There was just a delivery that had never arrived. Nobody knew why. We asked. Call in Poirot, I say.
We bypassed all the falafel because we were full of crepe, had a quick look in a vintage shop that isn't Caitlin's favourite, and then walked to St M to meet S, who had unfortunately gone to St P to meet us. All a bit of a shambles, but we rambled in the meantime along to Shakespeare and Co, which was closed because of Zadie Smith doing a reading. I caught a quick glimpse of her, but the pull of ice cream was too strong. Hence Amorino, conviently placed as ever (it hasn't moved) to admire the 'melted beef with diverse sauces' and 'the important is: what you see is what you eat' shop signs opposite. It's also near THE falafel which is not actually THE falafel in anyone's book except mine. S arrived in the end looking a bit pale and tired from all the running around to meet us - Anu went off to see her cousins and I had chinese food for dinner in the park with S.