Cars and Food: What makes us go

Cars and food here will probably never cease to amaze me. Perhaps that is because those are two pretty huge aspects of my life. That makes sense actually.

Once I sat down outside (they recognize me now at the corner place) I had some decisions to make. What to start the day with?

Well even for a dorky tiny little mildly dingy and dirty corner restaurant, they have a decent menu.

Should I have an Omelet? Nos Sandwich? Nos Croque?

I started out with a cappuccino…and ladies and gentlemen, I may turn into a coffee drinker. It was freaking fabulous.

I ended up ordering…damn I wish I wrote it down…but in essence a lardon (ham) and potato omelet. Oh it was good. Oh it was so very good. I’m amazed that I haven’t had a disappointing meal yet (perhaps because I’ve eaten at 2 restaurants so far) but seriously…fan-tas-tic.

As I sat and made my daily automobile observations I noticed a couple things. One, there is a grocery store nearby because I saw a stream of people walking buy with bags full of stuff. I think I’ll follow them backward like a trail of breadcrumbs. Man I will look like a freak taking pictures of a grocery store. Doh.

Another was there was a lady reading the new Harry Potter book at another table. I was mildly amused by this…and wanted to ask her how it was. But she was like 3 pages in and very intent on her book.

Transportation here is very interesting. Obviously lots of cars…but also lots of people on bikes, and many rollerblading and on razor-style scooters. But unlike those that I see in CA they are using them for actual transportation instead of exercise. Maybe that is why there is a lack of obesity here. It certainly isn’t because of the food!

The cars are remarkably modern around here. Sure some looked to be from the mid 80’s…but none older than that. And they are all in pretty good shape…no obvious “beaters” with dented panels and blowing smoke. Sure some were a bit rough around the edges but the vast majority were very new and in great shape. Perhaps it is some sort of law?

At least 1 out of every 7 cars is a Ford. The rest are VW, Seat, Peugeot, Volvo (rare), Mercedes, BMW (rare), Opel, Renault, Citroen…and the occasional Japanese cars.

I sure as hell hope that GM owns at least 2 of those companies…otherwise it is obvious why they are crapping out. Ford has a huge presence here…and a lot of the cars looked like they would fit in on our streets. Citroen and Renault? Umm…a bit too space age for us…even for San Francisco.

I am curious why I haven’t seen a single Civic Si hatchback (the minivan looking one). Seems to me it would be perfect for these people. Odd.

One other cool car related thingie were these elevator trucks. They were mini pickups with a giant boom type thing on the back. They can extend this boom all the way up to the tops of the tall apartments (everything is 8 stories in this part of town) and use a sort of elevator platform to move things up and down. Extremely clever. I could have used one of those when I moved out!

Random thoughts…

-Paris men don’t have long hair. Like 1 in 75 do.

-I find myself slipping into Spanish now. It is very odd to me that I do that.

-I have yet to see one cat, but plenty of dogs…little ones though.

-The city is remarkably clean…and even when I see people miss the trash can they stop, pick it up, and put it in more carefully. That is very different than Walnut Creek even.

-It’s supposed to storm the next two days. Crap.