Bonjour du France!

Hi All :)

So I write to you now from Chamont sur Tharonne. This is a tiny French town in the Loire Valley which is essentially French wine country. We are staying at a chateau on 60 acres which is actually a nice change from a hotel. The first night we arrived, a chef came to the chateau and cooked us a 5 course meal, complete with wine and coffee. He made a sushi grade salmon amuse bouche, with what tasted like a soy sauce marinade, shrimp ravioli, duck with asparagus and carrot puree, a hot cheese dish made with filo dough and a salad on the side, and the most deliciously perfect chocolate souffle I have ever tasted with a garnish of clementine in a thin syrup on the side. It was tres magnifique! I never thought I liked salmon or duck, but apparently, I do!

Yesterday we got a late start, had lunch at an adorable little restaurant in town and then headed to Chambord, the CHATEAU of all chateaus. This is a 440 room palace built in 1518 that housed many a French king...perhaps most notably Louis XIV. Afterwards we took a drive to Blois, a picturesque French city situated along the Loire River and spent an hour walking around and visiting shops before dinner at a restaurant called Au Rendesvous a Pecheres...the fisherman's meeting place. The menu was a challenge to decipher but I ended up with a pretty good steak and all was well.

This morning we had planned on having a quick lunch en route to yet another chateau (the Loire Valley in famous for them), but at our driver's suggestion we ended up at La Grouilliere, a Michelin rated restaurant. What was supposed to be a quick lunch turned into a 3 hour boozefest where I ate a delicious lobster bisque and a cheese plate fit for the Gods and even tried a liquor that was bottled in the 1700's. That, unfortunately, was not so delicious. Overall, though, I have to admit I do not care for French food. Aside from the 5 course meal the chef made us our first night, I have found French cuisine to be a little too heavy and rich for my tastes. Yet nonetheless, "when in Rome," so I am trying to give everything that is put in front of me a chance, even if I can't identify it and the French can't explain what it is in English. After lunch, we visited two more chateaus, and at my most fervert request, had an italian dinner, as I was not sure I could stomach any more French food at the moment.

The trip so far has absolutely met, if not exceeded my expectations. While a traveller should always expect and prepare for certain glitches along the way, the worst I have dealt with is a 4 year old European hairdryer that decided to pucker out on me the first time I tried to use it, and a cell phone that, despite having global service, decided not to work upon my arrival. After spending an hour on the phone with Verizon customer service from a French landline troubleshooting the problem and trying to reconfigure the phone from abroad, I was convinced that all was hopeless. I had originally intended to purchase an inexpensive international phone, send my dad home with my phone and have him FedEx it back to me once the problem was fixed back in the Etats Unis, but magically the phone began working after some delay, and I once again became a happy girl.

Tomorrow we are off to visit several different wineries, and the day after that we will be en route to Lyons. I will try and write another update from there.

XOXOXO!