Fountainebleu to Bon Marche and a celebrity chef

First an apology. Now that I've had a few minutes to breathe I see many typos in recent posts, like the title "Nottingham hill" should be "Notting hill". Wading through html code is not my strong suit and I hope you forgive me as I adjust to editing and posting from my phone. Now to the fun stuff...

When looking for help with a train ticket to Chateau Fountainebleu I asked, "parlez-vous l'anglaise," to which the man replied, "do you speak any french". Touche!
I really wish I spoke more French along with some other languages. The pocketful of phrases I DO know usually fly out of my head the moment I need them. But I'm reminded that I need to spend more time learning, remembering and using the phrases first, out of respect for those whose country I am visiting. I am super grateful to those who have been truly helpful, like the girl at the ticket counter who asked questions to determine our trip needs and supplied us with timetables and information that proved to be extremely helpful throughout the day.

Later as my sister and I stood in line at Bon Marche--with our goodies for the next couple of meals (not a crumb is left of the baguette by the way)--I heard a woman apologetically say, "pardon pardon," and then laugh. Thinking "I know that laugh" I looked over and it dawned on me, that is the Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten. My sister Melissa introduced me to her cookbooks, I've cooked from those books to rave reviews, I've watched her show on TV. So Christy leaned over to her and said, "pardon, I love your recipes". To which she giggled and said, "thank you". That was the chantilly cream on my Paris food shopping excursion.