The Great St. Patrick’s Day Crepe Hunting Adventure

It’s Saint Patrick’s Day in Saint Remy! But our first priority today is to get ready quickly and go into town to finally get some crepes! We found a couple crepe places open today (that were closed on Mondays), but they don’t open until noon…now we’re really confused. The restaurant yesterday told us they only have crepes in the morning and now the creperies don’t open until noon?

We decide to just drive into town to the main square where we saw “crepes” on the awning of the restaurant where we ate yesterday. It’s the same waitress we had the day before, not a lick of English, and she seemed a little exasperated that our family of four came back so soon. We sit down (at the exact same table) and try to communicate to her that we are here for the crepes.

Photo snapped by Silas of our exasperated waitress 😅

Here’s where things go south. While “crepes” is certainly on the menu, with all traditional crepe flavors listed below, “gaufres” are also on the menu…I didn’t snap a photo but I think it said “Crepes et Gaufres”. She explains they still don’t have any crepes, but only “gaufres”…waffles. We’re already settled at the table and decide to just go ahead and each order a waffle. Bren and I also ordered an English breakfast which was ham, eggs and salad. I think the chef was also exasperated by us because the “gaufres” came out still frozen in the middle! Silas didn’t really mind as he ate around the middle of his chocolate syrup covered waffle. Bren and I enjoyed our English breakfast - the salad was delicious! We tell Silas we PROMISE we will find crepes for lunch (one of the places that opened at noon), but he really didn’t seem to mind.

After breakfast, we went back to the house. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, so Brennan and Silas started digging out some lawn toys and playing in the yard as Clementine napped and I worked on my blog. When she woke up, we all decided to take a nature walk around the property, so we ventured out into the meadow behind our farmhouse.

We brought a cup so we could keep the flowers he picked!

It’s finally lunch time and we load back into the car and drive to an actual creperie - Creperie La Celtie. We walk through the old town streets to the restaurant.

The waitress was young, very accommodating (immediately grabbed us a table and high chair) and spoke English! And thank god she did because we definitely almost ordered pig intestine crepes - who knew real “andouille” was pig intestines?! The restaurant also has a “plat enfant”, which included a savory galette and a sweet crepe for dessert, so we all ordered a savory galette and a sweet crepe for dessert!

We made short work of the crepes!

We all waddled to the car, stuffed with delicious crepes, and drove back to the house for nap time. Does it feel like all we do is eat and sleep? Sometimes it feels that way to me, but that’s what vacation is all about right?

Everyone must have been pretty tired because I had to wake them up at 4! The plan was to go to the Monastery Saint Paul de Mausole, where Vincent Van Gogh lived for about a year as he was recovering from a psychiatric episode (cut his own ear off). And the monastery is right in Saint Remy, about a 10 minute drive from our house. The last entry is 4:30pm, so we quickly get our things and head that way. Of course, we JUST miss the entry cutoff. And it was such a beautiful day for us to all walk through the gardens there, but we had to go with plan B…which was of course, another winery right next door 😂

As we walked into Domaine Metifiot, we notice the see through floors where you could see the fermentation and aging vats!

We chose the abbreviated tour and learned they are a relatively young winery. We also learned they age some of their wines in concrete…I’m no wine expert but I truly had no idea that was an aging vessel!

There are some pretty incredible views from their back terrace - we could see snow-capped mountains and the city of Avignon where the papal palace is located. I also had no idea that 7 popes resided in Avignon in succession!

Cluster of white buildings in the distance comprises the papal palace

Tasted a few wines here and noticed the artwork on their rosé is a nod to Van Gogh, given the asylum where he stayed is right next door! Did I mention he painted one of his most famous paintings, The Starry Night, while in the asylum? And it was based on a view not too different from our family photo above. The Starry Night is now housed at the MoMA in NYC…I may have to pay a visit on my trip there next month!

After the winery, it was off to the grocery store for dinner. I find it funny that they have a whole section of foie gras in this small supermarket 😂

We got some fresh French bread and made sandwiches at home. The weather was so nice, we ate outside while the kids FaceTimed Deedee and Pappy. Then it was bath time and bedtime for Clementine. Brennan and I each drank a Guinness - our only St. Patty’s celebration this year. Silas picked The Lion King for family movie night tonight and we ended the day snuggled together watching one of the greatest Disney movies of all time.