So I work in the tiny town of Elbeuf, which is 20 minutes by train from Rouen. I work there twice a week and I have never had a chance to discover it. Since today was a holiday, another spanish assistant and me decided to explore it a bit. It rained most of the day but we did manage to see a few nice sights. The town is really small and you can see most of it on foot. The most famous inhabitant of the town is André Maurois, a well renowned french novelist. His quotes seem pretty interesting for example "Memory is a great artist. For every man and for every woman it makes the recollection of his or her life a work of art and an unfaithful record."
We walked around town for over an hour and then started craving some french food. So we entered a lovely french café called Le Central, whose exact location I cannot remember anymore. The patron was really nice and we ordered 2 viennese chocolates and I decided to have a croque-madame. I was politely asked whether I eat "du jambon" which is ham. I guess thats because he figured out I was Indian and hence was under the impression that all Indians are vegetarian. Well Im not and just for the record Im not hindu and not all Indians are vegetarians either! After a long while I was served my croque-madame, which is a masculine noun by the way. I was in a terrible dilemma So you can ask the patron next time "Je voudrais un croque-madame s'il vous plait." Croquer in french means to crunch. The croque-monsieur is a grilled sandwich comprising of ham and cheese (most often its gruyère or emmental) The croque-madame is a croque-monsieur served with a fried egg on top! Below is a picture of the sandwich I gulped down!
After our lovely breakfast, we went shopping and I shopped for a shirt in Pimkie. I also met some of my students and my friend was amazed that people actually knew me in this small town in France! I obviously got hungry again and we stopped at a Patissier (french pastry shop) and I bought myself a cookie and a "tarte aux poires". The tarte aux poires is made of pears and I dont have too much of an expertise in cuisine but all I can say was that the pastry was moist, there were many slices of pears within, the crust and exteriors was firm and in a nutshell it was freaking delicious.
After the long rainy day, we headed back to Rouen. Since the train station was too far we decided to wait for the bus, which took its own sweet time in getting there. When we got to Rouen (an hour later), the temperature had dropped and I had to sprint a little on the way home to generate some heat! If anyone is ever going to Elbeuf, I would suggest take the train which I always do when I head to work. Im tired (thanks to my miserable shoes) but also really happy that I went and saw the little town of Elbeuf. Im ending my post with a few quotes from André Maurois whose town is quite too cute!
- Old age is far more than white hair, wrinkles, the feeling that it is too late and the game finished, that the stage belongs to the rising generations. The true evil is not the weakening of the body, but the indifference of the soul.
- People are what you make them. A scornful look turns into a complete fool a man of average intelligence. A contemptuous indifference turns into an enemy a woman who, well treated, might have been an angel.
- Smile, for everyone lacks self-confidence and more than any other one thing a smile reassures them.
- The first recipe for happiness is: Avoid too lengthy meditation on the past.
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