{"id":2405,"date":"2012-07-10T09:20:49","date_gmt":"2012-07-10T09:20:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thesojournseries.com\/bavaria\/?p=2405"},"modified":"2019-01-24T19:44:58","modified_gmt":"2019-01-24T19:44:58","slug":"quatre-jours-en-aquitaine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thesojournseries.com\/bavaria\/quatre-jours-en-aquitaine\/","title":{"rendered":"Quatre Jours en Aquitaine"},"content":{"rendered":"

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As you may have guessed from the sunshine and the snails of my previous posts, we have been in France for the past few days, visiting family.<\/p>\n

I first visited France on a French Exchange<\/a> when I was 13.\u00a0 I was partnered with a girl called Patricia who insisted on wearing a sailor’s hat for the entirety of her time on the return leg to the UK.\u00a0\u00a0 I was mortified.\u00a0 But even at that young age, I remember liking this Gallic neighbour of ours.\u00a0 And I still do, with its proud heritage,\u00a0 incredible food, and rolling countryside straight out of a Claude Berri film.<\/p>\n

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And so it was great introducing The Small People to a few of the finer sides of French life, now that they are that much bigger.<\/p>\n

We spent the days making the most of the sunshine and the pool, but our hosts kindly took us to see some of the surrounding areas as well,\u00a0 including the amazing smelling Chateau de Cassaigne<\/a>, famous for its Armagnac,\u00a0 lovely Castel Moron<\/a>, and the medieval weapons centre<\/a> at\u00a0 Larressingle. \u00a0\u00a0 This was a particular favourite for Small Boy, who as you can imagine was in his element.\u00a0\u00a0 It reminded me of our visit to The Viking Centre<\/a> in Ribe last year.\u00a0\u00a0 He couldn’t resist the opportunity to duel with an (albeit slightly smaller compared to the Viking, but very enthusiastic, and knowledgeable) French opponent this time!<\/p>\n

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My favourite part of the trip though?\u00a0 The fabulous Night Markets that take place at this time of year.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A bit like the Bavarian Bier Garten principle, you roll up, take a seat at a long table and either bring your own food and buy your own wine, or bring your own wine and buy your food from the plethora of food stalls awaiting to satisfy every gastronomic whim.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 First stop the butcher’s van for a Fred Flintstone sized steak (to share of course!),\u00a0 and then to the\u00a0 old ladies on the barbecue next door who will expertly cook your purchase then and there. \u00a0 Move on to the grocer’s stall who will supply you with beautiful salad ingredients to go with dinner,\u00a0 and then to the baker’s stall for the obligatory baguette…\u00a0\u00a0 Take it all back to your table, surrounded by like-minded folk all enjoying the same.\u00a0\u00a0 Then rinse and repeat for cheese and dessert courses!\u00a0 Perfect!<\/p>\n

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Should you happen to be in the Agen area, I also highly recommend you pay a visit to Restaurant Marriottat<\/a>, which is one of the nicest (and the poshest) restaurants I have been to in a very long time.\u00a0\u00a0 The French are experts in this field of food, and this restaurant excels in some of the most amazing and delicate dishes I think I have ever had (and the service is second to none – plus they were gracious enough to pretend they understood my GCSE level French)!<\/p>\n

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Back to Bavaria, and back to a diet!<\/p>\n

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