Saturday is the big market day in many French towns. To the left Natalie has packed the "company car" with her cheeses and we are off to the market. She drives into a garage right at the market to unload her wares. After everything is unloaded, she reparks the car at a not too distant location.
This Halles (market place) is one of the old ones from the late 19th century.
There are both stairs and an escalator.
Here's a vendor who sells both pork and beef as well as chicken.
I love seeing the eggs in a basket. Colorful wine display
Fish
And here is Arnaud, the new fish salesman. Apparently he has received commendations for his wares.
More of his creative displays. There seems to be so many more choices than those we have back in Massachusetts! Unfortunately I don't know all the names of these choices.
Here is his sign!
Back at Natalie's booth, some regulars drop by before Natalie finishes setting up. They chat with Natalie as well as with each other. Even though Sables d'Olonne is a bigger town than Bretignoles, many of the regular customers know each other. Market day is not just for quickly buying food, but for catching up with local news. Especially in the case of la Normandeliere. If the new port goes through, David and Natalie will loose their farm!
Natalie continues to set up her stand. It's pretty much a one woman job so I do some heavy looking on. I even make a couple of sales as she runs off to quickly make an early purchase for her own larder.
Then I continue shooting pictures of the market.
These used to be gas lamps.
Bruno's customers continue to arrive and his line is very long. His only help - two women who help out on market days. When he finally picks up his cartons for the day, they will all be empty!
And here is Bruno himself swinging into action.
Natalie tells me that Bruno gets up at 4:00 on market days so that his wares will be extra fresh and, of course, organically grown.
Now what do you know! Here's a face I know! Natalie's mother dropped by the farm earlier in the week to get some straw to spread around a new part of her garden.
Across from Natalie's stand is Thierry, a friend of the family. I chatted with him briefly and found that he had travelled extensively earlier in his life - even making it as far as Africa. Apparently he is a man of few words and Natalie was surprised to hear about his travels. He and his partner live not far away and keep bees. He had some delicious honey, but unfortunately, my suitcase was already far too heavy to take on a souvenir of a honey jar.
The market from above. By now more people were beginning to arrive.
Bruno's line was still VERY long.
Arnaud, the fish seller, is beginning to have more customers.
I haven't really had much of an opportunity to try the sausages, but will wait until I reach my apartment in Paris. It's only now one week before I will be there. Something I've had that I love are the "lardons." Even the "almost" vegetarians seem to have lardons in their kitchen. These are little pieces of lard with ham attached. They are used in preparing casserole dishes and have such a delicate flavor. I wish I had discovered them when I was in Provence for two weeks in a self-catering where I did my own cooking.
This is the local ham.
The apricots and the cherries are in season.
A good look at the whole market.
When I went downstairs to leave the market, I ran into this cute dog and its owner. Another gentleman who was there talked for quite some time on his years in Paris as a "driver" for wealthy customers. He and his wife are now retired and live in the Sables d'Olonne area.
Time to visit another part of the town while Natalie stays at her post in the market. She recommended I walk to Ile de Penotte, a part of town where an artist has used all sorts of the different local sea shells to make "pictures" on the outside of the houses. It is quite an original idea and there were many tourists there clicking their cameras. But before I reached the area, I took some more shots of the older architecture.
The outside of the market.
Some tiny alleyways
I loved these hollyhocks growing right out of the cement.
And here we arrive at the amazing creative shell arrangements on the exterior walls of l'ile de la Penotte.
Lots of mussels! Last summer I spent 10 days with my younger grandchild, Phoebe, and we saw the damage that the "foreign" zebra mussels do in Lake Champlain in Vermont. Here though, these mussels are made into a work of art for many to enjoy.
What an amazing sense of humor!
Here we begin to find some "mosaics" intermixed with the shells. I have to say that for the most part, I didn't care for the mixture, but in this penguin "sculpture," it does work, I think.
And I like this one too with a portion of this fantasy bird made out of bits of mosaic tile.
Yes, there is a shell museum and no, I didn't have time to see it. Apparently many of the residents haven't seen it either. I looked in the window and decided it would certainly be a place I would visit should I pass by Bretignoles again.
Someone mentioned that the little yellow shells (and indwellers) are almost extinct now.
This is a new mural and as you see, you must keep away until it dries. Actually there is quite a bit of work left to do.
This little "crab" is one of my favorites.
The following week I would have another look at this creative art, but here ends the Saturday blog.
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