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Non-Fiction
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| Gourmand not Gourmet | |
| By patterjack | ||||||||
| 11 April 2007 | ||||||||
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Paris was pleasant enough , but circumstances , though not so much against us as a family , still did not smile greatly upon me personally from a professional viewpoint . Since I was on a sabbatical , it was almost obligatory upon me to get involved with a much theatre as I could but in that area there was little joy. What was a joy was the hotel we stayed at , just above the Sorbonne , on a small square. I have to say that the people who ran it were among the nicest we met in France . The old concierge spoke no English and I spoke non-idiomatic schoolboy French , but we battled along bravely . I had been told I should see Jean Guerrin at Montreuil and when I could not convince the girl on the telephone exchange what I was on about , he did his best for me . Finally I got on the Metro to Montreuil and once there looked around to see the Hotel de Ville , where I enquired about M.Guerrin from a girl who claimed to speak English . Luckily there was a poster in the foyer that mentioned his name and his acting school , and things flowed successfully from that , even to my being picked up in a car and driven there . Another theatrical venture however was a complete flop. Outside the Beaubourg there was a tent show -- claiming to be an interactive drama event with the audience participating . In French or not , I thought it might be an experience . Twice we booked for it , but twice it was cancelled . I think that the three in our family were to be the sole audience . But by sheer good luck I did get to see the Wuppental Ballet performing Kurt Weill's / Bertoldt Brecht's Seven Deadly Sins , so that was very much a plus . I am a lover of Weill's music , and I enjoy Brecht 's plays. Two out of three was not bad , so we gave up on theatre and did the tourist thing with galleries and museums . Every now and then we would stretch our limited budget to have a slap up meal . Not that we did not eat well at other times , but it was usually food that we could organise for ourselves . I only made one error in that regard . I bought some fresh fruit from the stalls and n small delicatessen on the square I got bread , cheeses and une tranche de cela et cela etc , gesturing at the various meats and hoping for the best . A lot of them were delicious . However I don't know the constituents of one that I bought -- but the horrible memory lingers with me still ! So I asked the concierge where would be a good restaurant nearby. He told us of Le Ranch , but warned us to go upstairs , where it was cheaper. When we found the place we wandered upstairs to find that one paid for one's meal and then served oneself at the smorgasbord . We had not had such an opportunity for gluttony for quite a long time ! I am a good trencherman , the daughter does pretty well at the table , and on this occasion I was surprised to see my wife go back for extra helpings . With a bottle of chablis to wash it down , we did very well indeed , thank you . Naturally I avoided the salad materials , and stuck to good solid protein. So as we settled back replete , ready to drink the last of the wine , the waiter came up to us and asked if we would like the main course now ! And let it be known that it was not a small main course either ! Somewhat glassy - eyed , we called for another bottle of the chablis to wash it down , and manfully and womanfully chomped our way , slowly slowly , through the meal . The walk back up the hill to the hotel , though not steep , was one of the longest journeys I have made on foot . I was , after all , carrying within me quite a burden !!
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