Pardon My French, Chapter 4: Lounging in La Rochelle

Sprawling blissfully under the golden sun on the Bay of Biscany lies La Rochelle. It's pale stone walls and blue washed shutters bask in the late morning glow. It's a laid back and happy sort of city, content in it's antiquity.



'Rochelle' means 'small rock'. An odd sort of name to give such a pretty town, but then again, the US has a Little Rock, so I guess the French can have The Small Rock, if they want.



The city is guarded by two stone sentinels, one on either side of the straight which leads into the city's port. It's a truly "green" city, having started in the 1970s (long before anyone else thought of it) to expand it's green spaces and strive for a better standard of urban living. Bicycles abound, and it's the first city that started using electric vehicles for public transport. It shows. The city is clean and glowing with good health and prosperity.



We begin our day in La Rochelle with Mick (Jimbo's dad) treated us to rich, dark coffee in one of the many little cafes. It's a good start to the day, which I follow up with another trial of croissant. This one is somewhat better than the one I tried in Chassenieul. A bit crispier on the outside and smoother on the inside. I revel in the buttery flavour melting across my tongue. Oh, joy. I will definitely miss this little French tradition!








We discover that all the museums are pretty much shut for the day, so we wander about snapping photos of various interesting things and enjoying the company and the beauty of the day. Well, to be perfectly honest, Jimbo snaps the pictures whilst I order him about. I make him snap photos of apartment buildings, empty mansions, and interesting flowers. He's a good sport, though I'm pretty sure he's convinced I'm absolutely crazy.



We stopped for lunch at a lovely little cafe down some side street we happened upon. One of the waitresses spoke a bit of English and was able to explain the daily special to us. It sounded nice, so we all ordered it.





It turned out to be a lovely bit of grilled beef served with chips (fries), salad with a lovely dressing, and some French green beans. The beans were a bit overcooked for my taste, but the beef was gorgeous, the salad excellent, and the fries quite good. We all thoroughly enjoyed the meal and took our time over it in the French manner. We didn't make it last two hours, but we did our level best.



After lunch we wandered around town a bit more and did some shopping. I picked up a lovely perfume that I'm actually not allergic to. Jimbo bought some sweets at one of the chocolatieres to take back to the girls at work.




On our way home, we drove through the tiny town of Perigny and stopped for a walk along the beach. It was my first visit to the beach since moving to the UK, and I'd missed it sorely. There's something so rejuvenating about the sand and the ocean.


On the way home we swung into Rochefort (as in the cheese) for a bite of dinner. Unfortunately we discovered another French oddity: no one serves food until 7pm. We were able to find a pub that served sandwiches, which was fine with us. Renewed by our simple repast, we headed home for the evening, exhausted yet exhilarated. Ready for our next adventure.