4-7-2024. An Adventure on a Sunday

 4-7-2024. An Adventure on a Sunday

Fabienne told me that she and Aline and Francis were getting up early Sunday morning in order to be at Hoerdt by 6 am. Why, you ask? Well, apparently here, every little village has their Sunday where they turn their streets into a huge yard sale. And so it was in Hoerdt. Fabienne and Aline and Francis had paid for a space for them to lay out their stuff to sell for 1 or 2 or 3 euros. I decided to get myself to Hoerdt and be part of the fun. (???)

I went to the SNCF app and bought a ticket from Strasbourg to Hoerdt.

Then I went to the train station—a 7 minute walk— and got on the train. I wasn’t even lost or anything.

On the train, I decided to try out my newly acquired French with the men sitting across from me. They had gotten on with a couple of bicycles and were going home after a nice ride. It was only a little before 10 so they must have been up very early. Anyway, we talked about the SlowUp d’Alsace event on June 2 in Selestat. This is where 40,000 take to the roads on bicycles and go from village to village on a couple of loops that total about 38 km or about 23 miles. I think there is music and other festivities along the way. Anyway, we talked about that. As we approached Hoerdt, I asked one of the men if he knew where this “yard sale” was in the village. I didn’t know what it was called in French and the man didn’t speak English so that was fun…. eventually, with his trusty friend, Google, he gave me an address for the Centre Ville and told me it was called a Marché Plus.

The train arrived and the second man happened to be getting off in Hoerdt so he pointed me in the right direction. It wasn’t hard to find because there were tons of people and parked cars, all leading to the church or Centre Ville.

After texting back and forth, I found Fabienne and Aline and Francis. 

I hung out there at their place and then I walked around and looked at stuff. It was about like any other “yard sale.”  At times, there were tons of people. I guess people come from all over to go to these village yard sales. They sometimes bring their big rolly-bags to carry their stuff home.  Here’s some photos. I won’t win any photography awards but here you are.

(This last one is an entire pic roasting on a spit.)

Fabienne told me that when they get assigned a spot, they have to sign a paper saying that they are selling their personal stuff and not selling as a business. The spot next to theirs was very interesting in that a man and woman were selling pins. These are pins that advertise a store or a brand or are just decorative little do-dads pins that one sticks onto their clothes or hats or bags. It’s quite a thing here. 

Here’s one of their display cases…

I was fascinated with the business they did. I told Fabienne that this appeared to be a business—selling these pins—and Fabienne said that it wasn’t. This was their collection and they were selling the ones that were doubles or were ones they didn’t want. WHOA!!!!!  I counted 7 display cases and about 35 special binders each with about 250-300 pins in them. Most of the binders were in boxes on the ground. There must have been thousands of pins. This is totally nuts and that place was busy busy busy.

At one point, we heard a fast tapping sound —sort of like a woodpecker pecking on a tree— and Fabi said it was a cigogne. (aka stork) Cigogne is the national bird so seeing one in the wild is great. This darling was with its mate in a nest directly above where we were. What a treat to see this. I think it must be a common thing because the Alsatians didn’t seem to notice. It must be like bald eagles in the Pacific Northwest. They are easy to find. So, here are some photos of the cigogne.

I decided to catch the 3:02 train back to Strasbourg, so I bought my ticket and said goodbye at about 2:30. I thought it would be about a 15 minute walk to the train station but Google did me wrong and I had to ask 4 people for directions. I’m glad there were people to ask along the way. I ended up RUNNING, yes RUNNING the last couple of blocks—or more, cuz I was lost lost lost. I arrived, totally out of breath just as the train pulled up. I actually felt rather proud that this old lady could really RUN!

After I got home, I putzed around until I was hungry and decided that I just didn’t want left overs so I walked toward Centre Ville looking for a quick bite. Since it’s Sunday, almost everything is closed but I did find a kabob place. I took a long time trying to figure out the menu and told the young man waiting for my order that “I don’t speak French very well.” And he responded with, “I don’t either.”  LOL. I’m not sure if he was joshing me or if he was really a foreigner like me. He spoke slowly enough and repeated when I didn’t understand. I ordered a beef kabob which turned out to be a humongous sandwich. I couldn’t even eat it all….

I also had a rhubarb soda. It was rather tart.

I returned home from the restaurant, studied a bit and got ready for a grand Monday ….which is….oh geez….tomorrow.

Goodnight.

Oh, a word about the weather. On Thursday, I was wearing a wool coat, scarf and gloves. On Saturday, the weather was in the high 70s and sunny. Yes, I saw the sun. It was brilliant. Now it’s cloudy but still in the 70s. Fingers crossed that it remains this way.