Morning at the market

Annecy has a very impressive market. Stalls are set up by 7 am and people sell their goods all the way until 1 pm.

Everything looks so delicious, even the purple and green heads of cabbage.

The piles of saucisse look fantastic and I’m delighted that most stalls offer a small sample.

We eat small bites of pistachio and salted caramel nougat, a savoie speciality.

We get a tasting of Beaufort cheese and Comté.

So many people are out enjoying the morning.

I am so swept up in the atmosphere that I am easily convinced by a savvy salesperson to buy some fig and black olive tapenade. The sample is to die for so I figured why not buy a little bit to make our grocery store picnic feel a little more special.

The woman scoops up a handful in a small plastic bag, and asks in perfect English if I want more or less. I say less but what I really want to say is I want way less because that looks like a lot and we are on a budget and the price here is listed per kg and I have no idea what that is going to cost me?! But all I manage to say is, less please.

She ties the bag in a knot, weighs it, and tells me I owe her 13 euros. In Canadian dollars, that equals 20. That’s a lot for a little bit of tapenade to have with some crackers on a park bench.

It reminds me of our first week in Calais where I paid 15 euros for a handful of strawberries. They looked so red and perfect I couldn’t resist. Had I known the price… meh, c’est la vie!

Earlier in the morning, I went out for a run and soaked up the scenery by myself. I took a lovely green path that ran next to the water and it truly satisfied that itch I’ve had to spend time in the mountains.

We spend one last afternoon at the beach, and one more early evening wandering around before it’s time to pack up our suitcases again to hit the road.

We have train tickets booked for 7:30 am and our fingers are crossed that we make it to Starsbourg without any blips.