Intestines and Museums

Friday, February 23, 2018 

Last night we went out for dinner to a local bistro recommended by our hotel, the Bistro Dalpozzo.  It was an experience.  As most restaurants do, they offer a “menue” which consists of two or three courses of the specials of the day at a fixed price which is a bargain compared to ordering a la carte.  At this bistro some English was spoken, and of the three offerings for a main course, Joyce chose the fish and I chose the “Andouillette AAAAA de Troyes.”  It was explained to me that it was sausage.  Well, I know and like Andouille sausage, so I ordered it, not knowing it is completely and totally different. This is what came:

So, of course, back in the room I looked it up.  This is from Wikipedia:

Andouillette (French pronunciation: [ɑ̃dujɛt]) is a coarse-grained sausage made with pork (or occasionally veal), intestines or chitterlings, pepper, wine, onions, and seasonings. Tripe, which is the stomach lining of a cow, is sometimes an ingredient in the filler of an andouillette, but it is not the casing or the key to its manufacture. True andouillette will be an oblong tube. If made with the small intestine, it is a plump sausage generally about 25 mm in diameter but often it is much larger, possibly 7–10 cm in diameter, and stronger in scent when the colon is used. True andouillette is rarely seen outside France and has a strong, distinctive odor related to its intestinal origins and components. Although sometimes repellent to the uninitiated, this aspect of andouillette is prized by its devotees.

So, mine was the smaller 2.5 cm. diameter plump small intestine one.  Sort of stuffed kishka with extra ingredients.  I don’t know what the chewy things in the pungent gravy (but not in the sausage) were.  I was not repelled; I ate it all.  The flavor was helped by a nice bottle of Provençal wine.

Today was museum day.  We began by walking up the hill above the city to the Musée des Beaux-Arts.  On the way we passed many buildings with remarkable iron-work, such as this one:

The Musée des Beaux-Arts is in a wonderful building, constructed as a mansion for the Russian Princess Kotschoubey, and described by our guidebook as a Belle Époque wedding cake:

  

The staircase is overwhelming:

The art is underwhelming.  Here are a couple of samples: first, a sentimental Venus and Eros by Charles-Paul Landon:

Here’s a Virgin and Child by Charles Natoire.  Not likely the Virgin looked like this, nor the Christ-child with blond curls:

There were a few very nice pieces, a Fragonard and many Dufy's some nice medieval pieces, and a very lovely and beautifully placed Rodin:

We then went back down the hill to the Musée Massena, also in a glorious building, with the first floor completely devoted to the rooms and the furnishings:

The upstairs was primarily devoted to depictions of La Belle Époque; one portrait which caught the eye was this one of Victor-Emmanuel II, the first King of United Italy, and a master of headgear and facial hair:

Tonight, a special meal at La Rotunda in the Hotel Negresco.  Tomorrow afternoon we meet up with our Road Scholar group.  More later.