Crepe and British

Definition of Crepe - a very thin pancake usually made out of wheat flour.

Not that pancakes are new to me but I was fascinated by the T shaped stick that they use to spread out the batter evenly on the hot frying pan.

You can have them with different fillings and I chose banana and chocolate. When this young boy was making this he made sure that his hands did not touch any part of the pancake or the fillings. (note how he is cutting the banana without peeling it fully)

Then comes the chocolate

And finally it was neatly transferred to the paper napkin and handed over to the customer.

Here is another guy near Notre Dame cathedral, serving us crepe (he told us he was from Pakistan)
While chatting with him he told us the proportion of the batter and how to make it.

While I was having the crepe, these two cops passed by. Noticed that the cops that are on the beat are mostly in pairs (or sometimes more that two) Makes sense in case of an emergency.

At Mount St Mitchel one of the tourists had some health problem (could be due to the climbing involved) and I found that the authorities were there in no time with medical assistance.

Some cops are friendly and chat along with the tourists

While some have a bored look on their face (could be due to the repetitive action of giving directions)

The only place I was stopped by a cop was at Paris central station. The minute I took out my camera, a plainclothesman planted himself in front of me and asked “Do you speak English?” When I answered in the affirmative, he pulled out his I Card and said, “I am from the Police dept, you are not allowed to take photographs here. You can click out side the station” I nodded and moved on. Security reasons I suppose (or did I have a suspicious look?)

At stations its best to ask a ticket checker for directions.

And talking of ticket checkers I noticed that they also had to do the multi task of giving the signal too.
Its like this, as soon as the train stops at a station, the ticket checker (from the train) comes out and stands on the platform. He makes sure that there is no one left to alight or board after which he blows the whistle and closes all the doors (by pressing a switch in his cabin)

Then he goes to the nearest pole having the signal button, inserts his special key, and turns the switch (to change the signal?)

 and makes a dash back to his cabin and presses the button to close his cabin door (which is independent of other doors) and the train moves on.

Did travel on the High speed train (Thalys) twice and found their service quite good. Even though it moves at a high speed (max 300 kmph) it is pretty stable inside and you hardly feel any movement.

For a change we travelled in comfort 1. You get good bargain fares if you book well in advance. The food is complementary in comfort1.

I liked the design of the head rest of the seat. (prevents you from falling into the co passenger’s seat when you fall asleep)
Talking of trains we were staying at this place in Ponterson which was diagonally opposite the station. There were only a handful of trains that pass through this station and even the trains that come are of two or three bogies. After 4 pm there is no activity at the station.

The level crossing has only one bar and the drivers obey and stay behind the bar (something that cannot be thought of in India !!)
A special mention should be made about Mr Robert Holyoak who drives the bus between Ponterson and Mont St Michel. He helped us a lot in giving us information about the area and train/bus timings and how to get back to Amsterdam via Rouen.

Initially when we asked him “Speak English?” He gave us a worried look and said “I think so, if I am born and bred in Stratford I think I should speak fairly good English”

Our mistake. . . . . . . . we should have guessed that he was British.

(by the way eventhough I am not featured in any of these pictures, I am still visible in two of them  - Hitchcock style)
In case you want to enlarge the pictures, just click on them.