Interlude: Bernay

I'm writing to you all from absolutely the cutest and most quentessentially French small town of Bernay!

I started out my last day at Ardenne.  Absolutely beautiful (Fall-like) weather.  I got access to all the letters I had hoped to see my last day.  The cosmic irony of that though was that the handwriting of some of the (more important) artists was so messy I could barely decipher 1 in 7 words.  womp womp.

And alas, it was time to go.  I do hate goodbyes...one can never find the right things to say.  I exchanged emails with a couple of the researchers I had come to know over the past 4 days.  Networking in French...it's how I roll :)

Train station went off without a hitch.  I'm really a fan of how people walk with their dogs into the train station with no leash or anything.  Beyond cute.  A shame I couldn't stay on my train longer...it terminated in Rouen.  So much Art History there.  So much Art History...

But Bernay is far more than a compromise.  It is so quaint, I LOVE IT!  I'd say there are about 7 major roads and then a network of tinier connecting ones.  Tiny, respectful shops and restaurants.  I found a French/Italian mix restaurant  for dinner.  Interesting spaghetti à la Paysane (carrots, spinich, ham, one raw egg?) BUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT I looked at the drink menu and Art History stuck out at me!  Google "George Braque Suze".  One of the pivotal moments in collage was when Picasso and Braque puts things that weren't paint on their canvases, like newpaper and wallpaper.  At one point Braque put the label of a bottle of Suze alcohol on a canvas and drew the bottle around it.  Signifiers and all, you know?  But much to my surprise, for the very affordable price of 3,50 euros I could get Suze!!!!  Very interesting taste.  Starts out like the sweetest honey I've ever tasted and then has quite the aftertaste and bite.  Quite good cordial actually.

K...I'm teh uber sleepy and have a busy day of doing nothing and everything tomorrow.  Seriously though, Bernay: rock on.