Arrondissement de Bourges

We started the day like many of the French…stopping at the neighborhood boulangerie/patisserie for a quick breakfast which was a quiche Lorraine for me. We couldn’t resist buying a macaron for later. We’ll, we each bought 3 macarons that didn’t make it to lunch! Hands down the best I have ever had in France.

We decided to take petit train tour here in Bourges which was a great way to get a look at the old town. We stopped at a crêperie restaurant for an authentic Brittany savory galette complèt which is a buckwheat crêpe with ham, cheese, and an egg on top. I had to finish it off with a sweet butter sugar crêpe! Ok, I’m not feeling too guilty because I’m walking over 5 miles a day!

Of course, a trip to Bourges has to include a visit to thé Cathédrale St Étienne. The exterior of this Gothic cathedral is so majestic, and the interior with all the stained glass panels and rose windows is spectacular. Photos never truly capture the vibrant colors. We took a walk through the gardens next to the cathedral, too.

We covered a lot of distance walking the old city, and we did some shopping by visiting a few brocantes which are like vintage shops. Elizabeth found a few souvenirs and discovered that the owner of the apartment that she rented last year owns the store. What a great reunion she had! I always look for a little art and especially love watercolors. But I found a beautiful original oil painting by Dupin Dominique that I loved. They had the perfect frame for it, too! It is being shipped home for me.

A man looked at Elizabeth and she smiled. Well, that started a conversation between them. The problem is that he latched on and kept trying to walk and talk with us. We couldn’t lose him, so we went into the artist shop (where I bought my painting). He hung around outside and we thought he had gone. About 25 minutes later we were walking in the opposite direction to lose him, and he appeared out of nowhere…creepy to say the least. We were then quite adamant about him leaving us alone, and we walked away from him. We didn’t see him again.

Elizabeth says that she’s saved my life many times. I am so bad about wandering in streets. The problem is that the cobblestone streets are narrow and at times there’s no defined sidewalk…or the sidewalks are so narrow one tends to walk in the street. Which is what I usually end up doing. I’m going to try to focus more, so she can relax and not freak out!

So tired that we went across the street to a highly recommended restaurant Ça te dit which roughly means “Do you feel like it?” The only thing I understood on the chalk menu was the word poulet, which is chicken. It was Thai food with curry. If you know me, you know that’s a real adventure for me. Well, it wasn’t bad, and I did eat some of it.

It’s our last night here, and it’s hard to leave. I loved the apartment, the neighborhood, the people…everything here in Bourges. Tomorrow it’s a train ride to La Charité for a 5 day cooking adventure which should be very interesting for me!Read more