France

Ah, La Belle France ...

When I was a kid, summer holidays invariably meant France. This was the one I was really looking forward to. I speak (or used to at least) reasonable french, so it's a bit weird that we haven't visited more with the children. However I think that may change - one of the interesting things about working in science in Europe is how much my awareness of the incredible contributions of french scientists has grown. Maybe it's the old Anglo-Saxon xenophobia but honestly France rules Europe in so many ways, from space technology to nuclear power, from weather and climate modelling to food technology and yet we hardly learned about this at all at school. It's not just wine and luxury handbags and revolutionary farmers, as I bent the kids ears about this evening...

Anyway, back to the food. As it was France, we had to start with croissants and baguettes this morning. I found very good croissants at our local bakery, but the baguette was honestly not the same. O don't know why, but only french bakeries seem to nail that hard crust with particularly light airy bread inside, and french butter is definitely not the same as Danish (though both are very good in their own ways).

But when it came to dinner there was really only one choice, gallettes. In our kids early years we had loved very close to a superb french crêperie, sadly now closed, so it was time to go on the hunt to recapture those moments and La Galette (lagalette.dk) was on hand to fulfill the need. Savoury buckwheat pancakes filled with goats cheese and walnuts followed by buttery sweet crêpe with creme de Marron (sweet chestnut cream). Absolutely like old times on holiday with family and friends in Bretagne.

For even more of a nostalgia trip, the kids enjoyed orangina and the adults had an excellent bottle of Normandy cider.

Superb food, excellent value for money in Copenhagen and superb service from patient staff willing to put up with our rusty french, worth checking out if you're in Pisserenden and looking for a bite.

And then, much as happened after our Spanish meal, a delightful sunset ride home through quiet bike lanes...