France Day 11 Wed Oct 25th

Wed Oct 25th
9:00pm I was hoping to get online at McDonalds this morning , but no wi-fi was available. I ate breakfast instead and they have good yogurt. Tastes like the yogurt in the country, vanilla pudding with a slight edge. The McDonalds here are much better than the ones in the states.



I headed up to Montmartre via Metro and got off at Pigalle right in the heart of “Pig” Alley.







Translated that means the seediest part of Paris where all the sex shops are. And they are plentiful, right next to each other, block after block. Boy this can top New York City which is almost void of sex shops.


















That’s where the Moulin Rouge is, so I stopped to have my picture taken in front by a group of teenagers, we took pictures of each other.












I followed the walking tour map in my Rick Stevens Paris guide book 2006 (very good book by the way) and I passed the homes of: Picasso, Toulouse-Lautrec and Van Gogh.









I also passed the last windmill standing in the area.













Further up was Sacre Coure Basillica.








I took the funicular because I was too tired to walk up all those steps.












The view from the top is the highest area in Paris at 420 feet. I stared out at the view and for as much as I was loving Paris, for the first time I felt homesick. It would be different if I had a job and an apartment here, but I think it is time to go home.









I was feeling very tired again (after walking up all those hills in the area) and headed back to my hotel. I feel I did the best I could in the 4 days of my stay here. I didn’t see the statue of St. Denis so I’ll tell you the story. The roman soldiers where taking him up to the top of the hill to behead him for trying to spread the word of Christianity. They were tired and stopped before reaching the top. They beheaded them where they were and the body stood up, wiped the head off, and walked the three miles to the top of the hill with his head in his hands, and then collapsed and died. So all the statues in Paris of St. Denis show a beheaded man, holding his head in his hands. Quite a story!

I came back to the hotel and Travis stood me up (not much to say for his American arrogance). Richard had been at the dentist and was not up to meeting, but we spoke on the phone for a while and his is a very nice guy. I followed his website closely for the secrets of Paris and you can view them at: http://ipreferparis.typepad.com/i_prefer_paris/














I decided to walk towards the Bastille where I hadn’t been before for my last night’s dinner in Paris. I had a wonderful meal of strips of beef dredged in flour and sautéed in Brandy and crème with mushrooms and served with a veggie pate. Yum!






I sat in another sidewalk café with some espresso and crème bruele, and watched all the locals walk by.















What a marvelous city, and I know that I will be back to visit again. As I walked to my hotel I kept passing pastry shop and thought that I pretty much stayed away from most of them for my stay here.






Next thing I new I went in and bought a pastry to take back to the hotel room with me. And in the style of France it was a Napoleon! Viva La France!

France Day 10 Tue Oct 24th

Tues Oct 24th
7:30am I woke up this morning and it was pouring rain outside. Yuck! There go all my plans for the morning. The tour guide yesterday told me that there is free wi-fi for laptops at every McDonald’s… (try to figure that one out), so I might just head off to a McDonald’s and start my online blogging.

7:30pm I did go to McDonald’s this morning and blogged for a few hours. During that time the rain stopped but it got very windy and chilly. Took the Metro back to the hotel to drop the laptop off and then went to the meeting place for the afternoon walking tour. I’m taking the Metro and walking around the city now like I know where I’m going and it sure feels good.



Met our tour guide Katie from South Carolina who is on her way back to the states via Amsterdam.






She gave a wonderful tour and we walked through the quaint area near my hotel called the Marais. One highlight was seeing where Oscar Wilde lived.















She brought us to an ice creamery known the serve the best ice cream in Paris. I indulged in a cone of Chocolate Noir (Dark Chocolate) AND Praline with pine nuts. Oh la la! The best ice crème I ever had. Oops I’m spelling like the French.




The rest of the tour was very historic and also has a Jewish quarter where the Jewish residents were forced to register and live in 1941 after the Nazi invasion.





Then when the Nazis wanted they were able to find the Jews easily and deport them to the concentration camps for elimination. There are many memorial plaques around this area, for the people who were tragically removed from society and killed.




One in particular about a man from the resistance, aged 41 who was taken with his 3 sons; aged 21, and twins aged 15. They were all shipped off to Auschwitz and the man and his eldest son died in the gas chamber. The 2 twins died at the hands of doctors performing experiments due to their curiosity about twins.
(How dare that there are still people today that either deny the holocaust ever happened or play it down). Argh!!




