His mother urges “do you want a religieuse to share with your sister or an emotion divine to share with your papa?” They discuss the merits of each cake until finally the little boy chooses the religieuse with salted caramel toffee toping and they depart, the boy clutching the beautifully wrapped cake box.
The baker comes out and I can’t resist telling him that the religieuse nouvelle is quite possibly the best cake I've had this year (and I have had a lot - research you know).
I wander round the pretty town with its labyrinth of streets and peer through the gates of the town's famous military academy, created by Napoleon in 1808. A friend told me that only the children of those who work for the government can attend this school which I find odd and rather elitist for a socialist country. We can't go inside since the school is only open during the summer school holidays but I will definitely return, the building looks awesome.
We pass an ancient shop front which looks as though it has been closed for decades. Through the dusty window we spy old haberdashery cabinets, ribbons spilling from shelves, it's dark but you can tell it’s a little treasure trove. By one of those strange coincidences that sometimes happen, at that very moment a car pulls up and the driver disembarks to open the door of the shop. We stand there open mouthed and he smiles and asks if he can help. He invites us in to have a look. La Flèche is like that, very friendly people, very down to earth and very welcoming. I don’t need to be asked twice, I’m in there like a rabbit up a drain pipe taking photos of this time warp shop. What will happen to it we don’t know, the old lady who owns it hasn’t made up her mind yet…