Today we started by visiting the market in Cholet. These are not just fun visits - we are looking for inspiration for dinner. You find ripe apricots in this booth, so you decide on an apricot tart for dessert. This booth has a nice cut of beef, so you decide on a roast, accompanied by the green beans you saw in another booth and lettuce for a salad in yet another. As with every meal, every day, we need more bread, so we visit a boulangerie booth. There are other booths selling seafood - after all, France has an Atlantic and a Mediterranean coastline - pastries, cheeses, a wide variety of fowl, and processed meats. There are sausages no bigger than my finger or the size of my arm, and there are more cheeses than we can taste in a year. You can get a cheese slice or a wheel the size of a car tire.
When we ordered the roast, it was not simply a financial transaction. Instructions were given on the best way to prepare it and at what temperature one should cook it. There is a level of interaction not available in the larger groceries, here or there.
I, of course, stick out like a sore thumb. In my standard uniform of khakis, a button down seersucker shirt, running shoes, hat (my growing bald spot attracts sun and I try to protect others from the glare), and sunglasses, with a camera bag over my shoulder, there is no doubt that I am not from around here. And when I start taking pictures of bread or an eel or a huge pile of artichokes, there is a clear signal that I am un etranger. Vicki moves away from me and acts as if she has no idea who I am. [This is because I blend in so well, with my "huh?" look as I'm spoken to, wearing jeans and no scarf because I, unlike most Europeans, do not have the je ne sais quoi to pull off wearing one.]
As we leave, Gabi and Teresa find scarves for sale in one of the outdoor booths and they stock up. I,on the other hand, am eyeballing a vendor who has three huge vats of food cooking: one of something aromatic to go over couscous, one of paella, and one of small potatoes. These vats are like snow dishes; they are so big that you could sit in one of these and bathe if you wanted to. The scent is incredible.
Back at la Giro, lunch was wonderful: tomato and onion tarts that Vicki and Gabi made, with salad, bread, cheeses, and wine, all at one of several outside tables on the grounds.
After cleaning up after lunch, it was time to nap. One can always find a reason to nap, but today we have to get ready for the evening, because we are going to attend the Puy du Fou, a sound and light extravaganza that tells the story of the Vendee region. It does not begin until after sundown, around 10:30 pm, which is long after my regular bedtime.
We pack a picnic and get to the grounds early - along with about 2-3000 others. At showtime, there will be 10,000 in the stands. This particular show happens only a couple of nights each week from June through September. There are other shows, but this one highlights the history of this region. It is a seriously elaborate spectacle built around the ruins of an old château: hundreds of people and animals - and lots of fire and fireworks, which helps keep the drowsy among the crowd from nodding off, even when they don't understand everything that is taking place. [It was spectacular - but the only words that I (Vicki) understood were the ones scripted for the little children. I guess that's better than nothing.]
Amazingly, to everyone's surprise, all 10K people got out of the place in an orderly and reasonably quick manner, and we never got stuck in a traffic jam. We got back to La Giro around 1:45am.
At 2am, the night sky out in the country was phenomenal. I tried to do some time-lapse photos, but when I realized that a 15-minute exposure was about 1/5 of the time I needed, I bagged that and went to bed. No photos of the stars available!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
No comments:
Post a Comment