Fin - The End

This blog is going to be written in the plane to New Zealand, so it might seem a bit disjointed.  I am in a slightly different time zone it being 4pm UK time, or 5pm in France.  I have tried to move my clock a bit by going to bed later so that at least I move myself a bit closer to home.  Effectively I got myself to UK time.

Art in Montmartre

I am sitting in one of the new Boeing 777-300 with the new seats.  In premium economy they are this shell like seat that reclines in itself rather than someone coming into your face.  The flight is not very full with space in Premium economy but as yet I am not sure about further back in the plane.  The seats are interesting and after ten hours in one I will have a better idea.  The plane does feel very nice and fresh.  Behind me are a couple of Americans of whom the woman complained for the first twenty minutes on the plane about the seat and everything else that it was possible to complain about.  She does the helpless person really well. 

One of my observations was that Americans tended to stand out in the crowd, mainly because they are much louder than everyone else around.  I think it is cultural after having thought about it a bit as it is easy to be prejudiced and make wild generalisations on the basis on or two people.  The person that was behind me was almost a stereotype and it was interesting to listen to her husband who was much more relaxed about it all.  This woman clearly did not like change and I think is used to doing the helpless person.  So,  while I make a generalisation it is also my experience all Americans that I have met are not all like that.   The French do passion very interesting.  Generally, they are not particularly demonstrative but when there is a bit of emotion to express they really do express it and without seeming to be embarrassed.

Yesterday (4 May) was a day for trying out a couple of restaurants, but that was to be after I had gone looking for a game.  Fortuitously I found a shop which sold them where I also  had a nice conversation, en francais, with the shop owner.  I probably paid over the odds for the game but never mind it is all part of the fun of exploring. 

My lunchtime restaurant was Oh Bigre! which I had tried to go to on Monday but had found that it was closed .  Yesterday it was open and the owner welcomed me and I told him that I wanted to do my ordering in French as I explained to him that I was learning French.  I had to ask him to repeat things a couple of times and I asked him a couple of questions to ensure that I understood and then made my order.  It was formule meal which included two courses, wine and coffee.  To start I had Champignons aux Paris and it came with salade.  The next course was chicken quiche.  The wine a Bergerac was very good and went will with the food.  The freshness was great and there were vegetables!!!  As I was about to start my meal a woman came over and asked me if I was related to family she knew because I looked like one of the family members.  I had to say no and explain that I had no French blood at all.

I tried to speak in French with her but to no avail.  She was an artist and had given away her other work to pursue the life of an artist.  She asked me how I turned up at a neighbourhood restaurant and I explained it had been recommended in a book.  She then said she knew a person who was French and now lived in New Zealand and made sausages.   Then I was asked what I was going to do and I said I might go to the Musee d’Orsay.  She said I should go to l’orangie as it had some wonderful impressionist art that never left the musee. So I took her suggestion and went to the musee and was really pleased that I did.  There are two rooms that have a series of murals painted by Monet on the theme of waterlillies.  There is also a  gallery with the works of art by Renoir, Matisse, Picasso, Utrillo, Modigliani etc.  Their paintings form part of a collection of Paul Guillaume who became their friend and who also sold their paintings. I am a great fan of the impressionists but one could see the changes in style of these painters over time  and some were just amazing. There was also an exhibition of Severini’s works from his realist beginning then through a cubism and impressionist phase before he returned to realist method.  I loved seeing the changes in style and for me preferred the later realist style. 

I had tended avoid museums but I am really pleased I went to this one because it was a much more moving, dare I say emotional, experience than I expected.

Being my last night in France I thought it was a good opportunity to treat myself to a great meal.  I headed for one that sounded great but took some searching to find it. Unfortunately it was booked out so I had to go to the alternative plan which meant backtracking to Rue des Martyrs and to a little place L’homme tranquille.  It only had a couple of groups there but I was hungry and was devoted to food and not a bar.  It was just off one of the main party areas in Montmartre.  So I had a really good meal.  I had two courses and a half bottle of Chateau Talfas, a Cotes de Bourg 2006.  The serveuse did it really well, opening the bottle and then pouring it into a carafe to give it some air.  The wine not brilliant but it was good. I decided on a main and dessert.  My main was a Cabillaud en croute (baked cod) and was served with red cabbage and julienned carrot, broccoli and fennel bulb. The fish was cooked to perfection.  For dessert I had a citron tarte which was nice but I don’t think it held to together that well.  It had a biscuit base and was more like a cheese cake than a tarte.   Toward the end of my meal their was a most amusing event.  A client was about to pay for their meal when there was a scream from the serveuse.  A cockroach had appeared near the eftpos machine.  She dropped in and stood back shuddering.  Another client came over to execute the cockroach which was running around.  Finally the deed was done and everything returned to normality after the hilarity. It was a good evening with some very nice food and wine.

