Friday, September 15, 2006

Last day

It's our last day in France - and we shall be spending some time in the hypermarkets of Calais - buying wine and beer (and hopefully some French cider) at low, low prices. Our hotel tv picks up British stations since we're only 20 miles away from England. We watched the news last night - and it really brought home how we've not just taken a break from work and London, but also from the war on terror.


Update: The big wine warehouse did not have the festival atmosphere I hoped for, nor were the prices, low, low, low. (Though wine was considerably cheaper than it would have been in the UK). And they didn't have a big cider selection either.

wine superstore in Calais

After our visit to the wine store, we went to a grocery store and stocked up on French sausage and cheese, as well as more cider. We had stopped at a Musee du Cidre - a place you could tour to see how they make cider, Calvados and pommeau. Calvados is kind of like apple whisky and I really don't care for it, but I love the nice apple-y cider of Brittany and Normandy. Of course, the cider museum wasn't open, but they were selling cider - so we tried and bought 6 bottles of the "brut" and 6 of the "doux".

Portable cider still
Photo from the ciderie we visited featuring a portable still (a new must-have item for me).


Here's a site that explains cider making, though not from the place we visited. An article from the LA Times that explains Calvados and includes the line "But making Calvados takes more than an orchard. For starters, the Feds frown on stills on farms"

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