It was the end of the tour and I was feeling really tired at this point so I headed back to the hotel and bought more French Chinese food. Now I’m very tired, my feet hurt so I’ll probably stay in for the rest of the evening. Maybe I’ll go out to the Internet café for a while. I’m meeting Travis (who studies at Parson’s Paris) for lunch tomorrow and Richard (Eye Prefer Paris website) for dinner tomorrow night. I guess I can’t fit in everything I wanted, but that will leave me wanting more of Paris for a later trip back.

10:00pm I went out to the internet café but the internet was down so I took a leisurely stroll back to the hotel. I stopped in the café in the hotel and took espresso and pound cake up to the room. I settled in, turned the TV on and watched “The Pirates of the Caribbean” … dubbed in French of course. Speaking of Johnny Depp, he has a house on Ille de Cite, the same island as Notre Dame. I envy him.





Tomorrow my plan is to have breakfast at McDonald’s again (so I can wi fi) and then take the Metro up to Montmartre to see Sacre Coeur, Moulin Rouge, and Pigalle (Pig Alley) know to be the seediest part of town. Also up there is the home of Picasso and Toulouse-Lautrec, and the statue of St. Denis, very interesting story about him. Once I see the statue I’ll mention the story.
PS: I realize that I forgot to mention that after the tour of the Jewish Quarter I stopped in a friendly bar and had a few glasses of Kir; which is Cassis with white wine… remember that from the trip to the Monks of Chartreuse. Cassis is the raspberry chartreuse and tastes wonderful. Now I know why I was so tired. Goodnight.

France Day 9 Mon Oct 23rd

Mon Oct 23rd
10:15pm What an exciting day! I did not have a good night’s sleep, tossing and turning and hearing the garbage trucks at 6am. But I showered and looked forward to having breakfast in the hotel’s café. It was OK, but nothing great, just coffee, juice, and croissants. They were not rude just not overly friendly, no small talk, very dry. I had scheduled a “Classic Walk” tour so I pushed myself into a good mood. I went to the meeting place on Pont Louis (the only bridge that connects the small two islands together) early so I would know where it was, then I had an hour to kill.










I walked to Notre Dame and went inside. No need to be religious to appreciate the grandeur and history of the place. I sat and did all my inner talking then went to meet my tour guide.










My tour guide was a 20something guy from Philadelphia named Charles.

He was taking a year off from grad school to bum around France. He found the tour job on Craig’s List. Two other couple’s joined us: a quiet but nice young couple from Australia, and a very nice husband and wife with their adorable baby girl from Ottawa. (Again I was a single with two couples). Our first stop was the Notre Dame and Charles gave some great information.
















We took a detour and stopped by the Deportation Memorial for those martyred in 1945 by Hitler. These were the Jewish children taken from Paris to the concentration camps for elimination. My eyes welled up with tears.



We continued to St. Chapelle which was built to house Christ’s crown of thorns. Thanks to carbon dating it was proven to be a fake, but is still housed there and people still do a pilgrimage.






Onto the Louvre, the grandest museum in the world. Exciting! We passed the Musee D’Orsay which is world famous for its Impressionist collection. I would love to visit here if I have time. We walked through the Jardins de Tuileries and sat at a nice café for lunch. Then it was onto the Place de la Concorde, the site of royal beheadings during the French Revolution. We viewed the Champs-Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe.




We walked over the Pont Alexander III, the most beautiful and ornate bridge in the city. It was modeled after a bridge in Russia. We continued to Les Invalides and Napoleon’s Tomb and the Ecole Militaire, a former military school.















We ended the tour at the Eiffel Tower and said our goodbyes. It was a wonderful tour with a super tour guide. I sat there for a while, then started my way back.









I walked along the Seine for a while when a pretty olive skinned woman walking toward me bent down to pick up something at my feet. It was a beautiful man’s wedding band. She asked me if it was real, and I checked it and there was a stamp of 18 Karat, so I told her yes. She seemed delighted and offered it to me. She was very insistant and after a while I accepted. She walked away and I started to when she poked my in the back. She said she was hungry and wanted money for the ring. Scam the tourist! I know I looked like a tourist but… first thing I did was to check that my wallet was in my pocket and it was. I tried giving her the ring back but she wouldn’t accept, I pushed it into her hand and stopped speaking and quickly walked away from her. She turned and walked away too. I checked everything in my pockets and all was safe. That really blew me away for a while, cause I’m very careful and I have both eyes open, but I wasn’t ready for that. Well it did teach me to keep my eyes open even more.