Cockroach almost executed

This morning I had to figure out how to get several bottles of wine and other acquisitions into my bag without it getting too heavy.  It meant leaving behind a few things that had met their use by date. Despite that I had very heavy bag, another plastic bag with things that I did not know how to pack in the bag, my backpack which was very heavy as well.  By the time I left the hotel I was festooned with a backpack, camera bag, suitcase and my plastic bag with things in it.  

I had to get to Gare de Nord.  I knew that at my metro stop there was a lift to get me most of the way down to the platform.  It did mean waiting in an area where some homeless had dossed down for the night and most of the morning.  It stank of body odour and urine – not nice. 

To get to the Gare du Nord I had to make one change which was not too bad; only about four sets of stairs to negotiate.  Who needs to go to the gym when there is that lifting and walking to do? 

Beauty tottering in extra high heels in Les Tuileries

I was surprised to get to Gare du Nord and find that there was only one set of steps to negotiate and that there was an escalator.  The train trip to Charles de Gaulle Aeroport was quick, but then there was confusion as the signs to get to Terminal 2 were confusing to everyone including the French.  Eventually I figured out how to get there.  Checking in was the worst part of the experience, the express checking, like our booths, did want to know me. Finally I got some begrudging help and then had to wait for about half an hour to dump the bag.  Not the most efficient system.  When I finally got to the bag drop I was told I had to lose some weight as I had more than permitted.  That meant trying to get weight out of the bag that was primarily wine, not an easy task.  Eventually I made some token effort and was allowed to go my way. 

Once I got to sit for a few minutes in the terminal it was very nice.  Reminiscent I have to say of Hong Kong Airport and had me wondering if the same architect had designed it. 

The Air France aircraft was an A321 the big brother or sister of the A320 and the next interesting part of the journey occurred.  There were a group of Middle Eastern women who seemed to be traveling together with their children.  It was chaos.  The children were completely out of control.  The women, I wondered actually whether they were part of the same family (a polygamous relationship), ranged from one not being much more than about 16 or 17 and had at least one child and was heavily  pregnant, and the other three also seemed to have a lot children as well.  They completely disrupted boarding, seemed unconcerned about the people around them as they disrupted the seating process which is chaos anyway.  The cabin crew were trying to be as patient as they could while they explained what was required of them, including that the children had to have seat belts on.  Throughout the flight there was a cacophony of noise from this group.  As an observer I really felt that I was looking at completely different culture. It was fascinating.

Flying as a way of getting to the UK it was a relatively slow process.  I left the hotel at a bit before 10am, and it was 3 pm France time before I got to Heathrow.  I think that if I had gone by Eurostar I would have been in London Central by about 1:30pm.  It would have been closer to two hours later taking the plane.  However, this journey was part of my ticket so much cheaper from that point of view.

Heathrow used to be a nightmare to go through.  Well I have changed my mind. Terminal 1 was a very peaceful and relatively easy place to go through.  Check-in a breeze.  Going through immigration and security was quick and relatively efficient.  The improvements to Terminal I make the experience now more like that in any other airport.

On the plane the new seats so far are very nice to sit in.  If traveling alone then the window seat and aisle seats are quite good as you are not too close to the next door person although I don’t have anyone next to me.  The centre ones are for couples who might want to talk to each other. 

River of ice

There was  cloud for much of the early part of the journey then it cleared a bit just as we were coming to coast of Greenland.  I had expected a massive cap of ice but near the coast it was rock with a light covering snow.  Then there were what would be rivers clearly just ice.  Then right near the coast clear water.  Then it was the melting ice pack.  For me it was a sight to behold.

