Day 5, July 14, 2025

Day 5 of the French adventure, was Monday, July 14th Bastille Day. We started our day by going to the weekly farmers’ market in Castillon-le-Bataille. This was our first opportunity to go to a local farmers’ market this trip. The number of vendors may have been less than normal due to the holiday, but there was still a good number of stalls. There were many stalls filled with fresh fruit, vegetables, meats, soaps, clothing, hats, tablecloths, and even live chickens. We left with four bags full of food that was incredibly flavorful, a couple of new tablecloths, and farm fresh eggs from those chickens.

After returning to our maison, because all shops were closed for the day, Scott and Eric set about to perform some chores around the grounds such as: pruning bamboo shoots that has prevented our gate from closing, trimming the bottom of two doors on a storage shed so that the doors can now actually close, and other landscaping chores. The three of us spent several hours performing those tasks, then they made a late dinner. By the end of the day, no one had the energy to go to see the fireworks in Castillon which started at 11 o’clock. Before I crawled into bed, I went to the southern facing window in the hopes I could view fireworks from afar.

I could, but…it was teeny tiny and not impressive enough to share with you. We will be going to the Historic Spectacle next week and I will take pictures of those fireworks at that time.

Cheers!