Two lunches--huge difference

 LUNCH 1

On Saturday we went to the Perl du Lac in Geneva, a luxury restaurant. The service was by two waiters who also made sure that Sherlock had his dish of water and a few compliments.

The food was presented almost as a painting.

I needed to taste test Rick's starter of smoked cheese. His lamb was equally delicious and passed my taste test. My grilled shrimp was perfect as were the veggies. 

And the view of the lake, even if Montblanc was hiding behind the clouds, was its usual ahhhhhhhhhhh creating moments. Afterwards we walked in the park admiring the flowers, the statue of Miguel Cervantes, given to the ville by Madrid. After so many day of heat, the breeze was more than welcome.

LUNCH 2

  

Sunday found us on the French autoroute heading south. We were grateful we weren't going in the other direction as holiday makers were heading north and were stuck in what looked like a never-ending traffic jam.

In the past the rest stops have been delightful usually with a restaurant and several cafeterias or bakery places. Paul's was my favorite. They proved that the French could make a sandwich that was more than bread, butter and slice of ham.

They seem to have been replaced by MacDonald's and Starbucks, a shame. I can imagine people who save up for years to visit France to be faced by the same old same old from the U.S. Yuck!!!!!

As for the restaurant chains that remain on the autoroute, unlike most French restaurants, Sherlock is canine non grata on the auto route restaurants. Our choices are to leave the autoroute stop or settle. This time however, there was a hot dog stand outside the restaurant area. 

Rick brought back hot dogs and chips, a far cry from Saturday's shrimp. 

The autoroute also has aires, places to use the facilities which are normally mega-clean, have play areas and picnic facilities, often under trees. They come with wifi, coffee machines. Some have an introduction to French culture like the one dedicated to the work of singer George Brassens.

The picnic areas are normally under trees. 

There's plenty of places for Sherlock to sniff and leave p-mails.

Why not?

We decided to settle. In the interest of time we decided not to press on to the next aire.

The picnic area at the rest stop with the MacDos, etc. left much to be desired. The stone table was dirty, some of the trees were dead (see photo). Thankfully a wind kept us cool even if it did distribute the napkins around the area with a speed that make capture impossible.

It would not be fair to compare a hot dog to the lunch the previous day, but as hot dogs go, it was really quite good as was the BBQ sauce. 

When I used to travel with a French family, our picnics were almost gourmet meals. Rick and I have a picnic basket complete with linen and china that we collected in vide greniers (flea markets) over a summer and I think it will be worth the effort to select a nice aire and enjoy a meal that isn't quite like our lunch number 1 at the Perl du lac, but one that gives Rick a much needed break from the drive and a chance to enjoy the beauty of the French countryside. 

We can make the future picnic an experience.

Rick has done a dueling blog at https://lovinglifeineurope.blogspot.com/2022/08/picnic-in-desert.html