I was very tired from walking and wanted to go straight back to the hotel, but instead I went back to the Louvre to take a picture of the Inverted Pyramid. From there I entered the Metro for the first time. Ahhh, standing at the auto ticket machine trying to buy tickets and it was rush hour so I had a line of irate French people huffing. But the couple next to me assisted me and they were very nice. So again, contrary to rumor, I really have not found any French rudeness so far. Now the Metro, you walk through endless confusing tunnels before you get to the platforms.




The trains are very new clean and the wheels are rubber so the trains hum instead of making the terrible noise the steel wheels making in the New York City train system. Heavy accordion rubber separates the cars so you can actually see all the way to the end of the train. Every train station is designed different. Very nice. I came back to the hotel exhausted, turning the TV on and rested a bit. I was tired but hungry so I went out and brought some French Chinese food back to my room and ate there watching French TV… The only English speaking channel was the French version of CNN news. They have a Saturday Night Live type of comedy show called “Ding Dong” with very funny physical sketch comedy. I then watched a French movie with Bridget Bardot, and called it a night. Another long day scheduled for tomorrow, I’m going to the Eiffel Tower to go up it and take pictures of the city. Then it’s off to the Catacombs, and at 2pm I have another walking tour, this time of the le Maris area.

France Day 7&8 Oct 21&22

Sun Oct 22
9:00pm My first day in Paris… wow! First let me catch up from yesterday. We went to the city of Lyon, which is the 2nd largest city in France with 445, 000 people.




Lyon is like a mini Paris with the river in the center and very historic buildings. Wayne had booked the train to Paris on Sunday leaving from the city of Lyon so he requested that he be dropped off when we got there and he was off on his own.





















The highlight was visiting the remains of a Roman amphitheatre dating back to 50 BC. Over 2,000 thousand years, it’s so hard to believe. I went right on the stage and started doing monologues, and I was applauded by strangers who wanted to see more; especially these 2 woman from Germany. We had a wonderful lunch and walked around a very touristy area looking in the wonderful shops and boutiques.





Valerie gave us the most tasty crepes for dinner and dessert and again I was full leaving the dinner table. We expressed our adoration of our 2 hosts and retired to our bedrooms to pack for departure in the morning.







Now, let’s get to Paris! I have already decided that I can easily live here. I took a bus from the airport, which is about 50 minutes away, so I could see the sights. I was left off at Gare de Lyon. A Grand Central Style train Station, only much grander! A 20 minute walk and I was at my hotel.





I checked in with Jean Luc the owner, a handsome and very friendly Frenchman.






















I was surprised that my room was larger than I thought but very basic and very clean and just delightful.



I took a shower and headed to the streets of Paris! I did a general walk around and found myself in front of Notre Dam, and the Louvre.















Being Sunday there were a lot of people walking all over and many street vendors, artists and performers. I stopped for a café and looked in amazement at the Eifle Tower. As it got darker it also started to rain, so I headed on foot back to my hotel. No matter where I was in the city it always seemed so quaint and intimate because of the narrow streets and low buildings. (I say low buildings, I mean no skyscrapers). It was dark, rainy, all the stores were closed except for the restaurants. I passed by the Louvre and had to look at the pyramid in front. I stared and thought of the scene in the film The DaVinci Code where Tom Hanks runs into the pyramid. As I went back to the hotel I was a little hungry but not wanting a full meal, and what do you think I came across? Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream. So I indulged in a cone of New York Super Fudge Chunk. I walked in the rain back to the hotel, eating this ice cream thinking… how New York I was, right in the heart of Paris. I loved every second and that’s when I felt comfortable in this beautiful and magical city. Yes I could definitely live here.

France Day 6 Fri Oct 20th

Fri Oct 20th
11:15pm Oh my God! What a day… After a delightful breakfast we traveled 2 hours to Chamonix, a famous skiing resort at the base of Mont Blanc.






It was like walking through a fairytale village at Disneyland! And the color… everything in the French countryside is so colorful, unlike what I ever thought. This village had the sidewalks cafes, the orange colored swiss chalets. Since Switzerland is so close the swiss influence is apparent in the architecture.



