GAY BAR?

We spent most of the day in Saumur. We found a construction company that does local work in the region. We had to wait until they were open. Most offices and many small stores close for lunch between 12 and 2 – a very civilized way of conducting business. When we came back we asked them about installing “historically correct” double-paned windows at the house. We had already decided that this is going to be the extent of the work that we are going to do this year. They said they couldn’t come out to measure and estimate for about two weeks. Then it would take another two weeks to fabricate the windows, but not during the annual holidays in August. So we are looking at September before any real work takes place. Everything moves a little slower in France.

When we finished our business we went for a glass of wine to a little café that we had been to before. The café – El Cafelito – is in the Saint Nicholas district. We have been to this café before but couldn’t determine if it was a gay bar or not. In France, and in Europe in general, everybody stares, so it can be difficult to determine if they are staring because we look so different or because they don’t expect non-French gay people to visit their café, or because they think we are lost straight people. Anyway, everybody stared at us the first time we went to this café so we knew we had found something like a gay bar. This time the signs were more explicit. An obvious transvestite/transgender was sitting at the bar having drinks with a man in leather pants (The leather pants is the giveaway, not the transgender). We ordered a glass of red wine but we didn’t have the temerity to enquire further about the bar.