French Happy Hour

Joe and I had a wonderful day visiting all of the D-Day beaches. We both learned so much!

After a long day, we returned to Monsieur et Madame Remarquier's B&B very tired and hungry. Just as we were heading up the stairs to have a wee nap and a shower, Madame poked her head around the corner and invited us to have an aperitif with her and the monsieur later on. We gladly accepted their offer and were looking forward to practicing our 'parlez vous' with our generous hosts.

We spent a highly enjoyable hour with the Remarquiers. Our conversation was entirely in French. We could understand most of what they said, but I don't know if they knew what the hell we were talking about. We laughed a lot, Madame called me a 'bon vivante' and our French/English dictionary was passed between Joe and I the entire time.

Monsieur served 'pommeau', a traditional fermented apple wine of Normandy. It was delicious.

Just as we were leaving for dinner, Monsieur insisted that we have a digestif with them when we returned after supper. I inwardly groaned because I knew that I'd be cross-eyed by that time. I almost fell over when I heard Joe say, "Oui! A quel heure?" As everyone knows I am a very social person and am not one to pass up a drink, but I was so fatigued from our hour long conversation with the Remarquiers. It is exhausting to listen, speak and follow the conversation in a language you barely understand.

But I digress.

We hadn't even pulled into their driveway from dinner and Monsieur was opening the door welcoming us back in. This time he served us 'calvados', a strong apple liqueur. And of course we loved it. Joe remarked that he'd like to buy some before we left Normandy. Did monsieur know any 'producteurs'? Well, yes he did as a matter of fact.....

Plans were quickly made for the Remarquiers to take us out to the countryside the next morning to their friend's farm 'Le Grand Abbaye' to sample some apple cider, pommeau and calvados. Needless to say it was an amazing experience.

My 'guest blogger' (aka my husband) wants to write about it. So I'll let him tell you all about our wonderful morning at 'Le Grand Abbaye'.