Sunday Excursions

Sunday, July 04, 2010 Day 4

On the way back from the Tour Eiffel, we went up the other side of the market, which was beginning to close at this stage. We had seen salmon for 20€ (!) on the other side, but bought some late in the market day for only 5€. I made an error and originally understood the vendor (vendeuse?) as saying 20€, so I gave her a 20€ bill and walked away. She kindly chased me down for my 15€ change. We bought lemons, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, 2 beets (already cooked – ready to be slipped and eaten!), green beans for tonight’s meal. We also bought lunch consisting of a small cooked bird – either pigeon or game hen – and some really greasy potatoes. Tasty nevertheless.

Back at home, Roger tried to find Wimbledon tennis on the TV. He could only find a Tour de France. Imagine that! Later, when he was sure that the tennis was under way, he checked again. He found it, but on a channel for which there is really lousy reception. He gave up. I did find audio for the men’s final match on the net, but Roger wasn’t interested.

The washing machine isn’t really complicated. Mme. Macé left written instructions (in French, naturally!) and I got a load of whites started. The machine makes a lot of noise – at one point I was afraid it would either lift of or explode – but it settled down pretty soon and completed the load without incident. I haven’t dried my clothes on a line since I was a kid, but that’s what we are doing here. Actually, it’s a fold-up rack, but it is the equivalent of a line. Indeed, some of our courtyard neighbors have racks installed out the courtyard windows and dry their laundry outside.

This afternoon after putting a second load of clothes to wash, we headed to the park for another concert – this one of a high school (called elementary here, but the players are clearly teenagers) band. We paused to get apricots and ice cream before we arrived, and consequently the band was almost half an hour into the concert when we got there. They played an eclectic mix of music, of which approximately half was U.S. music, including Georgia On My Mind, Can’t You Feel the Love Tonight from Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, and various other tunes I cannot recall. There was even a medley which included Jingle Bells, William Tell Overture and probably 20 other songs – just a few bars of each. In addition there was music I did not recognize – probably local French songs.

We got a translation surprise with our ice cream. While standing in line, we read the selection board of offered flavors. I decided on citron vert (lime) and Roger selected coca. I ordered his first, and was flabbergasted when the attendant scooped into a bucket of pure white ice cream. It was then that I realized that coca means cocanut, and neither of us cares much for cocoanut. Panicked, I thought about changing my mind, but decided not to be the stupid American, and told Roger I would eat his if he wanted, and he could have mine. He is not much on lime, but I think it would beat cocoanut, and I can tolerate the latter. He declined the swap, sucked it up and ate cocoanut ice cream. It wasn’t too bad, really – no, actually it was quite decent in my opinion. I don’t think Roger suffered badly from the experience – he ate all the ice cream. The citron vert was quite good – there were tiny chunks of lime zest in it and the flavor was very intense. I’m probably going to continue to rave about these French ice creams – they are quite good!

I am working to understand how to put pictures into my blog. Please bear with me as I stumble through this learning process. Many thanks to my wonderful daughter, Shelli, for the instructions on how to get started.

Football is still all the rage around here. It would probably be a mania if France were in the playoffs. Roger remarked: “Poor France – three of its neighbors: Germany, the Netherlands and Spain, made it into the playoffs. How embarrassing for France.” I do hope that the Vuvuzelas don’t find their way into American football. They are really irritating!

When we returned from the concert, Roger fixed a lovely dinner of salmon, potatoes and fresh green beans. We ended with the apricots we purchased earlier. They were not as tasty as the ones we bought yesterday. I think we got today’s fruit from the equivalent of a Seven-Eleven.

This evening we are spending at home, relaxing, watching laundry dry and enjoying the fresh air out our front window, which gives out onto the street.