Sifflier sur la colline

Views of the lake

The French know how to enjoy food. I have been eating like a king while in France and the enjoyment starts at breakfast. A few days ago I dragged myself out of bed to find a tray full of viennoiseries; puffy pastries. There are many different types to choose from when you go the bakery but my favorite is the Pain au chocolate (pastry with chocolate in the middle). Some others are the croissant, Chausson aux pommes and pain au lait. A favored French tradition is to dunk your viennoiserie of choice into your coffee. It is without doubt a good way to start the day. In recent years the espresso machine has taken off in France and they can be found in virtually every house. For that reason I am able to drink amazing coffee at home without having to venture to the café.

Viennoiseries

After breakfast we decided to work off some of the calories we had just consumed. We drove to Vitrolles , a suburb on the outskirts of Marseille, to meet Celine’s auntie. We picked her and a friend up and drove a few minutes to the start of popular walking area. We took a 10km circular stroll through a national park, up and across a long plateau before heading back down to the car. The hills are very distinctive in this region; predominantly white rock with patches of green bushes. Once on top of the plateau we had an amazing view of the massive lake, Etang de Berre, below. The lake meets the sea through a small pass at the town Martigues. The weather was a usual Marseille day; blue skies and a little windy. Celine used the time to catch up with her auntie and I would constantly interrupt them (acceptable behavior for Mediterranean people) asking random French vocabulary. Whistling on the Hill was my sentence for the day which translates as: sifflier sur la colline.

Walking across the plateau

For dinner we ate Raclette, one of my all time favorites. Raclette, is usually a dish you eat in the mountains but Celine’s sister, I think being nice to me, prepared it at her home in Sausset. Raclette is the name of the cheese you use for the meal. It is delicious. The other ingredients are potatoes (peeled and boiled) and a selection of cold cut meats. In the middle of the table is a Raclette machine which you plug into the power socket. With miniature frying pans you place a slice of the Raclette cheese under the heated section of the machine. Two minutes later the cheese is melted and ready to pour over the potatoes and eat with your cold cut of choice. You can also cook the slices of meat on top of the machine; which acts as a kind of hot plate. You repeat the process until you can’t eat anymore. It is a very simple meal but damn tasty. After a good Raclette session you are so stuffed and high on cheese that you need to go and sleep it off. I thoroughly recommend it.

Raclette (Not my picture)