The cloud returned then as we got to Manitoba the cloud cleared again and there was patchwork of ice and the brown/green of the tundra.  Then we flew over Lake Winnipeg, it is huge and for the most part it was still frozen.  It was melting around the edges and there were  tiny areas where it had melted but beyond that it was this mass of white.  From the distance I thought it was low lying cloud since it had been cloudy for much of the journey.  In some parts there were these massive fissures formed as I presume the ice melted.  Just stunning!
Toward the end of the flight we passed close to Salt Lake City, the Grand Canyon and I even saw where the Hoover dam is.  Scenically when there was no cloud it was interesting flight.
Unfortunately I did not get an upgrade to Premium Economy so I had to slum it in cattleclass.  There were about 40 seats unsold so there were a few people who had a row to themselves and where the seats were the cuddle class they had an almost reasonable bed to lie on the lucky sods.  Fortunately I had a decent amout of leg room as there was no seat in front of me. I even  managed about five hours of broken  sleep.
The entertainment system on these planes is really good.  The screens are a good size and the resolution is very good.  One of the small changes that have been made to signage is that the lit signs now do have the no smoking symbol, it is now seatbelt, phone and electronic equipemnt.
Overall I thought the planes were quite nice.  Still not enough leg room in the aircraft for these long-haul flights though. So my little voyage to France has finished.  There will be one more blog which will the reflections of the trip.

Amsterdam in a day!

Today (3 May) I went to Amsterdam on the TVG/Thalys.  It was an early start leaving Paris Nord at 7:30pm.  The trip was very fast to Bussels and then it slowed down considerably.  I am now on my way back to Paris.  It seems that the return ticket I have is for two weeks time.  I don’t know how that is possible given that I made sure when I booked that it was a return on the same day.  I know that a couple of times when I was checking the booking that it insisted on putting me on this one two weeks later but I thought I had fixed it.  So I am going to have to fix it up with the conducteur when he checks my ticket.  At least there is a spare seat for me but for how much longer I don’t know.

 

Amsterdam was an interesting old city, I did not venture further than walking around it.  First I did a boat trip around the canals.  While it was nice and sunny the wind was bitterly cold and I was thankful that I had brought plenty of warm clothing, but I had not brought my warm hat.  The canals and houses around it are quite beautiful, brown brick with a range of gables including a hoisting arm.  The canals themselves are filthy with lots of cans, bottles and plastic floating in them. 

I met a nice woman who was taking her grandson on her first trip to Amsterdam and we chatted for a little while.  She was a delight and could speak good Engish.

Anne Francks house

I had lunch in this delightful café I found on my walk, and had a nice burger sans the buns with handcut chips, and a couple decent coffees.  I almost went into café called a coffee bar when I remembered that they are places where people smoke marijuana.  Even at the middle of the day walking past them there was a whiff of cannabis in the air.  I must say it is a very civilised way to deal with a drug. 

Houses at weird angles

I spent most of the rest of the day looking at the place. I went past the house that Anne Frank lived in which has become a bit of shrine, even at this tme of the year there was a queue of people waiting to get in.  Apparently it was an hour in length. 

Like Strasbourg the old city is a place for bikes. In fact the number of bikes was not unlike that experienced in Shanghai when we were there eleven or twelve years ago.  Most of the bikes are like our grandparents might have ridden.  I saw very few of the high performance ten or more speed bikes.  I was a bit of hazard to them as I often walked out in front of them, but after a while I listened out for the ringing of the bell which was rung if there was a possibility that a pedestrian was going to walk in front of the cyclist. 

It seemed most of the central city was full of tourists and young people (who were on bikes).  All the shop assistants and servers in the cafes spoke English so it was easy as I don’t have one word of Dutch.  Everything was in three languages, Dutch, German and English.

Toward the end of my meandering I happened on the red light district with the prostitutes who show themselves in the window.  It was an interesting concept and it really felt like a meat market but at least if you want you can look before you make a choice. 

Before I boarded my train I spent a wonderful hour or so in a nice bar in the warm sun, cold air, having a beer and watching the people.  It was very nice. 

Holland is very flat and is clearly very wet.  I know that Holland has glass houses but I had no idea of the extent of them.  About half an hour out or so out of Amsterdam there were glass houses as far as I could see.  It was just amazing.  You would not want to have a tornado as the flying glass would be something to behold.  The other thing that was really noticeable is how flat it is in both Belgium and Holland. 

The trip to Holland and back is made of two parts, one part to Brussels and return is at really high speed.  The countryside just flashes past.  Brussels to Amsterdam seems to be at about half the speed.  I expect they have not put in a high speed line.

