Today Francois and I headed off To Albi to do some more extensive touring…without the kids! Diane graciously offered to stay home with Liam and Emma in order for us to have the day off. Merci Diane! Once we arrived in Albi, around 11:30am, we decided to stop for lunch. Besides, all the stores, museums and churches were closed for lunch and we only had until 2:00pm to eat before all the restaurants closed.
We ate in this very tiny restaurant called Le Papillon (the Butterfly). As usual the waiter detected our anglosized french accent and started to speak in english to us. Francois ordered a Pork cutlet with rice and an Asian influenced salad and I ordered what turned out to be a greek wrap (with veggies, garlic/herbed boursin cheese in a pita or flat bread) with a greek salad. Both very tasty. The meal included dessert which was a piece of caramel cake with crème fraîche and real whip cream. Mmmmmm.
On the way out of the restaurant, I commented to the waiter/owner how well he spoke english. He looked at us and paused…”well i went to Berkley.” Turns out he lived there and moved to Albi, France area because he has family here and I guess wanted to run a restaurant. He explained to us the wonders of French tipping. It is not uncommon to leave absolutely nothing – they seem to be a non-tipping culture. This is because in earlier years ( I don’t know how early) the waiters weren’t paid anything and relied on the tips as their wages. Now it is the law for restaurant owners to pay their wait staff at least the minimum wage (8,27 EUR – around 12.67CAN) plus 6-7 weeks holidays plus medical – Nice! So, most of France believe that often “service” is included. However, most people tend to leave their change left from the bill. Très generous! Us North Americans tend to be a little uncomfortable with that so we tend to leave more. I say, let’s live as the French do! 🙂
After eating we toured the Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Museum, the St. Cecile Cathedral and the local shopping district. I love looking at all the window displays (especially the kids clothing – they are waaay tooo cute and waaay tooo expensive). Francois and I winded around most of the downtown of Albi looking at shops and pushing each other out of the path of dog poop – not liking that about France.
After a really relaxing day we went home for supper – bread, cheese and wine! Phew, I’m going to need some expandable pants.
Blog you tomorrow – and get a load of Francois’ sporty new look. Now, we just need to work on that green sweater he’s always wearing.
Thanks for sharing the window shopping with us. Gorgeous clothes and shoes for kids. All boutique style! Francois’s new sporty style is awesome. Great shoes and jeans Francois! I agree with Marissa though, you’ll have to work on the green sweater 🙂 But to be fair, and not pick only on Francois, its time to see Marissa sporting a new oufit from France 🙂
Comment by off2europe2 — April 17, 2007 @ 9:36 pm
I second off2europe2’s opinion – time to see Marissa 😀 Francois, you look sexy.
Comment by klaus — April 17, 2007 @ 9:50 pm
Ha, ha, well no resistance here! I’ll see what I can do, however I may not be so lucky to find something so fast.
Comment by marissa — April 17, 2007 @ 11:37 pm
Don’t be shy, Marissa 😀
Comment by klaus — April 18, 2007 @ 11:47 am
Ooooooo nice shoes Francois!! They totally look like these Diesel ones my friend got from Holts…..tres chic 😀 And I wanna see Marissa in some couture…..that’d be hot! Yay for shopping 😀 (And that green sweater……..no comment)
Comment by Sarah — April 20, 2007 @ 10:28 pm