We (Amy, Caroline, MR and I) did it. We went to the Secret Bakery (the place I posted about earlier in the fall where the bakers serve people freshly baked goods out of the back door as they bake for their morning opening). We went at the wrong time, but we were willing to wait as tensions rose, the line grew, and volume became a problem. There were mixed thoughts about how the system of this underground, back door in a tiny alley, middle of the night bakery worked amongst the people in line (who also happened to be primarily American).
Some were sure that the bakers won't serve people if it's too loud. People who believed this were the shushers of the evening. News flash, people, but shushing is just as loud if not louder than the people talking.
Some (well one boy in particular) were sure that the bakers didn't know that we were out there. Said boy proceeded to knock on the door every few minutes. News flash, buddy, but all the windows of the bakery are open, and there are fifty people standing out here. They know we're here.
Others were generally debating the time the door opened and the bakers began bringing out the freshly baked goodness to serve the hungry crowd. "I came at four last night, and it was open." "Well, that girl said she was served at 1:15 once!" Nobody seemed to know, but nobody wanted to leave in the off chance that the door would open any minute.
So we waited. We waited for quite a while. Legs got tired. People got tired. We had moments of doubt ("Should we just come back another time?" "Do we really want to wait any longer?").
But the smells were what kept us hanging around. We were more or less standing directly outside of the kitchen of a bakery where they were baking the fresh goods for the next morning. The smell wafting out the windows was so heavenly that we decided that we should stay.
Then, the moment arrived. The door opened, and one of the bakers took the first group's orders. We were the third group and were instantly so glad that we had stuck around.
Finally, it was our time to shine. Caroline ordered two plain croissants for her and Amy and two chocolate croissants for MR and me. (Why get plain when you can get cioccolato..?!) The man shut the door and returned shortly with two paper bags with our treats in them. Each item costs a euro, so we paid him and headed on our way.
The croissant was hot and buttery and soft-- fresh out of the oven. It was the most divine thing I had eaten all day. Perhaps in my top five pastries of all time (that's a list I might have to think about). The thing literally melted in my mouth, and I devoured it in no time. It tasted like pure goodness. We were astounded at how delicious and worth the wait these treats had been.
Feeling pleased with ourselves and very happy, we hopped in a cab and headed back to our apartments. We talked about our treats from the Secret Bakery the whole way home.
No comments:
Post a Comment