Good-Bye & Hallo 5 - Charleville-Mézières, France 1
Charleville-Mézières, the capital of the Ardennes department, Grand Est, was our second stop in France. Unlike Lille, the old town was nicely quiet and relaxing, including Place Ducale, the center square built in the early 17th century, imitating the Place des Vosges, the oldest square in Paris.
I hadn't known that Charleville-Mézières is known as puppetry arts and hosts the World Festival of Puppet Theaters, the largest gathering of puppeteers in the world in every two years. The next festival will be in this September. Luckily we didn't need to wait for the festival to see a puppet show. There was a small stage under the clock on the wall of the backside of Musée de l'Ardenne. It's called Le Grand Marionnettiste. The golden giant tells twelve episodes of the local legend of the Four Anymon Sons one each at every hour from 10am to 9pm. Each episode lasts for only a few minutes. We watched a few episodes on the day while we were wandering in the town.
Chez Toshi for lunch was another wonderful restaurant that J chose. I was surprised at meeting a Japanese chef who ran a restaurant in the puppet town of Northern France!
Toshi kindly explained each dish in Japanese. First, some kinds of home-cured meat was served. I was talking with Toshi and forgot to take the lovely charcuterie board! Then, Eclair of salt cod puree with whelks and shrimps for me. Ballotine of rabitt and fole gras for J. For Plats, we both had duck (roasted and lightly smoked fillet and confit leg). Everything was beautifully presented and tasted fantastic.
We did walk more and stopped by at a bakery before we headed to our airbnb. French classic pastries, Tarte Tatin and Flan Pâtissier were the stars of the afternoon tea of the day.
To be continued...
