Chez Fanny
02 December 2011
It's raining!
It's raining!
This is the first day of really bad weather we have had since being in France. Tim has been watching the weather carefully all week; now we are on the river Rhone the forecast is very important! The wind has been getting stronger this week, so we have stayed 4 nights in this marina in Valence. It's a nice place, electricity and water, and supposedly free wifi, but we are so far from the marina office the signal is always very low.
The bikes have been useful this week; we are some distance from the town but only about ten minutes by bike. On Wednesday we picked up some post, then after locking the bikes, we had a walk around the old town. There are lots of little streets to explore with lovely French shops specialising in hats, bags, jewellery, chocolate etc, lots of cafes and restaurants. There was a very old building called Maison des Tetes, where the front was covered with stone carvings in the shape of, you guessed it, heads!
Wednesday was probably the best day for nice weather, we even sat outside a café and had a coffee! Amazing at the end of November to be able to do this. Again, we were stunned by the number of Coiffures, or hairdressers there are. Even the tiny villages we have been through always have a Coiffure, and also a dog grooming parlour!
We went back into town today, and had a difficult time choosing which restaurant to go into for lunch. All the menus sounded great, and not too expensive, although I could have done with my French dictionary to decipher some of the less well known dishes, although I did remember that 'grenouille' was frog's legs!
We settled on a restaurant in the main square, called Chez Fanny. We just had to go in and see what it was like! It looked a bit rustique from the outside, but it was very smart inside with matching red and grey tablecloths, glasses, plates etc. For 12.50euro each we had the lunchtime set menu, a choice of either fish or steak, then a white chocolate dessert, then coffee. We started with a pastis, I am now addicted to this delicious aperitif, and had a demi-carafe of vin rouge. My steak in pepper sauce came with some fresh tagliatelle and cooked cherry tomatoes and was absolutely delicious, but do remember if you ask for it 'medium' it will come quite rare, so if you don't like it very red inside, ask for it Bien Cuite!
We have met up with a very delightful Dutch couple on their boat and have followed each other down river and through the locks for a couple of days, finally both of us are moored at the marina in Valence. They have a beautiful boat which was designed especially for them with everything custom built. Fandancer is a very beamy (wide) boat, but theirs is even beamier! It looked so spacious inside, and very light and bright. They even have brought their cat on board with them, all the way from Holland! I'd love to have a cat on our boat, I keep looking out for strays to adopt, but Tim says they wont taste as nice as rabbit ....