SATURDAY, 9/1:
It’s nice to know the town does exist. It’s even nicer to know that we actually
found it three years ago without realizing it.
First things first, though.
Saturday here in Bayeux is
Market Day, a day so cool that we arranged our trip so we could spend not one
but two Saturdays heading down the Rue St. Patrice to look at the food, the
animals, the various “stuff” you can buy, and, of course, the people. Market Day here is kind of like a combination
of the Saturday farmer’s market in Marquette
mixed with the biggest rummage sale in the world. They take a whole city square, fill it with
almost 100 stalls manned by both farmers and junk dealers, and then add
hundreds of live chickens, ducklings, and rabbits, all for sale and all (humans
included) making as much noise as they possibly can.
It’s paradise in Bayeux. It really is!
I have a tradition when we go to market days anywhere in Europe. Since we’re always here at the end of the
summer, I traditionally buy either a half-pint of raspberries or a half-pint of
blackberries and immediately scarf them down.
Today’s choice?
I couldn’t help myself.
Loraine said they were calling to me, and I couldn’t let those calls go
unheeded, could I?
Of course, the raspberries weren’t the best thing we ate
today. That would have to go to
something we saw in one of the local bakeries—
That is a Rocher Grand Marnier. I don’t quite know how to describe it, but
the inside is kind of like a soft sea foam candy sitting on top of a meringue
base, covered with a mix of chocolate, crushed hazelnuts, and Grand Marnier
liqueur. Both Loraine and I fell in love
on first sight. But then I guess we’re
kind of easy that way.
What else did we do today?
Well, we took a little road trip west of here, visiting a couple of
(cough cough) grocery stores to pick up the (cough cough) first chocolate of
the trip. Among the bars I picked up to
try was a dark chocolate bar filled with macadamia nuts and a praline nougat. I haven’t tried it yet, but I’m thinking
it’ll be good. Among the bars Loraine
picked up was one of her all time favorites, a dark chocolate bar with
caramelized pecans. And don’t worry; I
don’t think these won’t be the last chocolate bars we buy. I have a feeling we’ll be picking up one or
two more.
We visited a couple of cemeteries today, as well, one
military and a couple civilian. I don’t
know if you’re ever seen a local European cemetery, but they’re not the grassy
fields we’re used to—
These are more like crypts that sit in the ground, all set
in a field of stone. And they’re not
just like that here; cemeteries in Belgium
and the Netherlands
look pretty much the same, as well.
We also went on a little expedition to find the mythical
town of La Surellerie an hour or so
west of here. It was a town in which
Waino Laitinen of Ishpeming was killed in 1944, but a town that doesn’t seem to
exist any more. Or so we thought. You see, it’s on our roadmaps, but we’ve
never seen a sign that says “La Surellerie” or any official indication at all
that the town exists. As it turns out,
there actually ISN’T a sign for it, as it’s a collection of 4 or 5 houses on
the road to somewhere else. I actually
took this picture of it three years ago, while shooting a hill that’s off in
the distance.
At the time, I didn’t know the houses in the foreground make
up what’s considered the “town” of La Surellerie. Guess you learn something new every day, huh?
Two more things to leave you with—we ate lunch in the
municipal parking lot in the very sleepy little town of Le Hommet d’Arthenay,
and we made a new friend while doing so—
She just kind of rambled over to see who we were and what we
were doing, and decided to stay while we ate.
I guess she was just intrigued by the new people in town. Or, in the
case of Le Hommet d’Arthenay, the ONLY people in town!
Finally, here’s something very cool about the French. Did you know that in France,
if you put something like this on your mailbox—
La Poste, the French postal service, can’t deliver junk mail
to your house? If that were the case in
the U.S., I
have a feeling that I’d never again get any snail mail, and that the U.S.
Postal Service would soon be out of business.
But just think...no junk mail ever.
Once again, it’s paradise in Bayeux. Speaking of which, here’s another picture of
what you can purchase at Market Day—
More cemeteries tomorrow; this time, Canadian and Polish in
nature. Plus we scope out more grocery
stores. See? For us it really IS a vacation!
(jim@wmqt.com), who
noticed that a tour bus from Sweden
just pulled up in our hotel parking lot.
It replaces the German one that was here last night!
No comments:
Post a Comment