French People Hate Americans

One night near the beginning of our stay in Nantes, Dave and I decided to go to dinner without the kids. They were at home with the babysitter and so off we went. Guillaume de Bricourt (the homeowner) had given us some restuarant suggestions as he has written a guide to the restuarants in town.

We programmed the address into the GPS in the van and were doing rather well, until we landed ourselves in a private roundabout (we followed someone in without realizing we weren't supposed to be in there) that is for pedestrians and business owners.

We were trying to get ourselves out of the mess when these two guys asked if they could help. We told them our troubles and that we couldn't find the restaurant. They started to tell us what to do when one said (in English), "We're going that way, do you mind if we just get in the car and show you the way?"

Brilliant! We were saved. Guy and Christian turned out to be very nice and showed us the way to the car park, then walked us to the restaurant. It turned out that it was closed for "vacances" as many, many places are in France in the summer. So Guy and Christian found us another restaurant, made a reservation, took us there and got us settled. We had a soda with them (well, they drank wine, of course!) and Dave gave them his e-mail address.

We had a great dinner . . . Dave had the frog legs and I had something safe. We had a hilarious time making jokes with the flamboyantly gay waiter and by the end of the night we were eating molten chocolate cakes and laughing with him and the other patrons. (Well, they were probably laughing AT us, but we couldn't tell!)

A week or so later we met them at "Chez Oscar" for an excellent french meal and some interesting conversation. Guy speaks English, Portugese, German and French. Christian spoke a little English, so he and I had a good time speaking Franglais.

A few days before we left Nantes, Guy and Christian invited us to have dinner at their place on the river. We enjoyed looking at their antiques, elephant collection, and much to Dave's delight: old books!

Guy made a great dinner, which went as follows:

• Melon with ham
• Salad
• Chicken, potatoes & green beansCheese and bread
• Chocolate dessert

I am not kidding when I say every meal we have eaten with other people has gone much like this. I think my jeans are a little tighter!

We were so happy to meet such nice people who were willing to unselfishly share their country with us!