For the first time in a while the answer to that question is pas beaucoup. After spending the last two weekends in Nancy, the thumbs are starting to twiddle I’ve got to say. Last weekend I was a little (shock, horror) BORED! Vrai dat, vrai dat.
As BillyOcean once said ‘When the going gets tough, the tough get going’. I didn't exactly 'get going', but I did get off my backside and profité-moi-d bien from Nancy’s coffee shops and bars.
France is famous for its café culture, yes. But this culture is based on brasseries, not little cosy cafés where you can buy a cuppa and a scone and read The Guardian (oh, England). Brasseries were first set up in this part of France due to the sheer abundance of breweries (and proximity to Belgium-potential beer capital of the world). So brassed off (I do amuse myself sometimes) with brasseries, it was time for a change....
It was bloody brilliant to discover Kensington Coffee, a Canadian coffee shop that sells BAGELS. With smoked salmon and Philadelphia cream cheese! And proper cookies and muffins! Spent an hour or two in there last week with some other assistants, whiling away the time (my weekend did commence last Wednesday after all). The owner of the café (who would fit in well in a low budget, indie movie) told us he lived in Toronto for a few years and found that coffee shops like the ones in Canada (and every other English speaking part of the world) didn’t exist in France, particularly the industrial North-East. Et voilà! He opened Kensington Coffee!
This week I visited Kensington Coffee, le Phenix (standard Irish bar affair) twice, a café on the corner of Place Stan which does an afternoon deal of dessert and a drink for 5 euros (winner) and an Italian restaurant for an assistant’s birthday in which 3 hours of our evening was spent. 3 hours for a main course and dessert. Car-azy! Still, what else would I be doing??
Saw the new French blockbuster Rien à Déclarer at the cinema last week- about a French guy and a Belgian guy who are forced to work together policing the Franco-Belgian border. A bit slapstick, but highly entertaining. However made Belgians out to be complete nutters/ a bit racist towards the French. Also saw The King’s Speech, the British film that’s up for all the Oscars, which was amezzin’ (plus got to see it in original version thanks to the Cameo cinema just down the road, woop!).
The Rien à Déclarer trailer, for all you French cinéphiles.
Won’t be twiddling my thumbs this weekend as I am off to Colmar, which (if I’m led to believe) is one of the prettiest towns in France. Meeting up with a fellow assistant and going to Basel on Saturday too. Expect photos.
Another country to tick off the list. Tis a hard life.
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