Chateau Chinon

I visited Chateau Chinon last Friday with my language school, Tours Langues. They have excursions every Friday. Chateau Chinon has been under construction for restoration for a very long time and just reopenend last week. There is a lot of history at the chateau, most notably it being the place where Joan of Arc visited the Dauphin of France, Charles VII.

Chateau Chinon

Only one wall remains of the part of the chateau where Joan of Arc visited the Dauphin.

From another view

This is the place where Joan of Arc slept. I think pigeons also slept in those holes, but perhaps something was lost in translation...

The group that visited the chateau consisted of one of the teachers (Annick), 5 Japanese girls, and me. We took a few group photos, and I'm sure I looked totally out of place. I'm looking forward to seeing them. Annick spoke fairly fast and with few hand gestures. I think most of these grils are in her class and are at a higher French level. They didn't seem to have much trouble understanding Annick, but Ayumi told me later that they may have just been nodding their heads a lot...

Anyways, regardless of not understanding all the history of Chateau Chinon, it was very interesting and fun. We also walked down into the medieval village of Chinon to check out the architecture and the shops.

The view of the village of Chinon from the chateau

The medieval architecture and Annick explaining something to us (in French).

The street that led Joan of Arc (Jeanne D'Arc) and her horse up to the chateau to find the Dauphin.

Ancient door

And even a little influence from the U.S.

More Delicious Food

At the Garlic Festival earlier this week, Ayumi and I told Martine about the different sausage we saw. One of the types was boudin noir. It's the French version of blood sausage. It is a specialty of the region, so... Martine bought some boudin noir and we had it for dinner a few nights ago. It was delicious! She served it was sauteed apples. She doesn't like it herself, but made it for us anyway so that we could try it. So nice! There is also a boudin blanc. I saw she bought that as well, so I'm hoping we'll have it next week.

Martine made a plum tart for dessert tonight. Very good. She said that for the preparation of the custard, she added a little Eau de Vie (very strong liquor) and did a flambee. Very interesting.

Cate Cafe Cafe!

Oh la vache! I am drinking so much coffee! Coffee for breakfast, coffee for lunch, midafternoon coffee, coffee after dinner. It never stops. In the morning we drink cafe au lait with breakfast (coffee with milk). If we have a sit down lunch with Martine (during the week, Ayumi and I eat in town), we have un cafe after the meal, which is a small very strong cup of coffee. You can have it avec sucre if you prefer. If I stop at a cafe in the afternoon, I find myself taking another cafe. After dinner, bien sur, another cafe. I'm so hopped up on caffeine by the time I go to bed, that it takes hours to fall asleep! Oh well. C'est normale.
Les petit tasses that we drink our cafes in a la maison (I love these!). My Franglais is pretty good, n'est pas? And below...le sucre

Mo Mo

Mo Mo is le chat de la maison. She is a tiny but extremely curious and mischevious cat. Mo Mo often provides the entertainment for Martine, Ayumi, and I. Often times, after dinner, while drinking our cafes, we will sit at the table, attempt to converse in French, and watch Mo Mo chase feathers. Mo Mo enjoys sleeping in my lap and "hunting" me. She has peed on Ayumi's bed three times in the last few days...not good. Mo Mo also enjoys sitting in the kitchen sink, drinking water from the faucet, chasing insects, and trying to sneak her way out onto the windoww sill. Martine will then promptly scold Mo Mo and say, "C'est trop dangereux pour un petit chat!"

Mo Mo has been acting very strangely the last few days (peeing on Ayumi's bed among other things...). When I commented on the cat's behavior the first day, I thought Martine replyed with a joke that Mo Mo's was in love. I made another comment yesterday because Mo Mo's been meowing like crazy and just acting weird. Martine provided the same response, but this time I understood...Mo Mo is in heat. The French call it something like "a time of love"... Martine does not speak any english, so misunderstandings are a common occurance.

I Taste Good!

Last night at dinner, I told my Host Mom, Martine, "Je suis bon!" She started to laugh and told me that that meant "I taste good" or "I'm good in bed". Woops! I should've said "Je suis bien" or "Je vai bien".

Garlic Festival

Today, there is a garlic festival in Tours. There are tons of vendors winding through many of the streets selling food. The main thing for sale is garlic and lots of dfferent types.

Walking through the streets there were so many different smells. There were vendors selling sausages, tea, spices, herbs...beaucooup de choses!

I don't know what this was, but it looked delicious.

For lunch we had andoillette (tripe (stomach) sausage made from pork) sandwiches - fresh baguette, mustard, and sauteed onions.

The crepe vendor had a giant jar of nutella!

Herbs

Sausages

Spices

Ayumi and all different types of tea

Fromage

This woman was selling some sort of regional cake. They were mildly sweet. The tops looked like they weren't burnt to a crisp, but it didn't taste burnt.

The First Meals

For my first meal, Martine said there wasn't enough time to prepare something French because my train was so late, so she put together a quick meal of something like hamburger and pasta. First we had an appetizer of bread and mushroom pate (so delicious). Then we had the main course, and afterwards, we had a cheese course with two different types of chevre. Then fruit for dessert and finally coffee. We also had hot sake that I think a friend of Ayumi's or else Ayumi herselft brought Martine. The meals take up a lot of time (at least an hour, more like two), which I like.

For lunch on Sunday (which was my breakfast because I woke up at 1:00pm), Martine asked me if I knew lapin? Rabbit! I was so excited that my second meal in France was rabbit. So delicious! It was paired with a pasta like fettucine, potatoes, and sage. Again, everything was split into courses. We also had salad after the main course. It was something like spinach (can't remember the name) with a vinagrette.

For dinner on Sunday, we ate terrine du canard (duck) with bread first. The jar had just been opened and it looked like there was mold growing on top. I had to ask Ayumi if it was normal...C'est normale? She said yes, and I felt a bit embarrassed. It wasn't mold afterall. For the main course, we ate pork with mushrooms in a cream suace. Delicious again. No salad this time. Then cheese, then fruit, and finally crepes for dessert. The crepes were served with honey and jam. Martine was a bit surprised when Ayumi and I wanted both jam and honey on our crepes, but Martine said pas de probleme! Martine just had jam.

I am trying very hard to make sure my table manners are up to par. A couple things I've noted: I always get served first, possibly because I'm the newest? I was a bit disappointed because I wanted to see how everyone else did things first. You never pour your own wine unless you brought the bottle. We haven't had any wine yet, but we had a conversation about this. Arms always rest on the table, not in your lap. I'm sure there are more things, but I can't remember them all now...