Advertisement
Published: August 9th 2008
Edit Blog Post
Shopping: Brossac Village, Chalais and Barbezieux Brossac village is about a mile from La Giraudiere and offered basic amenities including two boulangeries and a butcher. There are two restaurants, Mamie Bulles and Saint Bernard that served traditional French cuisine and had bars. A third restaurant, Quaid Sud, is just outside of the village across from Brossac Lake. It is a Cuban-themed setting with a bar that served cucarachas, a flaming alcoholic drink. There was a small outdoor market on Saturday mornings with local products and fish brought in from the seacoast. Brossac also had tennis courts, a football pitch and the lake for recreation. It was a quiet village and we went there daily for fresh bread in the morning, and then usually to the Spar grocery and butcher in the evening for dinner items and wine.
Chalais is a neighboring city about 7 miles from Brossac and had a larger grocery store and more shopping options in general. Ann, Dave and I made our first trip there with Geoff, who had stopped by La Giraudiere on his way to do errands in Chalais. Geoff took us to the chateau that overlooks the city and provides great views of
the countryside.
We went to Chalais every Monday morning for the outdoor market that spanned all through the downtown. Vendors sold fresh foods: fruits, meats, cheeses, seafood, and packaged products from the UK due to the large number of British living there. There were also clothing, jewelry, leather and household items sold. Despite the exchange rate, I found affordable gifts at the market to take home. It was great fun perusing the market, people watching and listening to French being spoken. After shopping on Mondays, everyone would meet at the PMU Bar for lunch and drinks and Paul would pick us up around 2pm. Our Monday routine was always a pleasure and I looked forward it.
Barbezieux is another neighboring city about 13 miles away in the opposite direction of Chalais. Paul would go there once a week for a large shopping trip and Ann would accompany him.
I joined them for shopping in our first week at La Giraudiere and that day it was pouring rain. Paul dropped Ann and I off Le Clerc Centre while he went to another store. We began by Ann using her French language skills to help me get into to the
locked toilet (as it is called in France - not the restroom). It wasn’t clear which counter to go to for the key and we waited in line at the wrong place, before being directed to the right counter for the key. Getting the key took at least 20 minutes, and I was fortunate it wasn’t urgent. The larger retail stores I was at in France reserved the use of toilets for buying customers and a key was usually needed.
Ann and I wandered through the household and clothing items. We each bought a package of wine glasses for Paul because we had broken some already in our first week. We eventually began shopping for the groceries. Paul found us later and helped us finish.
I didn’t spend any time in Barbezieux other than at Le Clerc Centre, but drove through it a few times on the way to other places. It seemed to have a pedestrian-friendly downtown with shops and bars, and allegedly had the most options for nightlife near La Giraudiere.
Work Days The days at La Giraudiere were simple and had a gentle pace. We worked on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays starting around 8am
and ending between 4 and 5pm. There was free time before the evening meal and if the sun was shining, the guys and I went to the lake to cool off. Almost every evening though, most of the group gathered at the picnic tables on the west side of La Giraudiere to sit and chat in the early evening sun. I say most because I often sat on the west side in the shade. Being from Colorado, I have a habit of watching my sun exposure. My practices were not shared by the folks from Britain whom I can only guess were far more deprived of sun than me.
Whoever was preparing the evening meal usually needed to shop in the village and return to La Giraudiere to get it ready. Each evening one or two people volunteered to make dinner and there was good camaraderie to help one another with food preparation and kitchen clean up.
Nights were full of conversation and laughter, and even more so when we had guests. A few times after dinner we went to a bar in Brossac to socialize with locals, and I always went for a walk with Sidney after the
PMU in Chalais
Ryan, Paul, Dave and Ann at the PMU meal.
Weekends With Friday through Monday off, our weekends were long and restful. There were always community events, neighbors to visit, free time for recreation, day trips to take on the train from Chalais to other cities, and the last weekend I rented a car to explore around. Alone or with others, everyone could make their plans for how they wanted to spend the weekend.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.083s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 8; qc: 48; dbt: 0.0326s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb