Day 24 – Our last market day in Chablis.

A bright, sunny day brought the crowds out to the market today. We could tell as soon as we left the house, as every inch available had a vehicle parked in it. Wow!

The market signs block off many of the streets that cars use to cut through – turning them into pedestrian only passages. We walked up to the corner (brisk steps, Uncle Don) and headed into the mix.

Our first stop was at the boulangerie to get a fresh baguette. The lines were long and we didn’t want to miss out. It was still warm when we bought it. Sue spotted some financiers, so you know that a few of them made it into the bag.

From there we proceeded to walk up and down the street checking out each vendor’s goods. There were some different vendors today, which made it even more fun. Whatever you wanted or needed, there seemed to be someone selling it. Clothing, fruits and vegetables, sausages, cheese, herbs, flowers, cooking pots and pans, jewelry, mattresses (I kid you not), lounge chairs, fresh oysters, gougères, honey, spit roasted chickens, meats, and nuts and olives.

Besides the actual market, it was also great to see friends greeting friends and neighbors stopping to chat…and block the street. Young and old, townsfolk and tourists all just enjoying themselves.

For our part, going into our last days in Chablis, we just bought a couple small rounds of cheese and a few gougeres to snack on.

We headed back to the house to enjoy a little lunch and to enjoy the sunshine streaming in. It felt so good to not look out the windows and see rain.

While enjoying our lunch, we had some music playing in the background and we just talked about our time here, the days ahead, returning home and lots of other topics. We’ve tried to avoid the news of this crazy world, though we have peeked a couple of times. We are aware of the fight at the top of the division between the Yankees and the Blue Jays and the struggle to get to the post-season by the Mets. (Sorry, Michael).

And as I’m editing this on Monday morning, we now know that it will be the Yankees and Red Sox in the wild card series with the Blue Jays taking the division. Ouch…and the Mets are out.

We received an email saying that one of the restaurants in Paris could not honor our reservation, so we spent some time coming up with a Plan ‘B’. We also laid out some plans for places to visit in Paris.

After all that talking and then cleaning up, we decided that it was too late to go driving around. We just chilled out for a couple of hours before it was time to get ready for dinner.

Tonight we chose to return to the Bistrot Des Grands Crus. It was any easy choice, as we really enjoy it there and it is the only restaurant open on Sunday night.

Our friendly host, Thomas, greeted us and led us to our table. He informed us that tonight was the start of the new fall menu. We ordered an aperitif and then opened the menu to see the new selections.

Before they got too busy, we made a point of thanking him and the staff for making our Sunday evening dinners so memorable. He seemed to appreciate that we were thankful and would pass our thanks on to the staff.

There were many delicious sounding choices and it was a difficult decision, but we chose to go seafood. Sue wanted to get to dessert so she skipped the entrée and went with the Pochouse, while I started with the Vol au Vent and then had the Filet de Dorade.

The desserts were also new for the autumn. I chose the pear tart and Sue had the rice pudding with caramel. One of us finished, the other left some behind….any guesses?

It was a wonderful evening continuing our ‘Dernière Bouchée Tour’. When we finished and went up to pay, they informed us that our aperitifs were complimentary. The woman, who we surmised might be Thomas’ wife, asked us about our travels and wished us well. Thank you, Bistrot des Grands Crus !

We also had a funny moment in the restaurant with another couple. When we arrived, we were seated across from them and we pleasantly exchanged “Bonsoirs”. The gentleman seemed to be looking at Sue, in an almost staring way. We made eye contact and he says to Sue: “I apologize for staring at you, but you remind me so much of my British mother. She’s dead now”. Sue chose compassion over humor for once in her life. I leaned over and whispered: “I see dead people”. It’s provided us with perpetual giggles since last night.

The walk back to the house was once again along dark, empty streets, but it was a pleasant walk and oh so quiet.

Our evening ended with taking out the recycling bin, then locking up and heading upstairs to get cozy before bedtime. We saw that the Buffalo Bills had won their game – good for them! We corresponded with friends and then it was lights out.