French Sabbatical

Day 99 (7 October 2010) – The Wine Cellar

After several days of steady rain and gray skies, the sun finally came out today. In fact, by the end of the afternoon the temperature had inched close to 75 degrees (although that expression here in the land of the Metric System must be something like “centimetered toward 25 degrees”). Melinda and I took advantage of the nice weather and the fact that the girls were both in school to go out, just the two of us. A couple of weeks ago I had purchased via Groupon Nantes a certificate for a sushi lunch. We decided today was the day to use it.

Although the service was abnormally slow, not the typical relaxed pace of a French lunch, the servers were very friendly and the food respectable. We had a nice time together. Go figure.

After lunch we spotted a nearby shop dealing in fine wines and liquor. I’d call it a liquor store but you Washingtonians will likely picture one of those brightly lit state facilities. This was nothing of the kind. Really, it felt more like something you’d find in Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter stories. The range in price was quite extreme. You could get a shot of rare whiskey for 50€, I kid you not, and certain bottles of wine for that and more. Many of the bottles were quite decorative and some had dust on them, they were so old. Melinda bought a couple of bottles of wine (for a total of less than 12€) and posed for this picture.

October 7, 2010 - Posted by Andy Smallman | Uncategorized | French Sabbatical