I later did some research on this church and found out we were right; it is very, very old. It was founded in the sixth century, meaning between 500 and 600 A.D. This is around the time of King Arthur in Britain! Surrounding the island, the Seine River was dark and beautiful, especially with all of the streetlamps from the city shining against the buildings.
Andy and I met up with another friend, James, for dinner. Around the block we stumbled upon a roadside crêpes shop. Have you heard of crêpes before? They are basically very thin, very large pancakes. But instead of eating them with maple syrup, they are eaten as a dessert, filled with Nutella, bananas or chopped nuts. Or, they’re eaten without sweets as a savory meal. I got one with chicken, mushrooms and cheese, which was so, so good! My crêpe was handed to me in a napkin, folded into a triangle, piping hot and dripping with melted cheese. I can’t believe I have been missing out on something so delicious my entire life.
After eating, we continued walking around. Down one narrow street, I noticed a lot of signs for livres (books). We decided to poke our heads into one of these bookstores. To our delight, we found that the space was full of books—old ones—stuffed into several rows of towering shelves. There was something magical about the place, as if it were a wizard’s library. The owner sat by the entrance and watched us explore the room but didn’t seem to mind us exploring. Andy found a book on the Second World War that he wanted to buy because he is a history nerd. When he went to pay for it, though, he found out it cost 30 euros (about $33)! That seemed like a lot of money, especially for an old book.
