Dieppe

We've made a couple of trips into Dieppe this week. It's only 15 or 20 minutes away.  Dieppe is a major fishing port.

 Like other places on the Normandy coast, Dieppe was the site of a major battle in 1942.

Note the gargoyles on this church:

Inside the church, there is a bit of graffiti scratched in a stone pillar by some sailor hundreds of years ago, home from the sea:

You can see evidence of World War II by looking at the stained glass windows ... or, rather, where the stained glass used to be.

We drove back into Dieppe this morning for the weekly Saturday markets. First, we came to the fish market, where you can buy directly from the fisherman. (By the time we got there, around 11:00, they were mostly sold out.)

This man gave me a free sample of an oyster on the half-shell!  He was born in Paris; his parents were born in Morocco. We had a nice talk about how all three of us have ancestors from some country other than our own.

The Saturday market extends for blocks on more than one street.

Here you can find vegetables, fish, meat, cheese, almost all locally produced.

In France, organic food is called biologique.  Marie bought some bio lettuce here.

Interspersed with the food vendors are people selling all kinds of other stuff — clothing, shoes, trinkets.

The photo below shows author Nicolas Sterin autographing one of his books for me. He included a quick little drawing. I was charmed.

We came home for lunch and are now about to go back to Dieppe to hear some music.  A demain !