And now for something completely different!

Last Saturday, before Sue and Keith got back, I went out for dinner with friends of theirs who live in the village. Pascale and Klaus are vegetarians and very into organic products. They invited me to go with them to the big Bio (organic) fair being held in Colmar. I jumped at the opportunity to do something less touristy which would give me more insight into the culture here. So today, along with Sue, off we went to the 33rd Foire Eco Bio d'Alsace to check out the more than 400 stalls with organic or "green" products.  I will never figure out why there was a stall selling CDs there!  I skipped the examining the composting toilets and straw being used for insulation.  Instead, we gravitated to the stalls with cheeses, olive oils and wines interspersed with the occasional soap and confiture stand.  Most of the producers were French but some were also Italian. We spent 4 hours trying the various products and it was a lot of fun. Highlights were seeing the nun from the Momastere de Salan selling wine and candies, the wine tasting as various stalls and the Parmesan Reggiano which was fabulous. It was all a lot of fun but I kept thinking the "food safe" police in Victoria would have had conniptions if they had seen some of what was going on. However, it after all the French way and I'm good with it.