We boarded with a little hesitation the gondola (tram car) that travels up the side of Aiguille Du Midi, the closest peak to the summit of Mont Blanc.


















And up we went… I was fine but the high altitude and the thinning of the air was making me lightheaded.






Others felt it too. We soared up into the sky and saw the great Sea of Ice Glacier, 7 miles long. We arrived at the first pit stop and changed for another gondola car to take us to the peak of Aiguille Du Midi at an unbelievable 12,600 feet in the sky.








As we arrived we were high over the clouds and was able to spot the tiny village way down below us.











It was like something I’ve never experienced before… I felt that I was actually in heaven. I was very lightheaded and my breathing became shallow.









We headed to the down gondola and missed it so we went into the cafe; we had a ½ hour before the next car down. A few of us were feeling tired. It was explained that was due to the lack of oxygen. Once we arrived down and had lunch at an exquisite café we started to feel better. I ordered for myself in all French. I felt at home. We walked around this charming village then boarded the minivan for the long 2 hour ride home. Most of us slept.










Dinner that evening I experienced for the first time ever… escargot.



And actually it tasted really good. Lots of butter, parsley and garlic. The hard part is to get over the idea that you are eating a snail. We then had roasted chicken with the “herbs of Provance” that melted in my mouth.




Next week was Dave’s 50th birthday , so his partner Wes arranged for a cake to die for. Chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate. Happy Birthday Dave! After dinner we sat and looked at the pictures I already uploaded to my laptop, we were amazed at the pics of Mont Blanc. It was truly an experience never to be forgotten.

France Day 5 Thurs Oct 19th

Thurs Oct 19th
11:30pm
What a fun day! After breakfast we headed to La Cote Saint Andre,


a marvelous hillside country village where Valerie one of the tour hosts lives. Inhabitants: 5000.



Our first stop was La Halle, a 13th century covered market where the locals shop. Last night Valerie gave us each a food item to buy at the market where only French is spoken. Hahahaha, what a scene! My item was fromage, yes! Cheese, so we all stayed together to help each other and I found the cheese vendor. I tried to search for some kind of port (wine) cheese and I had trouble conveying this to the old man behind the counter.






Next to me was a little old woman farmer who understood some English. She tried to help me but to no avail. She did tell me to follow her to the better cheese place down the aisle.



I thought I was buying great cheese… it ended up being this aged dry goat cheese that really only the locals like. After we all bought our items we started shopping in this wonderful market that have everything from food to jewelry to hats to fake flowers.

Since I love hats, I tried on some including an authentic beret. Everyone else loved it but I thought it looked stupid. But I did settle with a great fisherman’s cap that has the best intricate lattice work around the brim. We then walked the main street to the supermarket and we were fooled by the look of it outside. Inside it was like a super center, with some of the best items. I bought 2 coffee bowls, so I can drink coffee at home the same way the French do here... from a bowl. All week we saw signs for Pizza so we decided to have pizza today and check it out. A delightful restaurant in a colorful square, we ordered 3 pizzas for 5 of us and they were terrific! They had super thin crusts, lots of cheese, and tasty toppings. Definitely a plus! Everyone in most of France closes down at noon for lunch and re opens at 2pm, so this village was no exception.

After lunch we went to the birthplace of Hector Berlioz.


This romantic composer from the 19th century is the founder of romantic French music. He became famous after his death for his works such as “La Symphonie fantastique” and “Romeo and Juliet”. This was also his birthplace and restored to period time.


Then we visited the Chocolate museum and tasting of the Jouvenal chocolates. Yum! We had a great tasting and spent more money.
Dinner was wonderful again tonight and we presented Jac and Valerie with a token of our appreciation on all the hard work they are doing for us..

2 nice bowls and some candles. I'm tired and tomorrow is a very strenuous day, we are going 12 thousand feet up in the air to the summit of Mont Blanc.

France Day 4 wed Oct 18th

Wed Oct 18th
9:45pm Breakfast again & that wonderful coffee. I also indulged in baguettes with butter and the most delicious fig jam. Then we were in the van and off today to Savoie.
Savoie was annexed to France in 1860, originally belonging to Italy. Savoie is famous for it’s cheese and wine. Once in Savoie we headed to Chanaz Village, home to a 19th century walnut mill, now a historical monument and the last one of it’s kind in France.

