It’s Wednesday, and that means Market Day in Autun. After coffee with my friend Ginna, I wandered over to see what was for sale.

Every Wednesday and Friday until about 1pm lots of vendors displaying their (uhm) wares.  You can find everything from cheap jewelry to shoes to clothing and even French underwear. Yes, brassieres on display in all their frilly french glory. Only in France.

There was a wonderful inside market area under the city hall  where you can find fresh fruit, cheeses, veggies, meats, breads, olives and garlic – I even saw a vendor selling fresh pigeon.  Not my first choice for poultry.

For the past week, we have been rehearsing every morning at 9am for the Faure Requiem which we will perform on Friday and Saturday nights.  Rose was excused from rehearsals this morning which was a blessing since we didn’t return home from our concert until 1am.   This gave me the opportunity to explore.

Today is a glorious day – warm, not a cloud in the sky and a nice mountain breeze and I actually got to sleep in until 10! The temps here are quite cool actually, in fact the other night after our concert we could actually see our breath.  The village concerts have been quite lovely and the reception and food glorious.  I have not been too thrilled with the cafeteria they have set us up with in Autun, especially the distance we have to walk to get there, so I have mostly made due with frugal meals of baguettes and cheese when we are not being fed by one of the local villages we travel to for an evening concert.

That leads in to my discussion on food comas.  Last night our concert was in a small village, Saint Symphonieon, where we had a meal of fresh lettuce with a Dijon dressing, tomatoes and basil and the main entree was a lasagna of sorts – fresh spinach (I’ve been dying here without fresh veggies that aren’t over cooked) salmon, a thin layer of pasta and topped with a béchamel sauce and cheese.  Oh my gods.

For dessert, homemade creme bruelle, fresh fruit salad and vanilla and chocolate mousse.  They insist on feeding us right up until concert time and offer us wine.  A glass does me just fine, and I have fallen in love with the Kir appertif – creme de cassis dijon in vin blanc.  Very yummy.  Singing with a food coma, that’s an experience on its own.

When given the opportunity, I have had a couple of really good meals out.  A favorite restaurant is Petit Rolin – just next to the great Cathedral.  I think this is what really ruined me with the cafeteria.  One taste of the exquisite french cooking and you really don’t want to go back to the cafeteria.  The photo shown is a local specialty of Morvan the Bourgognion de Canard (duck in a burgundy wine sauce) with mushroom and potato.  I enjoyed my first taste of this so much I had to go back with Linda, Kris and John for seconds.

They had a special appertif on the menu, a blu Rolin (Bob, you know I couldn’t resist this one) Basically a martini with blue Curacao.

For dessert, crepes with chocolate, honey and walnuts, and a creme bruelle l’orange. I swear, I don’t think I will ever order creme bruelle outside of France again.  It was idyllic and once again, the food coma set in.

Enough! I’m hungry, so what am I going to do?  Why go to lunch! Au revoir, mes amis!

Your comments are always welcome and a pleasure to read.  Apologies in advance for any misspelled words in the above blog.  -Lisa