An early start again for day two (le deuxième jour). Up at 5.30am to head off to the local food markets (le Marché de Nouméa).

I love to wander around food markets in whatever country we happen to be in, so getting out of bed early again was ‘pas de problème pour moi’.

It was wonderful, as were the coffee and pastries from the boulangerie there.

It never feels right, does it, to eat those sorts of things at home, but as they say, when in Rome…or Nouméa, as the case may be.

 

 

 

On we went to Chez Toto,13 rue Auguste Brun, Quartier Latin, which is a restaurant run by chef Christophe Guerin.  Christophe spoke about each of the dishes on the restaurant menu and the cooking methods for each. At least, I think that’s what he spoke about. I could not understand anything he said, apart from the odd word or two, as he spoke so quickly he may have speaking Chinese for all I knew.

Any confidence I had went straight out the window, but I felt marginally better when I realized afterwards that I wasn’t the only one who had struggled to comprehend.  I guess it’s all learning…

After a quick café au lait and a trip to a book shop (une librairie), we visited the Musée de la Nouvelle Caledonie, which provided a great cross section of history, art and traditions of the Kanak’s  and also of the people of the south Pacific region.

While there, we met some members of a theatre group, who were rehearsing for a play to be held that evening.

Since it was unexpected to meet them, it added to the  overall experience of the day. Pierre, the lead actor, told us  jokingly he was a celebrity and very famous so, needless to say,  he was not at all averse to having his photo taken.

Katrina had arranged a wine dégustation for us at La  Maison Ballande, à la Baie des Citrons, in the afternoon.    Emmanuel was our host and we had a brilliant afternoon,  sitting out in the courtyard in the shade, sipping large  glasses of beautiful french wine. Not a bad way to spend  some time at all! Emmanuel was quite young and gorgeous in both manner and looks, but he was also extremely knowledgeable and so passionate about wine that we couldn’t help but appreciate all the information he shared.

He was the highlight of the trip for me, as far as learning goes, because he spoke beautifully. It meant that I understood about 95% of what he said, so the overall experience was very positive and I clawed back some of the confidence I had lost earlier in the day with Christophe, alors merci beaucoup, Emmanuel!

We headed back to Chez Toto that evening, to have dinner. The food was delicious and fortunately I didn’t have to try to decipher Christophe’s language skills again, thank goodness. It was a great way to end our second day here, with lots laughing. Wonderful.