We were given a demonstration and he was quite a comedienne. At one time the entire mill was powered by a water wheel, but now due to global warming, there is not enough water to supply the electricity needed, so it is supplemented by real electricity. Everything inside is completely manufactured by hand. Walnut, hazelnut and almond oils are made here as well as jams of the above. We were given a tasting and … yum! So we all headed straight to the counter where we purchased items. I bought a bottle of hazelnut oil and a jar of hazelnut jam. Oh I almost forgot, I also bought the walnut cookies, which were like macaroons without the coconut, but lost of walnut. Once outside I shared them with everyone and we all had smiles on our faces. We had our picture taken with all our pinkies up because the walnut oil man let us taste the oils with our pinkies.

He said the pinkie is the cleanest finger on the hand. This Chanaz Village was like a village that time forgot.


Nestled at the based of a large mountain, which was shrouded in mist, it had a canal running through it. July and August are the prime months, so it was quite empty even though people live there year round. Exciting!
Then we went to Aix-les-Bains and even the name is exotic. It is the 2nd largest spa city in France.

















We took the boat across the Bourget Lake which is the biggest natural lake in France, surrounded on all side by majestic mountains.























Once at the other side we went to the 12th century Hautecombe Abbey, burial place of the Dukes of Savoie and the last King of Italy buried there in 1983.

This abbey is now a sanctuary for young adults just out of college to come to for 3 months and find their “meaning of life.” Room and board in exchange for working on the grounds in jobs various job from ticket taker for the Abbey to moping floors to landscaping. Don’t forget that all schooling in France is free. Yes free, did you hear that Bush! So not only are health benefits free but all schooling is as well. We had to catch a boat that was headed up to the far end of the lake so our ride back was a soothing and calm 1 ½ hours long.

Back at our home base dinner started with a colorful plate including lentils and beets. Our main course was a mouthwatering veal roll with creamed spinach.
Next was the very familiar cheese plate with some variation this time. Our meal ended with crème fresh, lemon sorbet, black currant glace and some raspberries.


I could eat like this forever!

So far this trip has been everything I expected and so much more. Never would anyone ever get to see all these things that are not normally considered tourist attractions for Americans. Why? They are so far … “off the beaten track”, which is what the tour is called.
Please visit their website: WWW.FRENCHESCAPADE.COM
Tomorrow we are headed to La Cote Saint Andre so I need a full nights worth of sleep. And to think I still have Paris for 5 days when this is over on Sunday… I’m in heaven!

France Day 3 Tue Oct 17th

Tues Oct 17th
10:45pm As usual breakfast was waiting for us as we stepped into the dining room. Delicious. Today we were heading out to Provencale. It was a 2 1/5 hour drive away but, was all highway driving so I didn’t need my Dramamine plus I’ve been sitting in the front seat. (Thank you fellow travelers). Our first stop was the Le chateau de Grignan, a 16th century historic castle also the largest renaissance chateau in the south of France.


In the 17th century the castle was badly damaged during the French Revolution, but was saved at the beginning of the 20th century when it was purchased privately and underwent extensive restoration.






The castle also owes its celebrity to one of the women of French Literature, Madame de Sevigne who stayed there visiting her daughter and died and was buried there in 1696.


Our next stop was the medieval village of Poet-Laval, where lavender fields were first discovered. This is the oldest village in South France dating back to 1028 with the castle having been visited by the actual Knights of the Templar. I sat for a moment on the stone remains and tried to visualize them.


Sadly to say I couldn’t. But just being there was thrilling.
We ate lunch in the most charming sidewalk café, and I had the best omelet I ever had. With potatoes, onions and bacon inside, this omelet was juicy and tasty and came with a garden salad instead of french fries. Oh la la!

Our last stop for the day was the quaint village of Dieulefit. Known for its linens and pottery this village was actually built into the side of a mountain.






One of the stores actually turns into the cave once you pass the entrance door and all the merchandise is displayed on carved shelves in the cave walls.
We have a mouthwatering dinner and called it quits to a long but satisfying day

France Day 2 Mon Oct 16th

Before I start this post I know some of you are dying to see Paris pics so I will give you a teaser:




Mon Oct 16th
9:45pm Beautiful weather. Same wonderful breakfast as yesterday with that delicious coffee in soup bowls. I could catch on to that, but the people in the states might think it’s funny.
It’s time to leave, first made sure I took my Dramamine. Going to the mountainous region of Vercors Nature Park, bordered by 180 miles of cliffs on the very edge of the Alps. Vercors makes up for 65% of the world’s supply of walnuts… hence the nickname “Valley of the Walnuts”. The ride today gave new meaning to the words curved roads. Double dose the Dramamine.
The water has carved deep gorges and caverns amongst the most famous in Europe. We visited the Choranche cave famous for it tubular stalactites.

