Day 13: No Respect for Breakfast

At home we’re used to pretty substantial breakfasts: eggs, bacon, pancakes, cereal, hot cereal, etc. But in French, breakfast doesn’t even rate a proper name. They call it ”petit” dejenuer, literally—little lunch.

Coffee and tea are often served in a bowl which does have the advantage of cooling off more quickly. Petit dejeuner consists primarily of bread with butter and local jam. Laurie thinks the bread is mostly a vehicle for the butter and jam. On the plus side, the bread is usually fresh as they traditionally make it with very few ingredients and no preservatives. It doesn’t hold well overnight so you buy it each morning.

Frankly, a small breakfast before a long day of hiking is probably a good thing. There was a time during our trek across Italy where we had a fabulous breakfast buffet and…. Well, not a good plan.

Our trek today was under mostly sunny skies. Most of it was through wooded areas with stone walls, much of it shady. Early on we ran across a colorful pilgrim rest stop in an old stone hut. The man who ran it asked where we were from. Then ran to play the Star Spangled Banner on a tape recorder. He looks like he has quite a selection of national anthems.