I finally figured out how to get my pictured from my phone to my computer, so get ready for tons of posts! So many things have been happening, it's so hard to keep up! We went to the foire comtoise, a giant trade show/carnival/market, some castles south of Dijon, not to mention our honeymoon to Greece where we also visited Albania for a day! I also have some more fun medical news and job search news as well as a guest who wants to post a "guest article" on my page! I'll try to post everything tout de suite but you'll have to forgive me if there is some delay as on top of all that my dad will be visiting in less than a week!
So I think I spoke about the foire comtoise last year but let me refresh your memories. There's a convention center called Micropolis situated in Besançon that holds all kinds of events and once a year they hold the foire comtoise for one week. It's a combination of a fair ground full of carnival rides and games, a trade show that has anything you could ever imagine, and a market. The trade show is seriously huge and random, there are vendors that sell anything from home goods to motorcycles to saunas! I'm pretty sure if you had an empty plot of land that you could buy an entire modular home, fill it with everything you need, create a gorgeous yard and garden that you'd never want to leave, and get there in your new Can-Am all from one day spent at the foire comtoise.
The markets are scattered throughout the center and sell all kinds of stuff as well. There's a clothing section, jewelry, handbags, spices, dried meats, cheeses, wine and liquor, honey, and all kinds of home decor. Then there's a special regional market that changes each year. Last year it was Italian and this year it was Scottish! So they were selling all kinds of tartans and kilts and wool clothing but best of all, there was a cheddar booth by the name of "The Damn Fine Cheese Company". This is exciting, you see, because the French don't seem to like cheddar very much. Whether it be because they have too many other cheeses from their own country to worry about, or because it was made from their English enemies, or because it's just not considered up to par to them, it's rare to find cheddar in a French supermarket. One can more often than not find aged-white cheese sold as a block and in the one supermarket of Monoprix one can find shredded yellow cheddar, but that's it. So we pigged out and bought 4 wheels of cheddar; chili, garlic and chive, mature, and smoked. They had so many more and they were all so good, but we had to draw the line at 4.
It was also fun because all the Scottish vendors spoke English. They were all so excited to speak English with us after struggling with French for a whole week. One woman saw Jeremy eyeing something up in her shop so she started speaking in French about the item. When Jeremy told her she could speak English, you could just see her body relax as she exclaimed, "Oh, thank God!" She was super nice and told us the history of a lot of her items. We ended up buying a stuffed 'heeland coo' (highland cow) dressed in Flodden tartan. The Battle of Flodden was the largest battle between England and Scotland and the last battle in which a monarch of the British Isles died during combat. In 2013 during the 500 year anniversary, the Flodden tartan was created to commemorate the battle and lives lost.
There were also plenty of restaurants and snack shacks where I partook in a giant fried rice and spinach ball, farm fresh ice cream (probably the best ice cream I have ever had), and caramel flavored milk. Super bonne!
So I think I spoke about the foire comtoise last year but let me refresh your memories. There's a convention center called Micropolis situated in Besançon that holds all kinds of events and once a year they hold the foire comtoise for one week. It's a combination of a fair ground full of carnival rides and games, a trade show that has anything you could ever imagine, and a market. The trade show is seriously huge and random, there are vendors that sell anything from home goods to motorcycles to saunas! I'm pretty sure if you had an empty plot of land that you could buy an entire modular home, fill it with everything you need, create a gorgeous yard and garden that you'd never want to leave, and get there in your new Can-Am all from one day spent at the foire comtoise.
The markets are scattered throughout the center and sell all kinds of stuff as well. There's a clothing section, jewelry, handbags, spices, dried meats, cheeses, wine and liquor, honey, and all kinds of home decor. Then there's a special regional market that changes each year. Last year it was Italian and this year it was Scottish! So they were selling all kinds of tartans and kilts and wool clothing but best of all, there was a cheddar booth by the name of "The Damn Fine Cheese Company". This is exciting, you see, because the French don't seem to like cheddar very much. Whether it be because they have too many other cheeses from their own country to worry about, or because it was made from their English enemies, or because it's just not considered up to par to them, it's rare to find cheddar in a French supermarket. One can more often than not find aged-white cheese sold as a block and in the one supermarket of Monoprix one can find shredded yellow cheddar, but that's it. So we pigged out and bought 4 wheels of cheddar; chili, garlic and chive, mature, and smoked. They had so many more and they were all so good, but we had to draw the line at 4.
It was also fun because all the Scottish vendors spoke English. They were all so excited to speak English with us after struggling with French for a whole week. One woman saw Jeremy eyeing something up in her shop so she started speaking in French about the item. When Jeremy told her she could speak English, you could just see her body relax as she exclaimed, "Oh, thank God!" She was super nice and told us the history of a lot of her items. We ended up buying a stuffed 'heeland coo' (highland cow) dressed in Flodden tartan. The Battle of Flodden was the largest battle between England and Scotland and the last battle in which a monarch of the British Isles died during combat. In 2013 during the 500 year anniversary, the Flodden tartan was created to commemorate the battle and lives lost.
There were also plenty of restaurants and snack shacks where I partook in a giant fried rice and spinach ball, farm fresh ice cream (probably the best ice cream I have ever had), and caramel flavored milk. Super bonne!