Angelina and I

Following the close of my secondary studies, I embarked on a grand tour of Western Europe. Such travels were motivated by a ravenous curiosity to drown in striking architecture and infamous art, as well as a desire to stand in the exact spot of historic scandals and happenings. We lovers of history are all cursed with a penchant for gossip.

Travelling holds a strange sway over the heart and soul. Indeed, it was in my Parisian escapades that I fell in love. What was merely a casual interest in hot chocolate spiraled into infatuation (and kept spiraling into the now present amorous obsession). I was determined to find in Paris, a city already imbued with such splendid art, the finest art of all. So began my pilgrimage from café to café as I embarked on the grand tour of my grand tour: a resolute search for the greatest hot chocolate in Paris. 

Forgive the arrogance of my supposition, but I do believe that I love hot chocolate more than any other does in the world. The following statement, within said context, surely describes my rabid consumption of Parisian hot chocolate: I could only manage three sips of one of the final hot chocolates I sampled - and it was a particularly good hot chocolate, too – for I was nearly overwhelmed. I say ‘nearly’, for a lover can withstand much tribulation, and on my last day in Paris, I had the appetite to return to the winner of my heart: Angelina Café.

‘Indelible’ is perhaps the most fitting word for their hot chocolate. There is a reason it is world-renowned. When I first tried Angelina’s hot chocolate, I could not help but smile, and seldom does hot chocolate approval involuntarily appear on my exterior. I had, like the Phantom of the Opera, passed the point of no return.

The portion size was exactly what good hot chocolate needs – small enough to allow for decadence and drama without leaving the drinker sick and overwhelmed. I traded drowning in architecture for drowning in silk with hints of cinnamon. It truly was remarkable and inspired my great affection for hot chocolate generally.

Angelina and I are, unfortunately, two lovers torn apart. One of us is cursed to live in the far reaches of North America with an ocean on one side and mountains on the other – a beautiful corner of the world undoubtedly, but lonely lovers see the magnanimous sea as an insurmountable divider between themselves and their true love.

I have found other hot chocolates at home and have crafted my own, yet I shall never forget she that inspired me in so many ways. One day, we’ll be reunited. Naturally, I deem that this goddess belongs in Heaven. This hot chocolate brought me there in the first place.