French Traffic

  Friday was our first full day in our new home.  We slept 12 hours, had a light breakfast then went for a walk down by the River Erdre.  One large condo complex is between us and the river.  A lovely gravel path winds around that permits pedestrians, joggers and bicyclists a fresh, natural way down river to Centre Ville (downtown).  We explored upriver a bit, located the pedestrian bridge across to western Nantes - you climb 3 levels of stairs to reach it. OK, when I know what's over there, I'll haul my butt up those stairs...not yet!     We did a bit more down river exploring then headed home.
As we neared our front gate, we saw several people standing nearby.  It turned out to be our neighbors! We were introduced to the next door neighbor, a gentleman named Rene and across the drive, a couple named Isabelle and Philippe.  They were out waiting for the Postman, who rode up on a yellow bicycle.  He welcomed us, also!  I was reminded of our neighborhood at home...everyone nosy and friendly!

Our next adventure was to go grocery shopping.  We hopped in their Peugeot, a cute bright green 2 door sedan, pictured here:

  Shopping was an adventure, we covered the many aisles thoroughly - our best find was a dry British Gin called 'Old Lady's'...wow, gotta have me some! A scary moment was when we checked out...my visa wouldn't work...nor Dave's...hopefully, we'll figure something out.  At least the ATM machine will accept our visas...$$$ !

We returned home to put groceries away, took a nap in front of the TV with all french language stations...even ER is dubbed!  We will be watching less this trip... We decided to hop in the car again to explore a little more of the city...our goal was to find a brasserie with wine and a little bite to eat.

What was supposed to be a quick jaunt out and about turned into a wild ride into the heart of Nantes at rush hour, trying our best to go around blocks, but not realizing the streets are laid out not on a grid, but wagon wheels, reminiscent of  Ladd's Addition neighborhood close to home!  We were very fortunate to have sunlight because that became our only real way to navigate our way back. Map? Oh hell, no!

Bar Menu...where are we???

We were on a street next to the river and discovered a lovely bar and bistro which was just across the river from our house, La Belle Equipe!   Instead of figuring out the rest of the journey home, we decided to park and do what our stated goal was...to have a drink and some food.  We ventured into the bar and sat there enjoying Mojitos! All of the area bars serve these tropical drinks...a bit odd, considering we are in France...oh well!

Mojitos

Who'd think we traveled all this way to have a tropical drink? They were lovely.  It appeared that the restaurant was preparing for a large party with a live band...musicians were unloading a car with drums, etc. 
We got seated for dinner about 8:30. Our bartender became our waiter!  They were all dressed in different colored rugby shirts and jeans...not the stereotypical white shirt, black pants waiter of old...
The patrons at this restaurant were very mixed, families, couples, birthday parties, etc.  Everyone there to have a good time and listen to this great cover band, interestingly called 'Cover'.  They played everything from the Beatles to REM and Bob Marley.

Our dinners were great...steaks with sauces and fries.  They served us quickly and when it came time for us to summon the waiter to pay the bill, they ignored us...finally a man at the next table came to tell us that how you pay is to pick up the painted rock that was on our table with the number 36 on it and take it up to the cashier!  Wow...what a good system - hopefully that's the norm at other places.  We'll see...