I got back to Paris without having to show my ticket.  Fortunately there were sufficient empty seats for me to shift to as my seat got taken by people who joined the train between Amsterdam and Brussels.  I spent half the trip practising in French what I was going to say to the conductor if he checked my ticket, I think I could have done it in French although he probably would have tried get me to speak in English. 

It has been a long day and it is nearly time for me to go to bed.

Quelque reflexions

Je suis commencé le jour trop car mon train à Amsterdam est parti à 7h 25.  Le jour est parfait, le soleil brille et il ne fait pas nuage dans le ciel.  Le train est très vite.  Nous avons arrivé à Bruxelles  1h 20 après départ Paris Nord.

J’écrive ce blog presque je  voyage dans le train.  Donc, je pense que je vous donne mes impressions de France.

Pendant la première semaine j’ai doute que j’ai fait la décision vrai venir en France.  Je n’avais pas beaucoup de confiance parler avec les français.    Malgré que j’aie continue essayer et lentement j’ai trouvé que quelques les français ont compris ce que j’ai dit.  Pour moi la meilleure expérience était avec François et Marie-Jo à la chambre d’hôte. 

J’ai trouvé que les vendeurs et les serveurs étaient le plus difficile parce que ils occupaient donc ils ne faisant pas le temps comprendre ce que je disais. 

Mon expérience en Alsace et dans la campagne était les français ne avais pas anglais ou un peu seulement, donc j’avais plus français que ils avaient anglais.  En Paris il y a plus anglais parler qui il voulait dire si quelqu’un pense qu’on parle anglais ils parleraient dans ce langue.

Je pense que mon français est mieux.  Je peux écouter les mots individuel plupart maintenant sauf  je ne peux pas traduit dans assez de temps.  Cependant j’ai le confiance demander si je ne connais pas quelque chose. 

J’aime France et je fais des projets déjà pour mon visite prochaine.

Je ne suis pas sur si la grammaire est vrai, peut être Julie  pourrait faire les corriges. 

L'experience de circulation de Paris - un survivant

J’ai arrivé à Paris hier après une longue promenade en voiture de Montauville vers Nancy et Auxerre.   La promenade en voiture dans Paris était très passionnant (je pense qu’il est le mot vrai) ; il y a les voitures partout, roulant très vite.  Je n’ai pas su  lorsque je suis allé.  Les chauffeurs étaient très impatients.  J’ai eu besoin de mettre du gazole dans la voiture mais je n’aurais pas pu trouver un service station proche au Gare de l’est.  Donc, je n’ai pas mis de gazole dans la voiture.  Il me coute beaucoup d’argent mais je n’ai pas essayé dans cette circulation. 

Aujourd’hui j’ai fait du shopping parce qu’il a plu, donc j’ai visité les grands magasins et aussi quelques moins grands magasins.  Aussi, je suis allé à SFR car je n’aurais pas pu faire mon 3G clé fonctionnaire. Le vendeur m’a aidé faire fonctionnaire afin que je puisse avec tout le monde encore.  

J’ai marche les rues de Paris qui avait une expérience diffèrent car je n’ai pas visite cet arrondissement avant.  A proximité il y a  le Moulin Rouge aussi les grands magasins font à pied, si  on  se n’a perdu !

Demain, je vais aller à Amsterdam. 

Yesterday morning over breakfast I talked  with an English couple who I suspect were in their mid-sixties who were doing a dash in eight days around France.  It was the first long conversation that I have had in English for just on two weeks.  They sounded like they were out of Eastenders, and they had born in London, one by Marble Arch and the other by the Oval Cricket ground.  They did not have one word of French and were surprised that when asking for directins that they got a blank look.  It was so funny.  They thought that Auxerre was dirty where it is in some ways but it is just very old.

I was heading for Paris and took  a detour through Troyes and a landscape that was undulating with a patchwork of various hues of green with the occasional patch of yellow from the canola flowering.  It had a nice clean new feeling about it and such a contrast to when we came through a similar area four years ago in autumn when it was browning and grey.

