Nightly Nantes

Afternoon libation and relaxation over, Didier shows up as scheduled to take Morgan and I around Nantes. Didier is the project manager here in Nantes for our system implementation. He is also a native and can actually get around this city without circling the road circles two or three times, or breaking his neck snap looking at a wanted roadsign as it fleetingly passes in your peripheral vision indicating, after a brief "aw merde," that you are now going "around again." (I'm not trying to show off my French...I just don't want to use the English version of that word in my blog...prude? Perhaps, but it's a nasty word, and the French seems, somehow, more acceptable.)

So off we go, into Nantes arriving at Morgan's place on schedule, a feat I find intimidating. We begin by walking around the city center area. I took quite a few photos, but many just didn't turn out well given the lack of lighting. Several were of the Castle (Duke of Brittany) and the Cathedral (Sainte-Pierre of Nantes), but it was too dark to get anything meaningful. Morgan and I have decided to tour them in daylight and better pictures will be taken.

If you read my previous blog on the October trip you'll recognize the picture here as the great little square near our hotel during that trip. At night it's equally nice.

I just love the way people, even in cool weather, get out on Saturday night and share the city.

This window was so bright and pretty it begged a photograph.

Didier and Morgan waiting on me to take a picture.

We had a great meal in The Petite Baccus. Actually got Morgan to try escargot. He said he liked it. He got the escargot in a trade from me. Jerry (Morgan) is a meat and potatoes guy and not prone to eating crustaceans or even vegetables for that matter. Didier tried to order him an appetizer with meat but Morgan didn't find duck gizzards and smoked duck meat very appetizing. One of my favorite things on the planet is chicken gizzards and now I can say, it's one of my second favorite things, the duck gizzards easily beat them out as favorite. Glad Morgan didn't want them.

The gizzards as appetizer complimented nicely the grilled venison with smashed carrots and small potatoes. A little muscadet and local red made it all work together. These folks can cook!

The restaurant is in a building that is several hundred years old. It's amazing to look around and know you are sitting in a room that has been there for three or four hundred years. The timbers on the ceiling are just unbelievable.

There was a large table of locals adjacent to us and, while many of the table were out smoking, a lady asked if we were American. Responding affirmatively, she told us that when she was young she spent several years working in Washington, D.C. with the French consulate there. She obviously liked Americans and relished the opportunity to speak the language to some natives.

The lady in white is the former consulate official in Washington, D.C.

She was kind enough to take a picture of us generating some laughter from her tablemates, one saying she only loves Americans and is quite wealthy. When Didier responded back in French they all laughed loudly, having sort of been busted. It was all in good fun and the lady was very nice.