Bread without salt!?

So today is my 3^rd Sunday in Lyon. With everyone on holiday here the place is very quiet. On Sundays about 90% of the shops are closed save for a few brasseries and pubs, but there are 2 markets that I found in close proximity to where I stay. I bought a loaf of bread but being an impulsive donkey, I didn’t read the sign properly and it was a loaf of bread without salt (pain sauf sel – lit. Bread except salt). Aaargh, anyway so I walked around and the majority of the produce available is fruit and veg. They have a system where all the produce is already weighed/counted out and is in a metal dish with the price/unit or weight then you just take the dish to the vendor and they charge you. There are also quite a few fromageries (cheese suppliers)  selling mainly goats milk products and a few hard cheeses, but you don’t see anything resembling cheddar or gouda like we’re used to in SA, except maybe the small convenience stores.

I also saw a butcher that had pigs tails, the belly skin and even half a pig 'smiley ( pig's head )' for sale (I doubt they call it that, probably tete de porc. )He also had some salads for sale similar to what you see at Raith Gourmet (a well-known German Deli & Butchery located in Cape Town)...tomato tartare, celeriac remoulade, julienne veg remoulade and even some pizza slices. The “pizza” here is not like SA’s stuff. It’s usually sold as rectangular slices and is made with a thin, albeit bready base. When chef made some pizza for us the one day he used the pain viennoise and just rolled it very thin over a tray, put a layer of cheese and then another layer of the pain viennoise dough over that and refrigerated it dans le frigo (in the fridge) before putting the topping on.

Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera or phone as I didn’t expect to see everything that I did.

On the way back I passed the second market which is closer to my place and bought 2 marguese and 2 saucisse (the marguese is a spicy sausage i think...i hope) and I was like yes!!!! Finally something that looks like 'wors' (Afrikaans word for ‘sausage’) so yeah bought that and a pack of salami which was beautiful....perfect fat content that melts in your mouth.  So for lunch I had some of my salt less bread with camembert and salami and the last of my pampelmoes. With a gin and tonic of course.

It was pretty hot today so after a few drinkies [little drinks] I had a little nap. By that I meant I passed out; woke up dribbling like a vegetable but I had a good rest.

Some things I’ve notice about Lyon/France that I haven’t written about:
*a lot of people smoke....a lot. So it’s quite common to see people asking for a cigarette, even complete strangers walking by in the street of just sitting somewhere, and consequently there are cigarette butts strewn everywhere.
*the markets that are set up on the pavements get their power from power boxes that are on the electricity poles, so it seems that it’s actually a thought out thing and people aren’t just rocking up and pitching their stalls.
* even though there are a lot of cleaning vehicles you see cleaning walkways and such there is still quite a lot of litter, probably similar to what you’d see in the Cape Town CBD, I guess a horrrroooog is a hoooorrrroooog no matter where you are in the world
*there seems to be a big market for frozen foods as well as most little stores stock a variety of convenience foods and I even passed a huge store solely selling frozen foods.
*there are no clubs as we know them in Cape Town or SA so I have no idea what people my age do here, it seems they just meet up and chat over drinks...so that means no Drum 'n Bass for me until maybe September when supposedly some events/parties happen.