After lunch I headed at speed to Paris as I had to have the car back by 2pm.  It was not going to happen but I thought Europcar   might be nice to me.  Leaving Troyes the autoroute seemed abandoned, there was hardly a car on the road and made me think of that film The Quiet Earth.  However, once I got closer to Paris it got significantly busier and busier.  There were cars everywhere and I was concentrating like crazy as I did not have a clue as to where I was going.  The motorways were fine but once I got onto the perepherique and then into the heart of the city I had a few heart stopping moments like going around the Bastille and then down the main drag trying to get onto Avenue Sebastapol. I managed to get to Gare de l’Est in one piece and then took a while to find the parking area where I was to drop off the car.  It was then that I found that they did not operate the place until 6 pm. So I could have been a bit later and tried to find some fuel.

It was then lug my baggage to the hotel in Montmartre.  What a change from the other areas I have stayed when in Paris.  There are tourists everywhere.  It is very buzzy.  

My hotel room relatively small compared to what I have had and twice as dear for the space.  

Yesterday was May Day a holiday that does not move, similar to Anzac Day or Waitangi Day.  So there was a bit of party last night.  One of the interesting parts of my first night was seeing a group of mainly black young men who just hung around, talking on mobiles.  It looked like a scene out of "The Wire" for those who seen the TV programme. 

Today has been a bit wet so I went looking at shops and did some shopping.  

 

Verdun et j'ai eu une conversation en Francais

It is three days since wrote. It has been a busy time with a lot of driving being done.  Today I arrived in Paris and dropped the car off at Gare de l’est.   That was some challenge but passed with almost flying colours; more about that later.

The stay at the Chambre d’hote has been one of the highlights of my visit if not the highlight.  The first evening I was there I was uncertain about whether I would stay more than one night but Francoise suggested that what I thought I would be able to do in one day would be impossible and suggested that I think about doing Verdun one day and Nancy the next.  Overnight I made the decision to stay.  I had breakfast with them and both Francoise and Marie-Jo talked to me in French given that only Francoise had any English and that was not much.  I stumbled along but enough to make myself understood and they were very patient.  After telling that I would stay another night I also asked if they would do dinner.  At first there was a bit of reluctance and then there was yes we would do it.

Porte de Verdun

The little village I stayed is next to  Pont a Mousson.  The drive to Verdun around an hour as it was about 70kms from the village.  Verdun is a small town near where there was major bloodshed during WW1.  For the French it is like our Gallopoli or the Somme.  I had not realised in such a powerful way how much the French had also been affected.  Around that area there are villages that were wiped from the face of the earth.  Whole forests destroyed and hundreds of thousands of lives lost. 

Verdun has a nice river running through it which I walked around.  There are many reminders of the battle that raged for two to three years.  There is the underground citadel which was actually designed by the Vaudan in the 17^th century.  It was used as a place to store weapons, rest men and others.  There was a bakery in it, and as I recall even a hospital.  There is a 30 minute ride in an electric car with commentary which is done really well. It was very cold in the citadel, it stays around 7°C constantly. 

I then went wandering around the area to the north of the town where all the fighting took place.  I visited where a village used to be: where the street used to be is marked out.  The signs of war despite all the forest are still there with the craters from the shelling still evident.  One monument I visited was amazing.  During the fighting a group of soldiers was lost and they were just presumed to have been blown to bits or something.  Later the evidence of them was found when a line of bayonet tips was seen in poking out of the earth. They had been buried alive by mud as a result of the shelling.  Instead of digging them out they left where they were and there is a sort of mausoleum over them. 

I also went into an old fort, the major one in that area and which has not been preserved.  It was cold, damp and eerie to say the least. 

The madness of us humans who will put others to suffering like those men, our ancestors went through.  European history is littered with these wars and battles that were fought over land I suppose.  It was almost as if for a good part of our short existence we have done mostly fight.  I don’t know enough about history but it does seem to me the people make the decisions are rarely the ones who get down and dirty in the mud and filth.

Fromage et Francois et Marie-Jo

That evening I had a wonderful meal with Francois and Marie-Jo.  The food was really wonderful and just what I really wanted.  An aperitif, a fresh salad from her garden, guinea fowl for the main, cheese to finish with the wine (five types and all were wonderful) and finally a rhubarb tart.  We had a really nice wine that I had bought (Sarget de Gruaud Larose 2008) that opened out to be a great wine.  We talked in French the whole evening, with both us grabbing a dictionary to help explain things each way.  There was laughter and I also learnt a little about each of them. 

I could not have done that 18 months ago when I last came to France.  My language is still not great but I can now get around and the words are finally starting separate out rather than being an incomprehensible melange. I can read things and quickly understand what they mean.  So perhaps the effort is paying off.  I always do better if I have to practice something in reality.  I still mess up my tenses and grammar but Marie-Jo and Francois weren’t bothered and corrected me when I had got it wrong. 

