A weekend of sipping, tasting, and digesting: a description of the past few days. Gretchen and I flew to Paris to meet her college friend Lila for a couple days spent mainly in Le Marais, a hip, trendy neighborhood in the third arrondissement. All three of us having been to Paris at least two separate times before, so this weekend was focused on seeking out those charming, authentic, and non-conformist eateries that flock to this 'city of dégustation.' Thinking back now, I don't think I had one glimpse at the Eiffel Tower all weekend... and I was okay with it.
Basically yet another vacation from a vacation, again, along with a little anxiety about food expenses. No, don't get me wrong, there is some very affordable, amazing food in Paris. And the more expensive food we bought was worth it because of the incredible quality. We went from eating perfectly crafted falafel pitas at just eight euros, to complete satisfaction with perfectly french buckwheat crepes filled with cheese, ham, egg, and artichoke heart, at twelve euros. We went from one euro baguettes and two euro bags of olives, almonds, and clementines from the local market, to savoring every bite of a tender braised beef and vegetable dish at nineteen euros a whack. Creamy chicken mushroom risotto, decadent quince dessert with maple ice cream, simple ham and butter baguette sandwiches, fudgy hot chocolate, cheeseboards, pastries.... I need to work out.
Just before we flew to Paris, Gretchen and I took the train to Ventimiglia, Italy, for the day. We had a great time walking through the vast market full of everything from food to knockoff raybans, purses, and clothes, as well as combing the rocky beach for special stones and broken tile. Our lunch was classic Italy, including dishes like pesto gnocchi and a digestif of limoncello.
At one point Gretchen and I were sitting at a cafe, and the couple next to us was speaking mixtures of English, French, and Italian back and forth to each other. Similarly, our waitress during lunch was also switching seamlessly between Italian, French, and English. She started in Italian, then switched after Gretchen started speaking French (because it is the second most common in Ventimiglia, being so close to France), then switched again after she heard Gretchen and me conversing in English. The resulting farewell went something like "Grazie mille, merci, au revoir, thank you, bye, buongiorno, grazie!!" I think it is incredible how seamlessly so many in people have learned to speak like that in Europe. In places that are melting pots for so many different languages, like Nice and Switzerland to name a few, the people are also much more likely to be understanding if the "native" language you are trying to speak to them sounds far from perfect, because the possibility of being a European citizen from a different unique country instead of just a slightly ignorant American is so much higher. It takes a lot of energy to speak something other than your first language, which is why I'm so impressed by bi, tri, quad(?) linguists. I don't think enough credit is given to those who decide to make that effort, seemingly huge to me but small to a European exposed to so many different languages from a very young age.
We are busy prepping for a Thanksgiving feast of ten people over here in Nice! We even visited a specialized store called "Thanksgiving" in Paris to purchase the elusive cranberry sauce and pumpkin puree that is nowhere to be found in normal french grocery stores. We are going to show some Europeans a true New England Thanksgiving!
p.s. don't forget if you haven't checked out the gallery yet, there are lots of additional pictures in there that aren't included in blog posts!
