Old Town Boulogne, made for window shopping…
For most of us travel is not on the agenda right now, but it is always nice to reflect on the places we have visited in the past. As I am sure you already know, Bill and I love to travel and have been fortunate enough to have been able to do so from early in our marriage. I must add at this point that I took quite a risk marrying this man – he had no passport, and did not see the need to travel anywhere…
Fortunately, it only took one day trip to Boulogne in Northern France and I have not been able to pin him down since. My parents lived overlooking Dover harbour and we could walk to the ferry from the flat. And so, on one very calm day, I persuaded Bill to give it a whirl. He had a visitor passport and I cannot tell you how excited he was when we landed.
We wandered through the town, he bought Gauloises Caporal cigarettes and we drank lots of strong black French coffee and, yes, you guessed, both had terrible indigestion! We went to a small restaurant in the old town and I was amazed by Bill’s French – he ordered from the menu and we had the most perfect meal imaginable.
We still go back to that dear little restaurant in the Old Town about twice a year and you can see Bill laughing at his dessert in the picture. He had ordered profiteroles and then looked crestfallen when he saw the swans being served to other customers until he realised this was indeed a profiterole but not as you know it!
I must add at this point that I am not in the habit of photographing our food, but the Shepherd’s Purses were a discovery. I asked our long-suffering waiter for the recipe and he supplied it in English and French. It needed a special pastry called ‘brick’ which I located in Carrefour near the Shuttle and I have made these as a starter a number of times.
Bill beaming at his swan desert! 
Discovering ‘brick’ pastry for the first time.
Delicious colour combination! 
On our way to the shops
