I could have wept!  Yesterday was Saturday and Tonio, Chantal and I planned to visit M. Parret at his rehabilitation center in Troyes, cruise the town and have lunch.  In anticipation of this, I set my camera on automatic and prepared to have a carefree day of snapping pictures of Le Parret, the market, restaurant and whatever.  Tragically, when I downloaded my pictures this morning, most of those of the restaurant, market and some of M. Parret were so dark the subjects were unrecognizable.  I was sad, angry and disgusted because this was a perfect day with fabulous weather, good friends, decadent shopping, marvelous Champagne (in Champagne region) and correct food, I was looking forward to sharing this on my blog.  But no!  Thanks Canon Rebel on automatic.  Thanks a lot.

Without hope, I decided to search the internet to see how I could photoshop these pictures in order to share this marvelous day with my readers.  Just as I thought!  Complicated, technical advice that no amateur could understand!  But just as I was about to give up, a reasonable person suggested using the auto smart fix.  Heck, I didn’t know I had one! Some people are “so knowing.”  😀

So today’s photos of M. Parret, the restaurant and the market are brought to you by Photoshop Element’s auto smart fix.  It was also suggested that I could further enhance these pictures by doing other things that I couldn’t be bothered to do once I realized that you could just click auto smart fix 😉  If I have to depend on Photoshop to produce a good picture, I don’t want to take pictures anymore, but I did want to share this day.

I love the Troyes market and resent the fact that we don’t have a market like this in Sens. The market is open everyday, all day except for Sundays.

If I wasn’t afraid of not being able to move around and heart failure, I could easily be enormously fat living in France.  On the other hand, I would rather die from greed in France than from chemicals, fake food and GMO in the U.S.  I just want a choice 🙂

Never go to the market before lunch.  You’ll just want to eat everything.  Never go to the market after lunch.  You’ll just want to eat again.

It really is too bad that we didn’t know about Troyes when we bought our townhouse in Sens; I think we would have chosen this town instead.  But then again, we wouldn’t have met the Parrets.  Oh well, things turn out for the best.

I’ve started using automatic occasionally because I know that a lot of people get tired of waiting for me to take manual pictures, but manual is best for me.  On automatic, I end up with gutless pictures that do not charm.

I’d like to blame the slant of these pictures on somebody or something but I’m afraid that I only have myself to blame for that and not changing the ISO 🙂

For lunch we decided on a restaurant across from the market, Brasserie des Halles.  Good choice.  I didn’t photoshop the picture below because I liked it.

I did photoshop the picture below because otherwise you wouldn’t have been able to see the menu.

Of course we ordered Champagne.  Photoshopped.

I absolutely adored the following pictures of Chantal and Tonio unphotoshopped.

“Talkin bout a Revolution.”

The good signs about this restaurant were that 1) It was across from the market and had access to fresh meats, fish and produce.  2)  It was jammed packed, inside and out.  3)  All their customers were French.   I had one of the specialties of Troyes, andouilette with chaource sauce.  Delicious!  Photoshopped.

Tonio and Chantal both had the onglet or hanger steak.  The salad and it’s dressing was fresh and traditional, while the “frites” were hand cut, real potatoes from the market. Photoshopped.

This restaurant was a great find!   Too bad we couldn’t break M. Parret out of jail to share it with us.  Oh well, next week he should be out on probation 🙂

After lunch we went to the center to see M. Parret and found a big gathering of his family there on a visit.  The magnum of Champagne that we brought was just right and they gave us glasses from the kitchen.  You can’t bring flowers but I guess wine is okay.  I love it!

Janine, Tonio-ette and Chantal.