Paris is still there

This last weekend we took a little trip over to Paris. The French are very different from the Germans with the exception of their shared hatred for bringing you a check at a restaurant.

While the Germans will not cross the street in a deserted part of town against the don't walk signal, we watched what seemed to be a set of World Cup qualifying matches being played behind a sign saying "Ball games are strictly forbidden". The sign was well placed since the park was located between several busy streets and the ball would fly past the makeshift goals and into rush hour traffic.

Yet the similarity when out to eat was striking. We'd sit down in a smoky restaurant and get our food within 30 seconds of ordering. After about two hours we figured that we had poisoned ourselves enough with the combined Marlboro and Camel fragrance and wanted to leave. However our waitress disappeaed for a another half hour and then ook even longer to bring "l'addition".

However, the food was very good. Sarah's veal stew and my mint and chevre stuffed rabbit leg were both fine examples of good French coooking. The quick lunches of grilled panini or other sandwiches are much better than Taco Bell.