Monday 22 July 2013

Bon Appetit!

When travelling in Europe, you can eat as expensively or as inexpensively as you wish.  If you spend lavishly, you'll help people to earn a living, and maintain jobs on a continent with high rates of unemployment.  But if you're on a tight budget, you can eat substantial and wholesome meals without burning a hole in your pocket.  

Take tonight's meal courtesy of the Carrefour supermarket around the corner from our hostel.  I had half of one long baguette with avocado, asparagus spears, lettuce, sardines and a touch of mayonnaise.  Jean had the other half baguette without the avocado.  We purchased all these ingredients, and put it together ourselves.  We also bought a packet of six muesli bars, a carton of orange juice, a bunch of three bananas, plus a 5 Litre bottle of water.  All this, which included a 100 millilitre bottle of shampoo, came to 10.63€.  Last night, we had similar ingredients, but had cheese slices and small slices of salami.  All for a little over 7€.

Contrast this with today's lunch.  In a restaurant on the edge of the Gothic Quarter, we had three plates of tapas.  One plate had crab tortillas, another had sliced baguette bread with toppings, and the third came with antipasto.  Jean also had a beer called Estrella (curiously pronounced almost exactly like 'Australia').  It's probably never a good idea to sit down in a restaurant or cafe with no prices displayed.  The bill came to over 40 euros!

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