Friday – Market Houdan – Jenny

We decided to have a quiet day and so a small trip to the market at Houdan was arranged. We had read that it was a interesting large market and so though it would be a good outing for the morning.

Driving into the village we stopped to park and go out to walk up to the main square where the Church stands with the market behind. We couldn’t work out the parking signs and after Martin and Ewoud had a discussion about whether it was legal, they decided to move to another spot where there would be no issues.

The rest of us walked up the narrow streets, admired the old buildings watched out for the “boys”.

We easily found the market and were soon joined by the rest of our group, we were first entertained by a man selling a new kitchen gadget that not only peels but also grates vegetables. He did such a good job that Astrid and I decided we could use one and then we went on to explore the other stalls. Suffice to say it wasn’t such a big market and apart from the vegetable, meat and fish stalls there were not many others that were of much interest and so we walked back to the main square where we tried to explain to the cafe waitress our desire to have iced-coffee. They just don’t seem to get it here, we like ours iced cold, with or without milk, iceblocks, icecream and/or cream on top. Preferably in a large glass which is so enjoyable on a warm summers day, sitting in the shade and watching the passing parade. We have to give her credit, she did her best to accommodate us, but a cup of lukewarm coffee was presented to us and then we had to ask for ice, which she came up with to put into our cups to make it cold.

It was then “iced coffee” and turned out to be enjoyable, but not quite what we had in mind. I think the locals must of though us a crazy lot, these English speaking people who wanted cold coffee. The rest of the day was spent relaxing by and in the pool, playing boules and drinking copious amounts of fluids.