Dan's Papers - April 4, 2008 - Bienvenue A La Hamptons, Monsieur Et Madam

The dollar ain't worth a plug nickel anymore. And so in Bridgehampton, a former farm town that for some bizarre reason has taken on a French aristocratic air, there are stores that are taking Euros. One of them, Chez Soi, actually has a WE TAKE EUROS sign in the window.

I spent a long weekend in Eastern Europe not long ago. I was shocked to find how unimpressed everyone was with the dollar. Honestly, they didn't want it. Once, in a shop in Sofia, Bulgaria, I found myself out of the local currency, which is the Lev, and thought that some dollars in my wallet might make up for the loss. I pulled them out, smiled, and said, "Dollars?"

Nope. The dollar is so bad that the shopkeeper wouldn't take any because by the time he went down to the bank to convert it into Lev, it wouldn't be worth as much as when I gave it to him.

Bridgehampton has two French restaurants - Pierre's near the center of town, and Almond, out at the west end of town. There are French flags flying and, always out in front of Pierre's, a blue Deux Chevaux, which is an automobile. (Deux Chevaux, get it? Two horses? Get it?)

There's the Cáche Salon, there's the Blue Provence, where you can get French furniture, curtains, glasses, kitchenware and even foods such as canned caviar and salmon. Of course, you can shop for housewares at Chez Soi. You can get French tiles and bathroom and kitchen supplies at Urban Archeology, right next door to Le Papier de Dan. Urban Archaeology even sells statuary from France, two of which, bolted into the ground outside, are from L'Arc de Triomphe at L'Etoile at the most westerly end of the Champs-Elysee.

Though Le Euro won't do you any good at Le Journal de Dan, because that publication is FREE. Bon Chance!