Prehistoric men lived here some 70,000 years ago. One of the biggest caves in the Vercors totaling about 20 miles. Inside we saw the Siphon gallery to view these tubular stalactites known as soda straws. Thousands of straws only 4 millmetres (very small) in diameter made of calcite – crystalline limestone or calcium carbonate.

They have been growing at the rate of 5 centimetres a century for thousands of years and the longest now measures 3 metres.

We went to the 16th century village Pont-en-Royans for lunch.

The houses here are suspended in the steep cliff walls over the river. I had ravioli with le creme de roqufort, (a creamy blue cheese sauce). We found an internet café there so we stopped for a while to catch up on emails, strange bringing the normalcy of computing to this so very European village that I could comfortably live in.
When we arrived at the country house the day so so clear we saw Mont Blanc in the distance. We all stood silent just gawking in amazement at this breathtaking site. The mountain was white capped and overpowered anything near it. We are going there on Friday.

Before dinner we had raspberry cassis with white wine and munched on baked, walnut topped quince with honey.






For dinner tonight we had ravioli (again with the ravioli!) cooked with gruyere cheese in a single serving soufflé bowl topped with walnuts.

Our next dish was a vegetable pate cooked in a flaky filo dough pastry served on top of grilled green beans with marinated mushrooms. Next was the famous cheese plate that we all looked forward to, followed by the most creamy, smooth pudding in the raspberry cake, topped with fresh le crème and marzipan flowers.

All of us sat for more than an hour after dinner talking, chatting, enjoying each others company. How heartwarming. Tomorrow we are off to Provencale.

France Day 1 Sun Oct 15th

Sun Oct 15th
5:30am. I awoke from a great night of sleeping, sat down & loaded the pictures I took of my room yesterday, into the computer. I’m up now, slight headache, but the bed was very comfortable. Breakfast is being served buffet style for 1 hour before our departure time, which is 8:30am. Dinner last night was mouthwatering; it was all appetizers that were delicious. We started with a champagne toast over little hour’dourves made individually of tomato, salmon, cheese, ham, and the lightest filo dough pastry. Then we sat at the table with wine (I had Orangina), there was a couscous dish, rolled prossutto with salami, salmon slices, a tomato, mozzarella, basil salad, the most mouthwatering grain bread that didn’t need any butter, and cantaloupe from the French Region of Provance that was as sweet as sugar. Then came out a dish of cheeses… oh my! Blue cheese, Brie, and two others, what made them taste so good was that they are not pasteurized as in the states. I guess that takes away from the flavor. The brie (one of my favorites) was like silk. The Real Estate Agent from Tennessee had us in tears when he told us he sold a house to Dolly Parton and her partner Judy. He did mention that it is well known in her parts (no pun intended…OK yes I made a pun!) and respectfully accepted.

10:00pm What a fabulous day, starting with breakfast. Coffee in soup bowls, that’s how they do it here in France with streamed milk and fresh croissants… oh la la! Fruit, yogurt, oatmeal, bread butter. (I can eat breakfast like this every morning).



It was very misty as we left the country house for The Chartreuse Region Nation Park. La Grande Chartreuse is the motherhouse of the Carthusian Order purposely built in an isolated area over 1000 years ago.




These monks live in a vow of silence, we weren’t able to go in the actual monastery but the museum was humbling. It was about 55-60 degrees, and the weather was perfect. I did have to take a dose of Dramamine; the turns in the mountains were stomach turning. Les also had the same issue so we both sat up in front… that helped some. The history of the liquor Chartreuse, only 2 monks know the recipe and they travel separately to the distillery in Voiron in case something happens to either one. After the museum we went to Voiron for lunch in a charming bistro. I indulged in baby ravioli with shrimp cooked au gratin with le crème. Yum!





