A day at the tastings

A city-sponsored wine festival, from their website
A city-sponsored wine festival, from their website

As you probably know, wine holds an important role in the culture and economy of France. We live in the middle of the world’s largest wine-growing region and in March attended the wine fair hosted by the high school not far down the road from where we live. Not to be outdone by their comrades, the students at the high school for those who want to enter the restaurant profession organized their own Salon Cité Vins wine tasting and guess who was there when it opened at 10 AM? Continue reading “A day at the tastings”

Change to change

Bill's new coin holder
Bill’s new coin holder

In the US we never spent money. I carried around the same five 20 dollar bills in my wallet for years, literally. So how did we exist? With credit cards, of course. At one point I think we had 7 of them. Now before you call Credit Counseling Anonymous for us, I should say that we used them for convenience and paid everything off at the end of each month. It was just difficult to resist the offer of 50,000 air miles or 400 dollars rebate after the first use, for example, on a card that was free and you could then cancel a year later without penalty. That’s now all changed…or more correctly, change. Continue reading “Change to change”

Liverpool ladies

Our photo of the postcard they sent
Our photo of the postcard they sent

We encounter a lot of people on a daily basis essentially because we walk around town quite a bit. Since we don’t have a car, anything that’s close enough to go there by foot, we do. Today we needed to replenish our supply of local sparkling wines because we had served a few glasses…ah, bottles…to some lovely ladies from Liverpool, England last week. And just how did that happen? Continue reading “Liverpool ladies”

Triple your pleasure

Brugge Tripel beer
Brugge Tripel beer

Bruges, Belgium is a beautiful city. You can glide along its canal admiring the medieval buildings that line the cobblestoned streets. The central market square is surrounded by fanciful guild halls that are towered above by a 13th century belfry where a carillon is still manually played several days a week. Within walking distance from there are windmills that add even more charm. On our first visit there 16 years ago we were won over by the city’s history, architecture, and its beer, especially a fine brew called Brugge Tripel. Continue reading “Triple your pleasure”

We’re going to a biker bar?

A bar on the pedestrian walkway
A bar on the pedestrian walkway

We’re not late night people and the TV channels that we get don’t help us to stay up. We intentionally have only French television so once 8:00 PM rolls around and the news comes on our unofficial language instruction stops and we struggle to find something interesting to watch. Last night was a bit different because a semi-final episode of Eurovision, the multi-country song contest, was playing and we wanted to see what artist might be getting their big break. Previous winners who went on to worldwide fame include ABBA and Céline Dion. Around 9:30 PM, with the show still on, imagine our surprise when the doorbell rang. Continue reading “We’re going to a biker bar?”

Don’t go in there

No vehicles, no people, no camping
No vehicles, no people, no camping

We walk a lot. Some days it’s to the market in town; other days it’s to the hypermarket on the outskirts of town; but every day it’s to pick up a baguette (this is France, after all) and to walk along the river. The accompanying photo and the conglomeration of signs is what we encounter if we go on one particular route. What does it all mean? Continue reading “Don’t go in there”

Poo vs. pooing

Shampoos for men and dogs
Shampoos for men and dogs

When friend and fellow blogger Tracy was trying to encourage us to start this blog, she said that just about anything we did or saw could become the subject of a post. I’m not sure that she had this post’s title in mind when she wrote a few months ago “even the French shampoo you use on Heather” could be something to write about. You see, in France you have to add an “ing” to the word we use in English to wash our hair. The attached photo should explain everything. Continue reading “Poo vs. pooing”