As a traveler in an European country, it is easy to die a slow death in the corner of a restaurant waiting for the bill, or the l'addition as they call it here in France. The waiters assume that you want to linger over your meal (it is true that the average restaurant visit lasts two hours) and will not bug you about things such as when you want the bill. There is a huge deficit here between US and French citizens. I can only imagine that any French tourist in America would find our friendly waiters incredibly rude with the constant questions, "More coffee? More water? Would you like dessert? Would you like the bill?" Here, in order to survive, you must make eye contact at the exact, appropriate moment. If this crucial moment is lost, forget it; you are there until closing or when they need to kick you out to make way for the next wave of diners. We have experienced three of these moments so far only to discover in two of the instances that we must go to the "caisse" (cash register) to pay. There were no tell-tale signs that this was the case. We assume there must be a secret signal involved between the waiter and the diners. Be wary! One of the three moments was spent in L'Auberge de Meneham in a ruined (now restored) village of thatched fishing huts a stone's throw from the ocean. I dined on my first crepe of the trip: oozing, hot, buttery chevre with poitrine fume (smoked breast...breast of what, I am not sure). It was delicious. I also had my first real coffee of the trip, and I died for a moment in the dark, mysterious aroma of espresso. However, after we had completed our meal and appropriately lingered, our delightful waiter, complete with the traditional striped Breton sailor shirt, had decided to consciously ignore us. No amount of brow-raised looks brought him over. Finally, after desperation and the horror of being trapped here for the next week, we flagged down another waiter, and I said in my most confident French, "Exscusez-moi Madame, l'addition s'il vous plait." And she was like, oh yeah, sure, what took you so long. Sigh.
The beauty of the Meneham was that there was a public restroom, a rarity in France. I had a touch of Napoleon's revenge yesterday morning, so I was very aware of the scarcity of public restrooms. I frankly don't know how the French do it. Well, actually I do...there are many a corner and bush in France that have a distinct smell of urine. And at a certain point near the end of yesterday, I did consider briefly that the bush behind the obelisk near the cow field might just be the spot for me; however, my American Puritanical sensibilities took over, and I decided that using a corner near a historic artifact was not an appropriate choice, even though several others thought so. Anyhow, just be aware of this if you ever travel in the European vicinity.
Yesterday, besides a few setbacks such as a village closed due to an open air market, we seldom had to turn around. As long as my mother trusts my judgement and waits for me to give directions we are safe. I even was confident at times to close the map and tuck it within reach near my seat. We made our way from our cottage to the local Casino (a market, not a gambling joint) and purchased some sunscreen (thank you!) all the way to the Western coast that has great granite bouldered beaches and hidden bays and ports. We went in search of dolmens and menhirs many of which turned out to be beneath a 16th century (or earlier) church. Take that pagans! Finally we did find a perfect Asterix and Obelix type menhir, and I made my mom take the tourist shot of me trying to hold it up just like in the comic books. We even found a restaurant to eat dinner at, oysters and all--this one had a "caisse".
A pretty good day all in all. Hopefully today there will be no return of Napoleon's revenge. Although, I must say, I feel some bronchial congestion forming but was is travel without getting sick? We are heading to an ancient castle, medieval village, and then the Armorique wilderness where the Celts staved off the Roman invaders (at least for a little bit) and that is featured in the Asterix and Obelix comic books.
Sleep well my friends.
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