I think I may have had my fill of castles. Hah! As of today, Saturday Grammy and I have seen seven castles. Whoa. We have plans to see two more tomorrow as well as a wine tasting and then we are finished with castles! Yesterday we did an afternoon tour of two including one that inspired the “Sleeping Beauty” story. Grammy and I thought they were both beautiful but the tour guide was waxing poetic about them and we were like “They were nice.” Nice. The first day we were in awe. Second day still impressed. Now we are like “Yeah that’s nice.” Such is the case when you see nothing but castles.
Today we walked around our town, Blois which had a fantastic farmers market. It was a bit odd though as amidst all of the produce there were stands selling bras and mattresses. Bras and mattresses along with your produce? Whoa. We purchased some amazing fruits and vegetables including kale and potatoes for dinner. The doughnut peaches here are to die for as well as the bread. But of course! I can eat a whole loaf in a sitting.
Grammy’s thoughts on the market:
“It’s a good thing we don’t have one close to my house like this. Ralphs, Henry’s, and the Persian Market would be out of business. Except for toilet paper. (Said with a chuckle) it is a wonderful place to people watch, I particularly love the cheese and meat vans because they have all of those wonderful fresh products. I like that they are using wood crates, it is awesome to see them. Back in 1955 I used them as bookcases. Jess ordered me an Americano, and I received booze. Awesome.”
Disclaimer: I thought an Americano was espresso with water. Apparently it is Campari over ice. Grammy received a treat at 12:00! We then ordered a “Café Americano” which is what we originally wanted!
Also when we were ordering produce, I managed to order most of it okay with my rudimentary French, no one speaks English in this town except for the people at the tourist office! Grammy wanted to buy garlic at one of the stands, I had no idea what the French word for it was so I asked “Avez vous garleek?” He had no idea what I was talking about. Then Grammy pipes in with “Garleek … Garleek?” No garlic was to be purchased at that stand. But it was funny. Afterwords.
When I bought a melon the woman asks you when you plan on eating it, then individually tests each one to make sure it is the appropriate amount of ripeness. Tres Fantastique! The goat and sheep cheese choices here are astounding, I had difficulty making a choice. As were the mushrooms, they look delectable, can’t wait to dig into those.
Now Grammy and I are enjoying tea and people watching while this afternoon I will be off to tour some churches.
Grammy’s thoughts on the castles over the past few days:
“It is wondrous to behold that individuals had as much money, sense of history, and ego to build these monuments to themselves. The fact that we can walk in the halls 500 years later and fancy how it must have been at that time is magical. Oh and I looked in the phonebook here for a De Noux; (her maiden name) couldn’t find any.”
Note: My most awesome moment was being in the same chapel that Joan of Arc prayed in prior to going to battle. Talk about walking in the footsteps of history!
Looking forward to traveling to the South of France on Tuesday, then meeting up with 19 friends and family members next weekend!
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