Saturday, we made it to the farmer's market in downtown Neuchatel on the late side. Allie and Toby needed pain au chocolate after their long hike in ;) The place was hoaching with locals jostling for position. It's set up in Place des Halles (market place) with cafes around it, and even had a string quartet (till it rained). Walter eventually had to take the boys somewhere else due to squishing by locals. At one stand I asked the woman beside me (think of the broken French) if there are queues at these things. She rubbed my arm and told me I should push in and speak loudly. Then in English she said "This is not England, my dear". When she was done, she pushed me into her spot for better service. It still took me a while. Too much "bonjour" not enough "Give me..." The produce is ace, though (fruit , veg, cheese, eggs, fish, meat, honey). We'll be doing it twice a week along with the entire canton.
Sunday: Due to the buses only running every half hour, we made it out the house early (blinking cold and cloudy. On a par with Snotland) to go and see Saint Blaise and our final resting place. So Walter had been the one looking at potential homes. He described the house and town, I said they sounded nice and we should go for it. Well, he was dressing it down. The town is beautiful, old (houses built in the 16, 17 hundreds), twisty turney and very much on the side of a hill. A clear, full, fast stream runs through it, and there are old drinking fountains all over the place. Apparently you really can drink the water. The lovely house is on three storeys- entry way, kitchen, living room on bottom- our room, spare room, bathroom in middle- boys rooms, bathroom on top. We are right next to the church (good or bad to hear the bingbong every hour???). I'm glad we came on a Sunday- the bells rang for 15 mins announcing impending Mass. They worked. The entire town all of a sudden came out! Hurray for double glazing. The only drawback is no garden, but children are flexible .....right?
Didn't take many pics- there was much rain and running to hide from it. Walter and I don't have cagools yet.
2 comments:
Merci for the updates.I can't wait to see y'all! Yeah, isn't it weird to think of drinking from fountains that people have been using for centuries. Lovely. I lived near a church with a bell-sure helped me get up in the morning and know when to go to bed since it rang until 10pm at night. Love the pictures! All the best et a bientot! bisous, Grace
back in RB i used to live next door to a church. They used to do non stop weddings on the weekends.
David
Post a Comment