My friends who did NOT sleep on the plane across the Atlantic slept until 1230 today. I was awake at 6 for a few hours and went back to sleep for a couple of hours. The first task was to move the car before the time expired. We easily found the free public parking. At the entrance to the parking lot there was a sign for a toilette and urinal The toilette was behind a door but the urinals were just in the side of the building.
We snacked on bread and cheese with our coffee and then 3 of us went out for coffee at a sidewalk cafe. It had been easy to get a cappuccino with soy milk in Madrid and Marseilles but I could not communicate it to my waiter (garçon – one of the French words I remember) today. I ended up with an espresso with steamed mild and whipped cream on the side. It was lovely and you never feel rushed at a French bistro.
We went back to the grocery store for more wine and paper products and did a little shopping. Nothing really tempted me thus far. Truffles are very big as they are harvested in this area. There are 2 shops for just truffle products within block of where we are staying.
We had a spirited cocktail hour with the 4 of us and Carolyn and her daughter. Carolyn comes here every year for cooking lessons so she is very familiar with St. Remy. Starting tomorrow, they will be staying in the apartment next to ours.
After cocktails we went in search of an ATM with a “red bird” near the carousel that did not charge such a high percentage for the conversion. I don’t think we found the right place but we all got the Euros we needed to pay the Airbnb owner in cash.
We walked by the pink pig again so I got a picture of her face. I felt bad about just photographing her backside yesterday.
We decided to eat at a restaurant that had an item with Thai sauce in hopes I could taste the sauce. We did not have a reservation. It was completely full indoors and so we took a table outside under an umbrella in case it rained. They appeared to have 2 waitresses for25-30 tables.
We waited a long time to get a menu and a long time to order; the food did not take that long to arrive. We thoroughly enjoyed our meals and then we waited and waited and waited for the check. The waitresses spoke minimal English. I thought I had seen one of the waitresses bring a check out to one of the tables but in retrospect that may not have been so. We eventually went inside after waiting nearly an hour for the check. It seems the expectation was that we went inside to pay. I am not sure if that is the same for all restaurants or if that was because they were short-staffed.
I lasted the Thai sauce that came with the salmon tartare and ate too much bread making sure I tasted every last bit of it.
Tamara Unleashed 