Books and Beer

Yesterday afternoon, after visiting the supermarché and picking up some foods, I decided to go looking for books. I didn't really need any for class, but it never hurts to look. This foray turned out to successful. My first and only stop was a bouquiniste on rue Bressigny, not far from UCO.



The shop isn't big. I'd put it in dimensions approximating 20x12. Pretty tiny, by American standards. The room was stacked from floor to ceiling with books, most of them three or four deep. Merveilleux. I had originally gone seeking dictionaries. There's a couple people back home who I know would appreciate one. Unfortunately, I didn't find anything that popped out at me. That might be because I saw this first.

There's nothing spectacular about the contents in and of themselves. It's more the presentation. It covers the high points of medieval French literature. The pictures, most of them reproductions of illustrations from manuscripts, are fantastic. Inspired by this find, I started poking around for more books à propos to this'un. I found many more, some of which (the one below especially) will prove indispensible for my ancien français class. Being the only customer, the vendeuse noticed my interest and began retrieving several other books that she thought might interest me. They did. A short while later, someone came in selling books. I grabbed this from their stack. 5 euros.

Nothing flashy. It's basically taking a couple different excerpts (here from Le charroi de Nîmes and from Le Conte du Graal) and breaking them down into each individual word, its context, etymology, derivations, declination, and variations in spelling. Wow. So this book basically does what all of my professors have done when I've studied ancien français. Or words, really. I'm currently looking for similar works. Here's another fun one:

I've wanted this for awhile. I've been tired of reading it online. Only the modern translation though. Sad.

The following evening was spent out on the town with friends. French ones, mind you. We went to a pub in the northern part of the city center. Le Welsh. I kid you not. The sign out front displayed a red dragon, sitting in a drunken stupor. I'll have to get a picture of it. Fun place. Small, warm. It was actually my second time there, it being one of my first stops after figuring out how to get around Angers' center. The beer list there is incredible. They have a menu full of them. Most of them are in bottles, but that's pretty normal for lots of beer styles that are bottle aged. It's not cheap, so there's not much chance of me getting plastered regularly. You know, like I do at home.

We had a good evening, me, my South African friend, and a couple of Frenchies. Apparently there's a large supply of board games. We wound up spending a good deal of time playing some sort of dominoes game. It was fun. The pub (because it's not really a bar) is very conducive to such interaction. No TVs. No slot machines. Lots of French, people from the neighborhood. Authentic in the sense that it's not for tourists or students. Not authentic in terms to living up to its name. Not one word of gallois. Pity. I'll have to teach them one or two. Cwrw!

The beer: Etienne ordered me the beer of the month (i.e., whatever wasn't popular last month). It was a Carolus Ambrio, and it was good. Sadly, I didn't take a picture of it. It was served in a 33cl goblet (a little less than 12 oz.) that had the brewery's name and logo. Presentation seems to be everything here in France. As far as drinks are concerned, each has it's own glass. The color, as you might have guessed from the name, was a nice dark amber. It was very light, not heavy at all. But the flavor was pretty powerful, although not hoppy. I miss my IPAs. There were other herbs in there too. Dunno what. The brewery, Het Anker, is just north of Brussels. From what I gathered online in perusing their site, the base recipe for this beer dates from the 15th century. History in a glass.

The picture below is me and a Murphy's Stout. A little bit better than Guinness.



See the twinkle in my eye? There you have it. I plan on spending my winter vacances in Belgium. For the, uh, museums.

Cheers.