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Published: August 8th 2007
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Well it had to happen after all these years of being blessed with brilliant weather for holidays. After last years two and a half months away and only three days of rain, my fine weather credits with buddha, god and allah have finally gone into the negative.
Yesterday was one of those wonderful days sitting in the sunshine basking and enjoying life around Nantes, today all that has come to an end, so much so that I have been scaning the net in the hope of finding somewhere to escape to to build up the tan before jetting back home. But no such luck with a week to go before I'm on the big bird back home, the chances of escaping to a warmer clime are decreasing day by day.
So there's been no alternative then to go out roam the streets, sit in a cafe and pretend to be French. I've got the hang of the first two alright but the last has been my downfall on many occassions. Being a bit of a coffee snob, due in part to being spoilt on the coffee front back home at Grind and Nun's I've been struggling a little to
find somewhere in France that makes something that resembles the nectar that I get back home. Who would have thought for a country that shares it's border with Italy (where you can get a good coffee at an out of the way service station on the side of the road that you found by taking a wrong turn off the autostrada) that they can't make a decent coffee, oh well. All of this led to today's novel experience, sitting in a Nantes cafe reading about french wine and gardens, peering out the window through the drizzling rain at a black london cab, while listening to the dulcit tones of Bruce Springsteen sing Streets of Phillidelphia through the cafe piped music. Ok so maybe it's only me that found this a little bizarre.
After an afternoon of trying to earn my keep by pretending to know something about firing systems, it was off to what was to turn out to be 24 hours of culinary bliss. First stop Japanese restaurant for some unbelievabley good salmon sashimi (yeah I know Japan is further away then Italy and they can make good sashimi). One of those melt in your mouth type moments.
The 24 hours of culinary bliss started there because my luncheon experience didn't really rate at all. I walked past this little chinese joint where they were lined up out the door and all seemed good, until I ordered, then I realised that the food in the nice glass fronted thingy was cold. It may just be me, but I found it a little strange that you buy something (paid for by weight) then they heat it up in the microwave for you and give you a plate to put it all on. But the locals seem to enjoy it. After that little mishap I've now adopted the policy of plat du jour. The food gods are shining, just like the rain gods are raining. Stopped at this little French joint and got the 10 euro three course special, of course this bumps out to 15 euro when you get a carafe of the local vino and an espresso but who cares. The pate, the grilled sardines with a tomato based sauce and the meringue and custard dessert and you end up being a happy little camper ready to make the sodden dash back to the car. The other bonus
was that having a waiter who for once didn't try to rip me off (I won't go into the whole here's a bottle even though you only ordered a glass of wine saga from a month ago, as I've moved on) and went out of his way to be helpful with the menu, including pointing out the 10 euro special that his co-worker conveniently forgot to mention that wasn't on the menu. So if you happen to be passing through Nantes for the Rugby World Cup, La Cabane at 26, rue des Petites Ecuries gets my vote. Mind you if you're an ex-rugby player you may need to top up the tank at the kebab shop across the road afterwards before walking all of ten metres to the Irish pub.
The quest for the sub 5 euro decent red is continuing, with this weeks highly commendable going to the 2004 Dom Balaquere from the Les Vignerons du Mont Ventoux Bedoin. A nice little Shiraz Grenache blend from the appelation Cotes du Ventoux controlle www.bedoin.com .
It's time for a bit of culture again having lashed out and spent less on a ticket to the opera then I spent
on the coffee and Belgium chocolate I had when I went to get the tickets. Well for 5 euro I wasn't expecting the best seat in the house since I was told that the opera usually sells out a year in advance. The opera theatre at Nantes has a lot in common with the one at San Sebastien, except Nantes decided to go with the Wedgewood blue colour scheme from the opera paint chart. The performance of Pirame et Thisbe had us on the edge of our seats, literally, it was the only way we could see the stage. After seeing a couple of operas where you can't see the surtitles and wondered what was happening it was quite novel to be able to see the surtitles and not the stage. Needless to say I think they spent the 5 euro from my ticket on the set, a bit disappointing really, so much so that a hasty retreat was made at interval, if someone knows how it ends can they let me know.
Time to go track down a giant yellow rubber ducky.
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Fooey
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Coffee
You wont be able to get a coffee at nuns when you get back to sunney no rain beautiful weather in Sydney. Not enough seats. Its had a write up in the saturday telegraph and also been on Sydney weekend.