Got my fill!

[Gene Howe]

The wife and I love to travel and the local cuisine is always a treat.
We have a way to gauge the exceptionality of the food. The harder it is to understand the citizens of the area, the better the food......usually!:D

[pennview]

Camerio, yes, we stayed in Saint Georges as I recall our first night in Canada, then on to Quebec city, staying on the Ile de Orleans, and then to Montreal. Spent two weeks in Canada in all. I don't recall any issues regarding language and accents as there always seemed to be someone who could translate.

[camerio]

Camerio, yes, we stayed in Saint Georges as I recall our first night in Canada, then on to Quebec city, staying on the Ile de Orleans, and then to Montreal. Spent two weeks in Canada in all. I don't recall any issues regarding language and accents as there always seemed to be someone who could translate.

I am glad your visit to your neighbour country was memorable and that you were well received .... many people are speaking both languages here and lets face it, we are in a globalized world where the English language is used in all type of communications.
That is why, when I was 22 years old and not very good in english, I decided to go an work in a place where the main language was english and that way I did not have any choice but to learn to speak, read and write in that language. I never regretted it since.
To keep being good at it, I watched ABC, CBS and CNN for news every day and all kind of programs on PBS and other english speaking channels, and I also write on this nice forum.

[Gene Howe]

Your English is very good, Camerio.

I am glad your visit to your neighbour country was memorable and that you were well received .... many people are speaking both languages here and lets face it, we are in a globalized world where the English language is used in all type of communications.
That is why, when I was 22 years old and not very good in english, I decided to go an work in a place where the main language was english and that way I did not have any choice but to learn to speak, read and write in that language. I never regretted it since.
To keep being good at it, I watched ABC, CBS and CNN for news every day and all kind of programs on PBS and other english speaking channels, and I also write on this nice forum.

[backhertz]

Montreal is one of the best kept secrets in North America. Only got to spend one day, but got to see the gardens where I saw more bonsai plants than I had ever seen before. Across the street my wife & I took a ride on something I believe was left over from a World's Fair. We had no problem whatsoever as most Canadians are bilingual. We had a great time.

Alas, that was before 9/11. Since then, one needs a passport to travel between the US and Canada. That's ironic because in Europe after the EU was formed, that requirement was dropped. Back in the 70's some friends of mine were in Germany and fell asleep on the train and before they knew it, they were in Austria. They told me they simply snuck off the train and got on one going back to Germany. Is it true? I have no idea. Me? I enjoyed driving at 125 MPH on the German Autobahn when I took my wife there in 2003. 125 MPH was as fast as our 2.5L Jaguar from Hertz would go! But other V-8 powered vehicles we learned were passing us at 180 MPH- it seemed like we were 20 MPH as these Mercedes, Porsches, and other Italian vehicles zoomed by us.

We had reserved a Volkswagen Golf to pick up at the Frankfurt Airport. But like on the Seinfeld episode where Jerry goes to pick up a rental car & there was no car- the same thing happened to us. So Hertz simply gave me the keys to a Jaguar which also had a navigation system- oh thank the Lord as my wife can not read a map to save her life. Now here is a girl who was accepted to Princeton. But when we drive & she has a map, if I make a right turn, she'll rotate the map to the left 90 degrees. I asked her once why. Her answer? Was so we would still be going straight…

What's weird on our trip to Vermont & Montreal, we stopped in a bookstore in Burlington, VT. I found a book that in a funny way described differences between men & women. In it, the author wrote that women will do exactly what my wife does with maps. I just think that's strange. But what do I know? After all my wife agreed to marry me… Milestone 39 is coming up. Holy cow, where did the time go?

[camerio]

Your English is very good, Camerio.

Thanks, I try to always do my best and write properly, with spelling corrector today in most applications there is no reason not to be good.

[bffulgham]

The wife and I love to travel and the local cuisine is always a treat.
We have a way to gauge the exceptionality of the food. The harder it is to understand the citizens of the area, the better the food......usually!:D

Can definately agree with that, Gene!

We pulled the camp trailer from the TX Panhandle to north central FL over the Christmas holiday, and were planning on spending a couple of days in the Atchafalaya Basin in LA on the way back to see some sights and eat some local food. To make a long story short, we got to spend a couple of days near Jena, LA]19952[/ATTACH]
We stopped to change drivers and I discovered the outside bearing on the left front of the trailer had a problem. The good news is we found it before the wheel came off, we didn't get hurt, and no one else got hurt. The bad news was it took over 24 hours to find all the pieces/parts for me to put it back together (BTW: John, and the rest of the guys at Carquest in Jena are SUPER). It wasn't my first dance with a frozen race, but it was the absolute worst one I ever dealt with!
Anyway, guess I'll just have to suffer through making my own Cajun food until we get a chance to go back.

PS. We did get to meet some really, really, nice people in the area

[heathicus]

Next time you come through central Louisiana, look me up!

[bffulgham]

Next time you come through central Louisiana, look me up!

Will do! We will probably be making another trip to FL in a few months....Mom-in-Law lives near Gainesville. I could most likely be persuaded to drink a cup of coffee or 3

[robinson46176]

When I was a kid growing up here in Central Indiana most of the places just had up a sign that said "EAT". I thought it was a chain operation.
Mostly it was a choice of home cooking style places or a burger joint. We did have a local joint called "Nickel Nook" known for .05 cent burgers. By the time I was going there they were up to a dime. A little patty about 3" across and of reasonable thickness fried in a bed of chopped onions. In the early 1960's I could go there for lunch and get 4 burgers and a coke for .50 cents. They were a good bit bigger than a White Castle. Later it changed owners and the burger got as small as the pickle.
There used to be a lot of great little places stuck in homes but you don't see much of that now. Too many fire requirements etc.
The thing I appreciate today is the variety available. We now have of course all of the fast food places but we also have 3 Chinese places (2 are buffets), a couple of Italian places and several good Mexican places. Then of course we sit just outside of Indy and there are a zillion choices there. Most of the time we don't eat a lot of fast food, waaaay too much salt.
While I lived at home my parents refused to ever go eat at a restaurant, ever. They considered it a waste of money even though in later years they spent freely on a lot of other stuff. Maybe that stubborn refusal then is one reason my wife and I eat out so moch today. Her folks would never eat out when she was at home as well.
We have been trying to cut it back a bit. It is an iron clad rule that we never eat out more than 3 times a day. We are doing better now at tapering off. Now we only eat out about 4 or 5 times a week.


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