We woke up this morning to a faint sound of music outside; we couldn’t determine the source but as soon as we opened the windows we realized it was Christmas music. We also noticed more activity than normal in the little village (Saint Clar). We walked around the corner to the central square and there we found a Christmas market – complete with Shelton pony rides for children; father Christmas riding around the square in an old Citroën and freshly roasted chestnuts. The entire square was filled with local vendor selling their crafts, homemade treats, locally made Armagnac and Floc du Gascoyne (an aperitif made from Armagnac) Christmas trees and garlic soup (as this is the garlic capital of France.)
We met the mayor (who goes to Gilroy every year – Saint Clar’s sister city), 2 English women who create furniture out of Armagnac barrels, a man (who had lived in New York) who was selling small oak starts that are infused with the microbes from truffles (so – you too can start your own truffle business) and a woman selling cookies prepared by her husband’s (who had lived in California). Everyone was very friendly and wanted us to visit them at their home – some to practice their English, provide their advice on the area or just to chat. It was quite a day.
The funniest thing about the whole thing was we never saw any announcement about the market and I was about to make Roland travel 20 km to go to a Christmas market in another town. Quelle bonne surprise!
Tomorrow we are visiting a Bed and Breakfast that is for sale and Tuesday we are having lunch in Bordeaux with our friend Robert and a friend of his who organizes tours of the Bordeaux wine region for Americans then we plan on visiting a few more places currently for sale near Bordeaux. I’m hoping to start a French class next week in the village close-by so we’re settling into a schedule.
And for added enjoyment — the local majorette troupe performed a show for the crowd.
Francescapes: 