First sit down dinner, the beach, the market, and more!

So we went to our first French Restaurant for dinner last night! And it was actually an Italian place, but still, restaurant...in France. It was around 9 and we hadn't had dinner yet, and the only places open it seemed were sit down places (Noelle and I are used to just grabbing food at stands and the like) so we started walking around to find some food. All the bars are booming by now and still open, but we needed fooooooood. We passed a Creperie, but it was empty, and we didn't know what to do, aka order and stuff. So we kept looking for something less awkward. We see a sushi place. Hm, sushi in France? Well Caen is by the ocean..but no. Too expensive. Then we see chinese, nope, we can't understand ANYTHING on the menu outside. Finally we settle on a Pizza place. We know by now that we will have to go out of the comfort zone and attept a sit down, I was more uncertain than Noelle, so we did it. We walked in, sat down, attempted to ask if the pizza was whole or slices, and split a "4 saisons" (4 seasons) pizza. YUMYUMYUM. There were artichokes, sausage, ham, maybe something else. They also brought this olive oil stuff that we put on it, mostly on the crust to make it softer, and it had the most wonderful flavors. We were so awkward eating though. They did not slice it for us. So we were muttering to eachother quietly.. Uhh, how do you hold your silverware, do you use silverware, how do you say this, how are we going to pay. etc etc. haha. by watching the only other people in there, we figured you had to walk up to pay. So we did. It was normal. and we left. YAYY. WE SURVIVED.


Eating there must have started something confidence wise with us because this morning we went to the crepe place to eat a late brunch. We walk in, I cannot think of how to say “do we sit down here?” so with pointing we go and sit in the corner. We order and I decided to try some French Cafe! ACK it was so good, yet different. It was in a very small expresso cup with a pack of sugar and a sweet mini cookie. Like a digestif cracker or something of the like. It was so delicious. COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE. J’aime le cafe. We both ordered crepes with cheese and meat and those are actually called ‘galettes’ because they are not sweet. They are also monstrous. Unfolded they would have been the size of a medium pizza, but they fold it in half like a quesadilla with the cheese and stuff inside. YUM. I could not finish. Too much food.

Then we had decided to go to the beach so we walked to the ‘busverts’ aka green bus, and get our bus tickets which don’t leave for 40 minutes. So we wander around a side of Caen we had not been yet, and then take the bus to the sea.

The beach was massive. I’ve never seen a beach so big. The sand part was sooo long and also so deep! If that makes sense..Like leaving the path at the back of the beach to walk to the ocean takes forever because there is so much sand. We did not make it because there was a barrier of seaweed and stuff we did not want to walk over. So we sat in the sand for like 2 hours. And played in the sand. Ish. Hah. It was fun. I forgot my camera btw. Just chilling and people watching and the like. We had run into some creepo guys at the beginning but they thankfully left us alone . And we were also sitting next to us were some English folk. They are right across the water after all. Lots of PDA (Public Display of Affection) on the beach, lots of kites, lots of families. There was a group of around 9 people that were flying their massive kites in sync! Like you see plane shows where they fly in patterns, it looked the same but with kites! It looked very difficult and pretty and they did that for hours.

Finally, it became too chilly because of the wind and sun going down some, so we got up and explored to find some food. We discovered the touristy side of the beach with a long road full of restaurants, ice cream, and stores. So we meandered down. YES. Glace d’italienne. Basically gelato. Mint ice cream again? OK. But this time instead of mint leaves in my ice cream there were chocolate pieces hah. SO GOOD. And the portions on the cone were not big. Probably in the US it would be a kid’s size, but it really is perfect.

So we are just walking down looking at shops and the like, enjoying our ice cream, and it feels like people are watching us...I comment to Noelle and she feels the same way haha. Awk. We check each other, nothing very unusual going on. No ice cream on the face, no crazy hair, no dresses flying up in the wind, etc. We weren’t even speaking loud so it’s not like we were screaming AMERICAN or anything. Ugg. We guessed maybe it was because it was just two girls walking, no guys with us, not a big group of people, maybe we were walking slow? Maybe we just look American? Shmeh, it’s not like we looked amazing or anything that would attract a ton of stares. But either way it was a tad awkward to just feel glances in your direction more often than not..

We head back, see Greek food we want. Go. SO GOOD. They speak English some, but we say we would like to speak in French, they like that. Brownie points with the french  I got this pork meat i think with tomatoes on the side, and some pita bread w/ tatziki sauce and french fries. Hah. Yes. French fries. I had my first French fry at a Greek place. Still in France. So it counts.

Back at the room. It is early. Aka like 8:30pm. And we have nothing to do. All places with internet nearby are closed. We don’t want to go into town, so it is sleepy time! Kind of weird. I want to do more, but we have exhausted our ideas for the day travelling to the beach, so resting is probably good since there is a market to go to in the morning!



THE MARKET

HOLY COW. Every Sunday morning there is a market downtown in Caen, also, everything is closed on Sundays so It is the only place to get food! So we definitely wanted to go. It is the biggest market i’ve ever seen. There is literally everything there. Fresh fruits and vegetables, meat, cheese, crepes, moroccan food, indian food, chinese food, breads(of course), and more that I can’t remember. But there is also non food items. For example: a stand just for converse shoes, or one for underwear, jewelry, kid’s games, teapots, all kinds of clothes, watches, kitchen utensils, etc etc. It was insane, and amazing. Oh tons of shoes hah. I am going every week.

Today I bought une baguette d’ancienne, une crepe chocolat, et un kilo de raisins. Aka. An old fashioned baguette, a chocolate crepe, and a kilo of grapes. I ate the crepe right away and I liked it way more than the one I had yesterday. That was my brunch. And I already tried the baguette, DELICIOUS. And The grapes are good too, just have some little seeds in them. So I am set for dinner later! But wow. The Market. Wow. I’ll take pics there sometime, it is just a bit awkward because it is so crowded and people would be like what? It sprinkled a little too, but nothing like it will be later this week when the normal raininess of Caen returns. We’ve been super lucky and had beautiful sunny weather, not for long.  There were also people there passing out fliers and the like, I got one that is from the “Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste” Hahahaha. Anti-capitalist? That just sounds funny. OH. It is for a protest on the 7th. I might have to go peek and see how it goes.

Anticapitaliste..haha

THE Market baguettes we bought!