Villefranche-sur-mer fall 2021 - 5 A couple interesting things

Dear Friends,

Jane and I are still in Villefranche and having great adventures.  From time to time, we are surprised at things that we notice in every day life.  The other night we had dinner at our favorite restaurant.  It serves pizza as well as different specials every day.  It is not fancy, but the food is good and the servers and owner are great.  Since it is warm and the pandemic is ongoing, we ate outside on a covered patio that is also the street although there are no cars.  We noticed that directly over our heads was someone's laundry put out to dry.  We do this every time we do laundry, as does everybody else in the old town.  We, of course, should have noticed this before but had not.  

Once we noticed this phenomenon, we were more aware of how often it occurs.  A couple of nights later we went to a fancier restaurant and noticed the same thing although this time the laundry was not directly above us.

This restaurant has been in Villefranche for a long time, but we had never eaten there.  It has new owners and was recommended to us.  We went to have some fish and the mushrooms which are in season here.  Unfortunately, the fish selection for the day was very limited.  The restaurant features local food and wine. The catch of the Villefranche fishermen that day was small so we could not have the fish that we had anticipated. However, I did start with camembert with mushrooms.  It was quite rich but very good.

Notice the small amount of lettuce on the side.  Now look below to see how much lettuce can be put into a very small bowl,

For our main courses,  Jane had an entrecôte.  Please notice the inventive way that Jane uses some bread to hold her silverware so as not to soil the placemat.  Also notice how the bread was delivered in a paper bag.

I had duck breast done rare as it should be.  Please notice the wonderful haricots verts (green beans) wrapped in bacon.   

We needed to have a bottle of local wine since that is what the restaurant features.

And of course it would have been rude not to try their desserts.  I had a profiterole, and Jane had wonderful vanilla ice cream with fresh strawberries.

I am afraid that I have strayed far from the laundry hanging over your table at a restaurant, but it was a great meal even though it was not what we expected.  

We took the train the other day for an adventure that I will write about soon.  We are used to seeing dogs everywhere as is a well known occurrence in France, but on the train we experienced something new.

Yes, you are correct that is a rabbit being served a meal of lettuce on the train.  In the car we were in, one side was a cushion running parallel to the train.  Normally it would have held 4 people, but a woman had set up house here with half the settee for her and half for her rabbit.  At least she put out a towel to hold the rabbit's food.  It was about 4:30 in the afternoon which is the time for the first wave of people returning home after work.  The train we were on was heading to Nice and was fairly empty until we stopped at Monaco when lots and lots of young people got on heading home after work.  The woman made no attempt to use up less space.  Even when a man asked if he could sit.  She said yes but made no attempt to move her rabbit.

Thanks for reading and please comment,

The Unabashed Liberal