Bias Towards French Wines

Grazi!

Can't agree. On a recent trip to France (October '05) I found the French people we met ( in St Emilion and Paris) unfailingly kind helpful and welcoming. Even to someone like myself with my ghastly year 10 schoolboy Australian accented French. To my surprise the shopkeepers were most polite and always greeted us with a cheerful bonjour and au revoir. Quite unlike the surly or indiffernt staff you encounter in say, Melbourne.

The wines, though very different in style from those in Oz were excellent and great value for money.

Cheers! Martin

Are you yourself gunning for that slot Michael? In my book you're a contender! ;^)

FWIW, on my first trip to Europe I landed in Paris for a stay of a few days, en route to Italy. Having heard that Parisians are the snobbiest of the French, I arrived expecting the worst.

To my surprise and delight, I found Parisians to be pretty much like people everywhere else: If you are polite and nice to them they respond in kind. I expected them to be aloof and rude - especially since I don't speak French - but I managed to get by on only English, with the occasional merci beaucoup thrown in. The only rude Parisian I encountered was a clerk in a chocolate shop - but that encounter could have just as easily happened here in Los Angeles.

It's a minor national pastime here (and elsewhere) to make fun of the French (and I'll admit to participating occasionally), but truth be told their Country is very beautiful and they have their act together a lot better than most of the rest of the world - despite their socialist government. Their food and wine is, at its best, legendary, and even their infrastructure is quite good. Well, except for CdG airport maybe. :^/

Although I'm a proud citizen of the best Country in the world, I'm always happy to visit France.

Tom S

Tom - It's always great to chat to a fellow Australian! Martin PS is there an emoticom for the ironic?

;-)

M.

There's a typo: an "al" too much.

M.

Touche, Michael! :^)

Tom S

F_____ food is an abomination.

Sauces on everything!

Italian trgional cooking is FAR superior.

F______ films? Nothing but talk, talk, talk. Nothing EVER happens.

F_____ philosophy? Are you kidding? Sartre? Or any number of other idiots...

F_____ music? Compared to...Wagner, Mozart, or a whole lotta Italians....

Tom S wrote:

Tom S wrote: > It's a minor national pastime here (and elsewhere) to make fun of the French

Monsieur Tom, but zees is not a socialist government, zees is ze rightwing government, which is in fact quite socialist. It was ze socialists that got into privatisations and globalisation and vive les USA...

You have read him until now?

He's in my filter since day 2 or 3 on this board.

M.

"Michael Pronay" wrote

No Michael - I actually use three different computers - this one is a new one in my office, and I had neglected to "nuke" uranium cranium.

He is now g-o-n-e!!!!!

I read that you have been having a cold spell there in Austria.

I shall think of you this evening when I am picnicing at the beach, after work (cold cuts if chicken; salad and Sauvignon) - Aahhhhh!

I heard there were some beached whales in NZ. They thought it strange that they ate chicken with wine. :-)