Plus conduire, Metz, Luxembourg et chambre d’hôte

Gare de Metz

Aujourd’hui (28 avril), je suis allé à Luxembourg.  Il est environs 60 kms nord de Metz vers l’autoroute. Avant, j’ai marche autour de la centre-ville Metz.  Les bâtiments de cite était très grande, dans le style d’Allemagne pour la plupart.  J’ai mangé un petit déjeuner lequelle était très bon, mais simple comme mes amis avait eu au Marche Français samedi matin. 

Luxembourg

Luxembourg était un surpris ; une ville ancienne situe dans une vallée et la ville moderne est au-dessus sur un escarpement. Je m’ai amusé marcher autour la ville ancienne. 

Presque j’ai été dans Luxembourg, je suis allé un magasin qu’il vend des choses pour la cuisine.  J’ai vu une série des poêles par Tefal qui était demi -prix.  En NZ ils auront été deux fois le prix au prix normal en Luxembourg. Je les ai acheté !

Une eglise ancienne

Ce soir j’ai reste à une chambre d’hôte à Montauville près Nancy.  Monsieur parle français et Allemagne mais ne pas Anglais. Je dois parler français maintenant.  Il devrait aider mon confiance parler français.

La Moselle a Pont a Mousson

Aussi, ce soir j’ai mangé au Restaurant le Petit Gourmandin à Pont à Mousson.  Le restaurant a recommandé par le propre de Chambre d’hôte.  Le repas a été très bon.  Premier, j’ai manage les demi-douzaines d’escargots de bourgogne, puis j’ai mangé un fricassée rognons de veaux aux champignons.  Il a été très gout.  Finalement j’ai mangé un nem du chocolat sur la recommandation de serveuse.  

Yesterday I had a quick walk around Metz.  It was a grey misty morning with a bit of drizzle.  An interesting city in that it is a mixture of Germanic and French styles, not surprising since it was part of Germany for a while.  They built the train station in the early 1900’s and it is really immense as you can see from the photo. 

I had a very nice breakfast, light and in the French style. 

I then headed for Luxembourg.  It is only about 60 kms from Metz up the motorway.  No tolls!! It took me a couple of circuits of the city of Luxembourg to find a place to park and eventually found a parking building.  It has been interesting being a new city regularly because you have to do everything slowly yet all the signs are set up infrequently and I think assume that one has a working knowledge of some sort of the city and only need a small reminder.  That is because the sign makers see, naturally, the city from their knowledge of it, not from the perspective of a stranger.  Hence you make a decision too late because you have just seen the sign and cause mayhem to the traffic behind.

The city seems to comprise two parts, the old part in the valley below and the newer part on the escarpment above.  Both have their charms.  I spent a pleasant couple of hours walking the streets looking.  The city is a bit schizophrenic, there are signs in French and German, and then some with English added.  Even the populous seem to speak several languages as I heard more English spoken than I have for quite a while.  French though is the primary language.  The other thing was that I thought it was really only a city like Monaco but it does seem to have some countryside as well.

While walking I popped into this shop that seemed to sell everything from electronics to kitchen ware and saw a couple of Tefal frying pans at half price which is about quarter the price I think I would have paid in NZ.  So not wanting to miss a bargain I bought them.  Heavens knows how I am going to fit them in my bag but I will worry about that later. Now all I need is a lid for them.  There was a deep one that had a lid and I almost got that one too.

I had decided to stay at a Chambre d’hote for the night and had searched out a couple on the internet and so headed for it.  I was lucky enough to find it, through some persistence.  They are a nice couple who are trying to do things environmentally.  The room was very nice and they only spoke French so I have been forcing myself to speak it and to ask questions.  I think they understood what I have been saying. 

Last night I went out for dinner to a restaurant they recommended.  It was very good food and there was even 20% off the price.  The restaurant was humming clearly the price reduction worked because the one across the road was virtually empty.  I had escargot, a fricassee of veal kidneys with mushrooms and on the recommendation of the waitress a nem du chocolat which was very rich and consisted of chocolate in a pastry case that was fried.  It was stunning and very rich.  The waitress was adorable and had this wonderful smile as described how much she liked the dish. 

Today I am off to Verdun and Nancy.