Markets and Shopping

Isn't this the classic French photo? A bicycle with a bagette attached. We saw this on one of our first Market days. It was Suze la Rousse where there is..of all things...a Univerisity of Wine. And for all you chemical engineers they had identified the chemical that, for example, made wine taste or smell like melon. They had a sniffing bar too! Some markets really are just fruit, vegetables, meat, cheese and fish. Those are the small ones with a "mattress salesman" thrown in for interest?!

The big markets are all the household goods you could want from local specialities like tableclothes in Provence, olive wood handicrafts to junk toys that some guy imported cheaply from China.

These are the really interesting booths. We realize how limited we are in the US for REAL choice. There was one meat vendor who had so many types of saucissons that I would never be able to choose....just "donnez-moi trois".

We have made friends of some of the Vendors. We see them on Tuesday in Viviers and Friday in Pierrelatte. For me, it's the best. The chance to talk french and find out more about their lives. This guy sells meat just for the joy of getting out and going to markets. We've met him several times and have now exchanged phone numbers if we need him to help us helpless American women!
On that first holiday..a Wednesday in May..quelle surprise every week in May has a holiday, when we could find NOTHING open to buy basic groceries, we were befriended by a wine guy in Bourg. He happened to own the restaurant next door so sold us some of his bread. That's happened 2 or 3 times. Proof that the french are extremely generous souls for the most part.

The wine here is local Côte de Rhône and we like it. But I haven't found many wines I don't like!

Another day, another store. Madeleine threw this beret on and it was so classic French little girl that I couldn't resist..taking the photo!..No I didn't buy the beret!