Art Gallery and Wine Tasting

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Today has been full and interesting. I thought I could quickly do some shopping for groceries--wrong! A 5-minute walk each way was the easy part. Somehow, wandering around a French supermarket does not easily lead to completed shopping. Since none of the packages is familiar, I have difficulty telling whether I am in an aisle for cleaning products or staple foods. The fruits and vegetables, meat and fish are easy. You can smell them as well as easily see them!
Shopping for 1 is a challenge as it is at home. Today, I tried to buy 1 potato, 1 carrot, 1 onion, etc. They are not always sold in bulk.
The other delaying factor is that all the products look so interesting, that I want to stop and examine each one. Hence, it took me over an hour to buy only a few items.

In the afternoon, I attended a lecture at the Art Gallery on the use of space in 18th Century French Paintings. Good thing it cost only 2 Euros with student card. The docent seemed to have it in his agenda that in 1 hour he must cover as much as possible. For me, his rate of speech was like a machine gun with only the occasional pause to take it all in. After awhile, I just let it flow over me and was able to catch 1 word in 5. My French-speaking prof from Quebec was also having difficulties, so I didn't feel too bad.

The annual wine festival happens to be on today and tomorrow, so I decided to go both days, in order to get in the most wine tasting possible. It is an outdoor venue--booths all around the square in front of the main train station. You pay 3 Euros for a wineglass, which entitles you to the unlimited tastings. I tried limiting myself to one type of white (Vouvray) and 1-2 types of red (Bourgueil and Saumur Champigny). Even among them, there were sec, demi-sec, petillant in many different booths. Of course, there was food to buy--I had to have some (just to stabilize me)--a sandwich a la saucisse avec des oignons, de la moutarde, et de la mayonnaise. M-M-M! 4 Euros. I bought 2 fairly expensive bottles of wine: 1 red and 1 sparkling white for 6,50 Euros each! (I tasted them first).

Language-wise, I am getting lots of practice. Our group of students are very good at not dissolving into English too often, so the ruling language is French. Of course, all our classes ar entirely in French, and we are constantly interacting with the local people who find our French charming (they are alwasy so polite, the French). If you have not yet read it, look at Nadeau and Barlow's book SIXTY MILLION FRENCHMEN CANT BE WRONG--hilarious and informative about the French culture and mentality. Nadeau is French Canadian and Barlow is English Canadian.

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