I walked a bit around this quaint lovely town with Kelly & Les. I could easily live here. The French are so basic and straightforward, and yet relaxed in a way the Americans are not. Then we visited the Chartreuse cellar, the longest in the world (500 feet long) where the liquor is made out of 130 different herbs.

We had a tasting after the tour. I wasn’t crazy about the green (55% alcohol), or the yellow (42%) but I did like the fruit one. This region is only 2 ½ hours away from Geneva Switzerland and 45 minutes from Grenoble where the 1968 Olympics were held. We returned to the house at 5:30pm and gathered at 6:30pm for our aperitif of Blackcurrant Chartreuse (Cassis) and white wine. Tasty! For dinner we sat down to a wonderful salad with walnuts, hard-boiled eggs, greens, baby tomatoes, apricots and a balsamic vingerette dressing.

The main course was roasted quail, with braised carrots and home made potatoes au gratin. Not the store bought kind, but fresh and homemade. Then came out the luscious cheese platter again,

Blue Cheese, Brie, Gruyere, and something else. They were all good. And finally for dessert we have a stewed pear drizzled with chocolate and whipped crème and cherries.
Note: (Mom-why can’t you cook like Valerie?)

Arrival in France Sat Oct 14th

Sat Oct 14th
11:30am, It’s 5:30am NY time. I’m sitting in the Charles DeGaulle Airport in Paris waiting for a later connecting flight to Lyon. My flight from JFK arrived to late for me to make the connection. There is a 1:10pm flight, which would get me into Lyon at 2:20pm. The van is picking me up at 3pm. The flight from JFK was OK, 7 ½ hours, but I was barely able to get any sleep. I just couldn’t fade off into nevernever land. I’m tired but I’ll manage. When Air France issued a new boarding pass, they gave me a voucher for a complimentary breakfast and apologized for the inconvenience. They were very nice. No sign of rudeness to the American.
The airport here is very large and full of construction, even worse than JFK airport. The terminal I’m in - 2F, is very long & reminds me of the turn of the century train station, which a techno modern edge of course. It’s all glass, curved; the ceiling is a semi circle. If you look lengthwise at the terminal it’s half of a circle. The ceiling is totally covered with a techno lattice of white pipes and at the end of the pipes are little spotlights. It will be interesting to see it lighted up on my return trip to JFK.






5:00pm I’m resting in my room in the country house. It is wonderful! Warm, clean, inviting, spacious. I have a view of the mountains and the cows grazing in the fields.

The country house is charming. Built in the mid 19th century it was originally a Town Hall , then later converted into a schoolhouse until the early 20th century when it took on private owners.








Built from adobe with cement on the outside of the building, the interior has been restored to its 19th century charm including squeaky floorboards.


































The 2 women (partners) running this tour are wonderful. Jac from Belgium and Valerie from France.
They compliment each other so well and are delightful to be around. The other 5 guys are very nice, it ended up being 2 male couples, and 2 single guys which where both able to get a room to themselves, myself one of them. 1 couple (Kelly & Les together for 11 years) is from San Francisco; the other (Wes & David together for 18 years) is from Dallas, Texas. The other single guy (Wayne) is a Caldwell Real Estate Agent from Nashville Tennessee. They are all very friendly and have nice personalities.

Monday Oct & 16th, 2006

I am sitting in an internet cafe in the mountains of Vercors in the small village of Pont en Royans. Not far from the Swiss and Italy borders. This morning we visited the French caves... magnificent, humbling, spectacular! In this village all the houses are built into the sides of the mountain. We ate lunch in a wonderful restaurant along a river with the clearest water flowing that you are able to see the riverbed. I had ravioli du le creme roqufort: ravioli with a creme blue cheese sauce... yum!

Yesterday we saw the Monks of the order of cartreuse, where the liquor charteuse is made.
I have been keeping a detailed journal with many many pictures and I will upload them when I get to Paris next week.
The country house and my very spacious roon is wonderful and comfortable and the two women running the tour are delightful. The other 5 men are friendly and we all have been having a wonderful time together. I have been popping dramamine every day... driving through the mountains with the most curving roads I`ve ever seen are wrecking havoc with motion sickness, but as soon as we stop, within a half hour the nausea goes away. I have been sleeping great every night.

Friday we are taking the gondola up 12 thousand feet to the top of Mont Blanc in Switzerland. Tomorrow we are going to the region of Provance. The food is absolutely to die for. The scenery is so european......

More to come....
-Jeff in France