Today we went into town to the natural history museum and the art museum; both were wonderful! We saw paintings by Monet, Manet, Seurat, Courbet, Rubens, and at least two others whose names I can't believe I have forgotten...!!! The natural history museum reminded me of an old movie about explorers and scientists; most of the taxidermy was pretty ancient. We saw pygmy hippos, giraffes, a platypus(I know Karen will appreciate that!), a musk ox (now I know the name for them: boeuf musque) and so many birds, fish, and other critters! They also had a vivarium there, with some snakes, lizards, fish, and even a caiman. Trying to figure out the names from the French names was interesting, and I learned some. Afterwards we went to a café and had crêpes. Julia and I had nutella with our crêpes, and I tried some cidre( slightly alcoholic cider) which was really quite delicious---I think it's my favorite alcoholic drink in my limited experience. Earlier today Julia and I ate some pralines with breakfast (so healthy!) that Marianne had bought for us to try. The rumors are all true: Belgian chocolate is absolutely, positively superb! Marianne says that the French even come here to find chocolate! Ha.
I am half-watching CSI NY right now, in French. It's interesting to see how all the voices are switched and the lips don't match up with the words.
Here are some things I have noticed that are different here:
One eats with both your hands, and the left does the actual feeding with the fork, and the right uses the knife. Spoons are only for yogurt and soup.
All the glasses are tall and skinny.
The streets are cobblestone
A lot of people bring their dogs more places
Mayonnaise comes in tubes, with lemon added (nom!)
Milk comes in little bottles
Drinks come in glass bottles
And lots of other things. Cool beans.
No comments:
Post a Comment