Normandie touristing weekend; Sunday

Normandie Sightseeing Tours guided us around in Bessin and we experienced the highlights of Calvados:

Visist to La Calvadosienne. Not an apple destiller, but an oyster farm. We got an explanation of the production process and got to taste the product. The price included nine oysters per head, but some unlucky people ha some bad experience with seafood a couple of days earlier and passed. More for the rest of us. And of course a good amount of white wine. And it was not even 11 in the morning...

After oysters we went to Arromanches 360, a circular cinema showing a 18 min film combining archived footage from the allied invasion in 1944 with film from present-day Normandie. I have seen it a few times before since I usually drag all my visitors there for educational purposes, and it's equally disturbing every time.

Lunch at a farm close by; Surprise du chef, Trou de Normandie (apple sorbet with Calvados!) Magret de canard aux pommes, Fromages Normands sur lit de salade, Profiteroles au chocolat chaude et crème fouetté. And wine, wine, wine. People were not extremely hungry at this point after a week on a Normandie diet. We even left about a bottle of wine behind. Sissies.

Then comes the highlight of the week; visit to a farm producing ecologically certified cider, pommeau and calvados. We got a description of the production (the picture on the left is a poster that apparently are displayed in schools. What would the Christian Democrats in Northern Scandinavia say abut that?)


We also got a tour of the orchard, production and storage area. And of course tasting and shopping. I ended up with a carton of apple juice, a carton of cider and a Calvados of the type Vieille Réserve (aged at least 6 years).




Nobody felt like having a five course dinner again, so we cancelled our dinner reservation at a restaurant in the village where my lab is. The owner was not happy. So now I've got myself another French enemy. The story of the first is for another post.