An evening in Saint Remy de Provence

Tonight we threw caution to the wind and braved one of our first dinners with E at a suitable adult time - and I'm pleased to say it kinda worked!

Firstly the drive from Maussane (home) to St Remy is the best. 20 minutes, winding roads, up and down a mountain and not too many cars. The speed limit is 90 but you rarely get the chance to reach it with all the twists. The paddle shift gears in the Renault got one single use coming out of a hairpin turn and Alison has banned them from now on. Safety. Family. etc. etc. 

First stop was the park, as it often is. Seems 2 year olds know the deal. You can play in the park for 45 minutes, then we'll walk around the town for 45 mins (and we'll pretend that is 'your time' too), then we need you to sit and be good and not touch anything at the table for 90 mins. It just worked!

The park was a winner, they had 2 tunnels! Wow! 
We had a minor disagreement with a little French Miss who thought she owned the swing, E corrected her and said it was in fact his, she kicked him, we gave her the swing. Vicious. 

We stayed at the park a while longer while Alison shopped. The remainder of our time there was uneventful, but it is a good park to have on the outskirts of town for when we visit again. 

I met a smiling Alison at the bottom of the hill ... this generally means a successful shop. 

* Fleur De Sel Herbs De Provence (aka Salt with herbs, but Fleur De Sel is 'expensive' salt). 
* Le Sirop de nappage Fruits Confits (fruit syrup you can drizzle over ice cream, it'll last us at least 6 years)
* And a tiny bag of 'something else' which was 8,90€ for 10 bite size squares of sugary sugar.

Good shopping wife!

Dinner itself had a bumpy start, we had hoped for a 6.30 table somewhere. Every restaurant looked slightly confused at 6.30. Tables set, but not all of them, the outdoor tables still stacked inside the restaurant in the walkways. Some staff lingering but no one willing to make eye contact or talk to prospective diners. As we neared 7.00 there was a bit more life but not enough to be obvious. We were close to sitting at one place but the chef came out for a cigarette and sat at the table we had picked, so we kept walking.      Ahhh, the French. Bof. 

We landed in a great little restaurant that had one other couple sitting with a wine. Asked for a table for 3 and were told they were fully booked and we could only sit outside. It was 7.15 and there were at least 40 empty seats. Oh well, outside worked for us (it was that or another bloody baguette for dinner!), and thankfully the food was terrific. 

Pizza. Salad. Bread. 4 x glasses of wine and dessert. 50€. 

Alison has perfected the ordering in French, and she is about 50/50 on translating their responses, and tonight was a good one, we didn't end up with prawns this time when we thought we had ordered vegetables. 

E was a trooper, ate a stack of bread, made some friends with neighbouring tables, smiled enough at the staff so they forgave me for my poor French, and sat still for the entire time.

A successful night out for Alison's Birthday Eve. 

Scott