September 21, 2026 a day in Cassis Breakfast - Yogurt with Mirabelle Plums. Lunch - Clos de Aromes. Dinner - Cheese and Pate’ and fruit
I have begun going to bed by 10:30 to 11:00 and waking up as the Sun rises around 7:00.
This morning I showered and dressed and ate a quick breakfast of 1/4 of a lovely round pastry filled with custard and garnished with an apricot and a bowl of yogurt with mirabelle plum halves.
At 9:30 we drove to Cassis to take a boat excursion of the the Parc National de Calanque at 11:00. The park was created in 2012 to preserve the rugged coastline around Cassis. As we discovered on the excursion most of the coastline and land in and around Cassis is rugged, more vertical than flat, like a more compact, densely hilly San Francisco. We drove up and down hills to get to the municipal parking lot from which bus service was available to the port. When we arrived at the port it was crowded with tourists. The port was narrow with steep hills and rock cliffs, rising on all sides, not like Sanaray that is located on a wide bay surrounded by low hills.
For some reason the Brits have discovered Cassis, perhaps because they remind them of the cliffs of Dover. The limestone cliffs at Cassis rise 200 to 300 feet straight up out of the water, but are interspersed with deep channels/eroded cuts in the rock face that lead to lagoons with beaches at several points in the rock face, called calanques in French.
We sat beside a middle aged couple from London who recommended the restaurant Clos de Aromes, so when we returned to the port around 12:30 we walked the four or five blocks up the steep road from the port to the restaurant that helped me accumulate 4000 steps today.
The Clos de Aromes is a small hotel and restaurant in a lovely shaded terrace beside the hotel. Unfortunately, it was also a tourist trap.
Billy and Elaine ordered a 1.2 kilo grilled sea bass/Loup that was beautifully grilled and served with a medley of grilled vegetables, carrot, potato, sweet potato and parsnip, but the price was 12 € per 100 grams, so the entire fish lunch cost €144
Suzette ordered a pork flank steak with vegetables and I ordered a mixed seafood grill with a squid steak, a large shrimp, an octopus tentacle, a small Loup filet and about 7 or 8 steamed mussels sauced with an interesting sauce of shrimp roe mixed with cream that was slopped on willy milky with some of the pan drippings from the grill for €38. It was a mess but a delicious mess that did not raise my meet my expectation of its 4.5 rating as a restaurant. We also ordered a bottle of dry Cassis rose wine for €42 that seemed wildly inflated as there were vineyards everywhere.
We were a bit shocked by the experience and tired and hot after the boat ride in the sun, so we decided to call it a day and drive back to the Villa after lunch.
That was essentially the end of the day of tourism, but by no means the end of one of the most eventful days in my investing career and an important health issue.
The time differential between Albuquerque and France is 8 hours. In Albuquerque time the market opens at 7:30. Since France is 8 hours ahead of Albuquerque, the market opens in France at 3:30 and closes at 10:00 p.m.
With the fed raising interest rates last week and the prospect of that slowing inflation, interest rates and crude oil went down and the market went up. I had the best day ever in the market with an increase of my portfolio of 3.2%.
I was startled and thrilled and sad that I had earned more passive income in one day than many must work hard for a year to make. Of course, I could lose it tomorrow.
The other thing that thrilled me was that i discovered that eating plums are a natural laxative and there are lots of species of plums in France, small mirabelle, green, red, and purple at least. I hope to try them all.
At 6;00 Suzette and I drove tI the Instamarche supermarket and bought, the whole wheat baguette I love, red plums, sliced cooked ham for sandwiches, another wedge of Leyden, milk, chocolate mousse, Dr. Pepper, mushrooms, and a lemon.
At 9:30 I finally became hungry and sliced four slices of the whole wheat bread and spread them with pork pate’ and goat cheese or garnished them with Leyden and ate 4 Mirabelle plums and some squares of melon with a glass of Burgundy Pinot Noir.
Finally, after the market closed at 10:00 I went to bed.
What a day.
Bon Appetit
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