Ahhhh Nutella

On a recent trip to Paris I was introduced to the Nutella & Banana Crepe...
Aaah, Nutella, no better treat has ever existed.

French tickets

Yeah, yeah...so maybe we've gotten a few "speeding tickets" while here in France.  Ok, so 4.  (Dang those side of the road speed cameras.)  But up we've paid them all.

Up until now.
I guess we just started thinking what the hell, we don't actually have valid drivers license here in France anymore (your out of country expire after 1 year in France and the process to get a French license is a BITCH)...

So, in the last month we've received 2 speeding tickets, 1 parking ticket, and 1 ticket for talking on the cell phone while driving (whatever...who knew that was against the law)...

Hey, on the brightside that's 169Euro we've saved ourselves.

Microwave popcorn

Last night I found myself at a friends house for a movie night.  There were 5 ladies there - three Americans, a Brit and an Italian/French lady.

At one point the (American) hostess brings out a bowl of freshly popped microwave popcorn and hands it to the Brit and Italian ladies. The Italian comments on how good the popcorn is and how quickly it was made. When the hostess said something about it being microwave popcorn the Italian asked, "how do you make popcorn in the microwave?"

Then there was that awkward silence as the 3 Americans looked slowly around the room at each other wondering if she was serious with that question.
 
The Brit finally broke the silence, as the Americans began to laugh realizing she WAS serious, and said "That's like asking an American how to boil an egg."

Poor thing, she had gone her whole life without knowing the beauty that is microwave popcorn. Tragedy.

Another grocery store game

Aaah, the French, hours of entertainment.

One Sunday morning I pulled up to one of the grocery stores that happens to be open for  a few hours on a Sunday.  I didn't realize what time they opened or what time it was when I left the house.

I pull into the parking lot, and notice there is a lady standing outside the grocery store door with a cart.  OK, obviously the door is locked because their not open yet. No worries, I wait in my warm car.

As I'm sitting there I witness the following:
French woman walks directly up to the door with her cart, doors don't open, notices 1st lady, then takes her position by 1st lady.
French man and teenage son walk straight up to the door, doors don't open, notices two other ladies, stands to the side by them and wait for the store to open.
French old man swerves his cart around 4 people standing there to get to the door with his cart, doors don't open, looks at other 4 people standing there, makes hand gestures, takes his position to the side.
French woman walks to door with cart, door doesn't open, notices 5 other people crowded around the door, takes her position in the crowd.
Clerk opens door, all 6 people and 4 carts try to get in the door at the same time.

I can't make this shit up people.

Narchos

There's a restaurant in one of my favorite little towns here that advertises "Mexican Narchos" on their signs, flyers, chalk board, and menus.

Really?  
Narchos?

If you can't even spell it right, that many times, how close to "Mexican" are those narchos really goona be?

French parades

ok, I'll give it to the French, that can do some really awesome parades.
This time of year they have tons of them.  There's, of course, Carnivale...there's the big one in Nice that lasts a week, then each little ville has their own.  The cool thing is there's always the huge clown float and on the last carnival parade they set him on fire (something about symbolizing their overthrowing of the monarchy).

Then there's the Mandelieu Mimosa festival - turns out a mimosa is a tree - not ONLY a flavorful cocktail.

And the Menton Lemon Festival - I wasn't able to go to it last year but heard it was really cool, so made sure I made it this year.  During the parade there's  bubbles, confetti, and silly string flying everywhere...I feel real sorry for guys who have to clean all that up.  But what's really cool about this parade is that everything is made out of citrus fruit - all the floats and the garden has these huge orange/lemon structures.  This year's theme was different cultures.

What the hell was I thinking

going to a French grocery store on a Saturday morning!!!


See, with people working during the week and stores being closed for at least 2 hours at lunch every day, Saturdays are the only days the majority of the people can go to the grocery store (they're closed Sundays).  It's like a mad house, people all over the place pushing with their carts, bumping into you, etc.

Oh, and a special thanks to the grocery stores for only letting their employees stock the shelves on Saturdays - so with all the people you also have about a pallet (or two) on most isles as an extra fun obstacle.  Makes sense to me...stock shelves on the most crowded day in the store...of course!