This was a pretty uneventful trip at first, but neither Swisher's
nor Lilli's GPS (got semi-working, which state it faded in and out
of through the trip) seemed to be quite with it. The plan was to
drop him off at the train station and then have Lilli learn how to
drive the car (a smallish Opel, either an Astra or a Corsa) while
heading to the hotel. Well, we missed the turn to the station,
because his GPS told him to turn AFTER we'd passed the intersection,
so I had the bright idea of going straight to the hotel, recouping
there and having a nice lunch, then taking him to the station. Well.

His GPS didn't have the hotel programmed in, because that hadn't
been in the original plan. And Lilli's had the hotel in a completely
wrong place, a couple blocks from where it actually turned out to
be, and on a wrong road altogether.

We ended up taking a couple (actually, about 5) wrong turns before
finding the Hotel de Brienne****, which was welcome, but everyone
was frazzled by this time, and it was late for lunch. We checked in
to the place and were told that the room would be ready in an hour.
Parking is E3 for 2 hours maximum, with quickly escalating penalties
- if you're half an hour overtime, the penalty is E27, making a
potentially disastrously expensive lunch. Further, the handicap spot
near the hotel was taken by three perfectly able-bodied women in a
car without appropriate plates or placard (we saw them getting out).

We sent Swisher on his way in a taxi and signed up for the hotel
parking, which turns out to be in this narrow basement under the
building. Once negotiating this, we asked the front desk about
where to get lunch, and the clerk waved his hand vaguely to the
right, saying there were plenty of places. So we went in that
direction, where before finding any places to eat, we pased a
gaggle of meter maids and gents chatting and writing tickets. In a
rare gush of Schadenfreude, I wished the three women as much penalty
as they could afford and then some.

We passed a sports bar with an interesting menu, but it looked too
sportsy, then a pizzeria, then a kebaberie, and finally the Bistro
du Compans, which was offering a wide assortment of things for E13,
not cheap but reasonable for the big city.

I got the demi magret with cepe sauce, bowl of frites; it also
comes with a bowl of salad - I told them no to that, and the waiter
said, even for madame, and we reiterated no salad. I asked for the
duck rare (saignant), and the waiter suggested medium (rose). I
said, no, rare. It came rare and was very tasty if not super tender
that way. The mushroom sauce was pretty good but made with last
year's dried cepes, not quite sufficiently rinsed so a little
gritty. The fries were sort of limp and sort of dark brown but
tasted quite good.

Lilli ordered a burger (8.90 without sides); what came was a giant extravaganza of a 1/3 lb patty (also ordered and gotten rare), with
red onion, tomato, mayonnaise, a potato pancake, an omelet, cheese,
and a gardenful of frisee on a sturdy pretty decent ciabatta roll.
The chef poked his head out twice to ask how it was and was told
excellent, so when this appeared on the bill as a "burger Compans
(14.90)," it would seemed ingracious to complain.

A bottle of Ch. Cransac 15 (Fronton) went down well, though it was
much more southern-tasting than my general preference.It was a mix
of Negrette, Syrah, Cabernet Franc, that first being a grape grown
pretty much only within a 50-mile radius of Toulouse.

We also split a decent industrial creme brulee, my only quibble
being that it was made with fake vanilla.

Our room was ready back at the hotel - it was a weird space, the
most expensive in the place. I don't know if Lilli had reserved
it for a treat or if it was all that was left. It was a quite
long space with a sleep sofa on the side as you entered and another
couch with a glass coffee table (at knee height) on the long wall;
that area was separated in the European "junior suite" way by a
giant TV also placed in such a way as to invite accident. After
that the big bed, a walk-in closet on one side, the bathroom on the
other. A work alcove with a pretty giant desk and a lamp whose bulb
was missing. Also a balcony with table, chairs, and ashtray. We
checked out this space, but someone from another room was pumping
heavy smoke into the atmosphere, so we retreated inside and sealed
that door as best we could.

There are two light switches by the front door controlling the room,
but instead of something rational, the ceiling lights for the whole
place were on one circuit, and all the nonceiling lights for the
whole place were on the other, the result being that if any of the
lights were on, both the work area and the bedroom area got
illuminated, bad if someone wanted to sleep and soneone else wanted
to stay up. The bathroom was next to the bed, but the toilet was
by the front door, so on opposite sides of the room, so washing your
hands was inconvenient. Also the bathroom smelled like bad breath.

Lilli drenched herself in the shower trying to figure out the
controls, which were apparently not intuitive. So she washed her
hair early and late both, while being forewarned, I did so only once.
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