Angus and I took a much needed vacation to Paris. When we finally arrived after a very long fight across the big pond, we realized neither of us spoke French. Actually we knew we did not speak French long before then but it became quite apparent while looking like lost tourists. In Paris, the signs were not bi-lingual, they seemed to want you to know you are in France and if you don’t speak their language, don’t expect them to speak yours.
We crawled out of the subway and in our best French finger pointing, we found a local and pointed to the Holiday Inn logo and address on our hotel reservation hoping they could point us in the correct direction. They smiled and pointed to a street that seemed pretty far away. With 2 kids in tow and more luggage than they had on Gilligan’s three hour tour, we drug, groaned and pulled our bags towards the mystery street. No hotel - dead end! O.K. Plan B. We asked another French person (using our French finger pointing again). This time, they smiled and pointed in the direction that we just came from. We looked at each other in disbelief. Is this a game of ping pong with the American tourist or are they all just trying to be helpful without knowing where the hotel was?
This whole thing just seemed to humor Angus. Now he was saying, “see why I never ask for directions?” I used my French finger pointing on him - but only needed one finger. Time we found a map and do this ourselves. As we drug all our worldly possessions down the street for the last time (with people pointing and laughing) we passed a small shop with food, wine and cheese. Angus said “Gotta remember that place - they have wine!” Once we finally settled into the hotel we realized it was 5 O’clock in Paris but it was still morning back home. Hmmm. It’s 5 O’clock somewhere and we are there! We could get used to this.
Angus and I journeyed off to the little shop that we found earlier. After walking inside, the shop keeper greeted us by saying something we could not understand. We’ll assume it was friendly because he was smiling. We got back to using our excellent French communication abilities involving pointing and smiling. The great thing about this place was all of the wine in this store averaged 3 to 6 dollars. No wonder all the French are smiling. It has nothing to do with the lost tourists and playing ping pong. It was about CHEAP WINE!
The next day after touring the Eiffel Tower and cruising around Paris in a tour bus (both are a must do if you ever get to Paris), we headed back to our wine shop to see our new best friend. He was behind the counter and as we walked in he said something French to us again smiling from ear to ear. This time we gave him our best cheese eating grins and shot right back. “Hi Fred, how are you doing today” He did not know what we were saying but he kept smiling. We looked at his wine collection, made our selection, paid “Fred” and on our way out the door, we said “Have a great evening Fred, we’ll see you tomorrow.” This began a week long friendship with our new acquaintance - Fred the Frenchman.
During our last evening in Paris, we had to pay a final farewell visit to Fred. We picked out the wine of the evening and we also picked a bottle to take back home with us. This bottle has remained in our wine rack until now. It is a 2000 Corbieres basic red wine. French wine has a taste all its own (so does cheese). Being corked up for several years and being haulded across the big pond with us, this one needed to breath for a while but after it opened up it was a very nice lighter red.
I would give you the description from the label such as: Ce vin a ete eleve et mis en bouteille par but since it is in French, I have no idea what it means but I do know you can get it at Fred’s Place in Paris. I have not quite figured out how to finger point in French on a blog or I could give you better description and watch everyone nod and smile.
Here’s to you Fred!
Trixie
