Romans-sur-Isère

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Typical start to the day. A run followed by Nutella filled crêpes (oddly, Nigel's blood sugars aren't what they could be). Then off to Romans. We are getting spoiled by the mountain scenery and beautiful rivers on every drive, no matter which direction we go. It will be a shocker to come back to flat Toronto. Also, the ancient bridges and buildings and small villages that we spot every where we go. The old houses with the painted shutters and the boulangeries everywhere.

We have the best luck with finding open-air markets. We (yet again) had not planned our trip today to Romans based on it being a market day. But it was.

This town had a mix of newer and very old architecture. In the photos you'll see a church (Collègiate St. Bernard) that was built over a 300 hundred year period starting in the 11th century. Imagine a building project that lasted three centuries. Inconceivable today. That would have kept generations of bricklayers busy in the same family. They'd look back and believe all their family had ever done and all they would ever do was build the local church. Three hundred years. By the time they finished the newest parts, the original parts were already three centuries old (and had probably been renovated 4-5 times). By contrast, Canada is only 144 years young. This church alone is around 1,000.

The surface of the exterior bricks are worn down or weathered right off. There are some statues of saints and lions carved right into the front doorway badly smoothed off by time. But they are also defaced (literally the faces look like they've been fairly recently chopped off). I did some research and discovered that they had been defaced (literally) on purpose during the occupation in World War II. The irony was that the carvings had been originally commissioned from a German artist.

Romans is famous for two things: shoes and Pogne. The former have been made here since Roman times. Today there are loads of shoe stores. Anybody that loves to shop for shoes would have been in shoe heaven. There was shop after shop with some truly nice shoes at what struck us as very reasonable prices (and some pricey ones too). Lori bought a cute pair for a real bargain. Imagine.

Pogne is a brioche (sweet bun) shaped like a giant donut, the size of a dinner plate. It's slightly orange flavoured and light. It was invented in Romans and, like the shoes, there was shop after shop with a "Pogne" sign out front. We tried them all in a quest to find the best one. Nigel alone ate 16 and is now upstairs in bed nursing a sore tummy (not true, just kidding about the whole thing - we bought one to share and it was a mini-pogne).

We found a lot of interesting terraced restaurants around town and settled on a busy shaded cafe bordering a pedestrian-only street. We were hoping for mussels and frites (in season at the moment; the mussels not the fries) or for cuisses de grenouilles (frog legs; Nigel on a dare) but couldn't find either. The lunch we did order was excellent. Lori had fillet mignon in a sauce with shallots. The kids have what kids have (fresh ravioli, fries) and Nigel had a brochette of rumsteak and an ice cold beer. Great meal. Lori also finally got her creme brulee! Yummy!

We returned home by 3:00 (very early compared to all preceding trips) and spent the afternoon lazing on the patio, cycling to the park, sipping red wine (Cotes d’Ardèche), resting in the hammocks. Returning to work next Thursday will be a sharp contrast to a life of leisure in the south of France. Nigel claims he now thinks in French, but it's always words like pain, vin, fromage, Pogne, chocolat, baguette (see the trend?). Scroll down for more photos and to add comments.

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