Today was our last full day here – tomorrow is all travel back to Paris to return our rental van and fly back to the States. I think all of us are slowing down – lots of sun, food and play… home is starting to call.
Every Wednesday and Saturday morning, right in front of the wooden church from yesterday, Sainte-Catherine, there’s a local market at 8am. We went on a Wednesday, but my online research tells me the Saturday market is a bit bigger. The market features local farmers, butchers, bakers and artisans selling jewelry, textiles and pottery. The local cideries and vineyards also come out with a wide offering of spirits. We grabbed some leafy lettuce and giant green onions for a salad, a few baguettes of course, and some homemade quiche.
But our menu wasn’t quite complete. Amir’s been eyeing the giant spider crabs ever since we arrived, and today seemed like the perfect day. Our lunch special guest came precooked, and “checked” by the pêcheur. Checked for what, I suspect I’d rather not know.
Neither of us ever having eaten a spider crab, we underestimated the caliber if crab cracking tools we’d need to break into this bad boy. Traditional silver crab crackers were akin to a butter knife sawing through titanium. The shell is probably 8 times as thick as a snow crab, nothing we used could penetrate the perimeter. Amir went in search of better tools, and ultimate found success using a 12” diameter garden stone. VICTORY!
There was of course more swimming after lunch, some forced naps, and a cocktail for me. Yesterday I took a chance on a bottle of Limoncello with Calvados. We first sampled Calvados during our side car adventure. It’s a French eau de vie produced in Normandy which is distilled from cider or perry and aged for a minimum of two or three years. Minimum alcohol content: 40% ABV. It packs a punch.
Around 5:30pm, we set off in the van for a 45 minute ride across the suspension bridge to Sainte-Adresse. We’d eaten a heavy lunch, so we were only interested in charcuterie and dessert. Amir again used a Google Maps to find Le Panorama, a small patio restaurant, full of people and posh dogs, with as the name says, panoramic views of the Seine. We watched cruise ships, sailboats and cargo tankers battle for right of way – paddle boarders and sunbathers laying claim to the rocky shore.
After some good rock throwing and stone stacking, the day was growing late and bedtime well-past blown. Amir fetched the van – door to door drop off service thanks to his mom being along.
Tomorrow we need to leave here between 9 and 10 am to ensure we have enough time to return the rental and check in for our international flight. Somehow we’ve already reached that part of the trip that forces me to reflect and process. But for now I’ll keep my mind occupied packing and cleaning. There’s plenty of time up in the air tomorrow for that work.
~Steph
TeamLouka 